19/06/2009
The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government has just produced this short paper which examines the role of the federal government in megadisasters in the U.S., using lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina. "This paper looks at what has happened, and what has not happened, since the waters receded and the debris was removed. Based on lessons learned from this catastrophe, the paper focuses on possible national legislation amending the Stafford Act by authorizing the appointment by the president of an officer-in-charge with preauthorized discretionary funding; empowered to assemble and deploy experts, including experts seconded from federal agencies; and to recommend and obtain expedited consideration of a national action program if such a program is determined to be appropriate when megadisasters like this occur.
The authors of this paper participated in a study of the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on 37 Gulf-region governmental jurisdictions, sponsored by the Ford Foundation and jointly conducted by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government of the State University of New York and the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana. […] This paper is presented as the basis for a discussion of an institutional-reform approach to provide facilitated, coherent, deliberative, and effective response by American government when future megadisasters occur-as we know they will."
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