Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

FEMA’s Long Road to Recovery

Nearly six weeks after the fact, President Obama has declared the post-Snowmaggedon District a major disaster area. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Wednesday that federal aid will be available to the District to aid the recovery from the record snowstorms that battered the mid-Atlantic in February. With the cherry trees starting to blossom, it is almost laughable that FEMA is only now recognizing the blizzard-induced damage as a disaster.

FEMA’s actual policy is certainly in the right. The agency will allocate funds and share costs with both the city and certain nonprofit organizations that provided the initial response to the snowstorms.

It is problematic, however, that the United States was able to release foreign aid within a matter of days to both Haiti and Chile following their devastating earthquakes, but took more than a month to come to the rescue of its own capital. In the case of Haiti, the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance had begun aid operations – which included airlifting relief supplies directly into Port-au-Prince – within 24 hours of the disaster. Additionally, FEMA had dispatched and coordinated multiple search and rescue response teams, as well as set up a direct liaison to the State department. Obama himself pledged aid to Haiti and met with the Haitian president at the White House.

Granted, the Haitian and Chilean quakes were much more catastrophic than the D.C. storm. But that does not mean D.C. residents were not in need of significant aid after the snow stopped. The snow caused damage to many buildings, including Dulles International Airport, as well as houses and city trees. In addition, many residents, some of whom were elderly, lost access to heat and power. FEMA and the federal government ought to have acted immediately, rather than letting local nonprofits shoulder the burden and wait to reimburse them.

The U.S. government’s response to Haiti and Chile is a model that should be followed even in less dire disasters. Instead, FEMA’s response to the February blizzard echoes the agency’s inefficient response to Hurricane Katrina. Fortunately, the D.C. snowstorm did not cause damage anywhere near the magnitude of Katrina, and FEMA’s slow reaction should not adversely affect recovery efforts. If FEMA is allowed to continue in that manner, however, it could end up leaving Americans left to fend for themselves – in far more serious situations.

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