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FEMA’s Craig Fugate Shares Numbers About Response and Recovery to Sandy, One Year Later

By Leischen Stelter

I couldn’t find many news articles about yesterday’s Senate subcommittee hearing on emergency management regarding the ongoing recovery from superstorm Sandy.

The only news article I found highlighted newly elected New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who doesn’t even have an official name placard yet, but wasted no time during his first congressional hearing criticizing administrative officials about Sandy recovery efforts and the skyrocketing flood insurance rates for residents, as reported the Asbury Park Press.

“Though Congress has passed a relief package in the aftermath of the storm, billions of dollars in federal assistance has yet to make its way to families in need,” said Booker, according to the publication. He claimed there is a $28.8 billion gap between what New Jersey is getting in federal support and what it needs for a full recovery.

The congressional hearing, One Year Later: Examining the Ongoing Recovery from Hurricane Sandy, included testimony by FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. I did get my hands on Fugate’s written testimony and pulled out what I thought might be some interesting reference numbers for emergency management folks out there (you can read the entire document for yourself here):

Overall, to date:  

  • More than $1.4 billion of Individual Assistance (IA) has been approved for individuals
  • $3.2 billion in Public Assistance (PA) has been given to state and local governments impacted by Sandy
  • The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved an additional $2.4 billion in low-interest disaster loans
  • The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 also included $16 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program-Disaster Recovery funding provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Pre-staging numbers:

  • Pre-staged commodities available to survivors included: 892,000 liters of water; 561,000 meals; 11,900 blankets and cots; 183 generators; 30 infant and toddler kits, which each support up to 10 infants or toddlers with items such as diapers, baby food and formula; two Durable Medical Equipment (DME) kits; and two Consumable Medical Equipment (CME) kits.
  • FEMA also deployed 1,032 personnel in anticipation of the hurricane’s impacts

Response numbers:

  • 23,000 people sought refuge in temporary shelters and more than 8.5 million customers lost power
  • Within 7 days, 17,000 federal responders were on the ground, including more than 5,000 FEMA employees (the largest personnel deployments in FEMA’s history)
  • FEMA provided 20 million liters of water, 16 million meals, nearly two million blankets, and roughly 80,000 cots for survivors and responders, including the resources that were pre-staged prior to the storm making landfall
  • At the peak of the response, 716 shelters were open with a population of nearly 27,000 in 16 states

Recovery numbers:

  • FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program (IHP) has provided assistance to more than 182,000 disaster survivors in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut
  • Through the IHP, FEMA has approved over $1.4 billion including more than $1.2 billion for housing assistance and over $200 million in assistance for other needs.
  • As of October 18, over 3,300 requests for Public Assistance (PA) projects have been approved and more than $2.1 billion has been obligated in New York.
  • In New Jersey, over 4,900 PA projects have been approved and nearly $930 million has been obligated. Eleven additional states were declared for Public Assistance due to the effects of Sandy and have been obligated approximately $150 million in assistance.
  • National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has serviced over 143,000 insurance claims totaling over $7.9 billion. More than 99 percent of the homeowners who made the decision to protect themselves by investing in flood insurance have received payments that are helping them to rebuild their homes, businesses, and communities.
  • In New Jersey alone, 99 percent of the 74,000 flood insurance claims made have been closed and over $3.8 billion paid to New Jersey residents.

During his testimony, Fugate also offered various lessons learned including the need to unify efforts across the federal government, be more “survivor-centric”, and develop a more agile and professional emergency management workforce.

What is your take on some of these numbers and figures? Were you surprised?

Leischen Kranick is a Managing Editor at AMU Edge. She has 15 years of experience writing articles and producing podcasts on topics relevant to law enforcement, fire services, emergency management, private security, and national security.

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