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S. Hrg. 113–216 

ROLE OF PRIVATE SECTOR IN PREPAREDNESS 

AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY 

MANAGEMENT, INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, 

AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

MAY 8, 2013 

Available via http://www.fdsys.gov 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security 

and Governmental Affairs 

( 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

MARK BEGICH, Alaska 

TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin 

HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire 

RICHARD J. KESSLER, Staff Director 

KEITH B. ASHDOWN, Minority Staff Director 

TRINA D. SHIFFMAN, Chief Clerk 

LAURA W. KILBRIDE, Hearing Clerk 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, INTERGOVERNMENTAL 

RELATIONS, AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 

MARK BEGICH, Alaska Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

JON TESTER, Montana 

HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

PAT MCQUILLAN, Staff Director 

BRANDON BOOKER, Minority Staff Director 

KELSEY STROUD, Chief Clerk 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Opening statement: Page 

Senator Begich .................................................................................................. 1 

Senator Paul ..................................................................................................... 3 

WITNESSES 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2013 

Elizabeth Zimmerman, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Response 

and Recovery, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department 

of Homeland Security .......................................................................................... 4 

Michael Chodos, Associate Administrator, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, U.S. Small Business Administration ....................................................... 6 

Christopher Terzich, Chair, Regional Consortium Coordinating Council ........... 17 

Michael Merwarth, Senior Vice President, United Services Automobile Association, on behalf of the BuildStrong Coalition ................................................. 19 

Daniel L. Stoecker, Executive Director, National Volunteer Organizations 

Active in Disaster ................................................................................................. 21 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

Chodos, Michael: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 37 

Merwarth, Michael: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 19 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 50 

Stoecker, Daniel L.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 21 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 56 

Terzich, Christopher: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 17 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 42 

Zimmerman, Elizabeth: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 4 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 31 

APPENDIX 

John W. Madden, Director, Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, prepared statement ........................................................... 66 

Questions and responses for the Record from: 

Ms. Zimmerman ................................................................................................ 70 

Mr. Chodos ........................................................................................................ 75 

Mr. Terzich ........................................................................................................ 77 

Mr. Stoecker ...................................................................................................... 78 

(1) 

THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR IN 

PREPAREDNESS AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2013 

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT,

INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS,

AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:44 p.m., in room 

SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Mark Begich, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Begich and Paul. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BEGICH 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you very much. I appreciate you all 

being here. I was just saying to Senator Paul, and he indicated to 

me he has already had all the testimony, passed some legislation, 

and so we are all done for the day. We really appreciate you all 

being here. [Laughter.] 

Don’t we wish this would run like that at times. 

Thank you all very much for being here. We will call the Subcommittee on Emergency Management, Intergovernmental Relations, and the District of Columbia (EMDC) of the U.S. Senate 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to 

order. We appreciate the panels for being here, and we thank you 

very much for taking your time today. 

Good afternoon and welcome to the first hearing of the Subcommittee on Emergency Management, Intergovernmental Relations, and the District of Columbia. I want to begin by thanking 

all our witnesses here today for their willingness to participate as 

we examine the role of the private sector in disaster preparedness 

and response. I thank the witnesses for their patience due to the 

delayed start here, as we had important votes in front of us. 

In this time of declining budgets and limited Federal and State 

and local government resources, the involvement of the private sector in disaster assistance is critical. As we recently saw during the 

response of Hurricane Sandy, the whole-of-community approach to 

disaster provides the best chance for success. By leveraging the 

skills and resources of retail, insurance, financial, transportation 

industries as well as nonprofit organizations, essential services can 

be provided in effective and efficient ways. 
2 

This approach can save taxpayer dollars while promoting and 

supporting the businesses that play a vital role in the long-term 

economic tax base of our States and territories. 

Restoring the economic vitality of an affected region has been a 

priority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 

Administrator Fugate but is not simply a Federal responsibility. 

Our States and communities are best positioned to understand the 

opportunities for public-private partnerships. 

Perhaps nowhere is this more important for engaging the private 

sector than in my own State of Alaska. Given the separation between Alaska and the rest of the country, we must work with the 

private sector in the immediate aftermath of disasters. Even in Anchorage, if something happened to Alcan Highway or the port of 

Anchorage in a disaster, the State and local response teams would 

be hard pressed to get supplies to needed communities without the 

help of the private sector. We face natural and manmade threats 

every day, and response to a disaster will involve stakeholders 

from every sector across our State in order to address our unique 

challenges. The interdependencies that exist between our cities and 

villages make cooperation a critical component of our response. 

As many of you may know, prior to coming to the U.S. Senate, 

I was mayor of Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage. During my time 

as mayor, our city was unfortunately confronted with some extreme 

weather events that caused damage to homes and businesses and 

required quick response from my office. I worked with the businesses across the municipality of Anchorage, including Home 

Depot, Sam’s Club, and others, to establish an agreement that 

avoided price gouging on plywood and other supplies critical to the 

relief efforts. This public-private partnership was key to ensuring 

work crews were able to access the needs of the community before 

there could be a rush on the goods. This cost us nothing and was 

a great example of how storm preparedness, preparation, and response is greatly improved when we work together to ensure our 

communities emerge whole after storm events. 

As we all know, the primary responsibility of responders in disasters is to save lives. This is accomplished by coordinating all Federal, State, local, and private sector efforts to adequately support 

but not replace local operations. The private sector should not be 

an afterthought, but should be involved in the local planning, training, and exercising that leads up to a successful response mission. 

Innovation is integral to promoting emergency preparedness in 

response and concern with our private sector partners. Just as critical, however, is the work done before a disaster to reduce the social and economic impacts of these events. Loss avoidance and mitigation measures can deliver a positive return on investment and 

lessen future losses. The private sector routinely factors loss avoidance into their short-and long-term planning, and we look forward 

to understanding how these same strategies can be promoted at the 

State and local level to create sustained, resilient communities. 

I look forward to today’s discussion, and before we start, I will 

turn to the Ranking Member, Senator Paul, if he has some comments he would like to make. 
3 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PAUL 

Senator PAUL. I would like to thank Senator Begich for putting 

this hearing together and drawing attention to both what government does to help people and also particularly what private entities 

do to help people. 

When Hurricane Katrina happened, I think we gave billions of 

dollars privately. The government did a lot, too, but the private 

sector did quite a bit. In my community, the president of my Lions 

Club, Cardine Harrison, that year went down for several months 

with the Salvation Army. A friend of mine from medical school, 

George Ibrahim, housed a family I think for nearly a year from 

New Orleans in his house. They lived with him in his house. So 

Americans do extraordinary things through a voluntary basis and 

through donations, and I think it is just amazing. 

One point I would like to make and hopefully will address some 

is just that I think sometimes when we try to be everything to everyone, we do too much and we try to offer too much that we cannot help the people who truly need it. I think this happens in welfare and disability. I am forever saying in my speeches, if you look 

like me and you hop out of your truck, you should not be on disability. 

The same way with disaster loans. There are true disasters, and 

then there are disasters that still have two legs, two arms, and are 

not on dialysis and walking around and may not need government’s 

help. 

Four decades ago, we had 435 per decade disaster relief, then 

351 the next decade, then 929 two decades ago. Now we are up to 

1,395 disasters. So I think we have expanded the definition probably of disasters. FEMA does not have enough money, and we are 

forever looking for more money. 

Hurricane Sandy was a disaster. Hurricane Katrina was a disaster. I think there are some things there is no question. But if we 

expand the definition just like if we expand the definition of disability and we are trying to help people who are not truly disabled, 

it is less money for the truly disabled. The same thing goes for 

storms. If we expand the definition of storms and we try to help 

too many people, there is not enough money. We are borrowing 

from foreign countries to pay for it, and then when we truly have 

a disaster, the people who need it do not have enough money because we have spent it on, I think, things that may not have been 

or should not have been defined as a disaster at the time. 

But I welcome the conversation and am glad to be part of it. 

Thank you. 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you very much. 

Let us get to our first panel. Again, we want to thank you for 

participating today. 

We have Elizabeth Zimmerman, Deputy Associate Administrator, 

Office of Response and Recovery, Federal Emergency Management 

Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

Also, Michael Chodos, Associate Administrator, Office of Entrepreneurial Development (OED), U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). 
4 

1The prepared statement of Ms. Zimmerman appears in the Appendix on page 31. 

Again, we want to thank you both for being here. I will turn to 

Elizabeth Zimmerman first, and then we will go to you, Michael, 

if that is OK. 

TESTIMONY OF ELIZABETH ZIMMERMAN,1 DEPUTY ASSOCIATE 

ADMINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF RESPONSE AND RECOVERY, 

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. Well, good afternoon, and thank you, Chairman 

Begich and Ranking Member Paul. I am very happy to be here to 

be able to have this discussion and talk about the private sector 

because it is very important to us. As you mentioned, I am the 

Deputy Associate Administrator for Response and Recovery at 

FEMA, so that is everything that you do see going out in the news 

and all that. 

I look forward to really sharing and highlighting some of the collaborative endeavors that we have done with the private sector. 

Thank you, Chairman Begich, for mentioning the whole community 

because that is key. That is what FEMA—as we have talked about 

FEMA is not the team. FEMA is only part of the team, and only 

one piece of that, as well as the government itself. There are so 

many more aspects to it, and we have really been engaged in the 

last 4 years with our traditional emergency management partners 

as well as the non-traditional ones to really build what we call the 

whole community. The private sector is a significant member of 

that team also. 

We have been able to see the Nation’s vast network of business, 

industry, academia, trade associations, and other nongovernmental 

organizations really as equal partners to us in the phase of disaster 

cycles. So from the preparedness that we do now, response during 

the disaster, recovering after, and then those efforts of mitigation 

that are threaded through the whole process of emergency management are very key that we are all participating in that. 

We are better able to provide assistance now to disaster survivors and the impacted communities when the public sector as 

well as the private sector are very active members and working together for that community to recover. 

FEMA really places a premium on our relationship that we do 

have with the public and private partnerships as well as the tools 

that we have been able to develop and to share and the resources 

to build to enhance those relationships that we have. 

The private sector outreach and steady State that we do have, 

we engage a variety of segments of the private sector through our 

various activities. There’s the seasonal public affairs campaigns 

that we do, Preparedness Month in September, as well as things 

all throughout the year, providing feedback, and then also asking 

our business partners to provide feedback on the national policies 

and participating in joint exercises, everything that we do, keeping 

them hand in hand with us. 

FEMA did create a QuakeSmart program to help those local 

businesses mitigate earthquake damage losses and to get back up 

and running, to run them through scenarios. We have set up six 
5 

different exercises that businesses can go online, pull off, see the 

injects, and run through an exercise, whether it is a cyber-type 

event or a flood, so that is something that has been very valuable. 

Also, this July, we are going to host the third annual public-private partnership conference, and it is based on resilience, is the 

theme of that conference. 

FEMA also has established private sector representatives within 

FEMA. We did this back in October 2010, put it out there for business and industry to have folks select an individual that would actually come to FEMA and work for 90 days in our offices working 

side by side with us, so not just through the—so they were stationed there. So far we have had eight companies commit the resources, because it is an expense to the businesses. It started at 

Target, as I said, back in October 2010. Big Lots sent a representative; Brookfield Properties; Verizon; Systems Planning Corporation, 

which is a small business, there are only a few people in the business; Walmart; and most recently, Dominion Power. When Hurricane Sandy hit, Dominion Power had a representative working 

right there in FEMA’s office. And we are continuing that program 

so that we can be truly integrated and collaborative when we are 

working. 

So these continue to work at the national level, and I am proud 

to say that we are expanding that. FEMA has the 10 regional offices, and our Region 5 in Chicago will be getting a partner from— 

Walgreens will be coming in there to be able to work and to be 

more collaborative at the regional level and working with the 

States and bringing their folks together. So we are very excited for 

that. 

Also, FEMA is working to bring representatives from the academic community in to support us. 

One of the things that we established back in July 2012 was the 

National Business Emergency Operations Center (NBEOC), and 

that is a virtual center where we are able to communicate during 

times of disaster—well, pre-hand we are coordinating, but then 

during disaster we are able to reach out to the businesses that 

have participated in that, and we have hundreds of businesses that 

are participating and able to get information out and to get information in, because we have to be able to share both ways. So it 

has been very productive during disasters, as I said, to be able to 

know what businesses are open, what businesses are closed. So 

these are things that we have been able to do through our processes and working with the private sector. 

There are many other things that we have been able to do in 

working—I want to say that businesses are not our only nongovernmental entities. Also, the faith-based organizations, the voluntary agencies, some of the other representatives that are on the 

next panel. So it is very key for us. We have signed a number of 

agreements with these agencies, the National VOAD, the Red 

Cross. We are signing up with the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), 

the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 

(NAACP), as well as many faith-based organizations as we are 

working together. 
6 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Chodos appears in the Appendix on page 37. 

So, in closing, I would just like to thank you for allowing us to 

be here today. I appreciate this invitation. There is a lot of great 

work that has been going on with our partners, and we are happy 

to be here. 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you very much. 

And let me now turn to Michael Chodos. Michael. 

TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL CHODOS,1 ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT, 

U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

Mr. CHODOS. Thank you, Chairman Begich and Ranking Member 

Paul, for the opportunity to testify today regarding the Small Business Administration’s role in helping communities recover and rebuild after major disasters, as well as the importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors in disaster response 

and long-term recovery. 

As you know, SBA is responsible for providing affordable, timely, 

and accessible financial assistance in the form of low-interest loans 

to businesses of all sizes, homeowners, renters, and nonprofit organizations in the aftermath of a disaster. 

When a major disaster strikes, SBA is on the ground across the 

affected region, providing individuals and businesses with information, support, and access to disaster recovery loans. After a major 

disaster, it is well known that we provide disaster recovery loans; 

however, those loans are only one small part of the agency-wide approach that we offer to affected communities. For example, because 

of the series of major disasters we have seen in recent years and 

the expectation of future extreme weather and other impacts of climate change, SBA has put a strong emphasis on preparedness 

through online training, district office outreach, and national 

webinars, including especially through public-private partnerships. 

Also, our Office of Entrepreneurial Development, of which I am 

in charge, and our vast network of business counselors and economic development partners also play an essential role on the 

ground in preparedness for small businesses, training thousands of 

businesses each year in the essentials of disaster planning. In addition, when a disaster strikes, our partner network is there on the 

ground to help the region’s small businesses restart, rebuild, and 

thrive again. 

Our entrepreneurial development programs and partners are 

deeply embedded in the local and regional economic development 

ecosystems in communities across the country. We support over 1 

million clients annually and have more than 14,000 business counselors, mentors, and trainers available through our Small Business 

Development Centers (SBDCs), Women’s Business Centers (WBCs), 

and SCORE chapters. 

In addition to their Federal funding, our partners receive funding 

from State and local governments, educational institutions, charitable foundations, and corporate and other private sector partners. 

Our vast partner network, in addition to our 68 district offices, is 

what makes us uniquely situated to aid survivors in the aftermath 

of a disaster and to act as the glue which connects the different 
7 

parts of the community and provides the information necessary for 

our small businesses to connect with the other partners that they 

need in order to be able to recover. 

So immediately after a disaster occurs, our resource partners 

help staff Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs). They provide intake 

space for Business Recovery Centers in their own service center locations, and they set up informational events in communities 

across the area. 

In this early period after a disaster, our partners help business 

owners map out the recovery process, collect information, and apply 

for disaster loans. They connect business owners with other State, 

local, and Federal resources, ranging from help accessing governmental and utility programs to connections with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to obtain copies of critical tax documents. Our 

partners also help businesses take the first concrete steps to obtain 

the capital, resources, and mentoring that they need to get back up 

and running. In addition, they help small businesses to connect 

with each other, with lost suppliers and with new customer networks. 

Over the long term, our resource partners help existing businesses review and reshape their business plans, vendor and customer relationships, marketing and customer acquisition plans, and 

financing arrangements. We know that some small businesses 

hardest hit by a disaster will unfortunately never return and reopen; therefore, our partners also help new businesses get access 

to the tools they need to plan for successful growth and to make 

their communities vibrant again. 

With regard to our response to Hurricane Sandy, the Hurricane Sandy supplemental enacted by Congress provided $20 million for 

small business technical assistance for the areas impacted. SBA is 

using a two-phase approach to jump-start the recovery process and 

invest in rebuilding. In the first phase, which we have already deployed, $5.8 million 

approximately was focused on immediate and intensive business 

counseling and training to support recovery as businesses are getting back up to speed. 

In phase 2 of our Hurricane Sandy response, we are using the 

remaining funds to build long-term, community-based, collaborative 

business recovery and resiliency in the affected counties. In this 

phase, our partners are collaborating with each other, with the private sector, and with State and local mayors’ offices, Governors’ offices, and community economic development corporations to have a 

single, non-duplicative, and coordinated effort to get businesses 

back up and running. 

With that, I thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I look 

forward to your questions. 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you very much. 

We will probably each have a 5-minute round, but we may double up because we have a little time if there are additional questions, so we might go back and forth. I just have a couple to start 

off with, but, again, thank you both for being here. 

Ms. Zimmerman, I have been, you may have read, a little bit of 

a critic at times on the private sector office within FEMA, so I 

want you to kind of explain a little bit more how we are engaged 
8 

with stakeholders, from a function standpoint, what does it do and 

how does it work from how you see it. I have mentioned this more 

than once about what does this office do, how does it work, and I 

will be honest with you. When I go out to the business community 

throughout Alaska and in here, when I have seen more around the 

country when I am traveling, I have only found one business, large 

business, that has at least connected with this office, I should say. 

So help me understand this, and tell me about its role and functions. 

I do not mean to put you on the spot there, but it is one of those 

questions that—I know in the back of their minds over there at 

FEMA they are saying, ‘‘That Begich keeps talking about this. We 

want to tell him.’’ So this is your opportunity. 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. Thank you very much, Chairman. Yes, this office is within External Affairs for FEMA, right under the Administrator, and it is there to collaborate and to reach out. They do a 

lot of outreach to the businesses, small and large, to bring them in 

and to be able to share the emergency management. So they have 

provided what we—— 

Senator BEGICH. Can I interrupt for a second? Before and after 

and during? 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. Yes, before, after, and during. Yes. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. So through the whole phase of disasters, and 

whether it is preparedness, talking preparedness things, or mitigation, what can they do to help them to withstand damages from the 

disaster. So that office is doing a lot of outreach to all types of businesses, and it is not just businesses, but it is the faith-based community and it is everybody. So working within our program areas 

we have public assistance, which is the rebuilding of infrastructure, 

as well as individual assistance programs that we have for the individuals that are impacted by disasters. So this office reaches out 

to everything, as I said, within Response and Recovery that we do 

to help share and to bring those resources in to find out what those 

needs are going to be. And working with them—we just hosted a 

meeting, and I believe there were about 30 different companies 

that came into FEMA’s office for a meeting to see how we were 

doing, to talk about things, what resources we could be providing 

to them, much like we do to States and local communities for providing exercise support, like I had mentioned with giving them 

here’s the injects, you sit down and have this tabletop discussion: 

What are you going to do if an earthquake happens here? What are 

you going to do if a flood happens? And how you work through 

that. 

So this office is our point to reach out to that. They work very 

closely with the Department of Homeland Security’s private sector 

office as well as the other components within DHS, as well as those 

within the White House and other offices to bring the business 

partners. Obviously, we work very closely with SBA, Economic Development, and all of those people to help to coordinate that. So 

that is what this office does. 

There is a private sector lead—or we have our lead, and then 

right underneath that is the private sector representative that we 
9 

have come in, like I said. They are in there for 90 days. The company commits to—— 

Senator BEGICH. You have a loan executive or something like 

that? 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. So yes, I mean, it is staff members, people that 

have worked in maybe emergency management for that corporation. As I said, Target was the first representative. So that person 

sat in our Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and the National 

Response and Coordination Center (NRCC) during disasters, way 

back during Lee and, everything that we have been through. So 

they are sitting, and they are coordinating with the private sector. 

So it has been great. We have been able to—during Hurricane 

Isaac, we were able to reach out, find out where the stores were 

opened, find out what is open, because the one thing FEMA does 

not want to do is set up a point of distribution with the State and 

this local community and then find out that store is open. So being 

able to coordinate and say, OK, this part of town is good, so that, 

people are able to go in and shop. We want to get people doing 

that. So looking at where is the hardest hit. So we work with the 

businesses to say, OK, we need to go over here because this store 

is not going to open immediately, we need to make sure folks have 

the resources that they need. 

So really coordinating that way as well as during Hurricane 

Sandy we found businesses saying, our employees have been impacted by the disaster, so actually being able to coordinate that and 

to bring our representatives in the field to take applications. They 

are trying to keep the business open and running, and at the same 

time, they want to be able to apply for the services. And so, bringing us to them instead of them having to come to some facility that 

we set up. 

So we have been able to do a lot of coordination that way. 

Senator BEGICH. Very good. My time has expired on the first 5 

minutes, but I want to turn to Senator Paul. I do have some additional questions for both of you, but I will turn to Senator Paul 

next. 

Senator PAUL. Well, thank you to the panel for attending and 

coming and giving us your presentations today. 

When you build a house, you get an estimate, you work with the 

builder. You talk about—you have to give them choices: Do you 

want wood or carpet, Formica or granite, linoleum, tile? You go 

through all these choices, and they give you their best-faith estimate. But they still do not ask for all the money up front. If you 

are going to build a $200,000 house, you give them a downpayment 

on it. And then as you build it, you watch. The builder tells you 

if you are going over or under and gives you another estimate as 

you go along. And sometimes you end up paying more. In my 

house, we did pay a little more because things were not estimated. 

Maybe we wanted something that we did not tell them specifically 

enough. 

But the industry of building houses and the industry of the way 

the marketplace works is they are not so trusting as to give all the 

money up front. They want to know beforehand and they want to 

know specifics, and the people who are paying are hesitant to pay 

too much. 
10 

So when we come to Hurricane Sandy, we have something where 

politicians on both sides, they insist, they demand, they put their 

arms up in the air and said, ‘‘Give me my money. Give it all, $60 

billion.’’ I frankly find it inconceivable that you could really calculate where you are going to spend $60 billion. I think nobody has 

any idea. And if I ask you the specific receipt, are you paying for 

wood or tile or linoleum or tile, nobody has any idea. That is just 

too big a number. 

I mean, private corporations cannot figure that out. Nobody can. 

And that is why I ask, give it a little bit at a time, like building 

a house. Give $9 billion for 1 year, see how they are doing with the 

money, investigate the $9 billion, make sure it is being spent appropriately. 

There have been accusations that money in the past did not always go to the right thing, that people came in with television sets 

and said, ‘‘My TV was broken in 1997 after a big storm,’’ and they 

got a new TV. I mean, this happened—there are a lot of accusations of this. There were prisoners in Baton Rouge who got, displacement money while they were in jail for Hurricane Katrina. 

And it is not because I think you are bad people at FEMA, and I 

do not, but I think you cannot manage $60 billion. You cannot find 

who the bad people are. You cannot find who the fraud is, and you 

cannot spend the money wisely. 

So my question is: Do you think it is a good idea—this is to Ms. 

Zimmerman. I know you are going to love this question. Do you 

think it is a good idea to have so much money all up front, or do 

you think it would have been better to stagger the money and then 

see if it is being wisely spent and monitored a little bit at a time? 

The other reasoning being we do not have any money. We are a 

trillion dollars short up here. FEMA does not pay for itself. We do 

not allocate money for FEMA. We go from one disaster to another. 

Do you think it is best to get all the money up front, or would 

it better to dole it out a little bit at a time? 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. Thank you, Senator. Yes, so of the $60 billion, 

as you know, $11 billion came to FEMA for the Disaster Relief 

Fund (DRF), for our programs, for public assistance and individual 

assistance. So our program for public assistance and for the rebuilding that we are covering is a reimbursement. So they go out 

and they do estimates, much like what you were saying, and then 

they start building. And then as they—because some of these 

projects are very expensive, and it is going to take time. So as they 

incur costs, then we can reimburse them. So it is not all up front 

at this point for FEMA’s program. 

Senator PAUL. Your money was given up front. You got it all, 

right? 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. So we got $11 billion of the $60 billion that was 

given. So, yes, so we got our money. So it sits in the Disaster Relief 

Fund until we need to draw it down and to be able to use that. So 

that is reimbursement. 

The money that goes to the individuals, on the other hand, is a 

grant, and that is—— 

Senator PAUL. Do the individuals have to prove that they do not 

have insurance to get money? 
11 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. Yes. So we have to go through, and as you 

talked about Hurricane Katrina, and the things that happened 

there, and we have done a lot—put a lot of things in place since 

then to be able to do better with the identity verification process, 

so being able to scan in, to punch in when somebody calls in to our 

call center or goes online and we can—we have different ways of 

verifying that address. We have also found a number of ways to 

take some of the biggest hits. People will use some of the checkcashing or, 7-Elevens or something as their address, and it is not 

really their address. 

So we have put things in place to be able to do more identity 

verification, as well as people running Social Security numbers and 

all of that since Hurricane Katrina. We have taken our improper 

payment rate down from over 14 percent to less than 0.3. 

Senator PAUL. I guess my problem is it is a huge guess. How do 

you know you are going to spend $11 billion? You have no idea. I 

mean, it is just a huge guess. Nobody can guess that specifically. 

And my tendency is to believe the government is not—you are not 

going to be sending us any of it back. I have yet to see a government entity send a couple billion back and say, ‘‘Oh, we very wisely 

underspent here, and we checked everybody so well, we had money 

left over.’’ That is why I would have only given you $2 billion or 

$3 billion. I would have said, ‘‘Prove to me that you can do a good 

job,’’ and then I would have monitored you. That would be my oversight. That is what—I am supposed to represent and defend the 

Treasury. I should be doing that. But I do not think we did that. 

I think—and I trust you are a good person. You will try to do a 

good job. But the history of government is that people do not treat 

it like their money. It is somebody else’s money. It is money that 

none of us could ever have. We do not know what $11 billion is like 

to earn it. So we just do not treat it as wisely as we would treat 

our own. 

And it is not an allegation to you. It is just it is what it is. I do 

not think we husband our resources. 

I am out of time. I am sorry. 

Senator BEGICH. Let me, if I can, do a quick followup on that and 

then a couple other quick questions, then go right back to Senator 

Paul. 

Let me ask you, you mentioned—and I just caught the percentage. I want to make sure I heard that right. Your internal reimbursements, I should say, went from 14 percent improper payments, meaning they were not verified and other issues, down to 

0.03 percent. Can you give me dollar figures related to that? And 

if you cannot do it now, maybe at a later time, would that be possible? 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. We will have to get back to you on that one. 

Senator BEGICH. I would like that for the record. 

Then I would like to also know what were the mechanisms, because I think we would have lots of agencies who would like to take 

this technique, whatever it was, to use. But can you maybe outline 

to the Committee here what are the steps you took, or whoever 

took, to really clamp down on that? We can point to Medicare that 

has $65 billion in overpayments or improper payments, dependent 

on how you categorize them, and other agencies have similar 
12 

issues. So I would be interested if this is a practice that we could 

deal with or at least replicate. 

The other question I would like to ask is on the issue of how you 

go about the reimbursements process. For example, if I am a small 

business person—and this is going to actually go to both of you, if 

I can, because I have seen this before. So let us say it is an area 

that has had multiple disasters over the years, and I am the small 

business person. You keep coming back, which is fine. The damage 

keep coming. You keep writing me checks to fix the disaster that 

has occurred 2 years ago, and then 2 years before that. And what 

I would rather do is work with FEMA an SBA and say, ‘‘I would 

like to move my business because it seems logical. Why would you 

keep writing me checks?’’ How do each of your agencies approach 

that situation? Or can you under your jurisdiction or your authorization within the law? That should be the first thing. If you know 

an area that continually gets hit with disaster, it seems logical to 

start saying, ‘‘You know what? You should move.’’ I know in Alaska, we have communities literally falling into the ocean. Now, we 

have a choice. We can wait, because FEMA will be in, or we could 

figure out how to move them so we do not have to call FEMA. But 

on the SBA end, you also have a role because people come and they 

get the low-cost loans—disaster loans, I guess I should say. So how 

do you approach that? Let me start with Ms. Zimmerman, and then 

I will go over to Mr. Chodos, if that is OK, because we both have 

kind of a role in this, and I guess the first question is: Do you have 

legal authority to even consider that? And, two, if you do, do you 

have funding? And, three, if so, how do you go about it? 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. Well, for any businesses, FEMA does not provide any assistance to businesses, so it all goes over to SBA. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. So we will hold that for the businesses. But 

on residential, same question. 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. Residential—— 

Senator BEGICH. Can you relocate them? 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. Yes. And, in fact, New York is working through 

that right now, New Jersey. When there is a disaster that has happened, and so people—like I say, people from us do not get whole, 

but that is something communities take a look at, and they can use 

other funding. 

Senator BEGICH. The Community Development Block Grant 

(CDBG) and other things, correct. 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. CDBG money. We do have mitigation money. 

We do buyouts. So if you look actually up in Grand Forks, North 

Dakota, after the floods in 1997, we bought out the communities. 

Senator BEGICH. I have seen it. 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. And that is something the community has to 

decide. We do not direct that. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. But it is an option that they can take their hazard mitigation grant money and buy out properties. 

Senator BEGICH. But residential only. 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. Residential only, no businesses. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. Let me flip it over—and I guess that is because that is statutorily limited, right? 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. Correct. 
13 

Senator BEGICH. OK. 

Mr. CHODOS. Yes, Chairman, thank you for the question. Let me 

say that my area of expertise and oversight at the agency is Office 

of Entrepreneurial Development. James Rivera is in charge of our 

Office of Disaster Assistance, so I would be happy to defer to him 

in questions for the record afterwards about the specifics. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. 

Mr. CHODOS. But it is fundamentally not within the agency’s 

purview, statutory purview, to make decisions about business relocation or community relocation. The agency in its disaster lending 

program is primarily engaged in remediating uninsured loss for 

property damage, both for individual and businesses, and economic 

injury essentially in the form of revenue loss as a result of a disaster. 

But I must say that the issue of relocation, restarting, and rebuilding is a constant issue after a disaster. 

Senator BEGICH. Right. 

Mr. CHODOS. Especially like Hurricane Sandy—— 

Senator BEGICH. Especially frequent disasters, too. 

Mr. CHODOS. Yes. And in Hurricane Sandy, we have over 600,000 

businesses that are affected. Some significant percentage of those 

is going to either relocate or not come back, and somebody else will 

come and restart, and they have to decide where. Our partner network, our SBDCs, our WBCs, and our SCORE volunteers deal regularly with businesses on individual choice about relocation, restarting, where they are going to startup again, or where they are 

going to move, if appropriate. 

Senator BEGICH. If I am a business and I want to relocate, and 

let us say FEMA and other agencies recognize this area due to climate change and other issues, disasters will continue to kind of hit 

this area. Let us say a disaster occurred and I am affected, and I 

realize based on the data maybe this is not such a good place after 

maybe two or three disasters, and I might want to move, I am in 

my third disaster, if I came in and said, ‘‘I want to borrow disaster 

aid money or disaster relief money to relocate my business out of 

this potential situation,’’ is that available? 

Mr. CHODOS. I will have to get back to you on that question. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. 

Mr. CHODOS. I simply know this: You did differentiate in your 

question between climate change-related relocations, which are 

non-emergent—— 

Senator BEGICH. Right. 

Mr. CHODOS [continuing]. And actual disasters that occur, weather events or whatever, for which there is an opportunity for disaster relief. The agency’s authority is for the emergent relief. 

Senator BEGICH. Got you. Do either one of you have climate 

change issues within your category of mitigation? 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. That is definitely something we are looking at, 

yes. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. So you are analyzing—— 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. We are addressing that and looking at the 

longer range as we are—— 

Senator BEGICH. What may be the future. 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. What may be the future, yes. 
14 

Senator BEGICH. OK. 

Mr. CHODOS. So I will say climate change I believe is not part 

of the disaster response statutory framework at SBA, but it is most 

certainly part of the preparedness training and the ongoing business planning process that we engage in with all of our counseling 

and training clients. 

Senator BEGICH. Very good. 

Mr. CHODOS. So business—and disaster preparedness is a key 

part of the business planning process for every business in America, and if they are not doing it, they should be doing it. 

Senator BEGICH. We know insurance companies are doing it. 

Mr. CHODOS. Yes, and our partners are working with insurance 

companies, with small business groups all across the country, and 

with their local communities to make sure it is part of the plan. 

Senator BEGICH. Let me ask you—and Senator Paul indicated he 

will be back, so I may ask a couple more and then go to the next 

panel. But let me ask, if I can, you mentioned—and I know it is 

the creation of the National Business Emergency Operation Centers, and I know you have had some after-action reviews by FEMA 

since Hurricane Sandy. Can you tell me a couple things that came 

out of those. If not now, for the record, here are some things we 

could do better or here are some things we did very well and we 

should now expand those. Also, our best practice and/or, I hate to 

say it, a worst practice? Can you give me a little sense on that? 

Ms. ZIMMERMAN. Sure. I think the best practice is the fact that 

we are talking about before the disaster hits to collaborate. And 

then after Hurricane Sandy, we did, we pulled in folks, and we actually convened a call, and there were over 100 representatives on 

that. And, what is it we could do better next time? And, it came 

down to how we can share data with this technology age and to be 

able to, like I said, find out what is open, what is closed from them, 

as well as what we are bringing in so that we are coordinating and 

collaborating for that community so they are able to feed data into 

us, and we are able to put that out so that everybody can see, so 

if they want to know what areas have been impacted by the disaster, and to be able to see where they have employees. So where 

are the places that they might need to bring in resources? Because 

a lot of businesses, even if there is not a business there, if it is one 

of the big box stores or something and they want to donate, they 

want to provide assistance, to be able to help them coordinate that. 

So what we learned was we still have a ways to go to be able 

to make sure that we are sharing the data, forward, both ways, 

both directions, so that they can both be better coordinated. So that 

was one of the things that I know came out of that. 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you very much. 

Let me, if I can, Michael, just one last question. I have some others I may submit for the record, but I do not want to keep you all 

at the table. I know most people who come and testify in a Committee are anxious to get off the table, so I hear you, I understand. 

Tell me the work you are doing, is there a difference between 

how you work with urban areas, more concentrated populations, 

and more rural areas? And I think of Alaska. I mean, I was just 

in Bethel, Alaska, and Anchorage, and there is a big difference between the two communities and how they respond or what they can 
15 

do and how SBA participates. Actually, we had someone from SBA 

participating with us on the veterans side of the equation, veterans 

job creation. 

Mr. CHODOS. I understand you had a very productive trip over 

the 2 days. 

Senator BEGICH. It was. He did a great job, and he got the experience of flying in Alaska, which he will remember. But is there a 

difference in how you respond or work with rural areas that is 

unique in itself? But maybe you could—— 

Mr. CHODOS. Absolutely there is, and what it basically boils 

down to is not a top-down decision about how we are going to respond differently in urban areas than we do in rural areas. It is 

our partners, as I mentioned in my testimony, are deeply embedded in their local communities. They live there, they work 

there—— 

Senator BEGICH. If I can interrupt, like in Alaska, some of our 

communities might be the villages, the tribes. 

Mr. CHODOS. Yes. 

Senator BEGICH. The local communities, state. 

Mr. CHODOS. So we have five brick-and-mortar locations. It is actually either five or six brick-and-mortar locations for our Small 

Business Development Centers in Alaska, but there are communities spread all across Alaska which cannot come into those communities for counseling or training or for disaster response. So we 

offer online, webinar, and other outward-facing ways to connect to 

folks outside in the community, and because there are places in 

Alaska where it is not easy even to get full Internet access—— 

Senator BEGICH. That is true. 

Mr. CHODOS [continuing]. We partner with the PBC broadcasting 

station to get some of our word out in the form of courses and other 

things that are delivered across the television broadcast network, 

which just about everybody has access to. So this is really—we are 

the most entrepreneurial of agencies; when it comes to getting out 

and connecting with small business, we do what needs to be done 

to get out and to connect. And that is what that begin to look like. 

Senator BEGICH. Very good. Thank you both. I will say one thing. 

One, I appreciate you all here. We will have more questions I will 

submit for the record. I find it interesting—I am glad you are 

reaching out to the business community. I will tell you, to expand 

a little bit more on when I was mayor, what we did was, I think, 

very unique in the country. It was right after Hurricane Katrina, 

and we came up with an idea. We actually embed into our operations, our operations center, the private sector folks. They are not 

extra. They are right there. And we embedded in the center folks 

that have logistic needs—or products that we need, and we have 

an agreement with these stores with no cost, no retainer, none of 

that, it is a 72-hour closeout on the Stock Keeping Units (SKUs), 

meaning codes on product that we do not want purchased until we 

give an OK, because in a disaster, what can happen is people go 

start hoarding things, maybe water, lumber, equipment. So we actually have a list and a price document so it is not a gouging in 

the future, just here it is and they lock them out on the SKUs so 

people cannot come to Home Depot, load up seven pick-up loads of 

lumber. It is an interesting model because we pay no retainer, 
16 

there is no government dollars. It is a private sector partnership, 

and they do it because they are good corporate citizens. And, I 

think, again, that can only be born in a lot of ways from a national—or from a local end, but nationally, I think there are some 

huge opportunities here, because on the flip side, our school district 

got a FEMA grant, and they went and started putting in storage 

facilities to put food and stuff. And I am like, do not do that. These 

stores have better logistics and turnover rates than we will ever 

have. And the net result is you can get to a Safeway or in our 

State, a Safeway Carrs, Fred Meyer, and have food product available. Water is usually the big draw. They know where it is every 

minute of the day, and they have disaster centers all around the 

globe. 

So I am glad you are reaching out. I think it is simpler than I 

think people think it is. Our agreements are very successful, and 

the corporations really appreciate it because obviously they get a 

lot of score from it publicly. But also they know when an emergency disaster occurs, they will be partners, not trying to figure out 

who they need to figure out to work with. And our view is you can 

work with any customer you want, but these products need to be 

with us first. And then we release them, and then they can go do 

whatever they want after that point. And usually the first 72 

hours, you got a good sense of what you need or do not need. 

So I really appreciate your stepping out on that, and anything, 

we can do to add to that, we would be happy to. 

Senator Paul, I was about to dismiss them, but if you have some 

additional—— 

Senator PAUL. I am OK. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. Let me say thank you again very much. We 

will ask our second panel to come up, and I will have some questions I will submit for the record. 

Our next panel is joining us. I will let them get situated. 

And, Chris, is it ‘‘Terzich’’? 

Mr. TERZICH. Senator Begich, apparently—— 

Senator BEGICH. We are Croatian, so he must be. 

Mr. TERZICH. And I learned a few years ago that my family mispronounces it, but I will stick with ‘‘Terzich.’’ 

Senator BEGICH. Because they added the ‘‘H’’ like we did, and it 

is—Terzich. Chris, thank you very much for being here, Chair of 

the Regional Consortium Coordinating Council (RCCC). 

Michael Merwarth. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Merwarth, yes, sir. 

Senator BEGICH. It is a long day. Thank you very much. Senior 

vice president and chief underwriter, United Services Automobile 

Association (USAA). 

And then Daniel—‘‘Stocker’’ or ‘‘Stoker’’? 

Mr. STOECKER. ‘‘Stoker,’’ sir. 

Senator BEGICH. Executive Director, National Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters (NVOAD). 

We really appreciate your being here. Thank you very much. 

Again, you will see the same format. We might go back and forth 

a little bit here. 
17 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Terzich appears in the Appendix on page 42. 

So, Chris, we will start with you, and then we will just kind of 

go down the table, if that is OK. And, Chris, are you Croatian? I 

am just—— 

Mr. TERZICH. Yes, as a matter of fact, I am Croatian, and 

‘‘Terzich’’ I learned is a common Croatian name, but my family 

says ‘‘Terzick,’’ and I now go by either. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. Very good. 

TESTIMONY OF CHRISTOPHER TERZICH,1 CHAIR, REGIONAL 

CONSORTIUM COORDINATING COUNCIL 

Mr. TERZICH. Good afternoon, Chairman Begich, Ranking Member Paul. My name is Chris Terzich, and I am the Chair of the Regional Consortium Coordinating Council. This is a group of partnerships from across the country working on critical infrastructure 

and homeland security. 

As you have heard already, Americans help Americans in need, 

whether it is through social media, whether it is traveling to disaster-stricken areas, or, as we just saw in April, whether it is running from a marathon to the hospital to give blood. Americans help 

Americans. 

And so as we look to be successful in our resilience in critical infrastructure protection, we need to understand that we need to 

focus on efforts that enable Americans in their own communities. 

We need to understand there are different dynamics in different 

communities. And we need to focus on their expertise, their 

strengths, their skills. 

There are two areas we can do this pretty easily right now following the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) model, 

which has been very successful, and those areas are in social 

media, who are less engaged than the CERT team, or on the higher 

end with trained skilled response teams. 

America is changing. It is not a surprise to us, but there are a 

couple of numbers that I will share with you that I found startling. 

Today we are 82 percent urban, and that is compared to 30 percent 

in 1930. In 2030, we are expected to be 87 percent urban. And in 

California, our most urban State, they are 95 percent urban. And 

Los Angeles is the most densely populated urban area in the country. 

We are also moving to the coasts in increasing numbers, over the 

last several years increasing our population there by 150 percent. 

Both concentration in cities and concentration along coastal areas 

brings us into more interdependent situations and also, coincidentally, into more exposure to disasters. In 2011 and 2012, we had 

a record $25 billion or more disasters. 

So we are also very connected. We are all familiar with the Six 

Degrees of Separation, and as we were talking before the meeting, 

the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon perhaps may be more known. But 

what is lesser known is something called the Three Degrees of Influence, and this is simply your friends’ friends influence you. This 

has been studied in smoking, and it holds true in most areas. 

And, Chairman Begich, as you have already said, we are both of 

Croatian descent, but if Wikipedia is correct, your father and my 
18 

mother also grew up in the same small town in Minnesota, 

Eveleth, and our fathers both went to the University of Minnesota, 

and we had not met before today. And so it is a small world. 

But this world is moving at light speed. Facebook, for instance, 

in a single day has 618 billion unique visitors. Just this morning 

I had a video conversation on my portable device with my daughter 

who is a thousands miles away. So when we have communities and 

we are connected like this, regional partnerships give us a sense 

of identity. And in my experience, some of the most successful partnerships start out with, as you have said, a simple organization, 

clear goals, and small committed core. 

In Alaska, where one emergency manager told me an earthquake 

of 9.0 at 40 below is his worst-case scenario. The Alaska Partnership for Infrastructure Protection did, as you mentioned, Chairman, establish that Emergency Operations Center and the Rapid 

Alert System. 

In New York and New Jersey, they put together maps of open 

and closed areas after Hurricane Sandy. 

In Illinois, Chicago FIRST brought financial institutions together 

and partnered with the Emergency Operations Center. The same 

thing in Iowa and in Minnesota and the Pacific Northwest where 

there are five provinces and five States together on infrastructure 

resilience. And these are just a few examples. 

My experience with the government side has been positive as 

well. The Office of Infrastructure Protection under Assistant Secretary Durkovich has been very open and collaborative, also holding briefings during Hurricane Sandy and the Boston Marathon 

bombing. And at FEMA, they have been perhaps the most embracing of the sense of community with active social media in the Private Sector Office. 

FEMA also has the CERT model which we can use going forward, and I will just sum up with where we can do a couple of 

things here because there is a lot of work to do. 

As we move forward, we can use the CERT model to provide the 

structure, the community in a kit, if you will, for social media, 

where they are already doing it with every disaster. Google Maps 

is providing us updated information, and also specifically with 

teams like Team Rubicon, which brings veterans who are struggling to get back into the community a sense of purpose at the 

same time helping those in disaster. 

And so these two are very easy to do. They can be modeled on 

CERT. But together we need to focus on the community, and the 

resilience will come with it. 

I thank you for your time today. 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you very much. 

Let me go to Michael. 
19 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Merwarth appears in the Appendix on page 50. 

TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL MERWARTH,1 SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION, ON 

BEHALF OF THE BUILDSTRONG COALITION 

Mr. MERWARTH. Chairman Begich, Ranking Member Paul, thank 

you for holding this important hearing to examine the private sector’s role in disaster relief and mitigation. And thank you for the 

opportunity to appear before you on behalf of USAA and the 

BuildStrong Coalition. 

My name is Michael Merwarth, and I am the Senior Vice President and Chief Underwriter of USAA’s Property and Casualty Insurance Company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. USAA is 

a membership-based association, open to all who have honorably 

served in the U.S. military and their family members. We were 

founded in 1922 by a group of Army officers who decided to band 

together and insure one another after they were considered too 

risky by other insurance companies. And now, 90 years later, our 

mission has been and continues to be to facilitate the financial security of those members through a full range of financial products 

and services. Military service members and their families face 

unique challenges associated with their service to their country, 

and USAA recognizes these challenges, and we have tailored our 

products and services to meet those unique needs. 

USAA is also proud to be a founding member of the BuildStrong 

Coalition, which is a group of national business and consumer organizations, insurance companies, firefighters, emergency managers, 

and building professionals dedicated to helping families, communities, and businesses mitigate and recover from the devastating effects of natural disasters. 

At USAA, we are focused on living our commitment to serve our 

military membership by providing useful tools and advice to help 

our members protect their lives, their loved ones, and their property, both before and after disaster strikes. For example, we have 

developed an online tool that enables our members to research a 

specific property address and understand that address’ exposure to 

various natural disasters. We provide our members with practical 

guidance on how to prevent or reduce the likelihood of loss at that 

specific location. So an active-duty soldier getting ready to change 

duty stations would be able to use this tool during the process of 

deciding where to live and where to relocate his or her family. This 

tool can help them make better decisions by providing information 

about the exposure that those properties may be faced with concerning wild fire and flooding, for example, and then tips that they 

could take advantage of, practical advice to actually mitigate 

against those risks. 

USAA obviously is also there for our members after disaster 

strikes. This is when they need us most. Whenever possible, we 

stage our claims experts in nearby areas when a catastrophe event 

is imminent. Our state-of-the-art catastrophe response vehicles, 

which include satellite, Internet, mobile, and Wi-fi capabilities, 

enter impacted areas as soon as possible. 

To communicate with members before and after events, we utilize both traditional and social media tools, including Facebook, 
20 

Twitter, text messages, and e-mails. We centralize all the information in a comprehensive Disaster & Recovery Center, available online and through our USAA Mobile App. Members can also use this 

mobile app to connect with the American Red Cross, FEMA, or to 

find one of our onsite claims locations. 

We recognize that our disaster mitigation and recovery efforts, 

and those of our BuildStrong partners, are more important now 

than ever. The insurance and emergency management community 

concluded long ago that strong building codes are the best first line 

of defense against natural disasters. 

The National Institute of Building Sciences has found that for every $1 spent to make buildings stronger, the American taxpayer 

saves $4 in Federal disaster assistance. 

The Louisiana State University Hurricane Center estimated that 

stronger building codes would have reduced wind damage from 

Hurricane Katrina by 80 percent. That is nearly $8 billion. And 

Louisiana has since adopted model building codes. 

Most recently, FEMA assessed the damage from the 2011 spring 

tornadoes in the Southeast and Midwest, and they identified model 

building codes as the top recommendation to improve public safety. 

So with this in mind, the BuildStrong Coalition has identified 

the Safe Building Code Incentive as our legislative priority and 

strongly endorses the bill as a forward-thinking investment in a 

stronger and safer America. 

Under the proposed law, States that adopt and enforce nationally 

recognized model building codes for residential and commercial 

structures would qualify for an additional 4 percent of funding 

available for post-disaster grants. This legislation will not require 

any additional appropriation to FEMA since it draws funds from 

the existing Disaster Relief Fund. Furthermore, the nature of the 

incentive does not mandate the adoption of statewide building 

codes on any States that wish to maintain their current system. 

A 2012 Milliman study found that the Safe Building Code Incen- tive Act would have saved U.S. taxpayers $11 billion in hurricane 

relief payments alone from 1988 to the present had it been in place 

during that time period. This Subcommittee can ignite this debate 

by moving forward with consideration of the Safe Building Code Incentive Act. 

In closing, I want to thank the Subcommittee again for holding 

this important hearing. USAA and the BuildStrong Coalition are 

dedicated to improving the resiliency of American communities and 

helping businesses and families mitigate and recover from the devastating effects of natural disasters. 

I look forward to your questions. 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you very much. Daniel. 
21 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Stoecker appears in the Appendix on page 56. 

TESTIMONY OF DANIEL STOECKER,1 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 

NATIONAL VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATIONS ACTIVE IN DISASTER 

Mr. STOECKER. Thank you, Chairman Begich and Ranking Member Paul. My name is Dan Stoecker. I am the Executive Director 

of the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, also 

known as National VOAD, and in government-speak NVOAD. 

Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you. 

In my written testimony, I have outlined a number of recommendations for legislative or administrative fixes that could 

serve to better facilitate private-public resource coordination to foster more resilient communities nationwide. I will use my oral comments here to briefly highlight a few innovative initiatives that 

demonstrate how the private sector, FEMA, and other Federal Government agencies can find more ways to work together. 

For 43 years, the National VOAD coalition has served as a forum 

where Non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) share knowledge 

and resources to help communities prepare, respond, and recover 

from disasters. Today National VOAD is a coalition of 109 organizations—54 of the country’s most reputable national faith-based 

and community-based organizations, and 55 State and territory 

VOAD coalitions that represent many local VOADs and hundreds 

of additional local organizations throughout the country. 

National VOAD and FEMA established a formal partnership in 

2010 to work together throughout the disaster cycle to enhance cooperation, communication, coordination, and collaboration—what 

we call the ‘‘four C’s’’—between government and the private sector. 

We have just established a similar relationship with the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers (USACE) around the specific subject of mass 

care, which I will reference in a moment. And over the past year, 

National VOAD has also begun working with other Federal agencies to identify and implement public-private cooperative opportunities, including with Health and Human Services (HHS)’ the Office 

of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), 

the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Medical Reserve Corps 

(MRC), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and also 

as Homeland Security U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 

(USICE), and at the Department of Defense (DOD), the National 

Guard Bureau, and U.S. Northern Command. 

I would like to mention that each of the distinguished members 

of this Committee should also be very proud of the VOAD organizations in your home States and the constituents that do wonderful 

volunteer work, both at home and on behalf of the whole country. 

I will quickly share a few examples here of public-private partnerships that demonstrate promising opportunities going forward. 

Chairman Begich, in the summer of 2009, several National 

VOAD member organizations were engaged in an expedited home 

rebuilding effort to assist residents recovering from a flooding and 

ice jam disaster along the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers. Did I say 

that right? 

Senator BEGICH. Kuskokwim. 
22 

Mr. STOECKER. Kuskokwim. 

Senator BEGICH. Yes. I have seen those projects. They are fantastic. 

Mr. STOECKER. Well, this disaster-affected area was remote, presented challenges to getting rebuilding materials and labor in the 

areas, and also there was the concern about the timing. There was 

only a 3-month window before the winter hit, and there was a concern about long-term displacement of residents. Alaska Emergency 

Management and FEMA partnered with VOAD organizations to 

perform repair and rebuilding services, a departure from the more 

typical practices of identifying contractors, going through a contractor process with for-profit companies, and getting building 

firms in. The collaboration saved State and Federal resources and 

helped families recover more quickly. 

And, Ranking Member Paul, the VOAD agencies leapt into action 

in response to the tornadoes that swept the Commonwealth of Kentucky this past year. VOAD organizations’ volunteers came from 

everywhere to remove debris, repair and rebuild homes, and even 

worked to retrofit a warehouse so that the elementary school in 

West Liberty could reopen earlier. That work was performed in coordination with local government authorities, and it has yet to 

demonstrate how nonprofit organizations can be used to identify 

and help meet the local needs of communities that are disasters in 

their region. Yes, sir? 

Senator PAUL. If I can interrupt you for a second, I went to that 

elementary school. I think they did it in 4 days. They changed a 

warehouse into a school in 4 days, and just volunteers and probably some government, but just amazing turnaround by the local 

community with help. 

Mr. STOECKER. Yes, sir. 

There are just two other quick examples I would like to offer. 

The Army Corps of Engineers partnership began at the FEMA National Response Coordination Center, which is like the EOC for 

Federal EOC, where all the interagency coordination is executed, 

but FEMA also has invited National VOAD and other private sector partners to have representation there. As a result of coordinated problem-solving opportunities that emerged at that center, 

we were able to develop a temporary roofing mission pilot program 

with FEMA, the Corps of Engineers, and some of our National 

VOAD members, including Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and 

Louisiana VOAD, to deploy a special Blue Roof Program that allowed us to do things at much less expense because FEMA did not 

have to use contractors. Volunteer labor was used to deploy the 

projects and to do the work, and labor time was used to offset the 

cost share that States have to have. So there were zero costs for 

Louisiana. We are looking at finding more innovative ways to work 

with FEMA and other agencies to do similar projects. 

And, finally, if I may be allowed to just quickly mention that 

there is a National Mass Care Strategy also that has been implemented. A National Mass Care Council was established by an 

agreement between FEMA and Red Cross, and that led to a council 

that was set up that—from a whole community council that created 

this strategy. A number of goals have been identified for where 

that could be going to be implemented. We are working with the 
23 

National Emergency Managers Association (NEMA) now, and, Senator Begich, your Director of homeland security is now the President of NEMA, and we are working closely with him to help with 

strategies for implementation of the Mass Care Program with local 

communities. 

So, going forward, we would like to be expanding that sort of 

work, looking for opportunities throughout the government so that 

they will be—we are encouraged anytime anybody wants to speak 

with us about doing something more innovatively and creatively. 

We appreciate that. 

Thank you for your time here. 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you very much, and I appreciate the 

panel and your commentary. 

I do have a first question, if I can, Michael, from USAA. I have 

been to your corporate headquarters and talked to many of your 

folks, and it is impressive. Also, we carry your insurance. We 

are—— 

Mr. MERWARTH. Thank you for your membership, sir. 

Senator BEGICH. We are happy to. 

You heard the last panel a little bit, and one of the questions 

that came up was—I mentioned it, but now I want to take it to the 

next step, and that is, on insurance companies and the work you 

do to try to figure out—you mentioned one example of trying to 

help people understand if you are going to move somewhere here 

are some of the things you need to be aware of. 

Do you have within the insurance industry broader or your company specifically, do you have incentives or some sort of way to say, 

if you are in this zone, here is what it costs; if you are in this zone 

you get—I do not want to say ‘‘a break,’’ but you get a different 

rate structure? Or if you are in this zone that has maybe high 

winds or flood potential or whatever these other things are, if you 

do these five things, this will make an impact to your insurance 

rate? Is that a standard? It depends how you answer this. If so, 

then I would like you to expand on the broader industry. 

Mr. MERWARTH. That is a great question, Mr. Chairman. I would 

be happy to elaborate. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. 

Mr. MERWARTH. I can tell you firsthand at USAA that we are 

nothing but excited when we see our members deciding that they 

want to move into more resilient and stronger homes, because—— 

Senator BEGICH. Excited meaning it is better rates? 

Mr. MERWARTH [continuing]. Exactly we can offer more affordable rates for all of our members. 

Senator BEGICH. Good. That is exciting from an insurance company. 

Mr. MERWARTH. We get excited. Exactly. That is our mission, to 

be able to provide those products at affordable price levels for our 

members. And so to the extent that our rating can match up to the 

resiliency of the home, that is a good thing, and we are constantly 

looking for ways to offer discounts, either for more resilient roofs, 

for anything that happens in the structure. We go State by State 

and figure out what makes sense over time on really a never-ending journey, I would characterize it, to really refine that pricing so 

that our rates reflect that better risk that those members are bene-
24 

fiting from when they make those kinds of decisions about their 

homes. 

Senator BEGICH. Very good. The reason I ask, I know when I was 

mayor, we did a lot of work with the fire-rating agency. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Sure. 

Senator BEGICH. And the goal was locations of our—— 

Mr. MERWARTH. Right. 

Senator BEGICH [continuing]. Stations and response time, and we 

increased that dramatically, and the net result was—— 

Mr. MERWARTH. That is a great example. That passes right back 

to the consumer—— 

Senator BEGICH. Right across, so it is the same kind of theory 

that you have—— 

Mr. MERWARTH. Yes, sir. 

Senator BEGICH [continuing]. In what you do. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Yes, sir. 

Senator BEGICH. Let me ask, if I can, to Daniel, you have a list, 

and I appreciate it, of recommendations. And, Michael, I want to 

keep one thought in mind to start thinking about a little bit here, 

and that is on the piece of legislation. I am going to ask you a couple questions on that. 

But, Daniel, you have a list of recommendations in your written 

testimony, which I appreciate, things that could be addressed legislatively and/or regulatory. If you could pick one or two of those that 

you could say, if we could just have this done, it would make your 

work easier. I mean, an example in Fort Yukon, and up the Yukon 

River and up the Kuskokwim, I will tell you, the facilities we saw, 

were built fast in conditions that could dramatically change. In 

other words, people living in the winter, where you cannot fly in 

a portable home. You have to deal with what you got there. And 

actually they use some products from within the region, too, which 

is very interesting in itself. 

But are there things that we could do on that list that you would 

say here are the one or two, just if we could do that, it would really 

help get your organization working more smoothly with FEMA and 

other Federal agencies? 

Mr. STOECKER. Yes, sir. I think some things might relate to the 

Stafford Act, too. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. 

Mr. STOECKER. But I think to give FEMA and other agencies a 

little bit more flexibility in working with the private sector, there 

are some particular examples there that allow for that sector to be 

able to be directly engaged by FEMA. There could be opportunities 

for—you have volunteer resources, but they have to be deployed. So 

even if FEMA was allowed to bring—use invitational travel to get 

a lot of these people up there and be able to engage them or provide volunteer housing as well, the costs are far, far less. 

Senator BEGICH. So if I want to offer housing right now for the 

volunteers that are coming up, FEMA does not have a mechanism 

to pay for it, let alone accept it. They could have some nonprofit 

do it all and kind of do it off the books but not really in a process 

of creating an engagement on volunteer housing. Is that right? 

Mr. STOECKER. Yes, sir. 
25 

Senator BEGICH. And if that happened, you need a room. If I 

know volunteers, it is like boarding houses in a lot of ways. A lot 

into a room. But right now FEMA does not have that authority to 

pay for part of that housing. 

Mr. STOECKER. That is correct. They do not have that authority, 

and that is not only in response. There is also—of course, people 

forget there is recovery. 

Senator BEGICH. Right. 

Mr. STOECKER. And there is a lot of work that goes on after the 

immediate response needs are met, and that is where there is often 

the need to people for them to recover to get back in their homes 

if their homes were damaged. That is involving rebuilding, and 

that is people that need to be brought up to do that. 

Senator BEGICH. Have you ever done a cost analysis of if this 

type of housing—if FEMA could pay for some of that housing, here 

is how many volunteer hours and value that could produce? Is 

there such an ability to prepare something like that? I mean, pick 

any disaster you dealt with recently. Is there such a thing? 

Mr. STOECKER. That is interesting you say that. That does not 

exist today, and that is something that the collaborative is looking 

at with private sector partners and doing that. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. 

Mr. STOECKER. In many ways the collaborative just came together in the last few years to be coordinating in this way and to 

be engaging government. That is why many partnerships did not 

even evolve until the last few years. And so the idea of how to assess that, how to identify costs in different areas, you all might be 

able to help with that, too. 

Senator BEGICH. I was going to say, you are sitting next to people that all they do is—— 

Mr. STOECKER. That is right. 

Senator BEGICH [continuing]. Numbers every day, because I 

think that helps the argument of if we want to modify—the logic 

of it is—I mean, the way you described it. I have seen it. And as 

you heard, Senator Paul has seen it, clearly, how volunteers can 

make a difference. When you can convert a warehouse into a school 

in 4 days, there is no question you have saved some money. I do 

not care what anyone says. Now, it may not be the greatest educational setting, but at the same time now your schools are operating, kids are getting educated. 

So I would love it, as you progress on that, if you do, if you could 

keep this Committee informed if there is that data that we could 

utilize in making arguments of why we could focus on this kind of 

change. 

Mr. STOECKER. Yes, sir. We will make it a priority of putting that 

together now. 

Senator BEGICH. That would be great. 

Chris, let me ask you—you heard me ask the questions of FEMA 

on the Private Sector Office, so I am anxious to kind of hear how 

you work, or do not, with the Private Sector Division within the 

Department of Health and Human Services and within FEMA. Can 

you help me understand that a little bit, if you have that kind of 

relationship, or how you use it? 
26 

Mr. TERZICH. Certainly, Chairman Begich. So FEMA’s Private 

Sector Office has traditionally worked with a lot of the folks who 

end up doing the response supply, so that is where they have the 

good relationship with Target, Walmart, Home Depot, and folks 

like that. 

With the Office of Infrastructure Protection (IP), we tend to work 

in the sector model, but I have to tell you, over the last couple of 

years, so there are a lot of different players, but over the last couple of years, the engagement has been there, the openness has been 

there. We are well on our way to kind of connecting the dots. We 

are not there yet. We still need to do more in that area. But I think 

that each—the Private Sector Office in FEMA serves a different 

purpose from the Private Sector Office within infrastructure protection issues. 

Senator BEGICH. I’ll ask you the same kind of question I just 

asked Daniel. Are there things we could be doing, to help regulatory or legislatively—because I am a believer. I saw it when I 

was mayor, that the private sector is willing to participate. They 

just need to know the avenue. And they do not want to have a lot 

of avenues. They just want to know what the avenue is. And they 

will come to the table if given the task and chore, especially in a 

disaster. Do you think there are some things we could be doing better in encouragement and/or legislatively or regulatory with the 

Federal Government to make sure that continued private sector engagement occurs at a much higher level? 

Mr. TERZICH. Certainly. From the standpoint of regional partnerships, I think—and this is why I raised the issue of CERT. I think 

what the Federal Government can do, where we have trouble in 

our partnerships, is to give us a structure and a formality so that 

if any community wants to build a CERT team, they do it. Mayor 

Bloomberg, said to the CERT members after Hurricane Sandy that 

they were the most direct connection to the people in the community. But that structure of CERT comes from—created by FEMA, 

and I think it is housed in the Citizen Corps. But it was provided 

by the government. 

So this kind of—there are very few things where the government 

can provide a great model and then let us build—— 

Senator BEGICH. So build the structure to get some frame around 

it. 

Mr. TERZICH. Absolutely. 

Senator BEGICH. Then give some guidance to the local communities. 

Mr. TERZICH. Yes, sir. In the areas—social media is where I see 

this most significantly. The response is incredible, and I think most 

of us go to social media before any formal channels to understand 

what is going on in the early days of a disaster. And Google Maps 

showed the open and closed gas stations. 

Senator BEGICH. Do you think FEMA utilizes social media at a 

level that is—and I am saying this carefully—accessible to the general public? And the reason I say that is, again, as a former mayor, 

I know sometimes we like to create things that are much more 

complicated than they need to be. And so what happens is the poor 

person that is trying to weave their way—I call it the three clicks 

to the end product. It takes that at zero, and it takes you 20 or 
27 

30 clicks and you are now done. Do you think we are doing enough 

there? And do you think FEMA is engaged in enough of the private 

sector to make sure we are doing the right kind of social media 

connections in a disaster? 

Mr. TERZICH. I would have to say that I think FEMA is probably 

doing better than a lot of the partnerships or businesses in this 

area. But that is to say, they are the fastest of the slow group, 

right? 

Senator BEGICH. Right. 

Mr. TERZICH. Because social media is so much faster. 

Senator BEGICH. It is faster than anybody. 

Mr. TERZICH. My 13-year-old daughter is faster than most businesses. 

Senator BEGICH. No question about it. 

Mr. TERZICH. So I think they are doing a great job. I think, the 

YouTube videos—Administrator Fugate has a straight approach. 

He puts information out there in the midst of a disaster. They hold 

calls. IdeaScale that they use to collect information. I think they 

are doing well. We all need to do better. 

Senator BEGICH. Let me do one more for you. Then I want to go 

to the piece of legislation you mentioned, Michael. But, first, how 

does the Regional Consortium Coordinating Council, how do you 

think their membership represents a pretty diverse group of protection stakeholders, in other words, people who understand this 

issue? Or do you see any gaps that need to be filled? 

Mr. TERZICH. The answer to both questions, Chairman Begich, is 

both—is yes. The groups are diverse. They are not organized for 

the same purpose. They are not organized in the same way. They 

do not have the same stakeholders other than regional resilience. 

But there are so many more efforts out there. As I am listening to 

all the volunteer groups, some of them would fit in what we would 

call critical infrastructure protection. 

So I think we are just starting this effort, but our approach is 

to first not duplicate something somebody else is doing. 

Senator BEGICH. Good. 

Mr. TERZICH. And to connect the different modes, if you will, of 

all these regional groups. 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you. I said that was the last question for 

you, but I have one more. Are you hearing any resistance from any 

of the Federal, State, or local folks, even the private sector, in regards because of the financial conditions? And I say mostly the government—and we have seen a lot of reductions in local government. Obviously the Federal Government has its own issues, and 

some States have some issues. Are there people saying I want to 

participate but cannot? 

Mr. TERZICH. I do not think resources are the problem. I think, 

like you experienced in the role as mayor, I think many governments are doing that, State, local, municipal, bringing the private 

sector in. Early on it was tough. We would have—both sides would 

say, yes, we want to do this, but we did not know how. 

I think we could still do some more, put some more structure on 

it to make it easier. The National Incident Management System 

does account for the private sector, so that is a start. But it does 
28 

not look the same. So I think that everybody is willing. I do not 

think anybody is resisting. 

Senator BEGICH. Very good. 

Michael, you mentioned the Safe Building Code Incentive Act. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Yes. 

Senator BEGICH. Did I get that right? 

Mr. MERWARTH. Correct. 

Senator BEGICH. Again, as a former mayor, I had to deal with 

building code revisions more than I probably wanted to, because 

they usually come about this thick, and you spend a lot of months 

with people. Can you tell me on the legislation how groups like 

Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), or home 

builders or how these folks respond to it? I know generally they do 

not like anything new, regulation, but do you have a sense on how 

they are responding or engaging with this idea? 

Mr. MERWARTH. That is a good question, and we acknowledge 

that there are a lot of new requirements that are being put upon 

builders and people in the building community. 

Senator BEGICH. Right. 

Mr. MERWARTH. One of the things we like to talk about when 

that issue comes up, though, is the relative affordability of what we 

are talking about here. The cost to the individual consumer is 

somewhere in the neighborhood of about $1,500 to $2,000 on average to do relatively—— 

Senator BEGICH. On a new home? 

Mr. MERWARTH. On a new home, yes. 

Senator BEGICH. Very good. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Construction on a new home, which is really 

what the act is focused on going forward, building codes for new 

construction. Simple things like using ring-shanked nails or sealing 

the roof decking. Low cost changes that have a major impact in 

terms of resiliency going forward. So trying to stay focused on that 

short-term investment up front that reaps significant dividends 

over the long run. 

Senator BEGICH. At this point, just tell me—do you know where 

that legislation is right now? 

Mr. MERWARTH. No, sir. 

Senator BEGICH. OK. That is fine. We will do some followup. 

Mr. MERWARTH. OK. 

Senator BEGICH. This is one area I am very familiar with. I have 

been in real estate, I have been a mayor. I have had to deal with 

kind of both ends of the equation. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Sure. 

Senator BEGICH. But I know we did some improvements, especially around earthquake preparedness. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Right. 

Senator BEGICH. And, some would disagree with some of the 

codes we had to do. We had to do some things regarding wind conditions, because when we get 100-mile-an-hour winds—which is not 

uncommon in some of our areas—— 

Mr. MERWARTH. Right. 

Senator BEGICH [continuing]. Making sure that roof does not go 

flying off would make a big difference. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Absolutely. 
29 

Senator BEGICH. Even though you look at it, there is a lot of 

metal, somebody added it inside on a wood construction facility, I 

used to hear from builders that, they seemed to be building more 

with metal than wood, and I would say, ‘‘Well, you got to keep that 

roof on, and that is how it works.’’ Because I remember the days 

when I did have a roof go flying off on one of my commercial buildings, it peeled back, the insurance company paid a lot of money. 

And there were better things in the design that could have been 

done. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Absolutely. 

Senator BEGICH. And now we are doing it. So that is kind of the 

stuff you are talking about. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Yes, sir. 

Senator BEGICH. That is kind of the long-term value that may 

not be seen right away, but one disaster—or in the case of high 

winds, that is not necessarily a disaster. It is just a prolonged situation, which, for your own home, could be a single disaster, but not 

a community disaster. 

Mr. MERWARTH. That is correct, sir. From the insurance perspective, we are really focused one member at a time at USAA. 

Senator BEGICH. Right. 

Mr. MERWARTH. And so if your roof blows off, that is a big deal. 

So anything that we can do to advocate for stronger roofs, stronger 

building codes, those are good things for our members as well. 

Senator BEGICH. Very good. 

Let me end there, and I first want to say—and I will probably 

submit a few additional questions, but I first want to say thank 

you all very much. It is interesting to hear some of the discussions, 

especially about the volunteer capacity. I am just always amazed 

when called upon what can happen and how the private sector involves, and then again from the insurance company viewpoint of 

mitigation. You do not want to be there on the back end because 

that means usually life, property, and who knows what else. And 

if you can prevent that, that is a good thing from the community 

perspective, but also from a company perspective. 

Mr. MERWARTH. That is right. 

Senator BEGICH. And that is a good deal all around. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Yes, sir. 

Senator BEGICH. I guess I want to ask one more question before 

I close. Do you folks within your analysis and risk analysis, are you 

now doing anything from an insurance-wide perspective? I do not 

want to get you into the debate of climate change, but that is a reality that there is something happening. We can argue the science, 

but I do not want to argue that. I want to say, do you from an insurance perspective see an increase or have you seen an increase 

in real, not kind of made-up claims but, I mean, real stuff that is 

weather-related that is changing? 

Mr. MERWARTH. That is a great question, Mr. Chairman. And, 

absolutely, there is no question, the frequency and the severity of 

these catastrophic-level events has really been on the rise over the 

past decade. We are not getting too hung up on why is it happening so much as—— 

Senator BEGICH. Right, but you are seeing—— 
30 

Mr. MERWARTH [continuing]. Acknowledging that it is happening 

and making sure that we are positioned well as an insurance company to be able to take care of our members in that changing environment. 

Senator BEGICH. Is it fair to say—and I do not want to put words 

in your mouth, but what your risk analysis have done of what you 

do today versus, say, 15 years ago around this issue of how there 

is something happening with regards to weather patterns and so 

forth, is that a piece of the equation more so than it was 10 or 15 

years ago? Does that question make sense? In other words, in your 

risk analysis of future claims and what you have to put in reserve 

and all the things that you have to do to prepare, this ever-changing weather patterns, is that now becoming a more apparent piece 

within the risk analysis—— 

Mr. MERWARTH. I understand your question, Mr. Chairman, and 

I cannot speak for the entire industry. 

Senator BEGICH. Sure. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Every company is going to think about this a little bit differently. But at USAA, being a financially strong company, it has always been top of mind that we are ensuring that we 

are holding enough capital for pretty severe weather events. That 

has been in our calculus for some time. What we are seeing, 

though, is that those events are becoming more and more common, 

which makes the imperative to focus on what we can do to actually 

shore up and protect our members as these things start to make 

landfall, something that is so important for us and for the 

BuildStrong Coalition as well. 

Senator BEGICH. Very good. And as a member, I mean, the goal 

is, when those rates go up, the members—we are the ones insuring. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Right. That is right. 

Senator BEGICH. It is a mutual relationship in a lot of ways. 

Mr. MERWARTH. Yes, sir. 

Senator BEGICH. Well, I appreciate again this very good information, very good discussion, and I thank you for being part of this 

hearing today, and I appreciate your willingness to step forward. 

And, again, we will have some additional questions. We will probably keep the record open for 15 days, and so if other Members who 

are not here today submit, be prepared there might be some additional questions. 

At this time we will adjourn the meeting, and thank you all for 

being here. 

[Whereupon, at 4:07 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 
(31) 

A P P E N D I X 

Testimony of 

Elizabeth Zimmerman 

Deputy Associate Administrator for the Office of Response and Recovery 

Federal Emergency Management Agency 

before 

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee 

Subcommittee on Emergency Management, Intergovernmental Relations and the District of 

Columbia 

May 8, 2013 

Introduction 

Good afternoon, Chairman Begich, Ranking Member Paul and other distinguished Members of 

the Subcommittee. I'm Elizabeth Zimmerman, the Deputy Associate Administrator for the 

Office of Response and Recovery at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and I 

am grateful for the opportunity to speak here today. 

I look forward to discussing the groundbreaking work that our team at FEMA is doing to 

increase pUblic-private cooperation in the sphere of emergency management. 

FEMA Administrator Fugate recently told a gathering of U.S. private sector leaders: "There's no 

way government can solve the challenges of a disaster with a government-centric approach. It 

takes the whole team." This philosophy is central to how our leadership team has approached 

our mission since we took office over four years ago. We believe that the Agency is better able 

to serve our neighbors, fellow citizens, and our nation's disaster survivors in particular, when 

public sector and private sector representatives are both active members of the same team. 

FEMA places a premium on the value of public-private partnerships, and works steadily to 

provide tools, models, and resources designed to inspire their creation and nurture their success. 

Throughout this testimony, I will highlight our collaborative endeavors with the private sector 

and how these efforts were put to good use on behalf of the American people during the team's 

response and recovery operations for Hurricane Sandy and other disasters. 
32 

Private Sector Outreach and Steady State Coordination 

As part of the Office of External Affairs, the Private Sector Division conducts outreach to a wide 

range of non-government partners, including small, medium and large business; academia, trade 

associations and other organizations. Throughout the year, our headquarters and regional staff 

conduct a variety of outreach activities to interact with the private sector about its role in 

emergency management, provide information on tools and resources to support preparedness, 

and integrate the private sector into the emergency management team. The Division team 

includes six full time positions at FEMA headquarters, ten regional liaisons and a disaster 

workforce cadre of approximately 40 reservists. 

During steady state, non-disaster operations, the Division focuses its efforts on ways to engage 

various segments of the private sector in activities ranging from seasonal public affairs 

campaigns to opportunities for providing feedback on national policies to participation in joint 

exercises. Over the past five years, the Division has led a number of initiatives to foster greater 

private-public partnership. 

For instance, the Private Sector Web Portal provides one-stop shopping for the private sector on 

tools, resources, initiatives, and other content relevant to their interests. FEMA also established 

a Private Sector Representative (PSR) position in 20 lOin order to communicate, coordinate, and 

collaborate between public and private sector stakeholders before, during, and after disasters. 

When the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) is activated, these special 

govemment employees serve as critical liaisons between FEMA and private industry through the 

National Business Emergency Operation Center (NBEOC) by leveraging private sector 

coordination and collaboration capabilities and sharing situational awareness information. When 

not activated for disaster response, representatives work as part of FEMA' s Private Sector 

Division to seek and share information with the private sector on planning, training, and 

exercising activities. 

The PSR position has been filled by eight companies, including Target, Big Lots, Brookfield 

Properties, Systems Planning Corporation (a small business), Verizon, Citi, Wal-Mart and 

Dominion. The Division expects to welcome the first academic representative in summer 2013. 

To date, PSRs have been integrated solely in the Private Sector Division; and, going forward, 

PSRs will be assigned to FEMA programs offices where their skills and background can be best 

leveraged. The role of the PSR is to provide FEMA leadership with guidance on how private 

sector resources and capabilities can best be leveraged to help communities respond and recover 

from disasters. PSRs, who are special government employees, are not expected to speak on 

behalf of industries outside of their realm of expertise. 

On the preparedness front, the Agency has developed six tabletop exercises available on the 

FEMA website, complete with video injects and facilitator notes. These exercises can be used 

by the private sector as a preparedness activity at the community, organization, or partnership 

2 
33 

level. FEMA also created the QuakeSmart program to help local businesses mitigate earthquake 

losses and get back up and running as quickly as possible after a disaster. A cornerstone of the 

program is FEMA's recognition that partnerships are key to raising awareness and to making 

sure that businesses take action to become "QuakeSmart." In support of its mission, 

"QuakeSmart" develops materials, delivers training, and increases its partnerships with internal 

and external stakeholders. Activities include successful dialogues between FEMA and local 

chambers of commerce and businesses in the New Madrid Seismic Zone over the past year in 

Memphis and recently in St. Louis - areas of focus during the 200th anniversary of the 

New Madrid earthquakes. 

Although online resources are valuable for their broad accessibility, face-to-face opportunities 

are an effective way to fully engage our partners and encourage a productive exchange of ideas. 

FEMA held its first national conference on "Building Resilience through Public Private 

Partnerships" in August 2011. Combined, in-person and virtual participation reached close to 

1,000 people nationwide. The conference was developed in collaboration with the Department 

of Homeland Security (DHS) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and was 

co-hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Red Cross. 

In addition to direct private sector engagement, FEMA also coordinates with a broad array of 

other government agencies and offices whose interests or capabilities have a direct impact on the 

success of private sector engagement. Our team works closely with our partners throughout 

DHS, including the Office of Infrastructure Protection, the Office of Academic Engagement, the 

Private Sector Office and the Office of Intelligence and Analysis. 

Importantly, the DHS Office ofInfrastructure Protection Strategic Outreach and Partnerships 

Division helps extend FEMA's reach through coordination with the 16 critical infrastructure and 

key resources (CIKR) sector-specific agencies and government coordinating councils. Division 

staff participates directly in several CIKR Government Coordinating Councils: Critical 

Manufacturing, Chemical, Commercial Facilities, Banking and Finance. The Division also has 

direct relationships with the sector leads from the Departments of Treasury, Health and Human 

Services, Agriculture, Transportation and Energy as well as the Food and Drug Administration. 

Additionally, the Division has coordinated with the Office of the Director of National 

Intelligence, Internal Revenue Service, the Small Business Administration, the Department of 

Commerce, and the White House Office of Strategic Engagement (National Security Staff). 

Overall, these efforts aim to leverage public-private partnerships to enhance situational 

awareness; expand reach and access for disaster preparedness and relief communications; 

increase the effectiveness of emergency management efforts; maintain strong relationships, build 

on mutual understanding; create more resilient communities and increase jurisdictional capacity 

to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from major incidents. 

3 
34 

National Business Emergency Operations Center 

In the aftermath of a major disaster, getting the local economy back up and running again 

requires close coordination across government and the private sector. The NBEOC was 

established in July 2012 as part of Emergency Support Function 15 (ESF-15!Extemal Affairs) to 

provide an information sharing and collaboration platform for national partners during major 

disasters. The NBEOC is a virtual network of national corporations, infrastructure (through 

DHS), federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government, and trade associations that have 

disaster roles. Under the National Response Framework, there are two seats dedicated to the 

NBEOC within the NRCC which are typically staffed by a member of the Private Sector 

Division and the current Private Sector Representative. 

A key goal of the NBEOC is to promote business getting back to business, which means that 

information and interactions will focus on this objective. 

Our team at FEMA is keenly aware that an established capability in every community already 

exists through which the private sector provides daily transportation, food, shelter, and 

communications services. Ideally, that existing structure should be back up and running as 

quickly as possible after an incident. Achieving a rapid return to normalcy may require 

government assistance clearing roadblocks, sharing information, connecting the dots at federal, 

state, tribal, territorial and local levels, as well as other solutions. It also means ensuring that the 

government is moving resources where and when they are needed, in collaboration - not 

competition - with the private sector. 

The NBEOC has been activated twice, most recently for Hurricane Sandy, which was the largest 

activation for the Private Sector Division since it was established in 2007. The NBEOC was 

activated as part of the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) for almost three weeks--

beginning pre-Iandfall--to assist impacted private sector organizations. In addition, 30 private 

sector liaisons were deployed to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to support ESF-15 at a 

more local level. 

From both the private sector and federal perspectives, the need for pUblic-private coordination 

was so pressing that NBEOC membership almost doubled, rising to almost 350 before the storm 

made landfall. The team sent twice-daily situational updates to NBEOC members, responded to 

more than 125 requests for information, and helped resolve a range of private sector issues. 

Simultaneously, the NBEOC was able to provide critical private sector information on operating 

status, obstacles, and issues to inform decision-making in the NRCC and the Regional Response 

Coordination Centers (RRCCs). For example, retail open/closed status was a critical component 

in daily commodities planning in the "NRCC and the Regions. 

Along with a constant stream of requests from federal operational partners, the NBEOC desk 

also fielded at least 125 private sector inquiries during the initial response, ranging from 

credentialing and transportation requests to lodging offers. For example, the NBEOC desk 

4 
35 

helped connect private sector partners with the Department of Transportation for transportation 

waiver requests, so they could deliver critical supplies and generators to impacted areas. The 

NBEOC also worked with a Fortune 500 big box store to fulfill a request for information on 

shelter locations, so their stores could maintain adequate stock levels. 

As the immediate response and recovery operations for Hurricane Sandy ramped down, FEMA 

leadership acted quickly to capture lessons learned from the NBEOC's operational output during 

the storm. On April 23, 2013, NBEOC members met with senior Agency personnel with the 

goal of securing greater mutual understanding of capabilities, needs, and opportunities among 

FEMA's operational leadership and the NBEOC members. r welcome the opportunity to share 

the results of our analysis with the Subcommittee in the near future. 

Public-Private Partnership in Action 

The Administration's efforts to bring to bear the full resources of our partners during the 

response and recovery phases of disaster operations has paid substantial dividends in helping to 

make communities whole again. 

The spring of 20 11 brought a series of devastating tornados to the southeast, starting with an 

outbreak in Alabama. Working hand in hand with the private sector and the state of Alabama, 

support streamed rapidly into the impact zone. FEMA deployed private sector specialists with 

the disaster response team. These reservists coordinated with the Alabama Department of 

Insurance, Alabama Insurance Information Service and Joint Field Office leadership to bring 

major insurance companies to the table on a recurring basis to discuss how they could work 

together to better assist survivors/policyholders. In addition, FEMA worked with the Alabama 

Emergency Management Agency, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community 

Affairs and the Housing Task Force to plan at least five "Recovery Expos," scheduled in the Phil 

CampbelllHackleburg, Tuscaloosa, Cordova, Pratt City and Rainsville areas. These expos 

played an important role in providing local businesses an opportunity to sell their goods and 

services thereby helping to stimulate the local economy in the aftermath of the tornados. Finally, 

our private sector team worked with Alabama Gas to provide FEMA disaster assistance 

information on billing statements to 400,000 people. 

As I previously stated, the team's response and recovery efforts during Hurricane Sandy 

provided a new opportunity to operationalize the partnership with our private sector colleagues 

on a broad scale. By leveraging their existing networks and capabilities, a number of private 

sector companies were able to channel critical information and resources to impacted 

communities in need. For example, a nationaiiodging association reached out to its membership 

to promote the Transitional Shelter Assistance program, helping to increase available housing 

resources for disaster survivors and emergency personnel in New York and New Jersey. A 

major internet search engine's crisis action team worked with FEMA and private sector partners 

to map out gas stations, retail locations and power outages for public use. A nationally known 

5 
36 

telecommunications company brought its mobile communications trailer to provide online access 

for survivors to register for assistance in Rockaway and Long Beach, New York. Finally, an 

organization representing pharmacies provided daily updates to the general public on open and 

closed pharmacies in New York and New Jersey. 

Conclusion 

FEMA, under the leadership of Administrator Fugate, has made great strides in embracing our 

private sector colleagues as full-fledged members of our emergency management team that 

includes federal, state, territorial, local and tribal partners. The Agency continues to learn from 

our partners who are handling emergencies on a daily basis. They offer the most relevant lessons 

and good practices. We build on what works in the field, and help amplify the reach of the most 

promising efforts by sharing them nationally. 

As a leadership team, we recognize that there are areas where we can improve. Two key 

challenges include fundamental differences between the way the federal government and the 

private sector operate and the lack of consistent connections at the state government level for 

private sector engagement. The latter is critical since much of the collaboration between the 

public and private sectors must happen at the state level, due to the nature of emergency 

management. At present, only half of all U.S. states have any type of private sector engagement 

effort for emergency management issues, and those efforts range widely in format, focus, level 

of effort, and sustainability. 

I believe these challenges present ample opportunity for us to continue to work with the 

members of this Subcommittee and your colleagues in the House and Senate, to further enhance 

the cooperative frameworks through which we collaborate with our private sector partners. 

Thank you Chairman Begich for providing me this opportunity to appear before you today. 

look forward to answering questions you or other members of the Subcommittee may have. 
37 

U.S SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20416 

TESTIMONY OF 

MICHAEL CHODOS 

ASSOCIA TE ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE OFFICE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT 

U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

BEFORE THE 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, L'ITERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, AND THE DISTRICT 

OF COLUMBIA 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMEl'<'T AFFAIRS 

MAYS,20t3 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today regarding the Small Business Administration's 

role in helping communities recover and rebuild after major disasters, as well as the importance of 

collaboration between the public and private sectors in disaster response and long-term recovery. 

As you know, SBA is responsible for providing affordable, timely, and accessible financial 

assistance in the form of low-interest loans to businesses of all sizes, homeowners, renters, and nonprofit organizations in the aftermath of a disaster. These include Economic Injury Disaster Loans for 

small businesses and non-profits to help them meet financial obligations and operating expenses that 

could have been met if the disaster had not occurred. 

When a major disaster strikes, SBA is on the ground across the affected region, providing 

individuals and businesses with information, support, and access to disaster recovery loans. We are 

there from day one and will stay deeply involved as communities rebuild. After a major disaster, it is 

well known that SBA provides disaster loans; however, these loans are only one small part of the 

Page lofS 
38 

agency-wide approach that we offer to affected communities. For example, because of the series of 

major disasters we have seen in recent years, and the expectation of future extreme weather and 

other impacts of climate change, SBA has put a strong emphasis on preparedness. We have partnered 

with a private company, Agility Recovery, to host a series of monthly disaster preparedness webinars 

for businesses. Each month, these free interactive events feature subject-matter experts presenting 

tips for business owners to help them develop their own business continuity strategies. Topics have 

included "Utilizing Social Media During a Crisis," "Winter Weather Preparedness," "Crisis 

Communication Planning," and "Protecting Your Organization by Preparing Your Employees." SBA's 

Office of Entrepreneurial Development and our vast network of business counselors and economic 

development partners also play an essential role in immediate disaster response, in addition to 

helping the region's small businesses restart, rebuild, and thrive again. 

SBA's Entrepreneurial Development programs and partners are deeply embedded in local and 

regional economic development ecosystems across America. We support over 1 million clients 

annually as they start and grow their small businesses. We have more than 14,000 business 

counselors, mentors, and trainers available through over 1,000 Small Business Development Centers, 

106 Women's Business Centers, and over 350 SCORE chapters. Our partners are deeply embedded in 

their local communities, and in addition to their federal funding, receive funding from state and local 

governments, educational institutions, charitable foundations, and corporate and other private sector 

partners. This vast resource partner network, in addition to SBA's 68 District Offices, is what makes 

us uniquely situated to aid survivors in the aftermath of a disaster. 

Page 20fS 
39 

Immediately after a disaster occurs, our Resource Partners help staff Disaster Recovery 

Centers, provide intake space for Business Recovery Centers in their own service center locations, 

and set up informational events in communities across the area. 

In this early period, our Resource Partners help business owners map out the recovery 

process, collect information, and apply for disaster loans. They connect business owners with other 

local, state, and federal resources, ranging from help accessing local governmental and utility 

programs to connections with the IRS to obtain copies of critical tax documents. Our resource 

partners also help businesses take the first concrete steps to obtain the capital, resources, and 

mentoring that they need to get back up and running. 

Over the long term, our Resource Partners help existing businesses review and re-shape their 

business plans, vendor and customer relationships, marketing and customer-acquisition plans, and 

financing arrangements. We know that some small businesses hardest hit by a disaster will 

unfortunately never return; therefore, our partners help new businesses get access to all the tools 

that they need to plan for successful growth and make their communities vibrant again. 

With regard to our response to Sandy, the Sandy Supplemental enacted by Congress provided 

$20 million for small business technical assistance for the areas impacted by the storm. After 

sequestration cuts, SBA is using a two-phase approach to deploy $19 million that allows us to 

jumpstart the recovery process and invest in rebuilding the region's small business community. 

The first phase, which we have already deployed, focused $5.8 million on immediate and 

intensive business counseling and training to support recovery as businesses are getting back up to 

speed. This is a six-month initiative to meet immediate, short-term needs for supporting business 

Page 3 of 5 
40 

recovery. The funds have been distributed to our Resource Partners for immediate, intensive small 

business counseling and training services in the Sandy-affected counties. We'll be tracking activities 

and outcomes to make sure these funds are effectively spent to get businesses back on their feet. 

Phase Two of our Sandy response is a two-year initiative using $13.2 million to build longerterm, community-based small business recovery and resiliency in Sandy-affected counties. The 

Program Announcement for this Phase was published on April 19'h and we expect to receive 

proposals from the affected areas by June 5th. In their grant proposals, applicants must provide 

detailed plans for coordination and collaboration by our SBA Resource Partners with both each other 

and with state and local economic development efforts. These plans will avoid duplication of effort 

and will ensure an integrated response to community economic recovery efforts by all the players 

working to support small businesses as they restart, rebuild and recover over the long term. These 

collaborative partner groups will each bring unique contributions to deliver positive results for small 

businesses 

Phase Two of our Sandy response is a two-year initiative using $13.2 million to build longerterm, community-based small business recovery and resiliency in Sandy-affected counties. The 

Program Announcement for this Phase was published on [date] and we expect to receive proposals 

from the affected areas by June Sth. In their grant proposals, applicants must provide detailed plans 

for coordination and collaboration by our SBA Resource Partners with each other and with state and 

local economic development efforts. These plans will avoid duplication of effort and will ensure an 

integrated response to community economic recovery efforts by all the players working to support 

Page 4 of 5 
41 

small businesses as they restart, rebuild and recover over the long term. These collaborative partner 

groups will each bring unique contributions to deliver positive results for small businesses. 

We thank you for your support and I look forward to answering any questions. 

Page SofS 
42 

Written Statement 

of 

Christopher Terzich 

Regional Consortium Coordinating Council Chair 

Before 

U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Emergency 

Management, Intergovernmental Relations, and the 

District of Columbia 

May 8,2013 

"Role of Private Sector in Preparedness and 

Emergency Response" 
43 

Good afternoon Chairman Begich, Ranking Member Paul, and distinguished members of the 

Subcommittee. My name is Chris Terzich, and I am the chair of the Regional Consortium 

Coordinating Council, a partnership whose members are regional partnerships working in 

resilience and protection of our critical infrastructure across the United States. I personally have 

worked on critical infrastructure security and preparedness for nearly 30 years. On behalf of our 

council, it is a true honor to testify before you today. 

Through social media, by traveling to disaster-stricken communities, or by completing the 

Boston Marathon and running to the hospital to donate blood, Americans will help each other 

during crises. 

To be successful, we must be more focused on efforts that enable Americans in their own 

communities; efforts that understand community dynamics and leverage local skill and 

expertise. There are two areas where government and regional partnerships can be more 

effective in the short term and with little to no cost. Using the successful Community 

Emergency Response Team (CERT) model, create do-it-yourself "kits" for volunteers who I) 

work through social media to inform and coordinate a community response or, 2) establish teams 

of skilled volunteers who travel to join disaster response. 

The National Preparedness Directive is aimed at strengthening the security and resilience of the 

United States through systematic preparation for the threats that pose the greatest risk to the 

security of the Nation. It articulates that our national preparedness is the shared responsibility of 

all levels of government, the private and nonprofit sectors, and individual citizens. 

America is changing at a rapid pace. In 1930, we were a predominantly agrarian society with 

70% of Americans livinr in rural areas. Today, 82% of us live in cities, and by 2030, this is 

projected to rise to 87% . Our most urban state is California where 95% or 35.4 million people 

live in cities. Los Angeles (including Long Beach and Anaheim) is the most densely populated 

urban area in the country with 12.1 million residents.2 We are also moving towards the 

coastlines. Between 1960 and 2008, the population in coastline counties along the Gulf of 

Mexico soared by 150 percent, more than double the rate of increase of the nation's population as 

a whole. This area is now home to nearly 14 million residents.3 From 1980 through 2012, there 

have been 144 billion dollar weather disasters, or 4.5 per year. In 2011 and 2012 this number 

spiked to 25, or 12.5 per year.4 

We are also more connected than ever before. Stanley Milgram's experiment with letters5 in 

1969 led to our now common understanding that we are all separated by an average of 6 friends 

and friends of friends: Six Degrees of Separation. Less known, but perhaps more important is 

the concept of Three Degrees of 1nfluence6

• The influence of actions moves through our social 

1 World Bank 

2 US Census (http://www.census.gov) 

3 US Census (http://www.census.gov/newsroom/emergencies/) 

4 National Climactic Data Center (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/overview) 

5 Travers, Jeffrey & Stanley Milgram. 1969. "An Experimental Study of the Small World Problem." 

6 Tasha Bock, James H. Fowler, Nicholas A. Christakis (http://connectedthebook.com/index.html) 
44 

networks three degrees (or in the most basic terms, to and from your friends' friends' friends). 

This influence dissipates after three degrees for three reasons, 1) the information loses integrity 

(think of the telephone game), 2) the connections become less stable with the loss of strong 

personal connections, and 3) most groups throughout history were connected by three degrees or 

fewer. 

For example, Chairman Begich and I have not met before today, but ifWikipedia7 is accurate we 

are connected; we are both of Croatian descent, his father and my mother grew up in the same 

small town of Eveleth in Northern Minnesota and our fathers both attended the University of 

Minnesota. We also have a shared connection on the professional networking site, LinkedIn. 

At one time these connections between people took place through personal travel, letters and 

phone calls. They now happen at light speed almost anywhere in the world. We must fully 

understand how digital communications have and will continue to change our world. In 

December, Facebook saw daily use from an average of 618 million people, roughly twice the 

population of the United States each day.s In a more personal example,just today I used my 

iPad to have a "video conversation" with my daughter 1,000 miles away in Wisconsin. 

Why Regional Partnerships Matter 

The National Preparedness Goal9 describes the concept of Whole Community as "a focus on 

enabling the participation in national preparedness activities of a wider range of players from the 

private and nonprofit sectors, including nongovernmental organizations and the general public, 

in conjunction with the participation of Federal, state, and local governmental partners in order to 

foster better coordination and working relationships." 

Regional partnerships give the preparedness and critical infrastructure resilience community 

identity. This sense of community is critical to our success. It is an all-encompassing 

characteristic, a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one 

another and to the group, and a shared confidence that members' needs will be met through their 

commitment to be together. 

According to researchers 10, there are four elements necessary to create a sense of community: 

membership, influence, reinforcement and shared emotional connection. Membership is the 

feeling of belonging or of sharing a sense of personal connection. Influence can be described as a 

sense that members matter and can make a difference, that this influence is bi-directional. 

Reinforcement or the integration and fulfillment of needs: Do I have confidence that the group 

will meet my needs? The last element is a shared emotional connection. Do we have and will 

we have a shared history, beliefs, places and experiences? I experienced community in the 

strongest sense when I joined the Marine Corps 30 years ago. To this day, when I meet another 

Marine, we are instantly and strongly connected. 

7 Mark Begich - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Begich) 

'Facebook by the Numbers (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57566550-93/facebook-by-lhe-numbers-l.06-

billion-monthly-active-users/) 

9 National Preparedness Goal (http://www.fema.gov/pdf/prepared/npg.pdf) 

10 A Definition and Theory of Sense of Community (http://www.drdavidmcmillan.com/article-l/) 
45 

In the partnerships I have founded, supported and led, I have seen no limits to the variations in 

formal organization. Some are loose gatherings that form naturally and others have been funded, 

organized and operated very much like a business. 

In a practical sense, successful regional partnerships all have several characteristics in common. 

A small group of committed leaders starts with a clear and shared purpose. They create a simple 

organization, determining rules and structure that will prevent major conflicts but is not too 

cumbersome to operate. A small number of volunteers who are committed to seeing the 

partnership work to completion will enable accomplishment of goals. Other members may 

engage and disengage over time, but without a few constant leaders, the partnership can fall to 

irrelevancy. The larger group is equally connected to the shared purpose, but may be more 

loosely tied to the leadership and each other. In social groups, strong ties are good for local 

cohesion and are more likely with a small core of leaders, but they but can cause more 

fragmentation on a larger scale. In a larger group, weak ties enable reaching populations and 

audiences that are not accessible via strong ties. In other words and perhaps counter intuitively; 

more weak ties mean the group is more capable of acting in concert 11. 

Successful Partnerships 

Those in homeland security at all levels of government are charged with protection of our critical 

infrastructure. The common estimate is that private businesses and other non-governmental 

organizations own 85% of the critical infrastructure of the United States. In very simple terms, if 

we are to succeed at keeping people safe, keeping the lights on and the economy moving, no one 

doubts that we must work together. 

In Alaska, where an emergency manager once summed up the worst case scenario as "a 9.0 at 40 

below", the Alaska Partnership for Infrastructure Protectionl2 has worked toward the clear goals 

of direct connection of the private sector to the State Emergency Operations Center, which now 

includes the membership Rapid Alert System during a statewide emergency. 

In New York and New Jersey, the All Hazards Consortium 13 worked with the local business 

community during Hurricane Sandy to provide an unprecedented map of business that were 

opened or closed during the storm and recovery. 

In Illinois Chicago FIRSTI4 became one of the most robust partnerships in the post-9II I years 

with the goal of forging a relationship between financial institutions and government at all levels 

to promote information sharing about employee safety and business continuity issues. 

11 Granovetter's Theory of the Strength of Weak Ties (http://www.analytictech.com/networks/weakties.htm) 

12 Alaska Partnership for Infrastructure Protection (http://www.ak-prepared.com/APIP) 

13 All Hazards Consortium (http://www.ahcusa.org/) 

14 Chicago FIRST (https://www.chicagofirst.org/) 
46 

The Safeguard Iowa Partnership 1 5 was launched on January 29,2007 with support of the Iowa 

Business Council, Business Executives for National Security and the State of Iowa. Their 

mission is clear: Strengthening the capacity of the state to prevent, prepare for, respond to and 

recover from disasters through public-private collaboration. 

The Minnesota InfraGard Members Alliance 16 grew to 1,400 members (one of the largest 

chapters) when it set out to create a trained team within the Minnesota State Emergency 

Operations Center. This group also held a 5-state private sector led exercise 17 using social media 

to connect and interact with remote participants. 

In the Pacific Northwest, 5 states and 5 Canadian provinces formed the Pacific Northwest 

Economic Region and later the Center for Regional Disaster Resilience 18 with the goal of 

creating and fostering cross-sector partnerships focused on infrastructure security and disaster 

resilience. 

Just last month, the SouthEast Emergency Response Network (SEERN) hosted a call for 

businesses and partnerships to talk through the collective and individual response to the Boston 

Marathon Bombing on April 15th• 

These are just a few examples of regional partnerships at work. Their legal and formal structures 

may vary greatly as do their specific activities, depending on the needs of their members, but 

they are all successful because they recognize the importance of membership, influence, 

reinforcement and shared emotional connection in building a thriving regional resilience 

community. 

Effective Government Efforts 

My experience in public private partnerships began in 1989. In 2003 through a working group 

of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council19, we recommended the Department of 

Homeland Security include the private sector in a framework for partnership that includes a 

regional focus. I am pleased to report that while much work remains, we have achieved a great 

deal together. The National Infrastructure Protection Plan has outlined a partnership frame work 

that engages the private sector and in calling for the creation of the Regional Consortium 

Coordinating Council (RCCC), creates a connection to community partnerships. 

Since assuming the chair role for the RCCC in 2012, my experience with the Office of 

Infrastructure Protection (IP) has also been positive. Assistant Secretary Durkovich and her 

leadership team have been strong and committed partners. 

15 Safeguard Iowa (https://safeguardiowa.wildapricot.org!FAQ) 

16 Minnesota InfraGard (http://mninfragard.usf) . 

17 Northern Lights (http://northernlightscip.blogspot.com/p/ exercise-overview .html) 

1S Center for Regional Resilience (http://www.regionalresilience.org/) 

19 Cross Sector Interdependencies and Risk Assessment Guidance 

(http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/irawgreport.pdf) 
47 

During Hurricane Sandy and more recently the Boston Marathon Bombing, DHS leaders 

provided regular and open briefings, communicating what they knew even when the picture was 

unfolding and incomplete. This kind of open dialog may not provide more detail than written 

situation reports or statements, but it offers context and perspective that cannot be conveyed 

through written communication and helps us understand and prioritize risks to critical 

infrastructure. 

At FEMA, Administrator Fugate has led a strong effort to both embrace the concept of resilience 

through community, but also in engaging through digital media. In its Whole Community 

Approach to Emergency ManagemeneO, FEMA is working to understand community 

complexity, recognize capabilities, foster relationships, build partnerships and leverage and 

strengthen social infrastructure. Toward these goals, FEMA is active on YouTube, Twitter and 

Facebook. FEMA Private Sector Office has also stood up a National Business Emergency 

Operations Center to engage private sector in planning and response to crises. Additionally, in 

partnership with Citizen Corps, FEMA has launched a program for preparedness and response 

volunteers called FEMA Corps. 

FEMA also has and continues to play an important role in one of the most successful, and costeffective partnership efforts of the last 40 years; Community Emergency Response Teams21 

(CERT). In February, New York City Mayor Bloomberg recognized CERT members22; "CERT 

members volunteered throughout the Hurricane Sandy response and recovery efforts, even when 

their own homes suffered severe damage from the storm. That's the kind of dedication that 

really defines CERT volunteers. You are our most direct connection to communities in times of 

crisis, and you are a vitally important part of helping us prepare New Yorkers before a crisis 

starts." The CERT model is successful because it provides a "partnership kit". Training and 

"branding" are standard providing the identity, purpose and structure for a successful 

partnership. Groups themselves are formed more organically in established communities. 

Innovations 

Regional partnerships and goverrunent agencies are making progress, but the truly innovative 

and rapid advances are happening from within our communities themselves. 

Crisis Commons23 is a global community of volunteers from technology, crisis response 

organizations, government agencies, and citizens that are working together to build and use 

technology tools to help respond to disasters and improve resiliency and response before a crisis. 

Google Public Alerts24 takes information from the National Weather Service, USGS and other 

sources to provide a platform for disseminating emergency messages such as evacuation notices 

for hurricanes, and everyday alerts such as storm warnings. The goal of Google Public Alerts is 

20 Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management 

(http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=4941) 

21 FEMA - CERT (http://www.fema.gov/community-emergency-response-teams) 

22 NYC Press Release (http://goo.gl/RDQPK) 

"Crisis Commons {http://crisiscommons.org/about/} 

24 Google Public Alerts {http://www.google.org/crisisresponse/publicalerts/} 
48 

to show relevant official weather, public safety and earthquake alerts in the U.S., Japan, and 

Canada when you search on Google Search. 

Team Rubicon25 sets out with two important goals, the first is to engage returning veterans in a 

sense of purpose and community while they reintegrate into civilian life and the second is to 

provide trained and coordinated volunteers during disasters. Team Rubicon realized that natural 

disasters present many of the same problems that confront troops in Iraq and Afghanistan: 

unstable populations, limited resources, horrific sights, sounds and smells. The skills cultivated 

on those same battlefields emergency medicine, risk assessment and mitigation, teamwork and 

decisive leadership - are invaluable in disaster zones. 

These are just a few examples and there are countless more where they come from. We need to 

learn from them and use our unique strengths and capabilities to advance our shared goals for a 

resilient America. 

25 Team Rubicon (http://teamrubiconusa.orgf) 
49 

Path Forward 

But there is much more work to do. Most businesses understand they playa role in promoting 

the long-term economic prosperity and quality of life for everyone in our communities. Put 

simply, if the community prospers, then so do businesses. And, most are committed to assuming 

their responsibility for our shared resilience. But too many are still not engaged in building 

community resilience. We need to engage them better. 

And we need to adapt to social media much faster than we are today. Ifwe are to be successful 

in our work toward a resilient Nation, we must not only understand the basics of posting updates 

and tweeting, we must fully embrace it and learn to innovate within it. The mindset shift required 

of us now is no less than a pilot flying the first jets. We may be in a time of transition that is 

significant as the world saw in the century after Gutenberg introduced his printing press. Only 

this time, we have weeks, months and years to adapt, rather than centuries. 

I leave you today with a challenge to move quickly to create programs that build on the success 

of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT). CERT does a good job of enabling local 

community resilience at a relative low cost. But CERT doesn't address the full range of disaster 

volunteers. The CERT program can be applied to volunteers whether they want to respond in 

social media or by chainsaws and clearing debris. 

Together, we can create efficient and effective programs for resilience that reflect where 

Americans engage in their communities. Here are two examples to start the conversation: 

Social Media Volunteers - Create digital version of the Community Emergency Response Team 

(CERT) - communities will respond to a disaster and more frequently the fastest and most 

capable communication and coordination happens in the digital environment. The fastest and 

often most-coordinated understanding of a disaster as well as available resources and volunteers 

happens online. In one potential example, I have described these in a concept called Social 

Media Active Response Teams (SMART)26. 

Skilled Volunteer Responders - Like the example of Team Rubicon, there is a need for 

volunteers who are trained and equipped at higher levels than the light search and rescue that is 

the hallmark ofCERT teams. FEMA COrpS27, a new program for volunteers to support FEMA 

response is a step in this direction. I assert there is a role for government in providing the 

program and structure that can enable volunteers across the United States to follow in the 

footsteps of Team Rubicon. 

These examples demonstrate the collective shift we need to make; from building structures and 

organizations to enabling and connecting communities. Never before have we had such 

connection and innovation to build a truly resilient America. 

Thank you for your time today. 

26 SMART - Teams for Social Response (http://mninfragardstudent.wordpress.com/smart-teams/) 

27 FEMA Corps (http://www.fema.gov/fema-corps) 
50 

BUILDSTRONG 

COALITION 

~ 

Testimony 

of the 

BuildStrong Coalition 

Delivered by Michael Merwarth, Senior Vice President, USAA 

Submitted to the 

United States Senate 

Homeland Security and Government Affairs Subcommittee on Emergency Management, 

Intergovernmental Relations, and the District of Columbia, 

Hearing on 

"The Private Sector Role in Emergency Response and Preparedness" 

May 8, 2013, 2:30 p.m. EST 
51 

BUILDSTRONG 

COALITION 

~ 

Introduction 

Chainnan Begich, Ranking Member Paul and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for 

holding this important hearing to examine the private sector's role in emergency preparedness 

and response. 

My name is Michael Merwarth, and I am the Senior Vice President and Chief Property & 

Casualty Underwriter for USAA headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. USAA is a membershipbased association, open to all who have honorably served in the U.S military and their family 

members. We were founded in 1922 by a group of Anny officers who decided to band together 

and insure each other after they were considered too risky by other insurance companies. 

Our mission is to facilitate the financial security of our membership through a full range of 

financial products and services, including personal lines of insurance. Military service members 

and their families face unique challenges associated with their highly mobile lifestyle. USAA 

recognizes this and tailors our products and services to meet their needs. 

USAA is also proud to be a founding member of the BuildStrong Coalition, and that is who I am 

representing today. The BuildStrong Coalition is a group of national business and consumer 

organizations, insurance companies, firefighters, emergency managers and building professionals 

dedicated to promoting stronger building codes. It is the business of BuildStrong members to 

help families, communities and businesses mitigate and recover from the devastating effects of 

natural disasters. 

At USAA, we're focused on fulfilling our commitment to serve our military membership by 

providing useful tools and advice to help our members protect their lives, their loved ones and 

their property. For example, we have developed an online tool that enables our members to 

research a property's general exposure to various natural disasters, and provides practical 

guidance on how to prevent or reduce the likelihood of loss. 

All of our 66,000+ members in Alaska, can input their home address and learn more about their 

exposure to wildfires. Or, an active duty soldier getting ready to PCS to Fort Polk, Louisiana can 

use the tool to evaluate properties and find tips to mitigate the flood risk at hislher future home. 

Our tool also provides links to important advice from our disaster mitigation partners and fellow 

BuildStrong Coalition members, the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) 

and the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH). 

Throughout the year, USAA regularly provides our members with catastrophe related education 

and advice and helps our members understand how to rebuild resiliently post catastrophe. 

Something as simple as using ring-shank nails, instead of traditional nails, in roof repairs or 

sealing your roof deck can make a huge difference in strengthening your home and preparing for 

natural disasters. 

2 
52 

BUILDSTRONG 

COALITION 

~ 

We provide our members with disaster mitigation tips to help them make smarter and safer home 

building and repair decisions, but we're also there for them after disasters strike. USAA isn't 

fulfilling our mission if we aren't there for our members when they need us most. 

Whenever possible, we stage our claims experts in nearby areas when a catastrophic event is 

imminent. Our state-of-the-art catastrophe response vehicles, which include satellite, Internet, 

mobile and WI-FI capabilities, enter impacted areas as soon as possible. 

To communicate with members before and after events, we utilize traditional and social media 

tools, including Facebook, Twitter, text messages, and emails. We centralize the information in a 

comprehensive Disaster & Recovery Center, available online and through our USAA Mobile 

App. Members can also use our App to connect with the American Red Cross, the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), or to find one of our on-site claims locations. 

We recognize that our disaster mitigation and recovery efforts, and those of our BuildStrong 

Coalition partners, are more important now than ever, as according to the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration, there have been 25 major disasters over the past two years that 

have surpassed $1 billion in economic losses. The economic toll from these events, once the final 

costs from Sandy are tabulated, could rise to nearly $200 billion, but the greatest cost, of course, 

has been the tragic loss of hundreds oflives. 

The BuildStrong Coalition shares the subcommittee's goal of working toward solutions that 

would help communities prepare for, and recover from, natural disasters while saving taxpayer 

money in the process. Our first consideration, however, must always be the safety of our 

communities and the American people. As such, these wake-up calls compel us to advance 

legislation to help fortify the nation's defenses against similar events in the future. 

Building Codes Save Lives, Property and Taxpayer Money 

There is overwhelming scientific evidence to support the conclusion that enforcing model 

statewide building codes saves lives and greatly reduces property damage and the subsequent 

need for federal disaster aid. Model building codes govern all aspects of construction and help to 

protect people, homes and buildings from the devastating effects of natural catastrophes. 

Uniform statewide adoption and enforcement of model building codes by states helps to reduce 

long-term risks affecting people, property, the environment, and ultimately, the economy. The 

model codes are developed nationally in the U.S. by a consensus process involving researchers, 

construction experts, and local building officials. They are adopted and enforced at the state level 

to mitigate effects of natural disaster perils inherent to each state. 

In a landmark study conducted in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, researchers at the 

Louisiana State University Hurricane Center estimated that stronger building codes would have 
53 

BUILDSTRONG 

COALITION 

~ 

reduced wind damage from Katrina by 80 percent, saving taxpayers and the local economy $8 

billion. Louisiana has since adopted and enforced model building codes. 

In 2005, FEMA commissioned a study by the National Institute of Building Sciences' 

Multihazard Mitigation Council. The goal of the study, based on the work of more than 50 

national experts, was to assess the future savings from hazard mitigation activities. According to 

the study, every $1 dollar spent on hazard mitigation (actions to reduce disaster losses) provides 

the nation with about $4 in future benefits. 1 

In response to the devastating tornadoes in the spring of 2011, the FEMA Building Science 

Branch of the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA) deployed a Mitigation 

Assessment Team (MAT) to Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Missouri to assess 

the damage caused by these storms. This report presented 49 recommendations directed at 

improving public safety and building performance during tornado events. The adoption and 

enforcement of model building codes was the key recommendation presented more often than 

any other measure in the MAT report. 

Another study conducted for IBHS found that losses from Hurricane Andrew, which struck south 

Florida in 1992 and caused more than $20 billion (in today's dollars) in insured damage, would 

have been reduced by 50 percent for residential property and by 40 percent for commercial 

property if those structures were built in accordance with Florida's 2004 statewide building code. 

An IBHS study following Hurricane Charley in 2004 found that modern building codes reduced 

the severity of property losses by 42 percent and the frequency of losses by 60 percent. Florida 

has also adopted stringent building codes after suffering millions in economic losses as a result 

of these storms. 

More valuable research is currently being conducted by IBHS at its recently opened research 

center in Richburg, South Carolina. This research has already demonstrated how the human and 

financial toll of natural disasters can be greatly reduced by building stronger homes and business 

structures. With relatively simple upgrades in construction, such as strapping, to create a 

continuous load path from the roof, through the walls, and into the foundation; thicker roof 

decking; and textured, rather than smooth, nails, test homes were built to withstand 110 mile-perhour winds with little damage. Taking steps to prepare in these ways before a disaster hits can 

make a major difference. 

The Safe Building Code Incentive Act 

This is where the efforts of this subcommittee can be so important to the American people. If 

Congress can establish the proper incentives and focus the attention of the states on the 

undeniable value of strong building codes, the nation will be safer and much more resilient to 

natural disasters. 

1 Multihazard Mitigation Council, December 19,2005; 

http://www.nibs.org/index.php/mmc/news/Entryinewstudydisastermitigationiscosteffectiveandreducesfuturelosses 

4 
54 

BUILDSTRONG 

COALITION 

~ 

The insurance and emergency management community concluded long ago that strong building 

codes are the best first line of defense against natural disasters. One effective step Congress 

should immediately take to alleviate the financial pressures associated with natural disasters is to 

encourage mitigation measures, specifically in the form of building stronger, safer homes and 

businesses. To that end, the BuildStrong Coalition strongly endorses the Safe Building Code 

Incentive Act, as a forward-thinking investment in a stronger and safer America. 

Under the proposed law, states that adopt and enforce nationally recognized model building 

codes for residential and commercial structures would qualify for an additional 4 percent of 

funding available for post-disaster grants. This legislation will not require any additional 

appropriation to FEMA because it draws funds from the existing Disaster Relief Fund. 

Furthermore, the nature of the incentive does not mandate the adoption of statewide building 

codes on any states that wish to maintain their current system. 

With a disproportionate level of new development now being on coasts and waterways, it is 

critically important that we encourage the widespread adoption of the model building codes in 

these areas in order to protect property, save lives and ultimately reduce taxpayer exposure to 

natural disasters. 

A 2012 Milliman study found that the Safe BUilding Code Incentive Act would have saved U.S. 

taxpayers $11 billion in hurricane relief payments alone from 1988 to present, had it been in 

place. This subcommittee can ignite this debate by moving forward with consideration of the 

Safe Building Code Incentive Act. 

Conclusion 

I want to thank the subcommittee again for holding this important hearing, for the opportunity to 

share USAA's disaster mitigation and recovery stories and to discuss the crucial role strong 

building codes can play in making the nation safer and more secure in the face of natural 

disasters. 

USAA and the BuildStrong Coalition are dedicated to improving the resiliency of American 

communities. The overwhelming evidence supporting the widespread adoption of statewide 

building codes proves that the Safe Building Code Incentive Act is a fiscally responsible way to 

empower FEMA to assist in natural disaster recovery while working to prevent future damage. 

The incentives associated with this legislation will cost a modest amount of money in the nearterm, but significant savings will be realized in the long-term. 
55 

Coalition Members 

The American Institute of Architects 

AllState Insurance Company 

BUILDSTRONG 

COALITION 

~ 

American Insurance Association 

Congressional Fire Services Institute 

Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers 

Farmers Insurance Group of Companies 

Federal Alliance for Safe Homes 

Financial Services Roundtable 

Fireman's Association of the State of New York (F ASNY) 

Florida Association of Counties 

Florida Emergency Preparedness Association 

Institute for Business and Home Safety 

Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America 

International Code Council 

Liberty Mutual Insurance 

MetLife 

National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies 

National Association of State Fire Marshals 

National Council of Structural Engineers Associations 

National Fire Protection Association 

National Institute for Building Sciences 

National Ready Mixed Concrete Association 

Nationwide Insurance 

NeighborWorksAmerica 

Professional Insurance Agents 

Property Casualty Insurers Association of America 

Reinsurance Association of America 

Simpson Strong-Tie Co. 

Solutia 

Travelers 

State Farm Insurance Companies 

The Hartford 

USAA 

6 
56 

Daniel L. Stoecker 

Executive Director, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster 

Written Testimony Before the 

United States Senate Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

Subcommittee on 

Emergency Management, Intergovernmental Relations, and 

District of Columbia 

On 

"The Role of Private Sector in Preparedness and Emergency Response" 

May 8, 2013 

Page 1 ofl0 
57 

Chairman Begich and Distinguished Members of the Committee, My name is Daniel Stoecker. I 

am the Executive Director of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National 

VOAD). 

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to address "The Role of Private Sector in 

Preparedness and Emergency Response." I will use my brief remarks to highlight a few 

opportunities, challenges and recent innovative initiatives that demonstrate how the Private 

Sector, FEMA and other Federal government agencies can and do work together to better 

prepare for and respond to disasters. 

National VOAD is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership based organization that serves as a 

forum where organizations share knowledge and resources to help communities prepare for and 

recover from disasters. National VOAD is a coalition of 54 of the country's most reputable 

national faith-based, community-based and other non-governmental organizations, and 55 

State/Territory VOAD coalitions, representing LocallRegional VOADs and hundreds of 

additional member organizations throughout the country. 

We are dedicated to whole community engagement, recognizing that all sectors of society must 

work together to foster more resilient communities nationwide. In recent years, the VOAD 

collaborative has begun to focus on growing and strengthening the VOAD movement, as well as 

welcoming partnerships with emergency management and other government, business, education 

and civic sector organizations. 

Within the Federal government, National VOAD and FEMAlDHS established a formal 

partnership agreement in 20 I 0 to work together throughout the disaster cycle to enhance 

cooperation, communication, coordination and collaboration between government and the 

private nonprofit community. We just established a similar relationship with USACE around the 

specific subject of mass care, which I will reference in a moment. Over the past year, National 

VOAD has also begun working with other federal agencies to identify and implement public 

private cooperative opportunities, including with HHS (ASPR, CDC, Medical Reserve Corps, 

SAMHSA), HUD, DoA, USICEIDHS and DoD (National Guard Bureau, US Northern 

Command). 

Each of the distinguished Members of this Committee should be very proud of the VOAD 

coalition members and their volunteers serving the communities in your states. Your 

constituents gather to form VOAD coalitions to better share knowledge and resources throughout 

the disaster cycle. Working with emergency management and others, they provide the leadership 

that builds resilient communities and delivers hope in time of need. 

I will quickly share a few examples of private-public partnerships that demonstrate promising 

opportunities going forward: 

I. Chairman Begich, in the summer of 2009, several National VOAD member organizations 

were engaged in an expedited home rebuilding effort to assist residents recovering from a 

Page 2 oflO 
58 

flood disaster in a large, remote area of Alaska. Flooding and ice jams on the Yukon and 

Kuskokwim Rivers caused significant damage to several communities. Several factors 

converged to make this case of disaster recovery effort relatively unique. First, the disasteraffected area was quite remote, which presented challenges in tenns of providing rebuilding 

material and labor to do the recovery work. Second, in order to avoid dislocating individuals 

and families for an extended period oftime, the home rebuild and recovery work needed to 

be completed before the onset of winter, which necessitated completing the work projects in 

less than three months. And third, the process approach undertaken through a FEMA 

partnership with the VOAD organizations directly supplying building and repair services was 

a departure from more typical practices of contracting private for-profit building finns. The 

collaboration saved state and federal resources and helped families recover more quickly. 

John Madden, Director of the Alaska Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services, 

was key to the success of this project. Director Madden is now President of the National 

Emergency Management Association (NEMA), which has recently led to new strategic 

engagement opportunities between NEMA and National VOAD. 

2. Ranking Member Paul, VOAD agencies leapt into action in response to the tornadoes that 

swept the Commonwealth of Kentucky last year. VOAD organizations ranging from 

Mennonite Disaster Services, NECHAMA Jewish Response, Samaritan's Purse and many 

others, removed debris, repaired and rebuilt homes, and even worked to retrofit a warehouse 

so that the elementary school in West Liberty could reopen in a matter of weeks rather than 

months. This is yet another demonstration of how nonprofit agencies can step in to identify 

and help meet needs of local communities after an event devastates their region. 

3. US Anny Corps of Engineers (USACE) 

The recent National VOAD partnership established with USACE began at FEMA's National 

Response Coordination Center (NRCC) as we were preparing for Hurricane Isaac. The 

NRCC not only serves as a place where high level Federal and State interagency coordination 

is executed, FEMA has also arranged for National VOAD and other appropriate private 

sector partners to have representation there as well. This enables us to better coordinate 

public-private resources for a more effective response to the needs of individuals and 

communities impacted by disasters. 

As a result of coordinated problem solving at the NRCC, a Temporary Roofing Mission Pilot 

Program was established by FEMA, USACE, National VOAD and two of our members, 

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and Louisiana VOAD. The result was a model for getting 

'blue roofs' on homes in a quicker an less expensive means for both the federal government 

and for the states, who are required to match a portion of the costs for such deployed 

programs. The use ofVOAD organization volunteers decreased costs for federal contractors 

and local volunteer labor offset the state's 25% match. 

Going forward, the USACE will be working with National VOAD to develop standard 

operating procedures for collaborating on a variety of emergency support functions, and will 

provide related training and technical assistance for National and State VOAD members. 

Page 3 0[10 
59 

4. Establishment of a National Mass Care Strategy 

The American Red Cross and FEMA signed a MOA on October 22, 2010 that describes how 

FEMA and the American Red Cross will work together as co-leaders of the mass care portion 

ofESF-6 of the NRF. The MOA calls for FEMA, the American Red Cross and National 

VOAD to strengthen response capacity by developing and promulgating a National Mass 

Care Strategy. 

A public-private National Mass Care Council was established to guide the process to 

establish a framework to enhance coordination, pool expertise and strengthen response 

capacity in the provision of mass care services throughout the nation. In September 2012 the 

National Mass Care Strategy was released, and then disseminated over the past 6 months. 

It provides recommended courses of action for the delivery of improved mass care service to 

the nation, with five strategic goals that seek to move the nation in a direction that increases 

the capabilities and capacities of the Whole Community across the range and scale of 

disasters to which this country is vulnerable. 

Going forward we will be working with an expanded group of national and local publicprivate organizations to address implementation of the National Mass Care Strategy in States 

and local communities. 

5. FEMA has representation on our National VOAD work groups and committees that convene 

throughout the year to find solutions to the challenges brought by disasters. There we work 

together on ways to better engage and care for volunteers, manage unsolicited donations, 

provide mass care and recovery services, and improve private - public resource coordination. 

For example, this mechanism was used to create a Multi-Agency Feeding Plan template that 

serves as an educational tool assisting jurisdictions, NGOs, Private Sector and other 

stakeholders providing feeding support to understand the complexities of implementing a 

coordinated and collaborative feeding assistance plan in advance of, during and after a 

disaster throughout the impact area of a State. 

6. Lastly, further highlighting the value of public-private partnership, the UPS Foundation and 

the Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce exemplify 

two replicable partner projects with National VOAD following the landfall of Hurricane 

Sandy. The UPS Foundation worked with National VOAD to provide more than $100,000 of 

in-kind shipping services to nonprofit agencies to move materiel into the affected area, 

including flood cleanup buckets prepared by VOAD agencies such as Church World Service 

and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. The BCLC created a web portal for their community of 

businesses and corporations to find opportunities within the nonprofit community for skillsbased volunteerism, such as strategic development, process improvement, and marketing. 

Legislative or Administrative fixes that could serve to facilitate better private - public resource 

coordination: 

Page 4 oflO 
60 

I. Please see attached Appendix: A related to National Mass Care Strategy document, which 

outlines a set of priority recommendations related to Goal 5, to "Strengthen and Unify Mass 

Care Legal and Policy Foundations." 

2. Stafford Act, Sec 309, Use & Coordination of Relief Organizations: 

Clarifies that the Federal government may enter into agreements with nonprofits not just for 

disaster relief, but also for preparedness and recovery activities and to amend the act to read 

"The President is authorized to enter into agreements with the American National Red Cross, 

the Salvation Army, the Mennonite Disaster Service, and "National VOAD" or disaster 

assistance organizations" 

Recommend adding a new section on Volunteers: 

"Authorizes the President to provide temporary housing for volunteers who are assisting 

with response and recovery efforts upon receiving a request from an affected State, as 

long as it is appropriate, cost-effective, and would not interfere with the provision of 

temporary housing to first responders or disaster survivors." 

This provision is intended to leverage temporary volunteer labor by students, church groups, 

and other affiliated volunteers who wouldn't otherwise be able to assist due to inadequate 

supply of host homes. This authorizes states to request minimalist accommodations for 

volunteers (e.g. base camps with cots and tarps overhead) in order to accept their services, 

which will indirectly reduce federal repair and cleanup costs. 

3. Alternative Fee Based option for Small Business Administration Loans 

A large portion of a disaster survivors disaster assistance under a Presidentially Declared 

large portion of a disaster survivors disaster assistance under a Presidentially Declared 

Disaster stems from FEMA's individuals and households program (IHP), coupled with the 

Small Business Administration (SBA) loan for qualified individuals. The SBA loan requires 

interest payments which is prohibitive for Muslims and Orthodox Jews. Muslim 

communities typically discards the SBA application as the interest bearing loan is not in 

accord with their religious tenant as they are strictly prohibited to payor collect interest on a 

loan. They can pay for their money via a fee based instrument, but not on an interest bearing 

instrument. SBA states that the agency does not have the statutory authority to create a feebased alternative, and such a change would require a statutory change. 

Recommendation: Regulatory change authorizing SBA to create a fee based option for 

eligible individualslhouseholds vs. interest based. SBA has non-disaster fee based products 

available for faith traditions that are prohibited from paying interest which could be used a 

model for a disaster loan alternative. 

4. FEMA Disaster Assistance for Artisans and independent Contractor Small Businesses 

The FEMA Other Needs Assistance (ONA) program vital to recovery for artists, and other 

self-employed individuals, including free lancers and independent contractors is inadequately 

Page 5 of10 
61 

defined in FEMA policy and guidance and discriminates against this self-employed 

population. The majority of the nearly 10 million unincorporated self-employed workers 

identified by the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics could be defined as "micro-businesses" with 

zero (86%) or very few employees (97% have zero to four employees), which includes nearly 

2 million artists. Because of the nature of their livelihood, artists are 3.5 times more likely to 

be self-employed than other workers. 

The tool replacement provision of the "Other Needs Assistance" (ONA) allowances by 

FEMA for "specialized tools or protective clothing and equipment required for your job" 

would enable artists to return to income producing activity, however, the provision as 

currently interpreted and applied by FEMA requires verification from a regular employer that 

the tools or equipment must be provided by the employee. Self-employed workers are denied 

this potentially career-saving assistance simply because they work for themselves. 

It is essential to their recovery and the recovery of their communities, for artists and other 

self-employed workers to get back to work as quickly as possible after a disaster. The loss of 

necessary tools is a serious impediment to recovery of a significant number of self-employed 

workers and should be addressed by the proposed revision. 

Recommendation: Clarification of current Other Needs Assistance Policy for specialized 

tools or protective clothing and equipment required for your job. 

Clearly defined levels of assistance which are adequate to replace tools and equipment 

critical for earning a livelihood should be established, as well as criteria for FEMA to replace 

tools and equipment for self-employed artists. This would facilitate fair and timely evaluation 

in the field and minimize delays in providing assistance. Levels of assistance based on fair 

market values of verified losses for equipment, depending on severity of losses, should be 

established to enable most self-employed workers to resume gainful employment. 

5. Disaster Case Management Programs (DCMP) 

a. Implement conditions that allow FEMA more flexibility and options to deploy 

DCMPs based on the needs of the event, available competencies, and best use of 

public resources. 

b. The HUD DHAP should be a housing assistance resource for DCMP clients and 

should not have an additional, separate, exclusionary case management 

component. We have been very pleased with exploratory discussions with HUD 

to identifY efficiencies which also best create a continuity of recovery services for 

survivors. 

6. National VOAD is a signatory to the National Disaster Response Framework and has been 

actively working with federal agencies on the development of the National Recovery 

Framework and its many annexes, where we are identified as a partner. But the National 

VOAD community and other nonprofit organizations cannot always be designated as filling 

the gaps identified as these plans are being developed. We need to be realistic about the 

sector's capacity and capabilities, first ensuring if that sector has the necessary resources or 

mechanisms in place to fill such gaps. 

Page 6 of10 
62 

a. Public resources could be directed to ensure stated connections between public 

and private agencies are in place and tested. This could include providing 

technical assistance and hosting invitational stakeholder trainings and exercises. 

b. The components of federal agency work plans associated with engaging the 

public sector could better achieve desired outcomes if developed with and known 

by the associated public sector stakeholders. 

7. National VOAD recognizes there is still much to do to strengthen the preparedness 

competencies of our communities. We would like to build a consensus for Preparedness to 

be elevated to the stature of civic duty and recognized as a citizenship virtue. 

a. With leadership from National VOAD members like the American Red Cross, we 

are exploring innovative joint NVOAD-FEMA initiatives centered on engaging 

youth to become preparedness champions, and establishing a national 

preparedness exercise. 

b. We also recommend that preparedness information and other resources be 

included as a component of all Federally funded Disaster Recovery Programs. 

This is important so individuals and communities gain tools and knowledge to 

mitigate re-traumatization, re-victimization and to develop self-help and 

resiliency skills. 

8. Throughout America, VOAD agencies have the ability to quickly mobilize volunteers and 

mass care resources often much sooner and more cost effectively than government. When 

these organizations respond, they are often asked by government to remain and continue 

fulfilling key functions, usually without sustainable resources. Creating a direct mechanism 

for FEMA to reimburse voluntary agencies when services are requested would be effective 

and efficient. 

Chairman and Distinguished Members of the Committee, I would like to thank you again for 

your time, and welcome any questions or comments you may have. 

Page 70f10 
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Appendix A: "Strengtben and UnifY Mass care Legal and Policy Foundations." 

Address gaps in FEMA autborities to improve delivery of mass care services tbat may 

require legislative action: 

There currently are no authorized grant programs to provide grants, benefits, and incentives to 

affected states for: 

1. Emergency human services, to minimize the financial impact on community service 

programs when disaster-caused needs exceed the capabilities of program funding and 

resources. 

2. Workers' Compensation benefits for volunteers providing disaster relief during declared 

disasters. 

3. Incentives to build mass care capability and capacity. Incentive grants could be made 

available to local agencies and voluntary, community-based, and faith-based 

organizations through state or federal programs. 

Assess how to establish a sliding cost share that incentivizes state and local governments to 

invest in mass care resources and planning. (Use the example of Stafford Act Section 322 (e) as a 

model). 

The Stafford Act does not separate Public Assistance from Essential Assistance to provide 

separate funding authority for mass care programs, resources, and services, or to reimburse 

nongovernmental relief or disaster assistance organizations for expenses incurred in the 

provision of relief during a major disaster or emergency, where requested by the Federal 

Coordinating Officer or designee. 

Assess gaps in otber federal autborities tbat directly affect tbe provision of mass care 

services to meet Wbole Community needs: 

• Federal agencies currently cannot adjust their disaster assistance program benefits to 

align with host jurisdiction cost of living. 

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture currently cannot adjust the Disaster Supplemental 

Nutrition Assistance Program allotment for temporarily displaced disaster survivors to 

match the rate in the host jurisdiction. 

• The U.S. Department of Labor currently cannot adjust Disaster Unemployment 

Assistance benefits provided to temporarily relocated disaster survivors to match the rate 

in a host jurisdiction. 

• Medicaid regulations currently lack portability between states for disaster-displaced 

populations. 

Page 80f10 
64 

• The Privacy Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 

(HIP AA) includes barriers that inhibit sharing client data among agencies for the purpose 

of providing disaster recovery support and medical care. 

• Federal law currently is not optimally designed to minimize the liability exposure of 

nongovernmental, community-based, and faith-based organization staff and professionals 

who volunteer to support disaster response (counter-example: some states, such as 

California, have such laws in place that could serve as models). 

• The Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) does not include an 

enforceable Iicensure/credentialing reciprocity to facilitate deployment of medical, 

veterinary, and other professionals (e.g., plumbers, electricians) between states during 

disaster responses. Although EMAC includes a provision for reciprocity, currently it is 

not honored by state regulatory agencies. 

Assess gaps in existing federal doctrine, policies, and regulations that adversely impact 

national mass care capacity: 

• Assess whether modification is needed for the Department of Homeland Security Grant 

Program (HSGP) Urban Areas Security Initiative (VASI) to require recipient jurisdictions 

to apply a percentage of grant funding to the development and implementation of mass 

care planning, programs, resources, and services. 

• Assess whether modification is needed for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to adjust 

the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program allotment for temporarily 

displaced disaster survivors to match the rate in a host jurisdiction. 

• Assess whether modification is needed for the Department of Health and Human Services 

to provide crisis counseling to disaster survivors temporarily relocated to host 

jurisdictions. 

• Guidelines on the federal process for relocation and reunification of minors evacuated 

out-of state lack clarity. 

• Review the federal grants program eligibility criteria to consider how to better address 

mass care planning and resource development in the state emergency operations plan. 

• CFR 44 does not separate Public Assistance from Essential Assistance to provide 

separate funding authority for mass care programs, resources, and services. 

• Establish a sliding cost share that incentivizes state and local governments to invest in 

mass care resources and planning. 

• FEMA Disaster Assistance Policy 9443.2, Transitional Sheltering Assistance, does not 

provide flexibility in providing non-congregate sheltering to displaced disaster survivors. 

Page 9 ofl0 
65 

• FEMA Policy does not allow for expanded use of donated temporary housing units to 

include the sheltering of disaster workers deployed to assist disaster survivors. 

• FEMA Recovery Policy 9523.19, Eligible Cost Related to Pet Evacuation and Sheltering, 

allows for only a limited length of time during which pet sheltering expenses will be 

reimbursed to affected states. Existing timeframes limit household pet owner access to 

transitional sheltering or temporary housing, which puts increased stress on household pet 

owners in regard to the well-being of their pets. 

• Disaster Assistance Policy 9525.2, Donated Resources, does not allow state eligibility, 

under the Public Assistance program, for donated hours for mass care services provided 

by organizations that have a mass care mission. 

• The Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy 

does not prevent the removal of undocumented individuals from congregate mass care 

facilities during the emergency phase of a disaster. 

• FEMA mitigation grant policy does not allow expenditures for mass care project facility 

construction or retrofitting of facilities that will be used for congregate sheltering. 

Standardize state law to enhance the sharing of mass care resources: 

• Promote the adoption of National Incident Management System Resource Typing for 

Mass Care Services to facilitate the request and deployment of assets across state lines. 

• Work with the National Emergency Management Association and the Association of 

Governors to establish standards for animal carelhousehold pets during disasters, 

including policies on the length of time unclaimed animals may remain in emergency 

animal shelters. 

• Modify state legislation to facilitate the safe evacuation, relocation, and reunification of 

unaccompanied minors across state lines during major disasters and emergencies. State 

legislation should establish a process and mechanism to address the safety of children, 

including the transition to the social services system, child custody requirements, medical 

consent requirements, and other evacuation and sheltering concerns. 

• Establish uniform legislation for all states and territories to allow for the temporary 

licensing of credentialed medical, professional, and trade staff to work in affected and 

host states. 

Page 10 ofl0 
66 

Statement for the Record 

John W. Madden 

Director, Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management 

Before the 

United State Senate 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

Subcommittee on Emergency Management, Intergovernmental Relations, and the District of 

Columbia 

"Role of Private Sector in Preparedness and Emergency Response" 

Introduction 

May 8, 2013 

Washington, D.C. 

The State of Alaska faces an extreme range of hazards from nature, technology, and humans. 

The threat and the risk of these hazards spread throughout the entire state. A disaster 

anywhere in Alaska is highly likely to affect the entire state to some degree and will affect every 

aspect of our economy. The State of Alaska developed many partnerships in preparedness with 

our communities, with volunteer and non-governmental organizations, and with the private 

sector. 

The private sector in Alaska - from the largest global corporation to the smallest mom and pop 

store - holds an invaluable place in our measures for preparedness, response, and recovery. I 

will discuss the hazards that face Alaska, its citizens, and its economy; our motivation for and 

the origins of the Alaskan public private partnership; our methods of coordination and planning; 

examples of our successes; and our plans for the future. 

Hazards Facing Alaska 

Alaska has experienced a declared disaster on an average of every ninety days since statehood 

in 1959. These disasters have come at a high price in human lives and in property damage. The 

massively destructive Good Friday earthquake of 9.2 magnitude in 1964 caused damage to 

public and private infrastructure exceeding four billion in today's dollars. 

Nature presents Alaska with the geologic threat of volcanoes, seismic threat of earthquakes and 

tsunamiS, hydrological threats of extreme flooding, and the meteorological threats of extreme 

temperatures, snow, rain, and hurricane force storms. Our increasing reliance of technology for 

communications, logistics, and SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) for utilities and 

other essential services results in our increasing vulnerability to cyber attack, space weather, 

and even electromagnetic pulse. Our critical infrastructure for transportation, energy, and 

resources are of national and global value and in continuing need of stringent security and 

protective measures. 
67 

Motivation and Origin 

After the tragedies of September 11, 2001, Alaska along with all states reexamined our doctrine 

on preparedness and our policies for protecting our citizens and their vital interests, Shortly after 

we began, our partners in the Alaskan Command of the Department of Defense took the initial 

steps of examining and strengthening its supply lines critical for its strategic mission that 

crossed the fence line from the public and private sectors, This was the beginning of APIP, the 

Alaska Partnership for Infrastructure Protection, a public private partnership of continuing vitality 

and focus, 

As we documented the flow of goods and essential services, we confirmed our 

interdependences between military and civilian, between public and private sectors, and within 

the general public. Each organization, jurisdiction, and company discovered vulnerabilities 

beyond its ability to protect. Each also discovered that it protected things of value to others. We 

coined the descriptive phrase of "spider web of single pOints of failure" to describe our early 

findings. We now use that phrase to measure our progress in building resilience and mitigating 

the consequences of future disasters, We sought to reduce risk rather than migrate it to other 

sectors, The charter members of APIP decided early that this partnership would not be brief nor 

would the need ever disappear. 

As the APIP members recognized the breadth and depth of the commitment needed to sustain 

this enterprise, they turned to the State of Alaska, Division of Homeland Security and 

Emergency Management. This division assumed leadership and the support and partnership of 

the Alaskan Command continues to this day, 

The membership grew to include companies and agencies in communications, transportation, 

energy, health and medical, insurance, utilities, finance and banking, law enforcement, food, 

tourism, the Municipality of Anchorage, and volunteer and non-governmental organizations. 

Coordination and Planning 

Within APIP, we developed three priorities: 

1, Information sharing through the secure platform of HSIN (Homeland Security Information 

Network. 

2, Identifying, understanding, and documenting how we work in peacetime focusing on the 

flow of goods and people, the provision of essential services, and the interdependencies 

inherent in our systems. 

3. Problem solving to confront the potential consequences of the hazards facing us with full 

appreciation of the complexities, 

Our approach closely resembled what the private sector does best - plan for the unexpected, 

assess and manage risk, make informed decisions, embrace the complexity of our systems, and 

measure the effectiveness of our progress, 

The problem solving approach involved briefings and discussions on many threats to our 

continuity: cyber attacks, weather, natural disasters, medical outbreaks, disruptions, security 
68 

threats, active shooter, disgruntled employees, and many emerging events around the nation 

and the world. Our methods evolved over time and now are based on these questions: 

• How do things work in peacetime? 

• What can go wrong? 

• What are the consequences? 

• What do we do about this insight? 

We also agreed that low risk does not equate to no risk. We discussed unlikely events and the 

unintended consequences. 

We meet monthly in person and video conference. We also maintain continuous contact through 

postings on HSIN of emerging events, weather warnings, earthquake and tsunami activities, 

criminal and terrorist advisories, reports, and analyses. We also conduct regular exercises of 

short duration but with high return on the investment. 

We focus on improved readiness by all first responders - from government, volunteers, and 

from the private sector. Our Alaskan Responder Ready campaign educates responders to 

prepare themselves and their families for the opening hours and days of any disaster. Our 

private sector partners have implemented continuity plans to build and sustain their ability to 

perform their mission under all conditions. 

We seek unity of effort through integration of plans and actions. The lineman repairing the 

power lines needs the help of the National Guardsman who needs the support of volunteers to 

care for his or her family. 

Successes 

In 2009, a series of events challenged Alaska and illustrated the worth and value of our public 

private partnership. 

In March 2009 Redoubt Volcano began a series of eruptions sending ash and debris to the 

stratosphere and threatening the air and sea supply routes into Anchorage. The eruptions 

continued for several weeks. The APIP members assembled to determine the effects of the 

erratiC disruptions to the transportation and logistics systems serving the entire State of Alaska. 

We developed contingency plans for alternate routes and methods for resupply, adjusted the 

orders for essential consumer needs such as personal and automotive air filters, reset resupply 

schedules, and adjusted for the loss of A TMs and resultant cash shortages. We also considered 

plans for absenteeism of critical employees should the ash fall increase to high levels. These 

plans included the potential movement of private sector goods on military aircraft and distributed 

through state and volunteer systems. The general public did not experience any shortages of 

commodities or any loss of essential services. 

With the last volcanic eruptions in late April 2009, the threat of H1N1 influenza emerged with a 

significant potential for pandemic. The APIP again assembled to consider consequences and 

actions. Their work on absenteeism during the volcanic eruptions proved highly relevant to 

absenteeism caused by social distancing or other needs for pandemic response. 
69 

Among our partners are now detailed contingency plans on dealing with disruptions affecting 

our citizens and our economy. Communications companies will share bandwidth and 

maintenance; banks will share cash supply and provide services for the customers of other 

banks; hospitals and health facilities will balance the patient load and share facilities; tourism 

industry will endeavor to remove visitors out of the disaster area to lessen the burden. Law 

enforcement will coordinate security needs and priorities with their private counterparts. 

The Future 

The APIP members are expanding the geographic extent of its members throughout Alaska 

using the HSIN videoconferencing, messaging, and chat capabilities. We will extend our study 

of our supply lines back to their origins and work with the private sector outside Alaska as 

members of our partnership. 

The State of Alaska formed several task forces to confront the challenges of the catastrophic 

event. The members of these task forces include those agencies and organizations with assets, 

authorities, capabilities, and commodities that will be of high value during a major disaster or 

catastrophic event. Many APIP members are on these task forces on energy and transportation, 

health and medical, mass care, and housing. The private sector has demonstrated a great 

willingness to serve the public in planning and in execution of these plans. 

Summary 

Alaska places a high value of partnerships. APIP is a striking example of what can arise when 

good people decide to do the right thing without waiting for guidance. We chose to act and the 

Alaskan enterprise - public and private - rose to the occasion for the good of the state, its 

people, and its economy. 

Alaska has a very direct approach to disasters of any kind which we summarize in only 

seventeen words: 

Create and sustain a posture of preparedness enabling a swift, coordinated 

response ensuring an immediate, comprehensive recovery. 

APIP and the private sector in Alaska are of immeasurable value for each aspect of 

preparedness. I have great confidence in our partnership. 
70 

Post-Hearing Questions for the Record 

Submitted to 

Elizabeth Zimmerman, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Response and Recovery, 

Federal Emergency Management Agency 

FROM SENATOR MARK BEGICH 

"The Role of the Private Sector in Preparedness and Emergency Response" 

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 2:30 P.M. 

United States Senate, Subcommittee on Emergency Management, Intergovernmental 

Relations, and the District of Columbia 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

Q. While guidance from the Federal Government can be helpful to provide standards and 

facilitate implementation of best practices, how does FEMA reconcile and encourage local, state, 

and regional approaches to private sector integration with emergency management? 

A. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) efforts related to the private 

sector align with FEMA's mission to support state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) 

governments. FEMA's Private Sector Division (PSD) is housed within the Office of External 

Affairs, which also includes the Intergovernmental Affairs division. The PSD works closely 

with its Office of External Affairs colleagues, and also maintains relationships with two key 

associations representing emergency managers among others: the International Association of 

Emergency Managers (IAEM) and the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), 

both of which have committees that focus on private sector partnerships. 

In addition to its headquarters team, the PSD maintains a dotted line relationship to a stakeholder 

liaison in each of the agency's ten regions. These liaisons' roles include private sector 

engagement and often tribal or intergovernmental outreach as well. Each liaison works with 

state and territorial counterparts to support and enhance private sector engagement where 

programs exist, and to encourage private sector integration where it has not yet occurred. During 

disasters, the headquarters and regional teams are supplemented by a small corps of Disaster 

Assistance Reservists who deploy under ESF IS-External Affairs to support SLTT counterparts 

with private sector engagement. 

The PSD also works with FEMA programs and other partners to develop tools and resources that 

can support efforts around the country, such as free, downloadable tabletop exercises and online 

training available to SL TT partners, private sector organizations and others who visit the 

website. The division also works with the FEMA Grant Programs Directorate each year to 

maintain a resource guide on how grant recipients can apply homeland security funding to efforts 

in support of public private partnerships. These and other resources, such as examples of publicprivate partnerships, are shared on www.fema.gov/privatesector. PSD and FEMA 

Intergovernmental Affairs also work closely to facilitate collaboration among FEMA programs 
71 

Association of Homebuilders co-sponsored a recent webinar and workshop during which 

FEMA's Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA) presented information on the 

recent flood insurance reforms that took place as a result of Biggert Waters 2012. 

FEMA also works with its Sector-Specific Agencies partners (such as the U.S. Department of 

Energy) who develop partnerships with the private and SL TT partners within their respective 

sectors to prepare for all types of hazards-natural and man-made. This helps ensure that the 

federal government message is consistent. 

One of the PSD's major efforts to bring the public and private sectors together each year is the 

National Conference on Building Resilience through Public Private Partnerships, which is cohosted with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Private Sector Office and U.S. 

NORTH COM. Speaker and audience participation goals include a 50-50 mix of government and 

private sector involvement, with generally 275-300 total participants. The 2013 conference filled 

quickly, and reached the maximum facility capacity of 300 people. 

Q. How does FEMA integrate the private sector stakeholders to assure the engagement and 

feedback informs decision making across the agency and with the Department as a whole, not 

just in the Private Sector Division Office? 

A. As part of the Office of External Affairs, the Private Sector Division works with program 

offices across the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as well as with Department 

of Homeland Security (DHS) counterparts in the DHS Private Sector Office and DHS National 

Protection and Programs Directorate's (NPPD) Office of Infrastructure Protection. In close 

coordination with these partners, we ensure that private sector stakeholders receive timely and 

relevant information on a range of initiatives, such as seasonal campaigns, opportunities to 

provide input on policy initiatives, information on newly released national policies, national 

exercises, FEMA Think Tank participation, major announcements, such as meetings ofFEMA's 

National Advisory Council and other opportunities to join in a dialogue with the agency. As a 

primary point of entry for the private sector to FEMA, the Private Sector Division also facilitates 

appropriate connections between private sector entities and program subject matter experts in 

FEMA's many programs that offer resources of interest to the private sector. The division also 

has partnered with FEMA programs to create its own tools, such as several free, downloadable 

tabletop exercises available on www.fema.gov/privatesector, as well as two online courses on 

building and sustaining public private partnerships available through the Emergency 

Management Institute (IS 660 and IS 662) and a related classroom based course. 

FEMA also established a Private Sector Representative (PSR) position in 2010 as a way to 

provide an "honest broker" connection between the federal government and private sector 

partners during disasters. Unlike the fuJI-time federal positions established starting in 2008, a 

PSR is a member of the private sector who serves as a special government employee (SGE) 

during their 90-day tenure with FEMA, effectively taking off their home organization "hat" and 

representing the entire private sector while they are a PSR. When the National Response 
72 

Coordination Center (NRCC) is activated the current PSR serves as a neutral liaison between 

FEMA and private industry through the National Business Emergency Operation Center 

(NBEOC), leveraging private sector coordination and collaboration capabilities and sharing 

situational awareness information. When not activated for disaster response, representatives 

work as part ofFEMNs Private Sector Division, sharing information with the private sector on 

tools and resources available from FEMA to help businesses and other non-government 

organizations with disaster planning, training, and exercising. 

In addition to public facing initiatives, FEMA has created or contributed to foundational 

documents to support government employees who are working with the private sector. One such 

document is a legal guideline created by FEMA's Office of Chief Counsel in partnership with 

PSD, to help headquarters, regional and front line staff navigate the often complex legal 

environment that governs how the federal government can interact with the private sector. 

Importantly, the document is intended to help staff find ways to achieve overarching goals of 

private sector partnerships, helping both parties "get to yes." The document was disseminated 

across FEMA in 2012, including to the regional private sector liaisons and legal teams. 

Another key document is an interagency guideline for partnerships created by the White House 

Interagency Coordinating Council, of which PSD is a member. Along with colleagues across the 

federal government, PSD contributed to good practices and lessons leamed that are highlighted 

in the guide to help other government partners as they establish their own efforts to engage the, 

private sector. 

The PSR position has been filled by eight companies, including Target, Big Lots, Brookfield 

Properties, Systems Planning Corporation (a small business), Verizon, Chi, Wal-Mart, and 

Dominion Power. The Division recently welcomed the first academic representative from 

Morgan State University; this will also be the first PSR embedded with FEMA programs offices 

outside of the Private Sector Division, so their skills and background can be leveraged to the 

fullest extent. 

FEMA also works with other Department and Agencies under the Emergency Support Function 

(ESF) structure, which include those agencies designated as Sector-Specific agencies that meet 

as the ESF Leadership Group. During an event, FEMA activates the appropriate ESFs to deploy 

to NRCC and also works with Department and Agencies. These agencies can become the 

conduit between FEMA and private industry within the affected sector. 

Q. While travel budgets are severely limited and participation by Federal employees at regional 

meetings and conferences is scrutinized, what steps is your office taking to assure critical 

communication and information sharing capabilities with our private sector partners is not 

unnecessarily limited? 

A. As part of the Office of External Affairs, a fundamental role for the Private Sector Division 

(PSD) is to conduct stakeholder engagement through any means available. While virtual 

communication cannot fully replace the level of engagement that in-person contact can provide, 
73 

the PSD leverages web-based tools, telephone, and other virtual communication channels to stay 

in touch with its stakeholders. 

Within the current financial climate, travel has been considerably reduced for staff, consistent 

with colleagues across government. Although PSD is not able to respond to every invitation, by 

focusing on events where there is a speaking role and where it is likely to maximize the 

division's ability to reach key audiences, PSD is able to make the best use of staff time and travel 

budgets. In 2013, the major event for the division is the third annual National Conference on 

Building Resilience through Public Private Partnerships, which will be held locally in 

Washington, D.C. PSD has collaborated with colleagues from the U.S. Department of Homeland 

Security and the Department of Defense to hold this conference each year since 2011, and it has 

become a focal point for discussing current issues and best practices with mutual private sector 

stakeholders. The conference also provides an excellent opportunity for PSD to meet with all the 

FEMA regional private sector liaisons in one place. 

Q. Are measures taken to assure the NBEOC does not duplicate partnerships that already exist 

between State and local entities and private sector organizations? 

A. The National Business Emergency Operation Center (NBEOC) was established in July 2012 

as part of Emergency Support Function (ESF) 15 - External Affairs to provide an information 

sharing and collaboration platform for national partners during major disasters. The NBEOC 

membership is a virtual network of national corporations; critical infrastructure Department of 

Homeland Security (DHS) partners, including the Sector-Specific agencies; federal, state, local, 

tribal, and territorial (SL TT) government; and trade associations that have a role during disasters. 

A key goal of the NBEOC is to promote businesses getting back to business following a disaster. 

Information and interactions are tailored to this objective. 

The NBEOC is not intended to supersede or replace any existing government plans or programs. 

Rather, it is intended to supplement and enhance those plans and programs by providing a venue 

at the national level for effective communication and rapid emergency response and coordinated 

action across all levels of the public and private sector during a disaster or other emergency. 

Primary to the NBEOC's success is its ability to tie together national, regional and SLTT private 

sector efforts. Most disasters are handled at the local level while the NBEOC supports SLTT 

response by serving as a national-level entry point for private industry. Many of the NBEOC 

private sector members are from national or multi-national organizations that specifically seek to 

minimize the number of touch points they must handle during a disaster to get information or 

engage in support activities. The NBEOC can provide that single, national point of contact and 

connect NBEOC partners with more local governmental leadership for a specific disaster. 

Currently, there are seven state-level members of the NBEOC, including AK, NV, WA, NJ, FL, 

LA and TN, as well as several local members. Ongoing integration with SL TT partners will 

make the NBEOC an increasingly robust resource for all members. While many SLIT 

governments have developed relationships with the private sector, this is not yet a consistent 

practice nationwide, nor in many cases do SLIT governments have the staffing or capacity to 
74 

maintain robust private sector relationships. One of the benefits that FEMA can offer is a 

consistent resource and point of connection with national private sector organizations with which 

FEMA's Private Sector Division maintains relationships. 

In cases where the state, local, tribal or territorial government already conducts private sector 

engagement, the NBEOC can function as a supporting structure for the emergency management 

lead on the ground. Where there are no existing structures in place to engage the private sector, 

the NBEOC can function as a national level mechanism that the emergency management lead on 

the ground can tap into, in coordination with FEMA. In neither case would the NBEOC replace 

or duplicate a more localized capability. 

The NBEOC also maintains an increasingly close relationship with information sharing, partners 

like the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center, and communicates regularly with these 

partners both during disasters and non-disaster periods. 

Q. How does the NBEOC share open data with private sector partners and to what level does that 

data sharing extend to non-profits and the faith-based community? 

A. FEMA has an open data initiative team, with which the Private Sector Division collaborates. 

As these efforts are still emerging, we continue to investigate the best means to share open data 

that is of relevance to the private sector in the future. Due to existing emergency support 

functions and programs that work more directly with the non-profit and faith-based communities, 

the NBEOC focuses largely on the corporate and trade association audience, with which we 

coordinate. However, NBEOC membership is open to alJ private sector entities that sign an 

agreement. 

Q. To what extent does the NBEOC work with private sector stakeholders to assure adequate 

information sharing occurs while protecting proprietary information? 

A. Recently, the NBEOC held a virtual meeting followed by a smaller, in-person operational 

summit to discuss information sharing processes. Extreme care is exercised to protect 

information and no company's proprietary information is distributed externally from FEMA to 

outside non-governmental sources at this point. In partnership with FEMA's operational 

programs, we are exploring more robust information-sharing mechanisms and capabilities to use 

in the future. 
75 

Post-Hearing Questions for the Record 

Submitted to 

Michael Chodos, Associate Administrator, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, U.S. 

Small Business Administration 

"The Role of the Private Sector in Preparedness and Emergency Response" 

Wednesday, May 8,20132:30 P.M. 

United States Senate, Subcommittee on Emergency Management, Intergovernmental 

Relations, and the District of Columbia 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

Question: Has the SBA done any kind of assessment on the return on investment seen following 

the integration of mitigation plans or strategies by small businesses in disaster-prone areas? 

Answer: SEA has not conducted any assessment on the return on investment of mitigation plans 

or strategies implemented by small businesses in disaster-prone areas. In general, disaster 

victims may use the proceeds of an SEA disaster loan to cover the full cost of mitigation 

measures if such measures are required by local building codes. Additionally, SEA may increase 

borrowers' approved loan amounts by up to 20 percent of the total verified physical loss to 

complete other mitigation measures for the purpose of protecting real and personal property 

against disaster related damage. 

Question: While travel budgets are severely limited and participation by Federal employees at 

regional meetings and conferences is scrutinized, what steps is the SBA taking to assure critical 

communication and information sharing capabilities with private sector partners is not 

unnecessarily limited? What specific steps has SBA taken to improve efficiencies and 

effectiveness due to the current fiscal environment and are these steps a temporary step in order 

to assess immediate impact of budget changes or sequestration? 

Answer: Through SBA 's extensive field network of district offices and resource partners, the 

agency has been able to ensure effective communication and information sharing with the 

private sector despite the current fiscal climate. SBA has a network of 68 district offices located 

throughout the us. that conduct outreach with the private sector to facilitate information 

sharing and communication. Additionally, SEA's resource partners, made up of Small Business 

Development Centers, Women Business Centers, and SCORE volunteers, are located in 

communities across the country and are in constant contact with the private sector. This 

extensive field network, which has been called SEA's bone structure, has been critical to 

maintaining open lines of communication between the SBA and the private sector. 

SEA has made it a priority in FY 2013 to reduce non-disaster related travel spending in response 

to the President's Executive Order on June 13, 2011 establishing the Campaign to Cut 

Government Waste (CCJf). The agency has made progress in redUCing non-disaster travel and is 

on track to meet its FY 2013 CCW target. SEA is also leveraging the President's CCWas an 
76 

opportunity to improve efficiency in other targeted areas, such as conference event spending. 

Agency policies on conference spending have been updated to include approval by the Deputy 

Administrator for any conference estimated to cost more than $15,000. This extra scrutiny by 

senior management requires program managers to clearly demonstrate the benefit of any 

proposed coriference expenditure. 

Question: Do you have additional details on specific timelines for the opening of Disaster 

Recovery Loan Centers post-disaster and how quickly loans are approved following the initiation 

of the applications? 

Answer: One ofSBA 's performance goals is to establish afield presence within three business 

days of a declaration 95 percent of the time. Since Fiscal Year 2006, SBA has consistently 

beaten this goal by achieving afield presence with three days 100 percent of the time. 

With regard to how quickly loans are approvedfollowing the "initiation of the applications, " 

SBA 's goal for Fiscal Year 2012 was approval or denial within 18 days of receipt of a complete 

application for home loan applications and 21 days for business loan applications. In FY 2012, 

SBA processed 96 percent of home loans and 93 percent of business loans within these time 

frames. 

Question: Does SBA have policies related to relocation of businesses outside of hazard zones 

for repetitive loss properties? 

Answer: Disaster victims may use their SBA disaster loans to relocate outside of hazard zones. 

In some cases, disaster victims are eligible for reasonable moving and storage costs in addition 

to the cost of purchasing a replacement structure on the new site. 
77 

Post-Hearing Questions for the Record 

Submitted to 

Christopher Terzich, Chair, Regional Consortium Coordinating Council 

From Senator Mark Begich 

"The Role of the Private Sector in Preparedness and Emergency Response" 

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 2:30 P.M. 

United States Senate, Subcommittee on Emergency Management, Intergovernmental 

Relations, and the District of Columbia 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

Q. What are some of the most effective tools or strategies for reducing the costs associated with 

disaster response and what role do the members of the RCCC play in supporting these actions? 

A. Christopher Terzich - Social media is the single most-effective tool for reducing cost while 

improving preparedness. The sense of community mentioned within my testimony is in many 

ways the most effective tool for disaster response, whether considered from the perspective of 

efficacy or efficiency and social media technologies can accelerate and strengthen connections 

within the infrastructure protection community. However, it remains underused for resilience 

and infrastructure protection. 

Q. Is there a place for the private sector in mutual assistance and how can those relationships be 

strengthened to encourage the leveraging of shared resources? 

A. Christopher Terzich - Mutual aid agreements and assistance agreements have proven 

effective between agencies, organizations, and jurisdictions in order to provide a mechanism to 

quickly obtain emergency assistance in the form of personnel, equipment, and materials. While 

there is no research or even measurable anecdotal evidences of these relationships in the private 

sector, there may be value to this type of agreement where the core functions of a business are 

related to preparedness and response. 

With most businesses, however, formal agreements may not have the desired effect and may 

even inhibit full cooperation. Corporations (like people) have historically made significant 

contributions during disasters in order to demonstrate their commitment to the community. 

Formal agreements on the other hand are done in advance of a disaster and after close legal and 

financial review may be more conservative than the ad-hoc donation or volunteer effort. 

Perhaps this issue is best framed in terms of shared or superordinate goals. For a community to 

respond to and recover from a disaster effectively, critical infrastructure businesses must recover 

quickly. As a result, quick recovery of critical infrastructure is a shared goal between private and 

public organizations. Public agencies often have the situational awareness and guidance to 

enable quick infrastructure recovery. Strong connections between public agencies and business 

will speed recovery more than formal agreements. 

It is in the interest of RCCC members and all critical infrastructure organizations to continue 

working closer together. On their behalf, I commit our time, talent and resources to working 

together to pursue these goals and those articulated during the May 8th hearing. 
78 

Post-Hearing Questions for the Record 

Submitted to 

Daniel Stoecker, Executive Director, National Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster 

"The Role of the Private Sector in Preparedness and Emergency Response" 

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 2:30 P.M. 

United States Senate, Subcommittee on Emergency Management, Intergovernmental 

Relations, and the District of Columbia 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

Q. How does NVOAD promote the sharing of lessons learned and best practices from recent 

exercises or disaster deployments arnong the membership? Are there publications or membership 

meetings that allow for communication following disasters? 

• The NVOAD community utilizes a number of methods and mediums for sharing lessons 

learned and best practices even arnong recent disaster deployments: 

• For all disaster events, deployed member organizations meet regularly via teleconference 

to share such information. 

• NVOAD members share written operation reports on a monthly basis, which are collated 

into a NVOAD Situation Report (Response) or a National Recovery Operations Report 

(Recovery). 

• Information is also shared on a monthly basis through the VOAD Vision e-newsletter. 

• The National VOAD Conference is held each year in May for the purpose of sharing best 

practices and evaluating actions after disasters in the previous year. 

• For Hurricane Sandy: Local, state and national VOAD members joined other 

stakeholders throughout the region for two special gatherings held May 4 and 5: (1) a 

response hotwash and (2) a convening of organizations participating in recovery 

activities. Reports on both events were drafted, distributed and are posted on our website, 

www.nvoad.org. A more comprehensive after action report is currently being developed. 

• National VOAD membership and partners also meet regularly throughout the year 

through thirteen Committees and Task Forces with specialized functions such as Mass 

Care, Emotional Care, Housing, and Volunteer and Donations Management. These 

committees also gather, evaluate and share lessons learned and best/emerging practices. 

At times, they also make recommendations which the entire collaborate may adopt as 

official NVOAD Guidelines or Points of Consensus to help improve service delivery. 

• One such example is the "Multi-Agency Feeding Plan Template," which provides 

suggested guidance and procedures for a jurisdiction to consider in the development of a 

multi-agency feeding plan and a coordinating group (a Feeding Task Force) that supports 

feeding assistance in advance of, during and after a disaster throughout the impact area(s) of 

a State. It stresses coordination among the various organizations/agencies participating in 

feeding operations. These organizations/agencies include: Federal, State, tribal and local 

government entities, non-government organizations, and other organizations involved with 

feeding operations including in the private sector. Additionally, the template can serve as an 

educational tool assisting jurisdictions, NGOs, private sector and other stakeholders 
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providing feeding support to understand the complexities of implementing a coordinated and 

collaborative feeding operation. This includes understanding both the feeding protocols of the 

various feeding providers and the government entities. The effective and efficient request and 

receipt of resources will ensure that the process of integrating Federal, State, tribal and local 

resources will be streamlined. 

Q. Do volunteer organizations participate in mutual aid at the State level and do you believe 

there is a place for NVOAD members in that discussion? 

Yes. There are 55 State and Territory VOAD coalitions, representing hundreds of 

organizations dedicated to our 4Cs - Cooperation, Communication, Coordination and 

Collaboration. These 55 VOAD coalitions are also NVOAD member organizations. When a 

disaster strikes requiring assistance beyond what is locally and readily available by service 

organizations within a state, our other NVOAD national organization members work with their 

State VOAD colleagues and emergency management officials to provide mutual aid necessary to 

meet the challenges of that disaster. 

Many State and local VOADs and their membership have an intrastate and interstate 

relationship. For example, in Alabama, southern/gulf regional organizations have agreements 

with organizations and volunteers in the northern parts of the state to support hurricane response. 

Likewise, the southern regions agreed to respond with resources and volunteers to tornadoes and 

other events. The State VOADs operating in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi also coordinate 

mutual assistance and planning activities. The National VOAD national membership 

organizations coordinate with their State VOAD colleagues. 

Q. In order to avoid Federal working groups and policy initiatives that often cannot be entirely 

inclusive to non-governmental organizations, how does NVOAD engage its membership to 

support the development of critical policy recommendations like the National Mass Care 

Strategy? 

NVOAD works with our colleagues in the federal system to identify relevant members 

(community stakeholders) and coordinate their inclusion into Federal working group processes. 

For example, we have facilitated such participation in the development of the NDRF, NRF, as 

well as related RSF & ESF annexes. We currently work closely with DHS (FEMA, USICE), 

HHS (ASPR, CDC), DoD (USACE, USNORTHCOM, NGB), DOA and HUD. Most of these 

federal agencies also have representatives serving as liaisons to the various NVOAD committees. 

NVOAD was central to the establishment of the National Mass Care Council (NMCC) 

which facilitated the process to establish the National Mass Care Strategy. NVOAD served as a 

NMCC Co-chair and critical policy recommendations were developed with formal input from 

many NVOAD members and committees. In addition, many stakeholders also gathered and 

deliberated during the National VOAD Conference. 

Q. In terms of the legislative and policy suggestions enclosed in the National Mass Care Strategy 

document, have you engaged FEMA and other relevant agencies to identify those 

recommendations that may be able to be addressed by regulation or internal policy change? 
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Æ 

Yes. FEMA and NEMA representatives served as formal and active participants in the 

development of the National Mass Care Strategy document. A number of the recommended 

changes require legislative modifications to the Stafford Act or other authorizing mechanisms 

requiring congressional approval.