Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security , initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders on April 1 , 1979 . The agency 's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities . The governor of the state in which the disaster occurs must declare a state of emergency and formally request from the president that FEMA and the federal government respond to the disaster . The only exception to the state 's gubernatorial declaration requirement occurs when an emergency or disaster takes place on federal property or to a federal asset — for example , the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , or the Space Shuttle '' Columbia '' in the 2003 return-flight disaster
bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
Federal Emergency Management Agency