The Trump administration’s disaster chief told state officials Tuesday that they need to increase their financial reserves and emergency capabilities to handle most disasters on their own, without federal help.
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Cameron Hamilton gave unprecedented details at a conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, on long-planned change disaster responsibilities towards States.
“Each state must have appropriate financial reserves” and other capabilities “to ensure that recovery efforts can begin immediately and are not necessarily delayed simply because of the federal (disaster) declaration process.” Hamilton said, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by POLITICO.
“I hope we aim for a future in which we don’t need as many disasters because state capacity is so high and so substantial,” Hamilton added, referring to presidential authorizations for federal disaster aid.
Gn headline
