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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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April
2004
Volume 6
- Number 3 |
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Economic Loss in Disasters Joseph F. Jeannette II When a disaster strikes economic loss is great. In the United States we have seen economic loss change when the country encounters man-made and natural disasters. No matter if it was on September 11, 2001, the Northridge Earthquake in 1994, the Midwest Floods in 1993, or Hurricane Andrew in 1992, we have faced disasters that caused significant economic loss. Even though the attacks on September 11th and the natural hazards were all different in magnitude, the devastation these events produced required similar relief efforts from the federal government. All of the events encountered infrastructure damage, left millions homeless, jobless, hungry, and caused individuals to seek crisis counseling to cope with the disaster. September 11th caused the United States to suffer over 3,063 deaths and reports indicated 753 missing from New York City. The damage assessment was $83 billion and the incident affected the national economy and travel industry. The event affected the stock market to freeze and the airline industry to come to a halt. The Northridge earthquake killed 57 people, suffered an economic loss of $20-$40 billion and made 20,000 plus people homeless in the Los Angles area. The Midwest Floods killed 50 people, produced $15 billion in damages and caused 127 communities to evacuate not knowing when they would return to their homes. Hurricane Andrew killed 60 individuals, left over 180,000 homeless, and caused structure damage of $580 million. In order to meet the relief efforts for these events the federal government combined their resources to assist the state local governments. Specifically the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Small Business Administration (SBA) Department of Transportation (DOT) and other federal agencies played a significant role to provide relief during these events. During the Northridge Earthquake the president made $832.1 million available to California to assist with the damages. $809.5 million was directed to the California relief fund to include $625.5 million in SBA disaster loans, $53 million for economic development, $30 million for repair to homes, and $39 million to repair health facilities. Similarly, during the Midwest floods $4.2 million became available for response and recovery relief fund, $271 million came to help flood victims from the National Flood Insurance program and $621 million in other federal loans assisted individuals, businesses, and communities. After the attacks on September 11th in New York and Washington D.C., FEMA provided $270 million in public assistance loans for response and recovery. It also provided $82.5 million in individual assistance loans. Assistance from other federal agencies, like HUD and DOT, included $14 million in housing assistance, $2 million crisis counseling, and $2.75 million in disaster food stamps. These funds do not always arrive soon after a disaster in the case of Hurricane Andrew it took a while to get the relief. However, after thousands of individuals waited in line to tell the government about their loss, Hurricane Andrew received about $1.813 billion in disaster relief, which came from FEMA loan programs, HUD assisted with housing, and DOT improved transportation. Through out our history of disasters it is proven economic loss will occur. FEMA alone spent over 3.0 billion in response and recovery funds for all these disasters combined. While the amount of time it takes to repair a city after a disaster can vary, relief efforts through out after both natural and man-made disasters are the same. References: www.ibiblio.org/pub/archives/whithouse-papers/ www.fema.gov/hazards/floods/mwfld.93.shtm www.fema.gov/hazards/hurricanes/ http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d031174thigh.pdf http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/info/nr10/ http://www.eqe.com/publications/revf93/flood.htm http://www.gopbi.com/weather/content/weather/special/storm/getready/andrew/ http://server.iii.org/yy_obj_data/binary/627701_1_0/hurricane.pdf http://floridadisaster.org/dem/files/lewisr.pdf
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