Natural disasters can strike the U.S. at any time without warning. When an Air Force base is struck with disaster, the base as well as the surrounding area must interact with FEMA to initiate and sustain emergency relief operations. Policies and procedures must be in effect to ensure that affected personnel know what agencies to coordinate with to conduct relief efforts. This research explores how the Air Force interacts with FEMA in a natural disaster situation that affects an Air Force base. A case study investigates how FEMA interacted with Grand Forks AFB during the 1997 flooding to determine the policies and procedures used by FEMA to coordinate the relief efforts. This thesis analyzes the process of how the Air Force interacted with FEMA during an emergency response operation. It details the actual procedures of emergency relief operations between the Air Force and FEMA and analyzes differences between the stated procedures and the actual processes used in the emergency operations
