The Business of Disaster

Natural disasters are an inevitable annual occurrence. Every year there is billions of dollars in damages and hundreds of casualties. Out of all the natural disasters in the United States, floods are the most prevalent. FEMA is the government agency that is charge of managing disaster in the nation. The main problem with FEMA is the time that they take to respond to natural disasters and increased spending. Currently many homes and public infrastructures such as roads, levies and bridges in disaster prone areas are ill equipped to handle natural disasters such as floods. Flood insurance companies often times underpay policy holders in claims or sometimes do not pay them at all.

This paper offers proposed legislative reformations as answers to these problems. The proposed legislative reformation for FEMA is to readjust their budget for more spending on the National Flood Program while saving $1.5 billion overall. In addition to readjusting the budget the proposed reformation also includes increasing training for natural disaster relief and responsiveness by 25%. Another proposed reformation is to eliminate flood insurance companies from the National Flood Program. Reinforcing homes by elevating them or rebuilding them and making public infrastructure more flood and storm resistant is another proposed reformation.

With the passing of the proposed reformations, there will be significant positive financial and social outcomes. The cost of property and infrastructure damage will decrease by more than half with the reinforcement of infrastructure. The amount of casualties will also decrease by more than half as well. As a result of FEMA becoming more efficient and the elimination of insurance from the National Flood Program, responses to natural disasters will be quicker and homeowners will see less damages to their homes and more money received on claims much quicker.