disaster survivors unite!
Disaster help can never come too soon. It doesn’t make a difference on the type of disaster that happens, the damages are there, and people need and want help right away. In most cases they would prefer it to be instantly. Unfortunately, government is not a shake and bake organization. See this article from South Carolina where disaster survivors from different disasters are asking for reforms to the way that disaster aid is provided—primarily in the timing, meaning faster. Survivors from across the US demand faster, more efficient federal response to disasters
The fix will not come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), congress is the one that needs to act. See this quote from the linked article, “Survivors, for example, are demanding the permanent authorization and full funding of HUD’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program. When the president declares a major disaster, Congress may appropriate CDBG-DR funds to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD if significant needs are unmet for long-term recovery. Permanent authorization and full funding for CDBG-DR would help to fill the gaps left by short-term Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) aid and insufficient insurance payouts, the survivors said. It would also ensure that rebuilding funds are available when they are needed most—not years after the fact, they said.”
I would echo the sentiment that the Block Grant funds come much later after the disaster and typically are much larger and reconstruction focused. But when Congress is piecemealing the funding, that timeline will always be slow to react to what are immediate needs. I also believe that with funding comes requirements for applications to be completed, reviewed, and funding furnished, provided the request was appropriate. Anyone who thinks that it would be streamlined further should think about all the fraud that followed the pandemic funding that went to businesses and many unscrupulous people. Fraud was rampant!
Why is our system so complicated? Because people abuse it and post disaster postmortems done by various Inspector Generals find problems that need to be addressed. Normally the fixes are ones that slow the process down even more while trying to be properly accountable for the people’s tax dollars.
