CLAREMORE, Okla. — President Donald Trump is considering restructuring or eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FEMA is part of the federal government that works to "coordinate within the federal government to make sure America is equipped to prepare for and respond to disasters."
Rogers County Emergency Management Director Scotty Stokes started working with the county 12 years ago. He's seen several disasters strike the state and worked closely with FEMA during disaster declarations.
“As far as President Trump saying that the states pretty much need to deal with their own disasters, I agree with him, because it’s not really unlike what we already do," said Stokes. "The initial response to the incident, the first month or so is on the locals, so the response part, we're taken care of anyway. The federal assistance that comes in later is where we kind of get bogged down."

Stokes responded to the May 25 storm and assisted after a storm devastated Barnsdall weeks prior.
“The thing that people don’t understand about FEMA is they don’t come into town there’s a presidential declaration put on that disaster, the president has to sign off saying there’s a disaster in that area.”
This meant FEMA didn't roll into town until more than a month after the Claremore tornado.
WATCH: How does it impact Oklahoma?
The possibility of the new administration addressing issues like response time is enticing to Stokes.
“Could this possibly speed the process up? It could, but there’s going to have to be a revamp of the whole system in order to speed this process up to get FEMA to a location a little quicker," he said.
Conversely, Stokes is not on board with eliminating the agency. He said it would bring about more harm than good for Oklahomans.
WATCH: FEMA worked with storm victims in Rogers County
“The thing about Oklahoma is, is that we’re like number four in the number of disasters that occur in every state, behind California, I believe Louisiana and Florida, so we get a lot of declared disasters throughout the years," said Stokes. "We don’t have the money that California has, we don’t have the money that Florida has, so we desperately need that federal assistance."
2 News reached out to Governor Kevin Stitt's office for his opinion on the possibility of losing FEMA.
We asked if there was enough in the state's budget to sustain disaster relief without the federal agency. Gov. Stitt's press secretary responded with the following statement:
As President Trump mentioned in a recent media interview, the State of Oklahoma consistently delivers a competent response to natural disasters. Under Governor Stitt's leadership, Oklahoman's have seen a politically neutral, thorough, and proactive response to disasters. Our approach focuses on preparedness, coordination, and recovery between state, local, and federal partners. Oklahoman's can expect that work to continue.
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