More federal recovery dollars have been provided to disaster-impacted communities in the past four years than the previous decade combined. Many would be concerned to learn that one of the major drivers of federal disaster spending is uninsured losses. Repeatedly, one of the FEMA Public Assistance (PA) Program’s largest recovery line items is the repair and reconstruction of uninsured public buildings and contents (Category E). Setting recent historic disasters aside, when examining FEMA PA obligations from 1998 to 2016, Category E projects have the highest obligation total, $19.2 billion equating to more than 25 percent of total obligations over that span of time.
We need to rethink federal disaster aid
Brock Long went on-the-record with Bloomberg’s Leslie Kaufman to discuss just how critical it is now to change the way the nation thinks about disaster management as well as the importance of pre-disaster mitigation. You can read the full story here.
