The

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

and the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

(FEMA) together developed the National Shelter System (NSS). Under the

National Response Plan The National Response Plan (NRP) was a United States national plan to respond to emergencies such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks. It came into effect in December 2004, and was superseded by the National Response Framework on March 22, 20 ...

now called the

National Response Framework The United States National Response Framework (NRF) is part of the National Strategy for Homeland Security that presents the guiding principles enabling all levels of domestic response partners to prepare for and provide a unified national response ...

auspices,

, is the Co-Primary Agency with FEMA responsible for the Mass Care portion of Emergency Support Function #6 - Mass Care, Temporary Housing and Human Services. The goal of the NSS is to be able to identify the location, managing agency, capacity, current population, needs assessment and other relevant information for all shelters being run during the response to incidents.

History

Then National Shelter System was developed in 2009 by FEMA and the American Red Cross. The goal of the NSS is to provide a planning and operational framework to disaster relief groups. Since it has become operational, access to the NSS has been offered to states who are now able to use it to plan for disaster relief. The NSS offers a directory of possible shelter locations and provides disaster relief managers with tools to help them help more people.

References

American Red Cross Federal Emergency Management Agency {{US-gov-stub