ABSTRACT
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988 represents a milestone in the history of U.S. disaster policy and emergency management. It broadened markedly presidential authority to define incidents as major disasters or emergencies, anticipated the emerging reality and threat of terror attacks inside the nation, called for creation of a Federal Response Plan aimed at yoking up at least 28 federal department program offices and agencies that would work in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) before and after president-declared emergencies and disasters, approved a greater Department of Defense role in domestic disaster management, entrusted the president with more supervisory authority of FEMA and at congressional expense, and advocated multihazard mapping facilitated by geographic information system technologies.
