Disaster Management
Recent Disasters Demonstrate the Need to Improve the Nation's Response Strategy Gao ID: T-RCED-93-4 January 27, 1993Several recent catastrophes--especially Hurricane Andrew in South Florida--have fueled growing dissatisfaction with how the nation responds to major disasters. In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, inadequate damage assessments, inaccurate estimates of needed services, and miscommunication and confusion at all levels of government slowed the delivery of services vital to disaster victims. The nation may well experience future disasters or emergencies even more devastating than Hurricane Andrew. GAO testified that the federal government's strategy for dealing with disasters is deficient. It makes no provision for comprehensively assessing damage or the needs of disaster victims, which would greatly speed the delivery of assistance. The federal government also lacks explicit authority to adequately prepare for a disaster when there is advance warning. Finally, state and local governments generally lack the training and funding needed to respond to disasters on their own.
RecommendationsOur recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
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