Dear Secretary Napolitano:
As Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, we are writing to urge you to promptly finalize and release the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF). As storms and flooding continue to ravage the Central and Southeastern United States, and with hurricane season beginning tomorrow, it is critical that we have a clear plan for disaster recovery.
After the federal government’s failed response to Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 which created a new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) - with responsibilities, missions, capabilities, and resources far exceeding those of FEMA at the time of Hurricane Katrina. Section 682 of the Post-Katrina Act dealt specifically with disaster recovery by requiring FEMA, within 270 days of the Act’s implementation, to develop a National Disaster Recovery Strategy - a requirement that still has not been met. Administrator Fugate informed us in a letter dated Sept. 16, 2009, that FEMA was launching the development of the National Disaster Recovery Framework, which would address all of section 682’s requirements. While FEMA released a draft of the NDRF in early 2010, over a year has passed and a final version of the NDRF has yet to be released.
We have learned from the difficulties in the recovery from Hurricane Katrina that a well-developed recovery plan is essential to ensure that communities will be better able to recover from disasters - and to do so with coordinated assistance.
We request that you ensure FEMA quickly complete and release the NDRF and implement it as soon as possible. We also ask that you provide us with a timetable and plans for releasing and implementing the final NDRF, including information as to how DHS will ensure proper implementation and exercising of the NDRF, within seven days of receipt of this letter.
Sincerely,
Joseph I. Lieberman Susan M. Collins
Chairman Ranking Member
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Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
