Buttigieg releases disaster relief plan after volunteering in South Carolina

[femmedem]

"...Buttigieg, the first presidential candidate to release a full federal disaster relief plan, has talked about his own experience with flooding in South Bend and how it relates to climate change. And in his plan, he noted that South Bend has had a 500-year flood and a 1,000-year flood in a span of just 18 months. Hurricane Florence brought heavy flooding to Conway last year, and the South Carolina Emergency Management Division estimated in a release last year that Hurricane Florence damaged more than 1,500 homes.

In his first 100 days as president, Buttigieg says he'll open a disaster commission to improve coordination between local communities affected by disasters and federal agencies. The commission would be tasked with collecting data and making it easier to fill out the multiple disaster relief applications. The commission would also be charged with auditing reviews and streamlining funding for survivors.

Buttigieg also wants to see communities build a "culture of resilience" to "proactively prepare" for the next disaster. He proposes funding volunteer programs and supporting education efforts in community preparedness in order to engage more community members and to empower local communities to plan better for when weather catastrophes strike their community. Specifically, the plan notes that Buttigieg would support an increased budget to FEMA's Individual and Community Preparedness Division.

The plan also outlines that a Buttigieg administration would protect FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund and to bolster the number of FEMA trained disaster employees. The plan indicated that FEMA should not "be treated as a way to circumvent congressional intent."

More (but it's a short article): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/buttigieg-releases-federal-disaster-relief-plan-after-volunteering-in-conway/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Thanks for this thoughtful post!

Buttigieg has shown that being mayor gives him real governing experience. In South Bend, being mayor means he is responsible for a lot of the day to day details. It is not an honorary post that so many towns have. In those places, the city manager is the responsible head.

He understands what it means to face the continuing challenges of climate change. How many Senators can say that?

[femmedem]

2. Yes. Mayors know that they can lose all political capital if they mismanage a storm.

Last edited Wed Sep 18, 2019, 07:50 AM - Edit history (1)

I once asked a mayoral candidate what he would do to protect our coastal city from hurricanes, and he answered quite honestly that he wouldn't be able to protect us from impact, but he laid out how he would coordinate emergency response. (We got hit with Sandy during his tenure and he did do a great job.)

Given his mayoral experience, I'm not surprised that he has a strong disaster management plan.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Exactly! Thanks for stating this so clearly. n/t