FEMA has some of the best emergency managers and has done a lot of the engineering studies and thinking ahead about these sorts of issues. Unfortunately FEMA is not often allowed to do the the pure 'best for the most' thing very often. Politics, funding through the political branches, and political appointments can easily cripple the agency and negate all the good it might do.

If the agency is well funded and allowed to operate as an independent, goal-directed and professional organization run by trained and experienced emergency managers it can do a lot of good saving lives and minimizing losses. When it is run by a someone without qualifications, without understanding or training, without common decency, it gets ugly. When positions involving life and death decisions get filled by patronage appointees in return for raising money during a political campaign you are not going to have an effective organization.

There are positions, like the US ambassadors to Bermuda and Monaco, that can be handed out as a reward for loyalty and fund-raising. This has been going on for as long as nations have existed. It is wasteful but these are posts that are there to be enjoyed. Not positions where history and lives depend on performance. FEMA is not one of those positions. Using the office as a patronage position is like selecting your brain surgeon based on his being loyal and friendly.