Disaster Relief Fund: FEMA's Estimates of Funding Requirements Can Be Improved
RCED-00-182
Published: Aug 29, 2000. Publicly Released: Aug 29, 2000.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) determines current and future funding requirements for the Disaster Relief fund, focusing on the: (1) accuracy and timeliness of FEMA's estimates of costs for past disasters; (2) reasonableness of FEMA's approach to estimating the timing and cost of future disasters; and (3) impact of FEMA's initiatives on the rate of obligating disaster relief funds.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Directorate of Emergency Preparedness and Response | To improve the method for projecting the timing and cost of future disasters, the Director, FEMA, should base FEMA's estimate of the costs of disasters to be declared during the current and forthcoming fiscal year on the inflation-adjusted 5-year average cost of declared disasters. For each monthly report to Congress, FEMA should use the 5-year average cost of disasters, from the date of the report to the end of the fiscal year, and should present a range of end-of-year balances based on assumptions about the timing and cost of future disasters. |
Closed – Implemented
FEMA has implemented the recommendation. In its monthly reports to the Congress, FEMA is estimating the cost of future disasters using both its past methodology and the methodology GAO recommended. Both methodologies are presented to provide a range of assumptions and projected end-of-year balances in the Disaster Relief Fund.
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Topics
Data integrityDisaster relief aidEmergency managementEmergency preparednessFunds managementFuture budget projectionsReporting requirementsDisaster recoveryDisastersData errors