Responding to Disasters
Responding to Disasters
GAO has long conducted work on the effectiveness of U.S. disaster assistance, both domestically and overseas. This Web site focuses on GAO's disaster assistance work; the findings contained in these reports may be applicable to ongoing and future aid efforts at home and around the world. GAO's work includes insights into improving assistance, based on challenges identified with past efforts. For example, after the Gulf Coast Hurricanes in 2005, GAO emphasized the need for collaboration between all levels of government when confronting such disasters, to include such practices as developing common goals to guide recovery and using recovery plans to agree on roles and responsibilities. For U.S. disaster assistance following events overseas, such as U.S. assistance efforts following the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, GAO's work highlighted the need for Congress to receive more information on factors that affect the implementation of projects and strategies to mitigate those factors. |
Open water oil burn in response to the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Source: EPA/uncredited photo |
Key GAO Reports
Highlighted below are key GAO reviews of U.S. assistance following particular events, such as U.S. government responses to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.
Homeland Defense
DOD Can Enhance Efforts to Identify Capabilities to Support Civil Authorities during Disasters
GAO-10-386, Mar 30, 2010 |
Disaster Recovery
Experiences from Past Disasters Offer Insights for Effective Collaboration after Catastrophic Events
GAO-09-811, Jul 31, 2009 |
National Preparedness |
Foreign Assistance |
Catastrophic Disasters |