From HSTODAY: PERSPECTIVE: AI-Powered Automation Is Changing Disaster Relief Efforts. AI-powered automation alleviates disaster response teams’ workload by automating tedious aspects of their work and quickly connecting data to drive insights across multiple disparate systems.
From the Congressional Research Service, this report ( 24 pp) on Emergency Relief Program for Disaster-Damaged Highways and Bridges
From The Hill: Lawmakers unveil bipartisan measure making FEMA its own Cabinet-level agency
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) introduced bipartisan legislation Wednesday that would make the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) its own Cabinet-level department, elevating its importance as natural disasters regularly thrust it into the national spotlight.
Moskowitz, who formerly headed Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, and Graves argued that bureaucratic red tape is hindering FEMA’s ability to respond rapidly.
By removing the agency from under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), they said in their press release, they hope to “drastically improve FEMA’s ability to prepare, respond, and recover.”
From Mother Jones: FEMA aims to help underserved communities prep for climate havoc
Though the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is best known for disaster response, it has emerged as perhaps the federal government’s most robust resource for preparing the country for the effects of a warming world. The agency has pumped billions of dollars into climate adaptation projects over the past few years, helping states and cities relocate flood-prone homes and harden infrastructure against wildfires.
But the agency’s infrastructure programs have drawn criticism for disproportionately funneling money toward larger, wealthier, and whiter communities, leaving smaller and poorer jurisdictions without the money they need to adapt to worsening climate-driven disasters.
There are two big reasons for this funding gap. The first is that FEMA doles out adaptation money through competitive grant programs, which means that a local government needs significant funding and staff to put together an application that stands a chance of attracting federal dollars. The second is that federal law requires the agency to fund only those adaptation projects that pass what it calls a “benefit-cost analysis.”
From the WashPost: Morocco’s reluctance to accept quake aid baffles foreign governments.
From the Wash Post: Why we all need to think like Floridians now.
“Florida was developed under the assumption that canals, pumps and clever engineering could turn swamps and sandbars into cities, reversing the state’s geological history. For decades, those tools mostly worked.
But recent storms and floods are highlighting Florida’s tenuous status as dry land. We’re entering a more extreme climate regime, Hurricane Idalia’s record-breaking storm surges and roaring winds remind us. It’s one that could overwhelm even a state used to the onslaught.”
From the WashPost: These five cities could be one natural disaster away from a catastrophic water crisis. Sept. 2, 2023.
From the WashPost: Maui’s neglected grasslands caused Lahaina fire to grow with deadly speed. Visual analysis retraces how the grasslands blazed. Landowners and the government have done little to address the well-known problem.
“A Washington Post investigation found that the inferno that burned Lahaina town to the ground began on a fallow, unmanaged plot of land on a hill north of downtown, and the geographic spread and density of the nonnative grasses were key elements to creating a fast-moving, uncontrollable fire.”
From the WashPost: Biden seeks $16 billion in disaster aid as Idalia, wildfires deplete federal funds.The new request is $4 billion more than the White House initially sought, as the government grapples with a raft of expensive, deadly natural disasters
Recovery Diva 