Even with it’s much appreciated help in responding to Hurricane Irene, FEMA may not be able to provide much more assistance to those who need help recovering from natural disasters. FEMA’s spokesperson Bob Josephson said, “FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund is running low – down to between $800 million and $1 billion.” When that happens, the agency will only be able help with immediate response, rather than long-term rebuilding. FEMA recently admitted that the disaster aid shortfall could approach $5 billion for the upcoming budget year, and that's before accounting for Irene. Even with Missouri's senators promising to push to get full funding restored and House Republicans wanting to double funding this spring, President Obama's budget office has only requested $1.8 billion for the FEMA disaster fund. As a result, aid to states and local governments for this year's disasters have been frozen. FEMA is only paying for “the immediate needs of disaster-stricken communities, which include debris removal, food, water and emergency shelter.” With this kind of funding long-term help may not be available to communities hit by natural disasters in the future.
My source is the Huffington Post online newspaper
No comments:
Post a Comment