Hearing Of The Subcommittee On Economic Development, Public Buildings, And Emergency Management Of The House Committee On Transportation And Infrastructure - FEMA's Urban Search And Rescue Program In Haiti: How To Apply Lessons Learned At Home

Statement

Good afternoon and welcome to today's hearing on the Federal Emergency Management
Agency's (FEMA) National Urban Search and Rescue program, its role in Haiti, and the lessons our
subcommittee can learn from the humanitarian work of our U.S. teams and their experiences that
might be applied during disasters in the United States. The National Urban Search and Rescue
(US&R) System program is an administrative creation of FEMA, using the authority of the Stafford
Act, and is within the jurisdiction of this Subcommittee.
Today, we will hear from FEMA, officials from California, a state that faces risks for
virtually every type of disaster, and four participants in the National US&R program, including two
heroes who have just returned from their deployment in Haiti.
FEMA's US&R program was developed after the devastating results of the Mexico City
Earthquake of 1985 and the Loma Prieta Earthquake, which struck California in 1989. It was clear
after many people were trapped in the aftermath of the Mexico City earthquake that a national
capacity was needed for large-scale rescues from structural collapses in the U.S. Today, we again
look to a tragic earthquake in a neighboring country for lessons learned.
FEMA established the US&R Program in 1989 to create a nation-wide capacity with 25 task
forces, which has now grown to 28 task forces in 19 states. We are fortunate that two of them are
here in the National Capital Region-- Maryland Task Force-1, based in Montgomery County, and
Virginia Task Force-1, based in Fairfax County. Every deployment of these taskforces anywhere in
the country or abroad must be understood as preparation for disasters here.
US&R is a classic "all hazards" response program. US&R task forces respond to the
consequence rather than to the cause of disasters. It does not matter what causes a structure to
collapse, an earthquake, hurricane, gas explosion, bomb, or structural failure. The essential elements
of their operations remain the same. The expertise the US&R teams build reinforces the breadth of
their possible applications.
The rescue and recovery network within the FEMA is built on an efficient and economical
federal-state quid pro quo model. FEMA provides training and resources to the task forces, which in
return are available to the Federal government as needed. While we see US&R task forces deployed
to disasters on television, they are more often being used in their own states and communities, as
well as in neighboring states, and communities for events that do not reach the level of a major
disaster or emergency declared under the Stafford Act.
Among the incidents for which FEMA has deployed the US&R System are: the Murrah
Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City, in 1995; the Humberto Vidal Building explosion in
San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1996; the DeBruce Grain elevator explosion in Wichita, Kansas, in 1998;
the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, in 2001; the four Florida Hurricanes of
2004; Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast in 2005; and Hurricane Ike in Texas in 2008.
Two of the task forces also have agreements with the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) for overseas deployments -- the task forces based in Fairfax County,
Virginia and in Los Angeles, California. When task forces deploy overseas, they use training and
equipment provided by FEMA. USAID then reimburses these task forces for the replacement and
refurbishment of the equipment that is used. However, the earthquake in Haiti marks the first time
that task forces were sent overseas without having an agreement with USAID. Four task forces,
including two that are represented here today, were called up by FEMA on loan to USAID for this
tragedy, through an agreement between FEMA and USAID. In today's hearing we will discuss
whether this is a model that should be used again in the future.
I am pleased to be a co-sponsor of H.R. 3377, "Disaster Response, Recovery, and Mitigation
Enhancement Act of 2009" along with Chairman Oberstar and Ranking Members Mica and
Diaz-Ballard.
Section 105 of that bill reauthorizes the program and provides the US&R system, as a matter
of law, with many of the protections it needs, including a clear and specific authorization as well as
workers compensation and tort liability protection. H.R. 3377 was reported favorably to the House
by the full Committee in November, but we will revise or strengthen this legislation before the
House takes it up if today's hearing makes that necessary.
I look forward to hearing the testimony of today's witnesses and to discussion of how this
subcommittee can learn from their invaluable humanitarian work in Haiti.

Source