Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Disaster Relief: Prevention Is the Key to Minimizing Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Recovery Efforts

In Sept. 2008, Hurricanes Ike and Gustav struck the Gulf Coast producing widespread damage and led to fed. major disaster declarations. Earlier this year, heavy flooding resulted in similar declarations in 7 Midwest states. Experiences from past disasters may help states and local governments better prepare for the challenges of managing and implementing the complexities of disaster recovery. This report reviewed 6 past disasters -- the Loma Prieta earthquake in N. Calif. (1989), Hurricane Andrew in S. Florida (1992), the Northridge earthquake in L.A., Calif. (1994), the Kobe earthquake in Japan (1995), the Grand Forks/Red River Flood in N. Dakota and Minnesota (1997), and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast. Illustrations.

Recovery from major disasters is a complex undertaking that involves the combined efforts of fed., state, and local gov¿t. in order to succeed. While the fed. govt. provides a significant amount of financial and technical assistance for recovery, state and local jurisdictions work closely with fed. agencies to secure and make use of those resources. This testimony describes lessons and insights that have been identified from review of past disasters, which may be useful to inform recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, as well as disasters yet to come. These lessons come from two reports released in the fall of 2009 on disaster recovery.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act delineates an important set of responsibilities in the accountability community. GAO's bimonthly reviews of selected states' and localities' uses of the Recovery Act funds will examine how funds are being used and achieving the stated purposes of the Recovery Act. A core group of 16 states has been selected to follow over the next few years to provide an ongoing longitudinal analysis of the use of these funds. These states contain about 65% of the U.S. population and are estimated to receive about 2/3 of the intergovernmental grants funds available through the Recovery Act. In addition, localities within these states will be sampled to provide a perspective on the use of funds at the local level.