Hearing of Senate Commerce Committee on The Lifesaving Role of Accurate Hurricane Prediction and Disaster Prevention and Prediction
Hearing of Senate Commerce Committee on The Lifesaving Role of Accurate Hurricane Prediction and Disaster Prevention and Prediction
In less than a year, we have witnessed two deadly natural disasters that have shocked the world and highlighted the urgent need to prepare adequately for almost unimaginable events.
First, the Indian Ocean tsunami brought the world's attention to the terrible toll tsunami can take on vulnerable coastal areas. But so much closer to home, we watched as a disaster of similar magnitude struck our shores along the Gulf Coast. While the causes were different, a tsunami and a coastal hurricane, the mechanisms of coastal death and destruction were the same.
Unlike the tsunami, we were adequately warned of Hurricane Katrina's ferocity, and I commend our witness, Mr. Max Mayfield, and his colleagues at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - including those operating NOAA's all-hazards warning system - for doing an outstanding job. Your forecasting was one of the few aspects of the federal response that can give us any satisfaction, and your success only underscores how important it is that we do everything possible to support your excellent work.
Katrina demonstrated, with startling clarity, that disaster preparation and response plans mean nothing when the execution fails. The ineptitude of the federal government response was particularly shocking, because we expected so much more 4 years after September 11. It appeared as though we learned nothing, despite several days advance notice.
Yet at this pivotal moment - when the lessons are clear and the expectations for improvement are enormous - it is entirely possible that intense budget pressures will both undermine our ability to improve our future response capabilities and erode the exceptional level of service provided by agencies such as NOAA and the Coast Guard. Ironically, the cost of recovery from this disaster, coupled with the war in Iraq, has the potential to threaten our preparedness for the next one.
Even before Katrina struck, we learned that budget pressures were driving the Administration to reduce hours and personnel in local Weather Forecast Offices in the next budget cycle. That is one plan the President should shelve immediately. Further, this Administration should not exacerbate the problem by failing to reimburse NOAA and the Coast Guard for its outstanding work in response to Katrina. Such a refusal is shortsighted and has the appearance of punishing the only two federal components that did respond adequately to our citizens. To deny them necessary resources to continue to operate at current levels is to place our citizens at greater risk from a future disaster.
From the Committee's long experience with natural disasters, we know that accurate prediction is only the first critical step. Effective preparation for catastrophic events encompasses a series of linked activities undertaken cooperatively, far in advance of a natural disaster, and it requires a committed level of funding over the long term.
Just as we did earlier this year in the Tsunami Preparedness legislation, we need to ensure that people know what to do when they are warned. Federal, state, and local governments, working with outside partners, need to have a coordinated response, and each needs to help educate at-risk communities on how to respond to natural or man-made disasters. After all, no matter how people receive a warning, the information is useless if they do not know how to respond.
The United States can obviously do better at preparing for natural and man-made hazards, and the response to the string of hurricanes that battered Florida last year is proof that we are capable of it. Close coordination between local governments and emergency personnel there resulted in a much more timely response to all four hurricanes. However, we cannot make this experience the national standard by stripping resources from the agencies that provide our core prediction, warning, and response capabilities.
This Committee must fully exercise its oversight authority on this critical point, and I urge my colleagues to join me in this effort.
http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=1607&wit_id=3969