- Our Mission and History
FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during and after disasters. Our core values—compassion, fairness, integrity and respect—help us achieve this mission.
FEMA was created in 1979, the first step in unifying Federal emergency management actions. In 2003, FEMA became an agency under the newly formed Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
FEMA is organized into ten regions. FEMA Region 3 includes Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia. FEMA Region 3’s primary office is in Philadelphia with a Disaster Transition Office and FEMA Integration Team (FIT) based in Harrisburg. Our FEMA Integration Team works alongside our partners at the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA).
- Our Role in Disaster Recovery
Just as we serve the whole community, we also rely on the whole community as our partners in emergency management. Local communities best understand their needs, opportunities and risk. Emergency management is most effective when locally executed, state managed, and federally supported.
In Pennsylvania, FEMA supports disaster response and recovery at the request of the Commonwealth.
🔴🔴The FEMA Draft Final Report from the President’s Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency is available. You can read it here.