From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Transcript for: Your GAO: Improving FEMA's Assistance for Disaster
Survivors

Description: FEMA provided over $3 billion to over 1 million survivors
affected by recent disasters. However, these individuals and households
faced challenges communicating with FEMA, such as long wait times when
calling FEMA's helpline. There has been recent interest in reviewing the
federal role in disaster response. Federal and state officials
emphasized that state and local governments would need time to prepare
for any changes since they currently rely on significant federal
support. This is the third report in a series on disaster response. The
second was on state and local response capabilities, and the first was
on the federal response workforce.

Related GAO Work: GAO-26-108154, Disaster Assistance High-Risk Series:
FEMA Assistance for Disaster Survivors

Released: April 2026


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Your GAO
Improving FEMA's Assistance for Disaster Survivors


[ GAO's Chris Currie, Director, Homeland Security and Justice, speaking: ]

We travel all over the country. We visit disaster locations right after
they happen, and also talk to state and local officials. We also walk
around with FEMA officials when they're registering survivors and hear
survivors talk about their challenges and what they're facing in the
aftermath of a disaster.

When you come out and meet people where they're at, there's an openness
and willingness for people to want to share their story with you because
you're in their environment. You get to know people and they open up to
you and they tell you things that they might not otherwise tell you. 


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Chris Currie
Director, U.S. Government Accountability Office


[ Chris Currie: ]

The other thing is, you read between the lines, you see facial
expressions, you see what they're frustrated about. You can sense things
that are that are working, things that are not working, that you just
there's no way you can do that over the phone. 

They're trying to figure out, you know, where they're going to live, how
they're going to pay rent, where they're going to get help, how they're
going to get new clothes because their clothes were destroyed by a
flood. It's just an awful, awful set of circumstances. For people that
already have very few resources to begin with, it's even worse. 

And so just seeing, like, talking to folks and seeing the road ahead of
them and how long it was going to take, for them to get back on their
feet if they ever were able to get back on their feet. That's the part
that I think has hit me and I think made me even more committed to
trying to make some of these federal programs that help people that much
more accessible, that much easier to use.


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Your GAO
Accountability * Integrity * Reliability


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For more info, check out our report GAO-26-108154 at: GAO.gov