{
  "id": "R44977",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R44977",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 586077,
      "date": "2017-10-04",
      "retrieved": "2020-01-02T14:03:07.587169",
      "title": "Preliminary Damage Assessments for Major Disasters: Overview, Analysis, and Policy Observations ",
      "summary": "When a major disaster overwhelms a state or tribal nation\u2019s response capacity, the state\u2019s governor or tribal nation\u2019s chief executive may request a major disaster declaration from the federal government. The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act authorizes the President to issue major disaster declarations in response to such requests.\nTo evaluate a state or tribal nation\u2019s need for federal assistance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) uses a Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA) as a mechanism to determine the impact and magnitude of damage caused by the incident. Although not explicitly mentioned in the Stafford Act, PDAs play a crucial role in the declaration process. State and tribal governments use PDA information as part of the basis for their major disaster request, and FEMA relies on the PDA findings to provide a recommendation to the President concerning whether a major disaster declaration is warranted and what types of federal supplemental assistance should be made available. \nMore specifically, the PDA provides information about various \u201cfactors\u201d which FEMA evaluates to determine whether Public Assistance (PA) is warranted after an incident. For PA, these factors include estimated costs of assistance, localized impacts, insurance coverage, hazard mitigation, recent multiple disasters, and the availability of other federal resources. Similarly, FEMA uses information from the PDA to assess factors that determine whether an incident warrants Individual Assistance (IA) and, if so, which types of IA. \nDespite their importance in the declaration process, PDA information has only recently been publicly available. In 2008, FEMA, at the direction of Congress, began to post PDA reports on its website. PDA reports contain information concerning (1) damage estimates, (2) demographic information of the affected area (including percentages of elderly populations and low-income households), and (3) insurance coverage in the area. \nThis report analyzes a dataset built from 587 PDA documents. It also compares that constructed dataset to a previously constructed dataset of disaster declarations and other data from FEMA regarding obligations from the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), the account from which FEMA provides PA and IA. \nIn recent years, congressional interest in emergency management has focused on funding, program administration, and program coordination\u2014both among federal agencies and state emergency management agencies. The data from PDA reports informs debates about these policy issues. For example, PDA reports provide insight as to whether FEMA recommendations are applied uniformly to all major disaster requests. Similarly, PDA reports can be analyzed to address congressional concerns over whether PA and IA determinations are systematic and appropriate. More broadly, PDA information can inform the debate over whether federal disaster assistance is being provided for incidents that could be handled at the state, local, or tribal level.\nSome of the key findings in this report include\nmajor disaster declarations that authorize PA generally conform with the PA thresholds outlined in regulation;\nhigher percentages of low-income households in a disaster-impacted area seem to influence the decision to authorize IA;\nof requests that were neither expedited nor appealed, 18.5% were decided within one week, 63.7% were decided within two weeks, and 89.8% were decided within one month;\nthe time between a major disaster request and decision varies based on the amount of PA and IA damage as well as the type of event; and\nthe magnitude of PDA estimates for both PA and IA that under-estimate ultimate obligations is greater than the magnitude of estimates that over-estimate ultimate obligations.\nThis report concludes with policy observations and considerations for Congress. These considerations include\nreplacing the per capita threshold used by FEMA to make major disaster recommendations with another form of measurement;\nrequiring PDA reports to include additional information about the incident;\ntaking measures to increase PDA accuracy; and \namending Section 320 of the Stafford Act. \nThis report will be updated as events warrant.",
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      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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      "topics": []
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  "topics": [
    "American Law",
    "Economic Policy",
    "Foreign Affairs"
  ]
}