WASHINGTON  -  U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) today held the feet of Acting FEMA Director David Paulison to the fire over response delays and inefficiencies within the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  Emerson is a vocal advocate of reorganizing FEMA to elevate it to a cabinet-level position, and a member of the House subcommittee on Homeland Security Appropriations.

 

“Obviously, we have heard plenty of criticism of FEMA over the past year.  This should also be a constructive discussion about how to improve the agency and streamline it for responding to national disasters and emergencies,” Emerson said.

 

Emerson noted that in Missouri’s Eighth Congressional District, which sits atop the New Madrid Seismic Zone, substantial resources and swift reaction would be necessary in the event of a major earthquake.  Emerson and U.S. Senator Jim Talent have repeatedly called for disaster simulations along the seismic fault, and Emerson has founded a congressional working group of her colleagues who represent districts also in the Zone.

 

“It is only a matter of time before Southern Missouri and the New Madrid Seismic Zone
experience a major earthquake, when it happens, FEMA must be ready.  We cannot allow a repeat of the failures that took place after Hurricane Katrina on federal, state or local levels.  And, unlike a hurricane, an earthquake cannot be forecast and gives no warning.  At the very first moment we know an earthquake is occurring, we must be in response mode.

 

FEMA has a $20 million budget for catastrophic disaster preparedness, a portion of which Emerson would like directed to an earthquake response plan for the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which includes areas in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi.

 

“I would ask that FEMA direct some of this budget toward helping the Americans who live in the Seismic Zone prepare,” Emerson told the Acting Director.  Acting Director Paulison responded that FEMA has set aside funds to conduct a preparedness workshop with emergency responders and community stakeholders in the new Madrid Seismic Zone.

 

Emerson also broached the topic of 20,000 residential trailers purchased by FEMA for displaced residents of Hurricane Katrina.  Approximately 11,000 trailers remain sitting idle at the Hope, Arkansas, regional airport, at a rate of $1.25 per trailer per day in rent, for an approximate cost of $2.5 million to date.

 

“I cannot understand how, when we know shelter is a primary need of the victims of this storm, FEMA can institute this half-baked plan.  The American taxpayer bought these trailers, they are paying the bill for housing displaced residents in New Orleans hotels, there is a tent city in Mississippi, and we are footing the expense of rent on the property to house the empty trailers in Arkansas.  It makes my head spin to think about how much money is being wasted while Katrina victims deal with continued hardship.  We must come up with a better solution.”

 

Emerson is cosponsor of legislation to remove the vacant trailers to an unoccupied flood plain along the Mississippi River to ease taxpayer expense.  She is also an advocate of extending the amount of time, currently one year starting on the date the order is filled, that the trailers may be used for habitation by displaced residents.

 

“On top of all these challenges and responsibilities, I would like to see FEMA returned to the role of a cabinet-level agency,” Emerson said.  “The president needs to hear directly from FEMA what this agency needs to respond to American crises.  Clearly, we cannot allow that message to be filtered by another agency, nor can we shield FEMA from the president’s or the public’s scrutiny.”