WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a full committee hearing today titled America's Natural Disaster Preparedness: Are Federal Investments Paying Off? 

Witness List: 

Dr. William H. Hooke, Senior Policy Fellow and Director, American Meteorological Society

Mr. Bob Ryan, Senior Meteorologist, ABC7/WJLA-TV

Dr. Anne S. Kiremidjian, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, testifying on behalf of the American Society of Civil Engineers 

Dr. Clint N. Dawson, P.E., Professor, Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, University of Texas at Austin 

Key Quotations from Today’s Hearing:

“I want to extend my deepest condolences to friends and family who’ve lost loved ones to the latest string of severe storms in our southern states—and my deepest thanks to those who are working around-the-clock to respond to them. The destruction and loss of life has been absolutely heartbreaking. These events underscore just how important it is to be prepared for disaster when it strikes and to mitigate damage, destruction and loss of life. They underscore how important it is to make the necessary strategic investments now to save lives and property in the future.”

Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV

“Our current disaster preparedness, though improving, remains far from ideal. Warnings are more accurate and timely, but too often are lost, garbled, or misunderstood in that ‘last mile,’ where they struggle to reach those actually in harm’s way. Compromises in land use and building codes mean our homes aren’t always the unassailable fortresses we might hope. Eighty-five percent of the small businesses who close their doors as a result of disaster never reopen. The dollar amount of property loss and business disruption is growing faster than GDP. And virtually every disaster very quickly also becomes a public health emergency.”

Dr. William H. Hooke, Senior Policy Fellow and Director, American Meteorological Society

“All providers and users of weather information, whether to the public or to private sector clients or research institutions, depend on the federal government to be the open source and backbone of the information, data, model outputs, warnings and forecasts we all use. This partnership, with NOAA and the National Weather Service being the lead federal agencies of open operational weather information and data, is vital and must continue for effective communication of warnings by traditional and new media to the public.”

Mr. Bob Ryan, Senior Meteorologist, ABC7/WJLA-TV

“One of the main conclusions from this study [Natural Hazards Mitigation Saves: An Independent Study to Assess the Future Savings from Mitigation Activities] was that for every dollar spent by FEMA in mitigation activities during the period from 1993 to 2003 society saved $4 on the average. Moreover, the mitigation activities ‘resulted in significant benefits to society as whole’ and ‘represented significant potential savings to the federal treasury in terms of future increased tax revenues and reduced hazard-related expenditures.’ Mitigation is indeed one of the most effective ways of reducing the consequences of large earthquakes and other natural occurrences and potentially preventing them from becoming disasters.”

Dr. Anne S. Kiremidjian, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University and testifying on behalf of the American Society of Civil Engineers

“Government funding of fundamental research in coastal ocean modeling can reap tremendous benefits by enhancing economic activity, promoting healthy and sustainable coastal environments, improving the safety and well-being of coastal populations, and protecting critical infrastructure located on the coast.”

Dr. Clint N. Dawson, P.E., Professor, Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, University of Texas at Austin

###