Los Angeles Earthquake

In January 1994, an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale shook Los Angeles, killing 61 people, injuring 18,000 others, and leaving 25,000 homeless. More than 55,000 buildings were damaged, and the city's freeway system was severely damaged. Damage was estimated to be as high as $15 billion and prompted the largest number of applications for disaster relief in the history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. GAO is required to report to Congress on federal laws, unfunded mandates, and regulatory requirements that may prevent or hinder state and local authorities from quickly rebuilding in Southern California. This report draws on GAO's interviews with federal, state, and local officials and summarizes their views about such barriers.

GAO found that: (1) state and local officials are encouraged by recent policy and regulatory changes made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and believe that the changes could improve the agency's assistance efforts; (2) state officials believe that the process for appealing FEMA decisions is inappropriate because there is no review by an outside arbitrator; (3) some federal officials believe that many of the issues characterized by state and local officials as barriers are just disagreements over how far the federal government should go toward paying for disaster recovery; (4) federal officials have taken some steps to facilitate recovery by waiving requirements within their jurisdictions; and (5) state and local officials are primarily concerned that the tremendous demand on state and local resources during disaster recovery is magnified by the need to comply with unfunded mandates.