FEMA Disaster Fund Running Dangerously Low as Global Heating Worsens Risks of Costly, Deadly Climate Impacts

FEMA confirmed it has been operating on an "Immediate Needs Funding" (INF) basis since August 7, which means the agency has been prioritizing immediate lifesaving and life-sustaining response and recovery efforts while halting many categories of recovery funding for past disasters, as well as pausing unobligated grants, until Congress allocates more funding to the DRF.

Already this year, the United States has experienced 64 major disaster declarations. Of those, 20 have crossed the billion-dollar threshold for damages and collectively contributed to the deaths of 149 people with a total economic cost of $53 billion, according to the latest data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Today's announcement about the DRF comes as hurricane and wildfire risks are reaching their typical seasonal peaks.

Below is a statement by Shana Udvardy, a senior climate resilience policy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

"It's urgent that Congress acts quickly to pass legislation that will adequately supplement FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund, ensuring communities receive the assistance they need and deserve to get back on their feet quickly in the aftermath of disasters.

"With climate change increasing the risks of many types of disasters, continuing to base annual DRF funding primarily on past averages and narrow political considerations will all but guarantee it routinely falls short in meeting community needs. Federal legislators must instead implement a more holistic and humane approach that ensures robust yearly funding for the DRF, as well as adequate resources for proactive investments in climate resilience to limit harms to people in the first place.

"Unchecked climate change is costly and deadly. Sharply curtailing global heat-trapping emissions remains paramount to lessening the economic and human toll from disasters."

In addition to the urgent need to replenish the DRF, UCS experts can also discuss the following:

• The importance of pre-disaster risk reduction, preparedness and resilience.

• The need for Congress to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) with meaningful reforms instead of yet another short-term extension.

• The importance of tracking FEMA's progress in living into its Justice40 commitment-which requires targeting at least 40% of the benefits of specific FEMA programs to disadvantaged communities.

• The impacts of growing climate risks on the homeowners' insurance market, including in acutely exposed states like California, Florida, Louisiana and Texas.

• The need to effectively address the constrained supply of climate-safe affordable housing units and disaster shelter and assistance for unhoused populations.

• How federal, state, local and tribal governments and territories, along with communities and businesses, can better prepare for worsening climate change impacts.

• The 2024 "Danger Season," the time roughly from May through October in the Northern Hemisphere when U.S. climate change impacts are at their peak and increasingly likely to collide with one another. Check out the UCS Danger Season tracker, which is updated daily.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.