[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1760 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1760

   To authorize emergency disaster assistance for recovery from the 
 earthquakes of January and February 2001 in the Republic of India and 
          the Republic of El Salvador, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 8, 2001

 Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Tom Davis of Virginia, Mr. Lantos, Mr. 
McDermott, Mr. Payne, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mr. Wexler, Ms. Solis, Mr. 
Ackerman, Mr. Foley, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Honda, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Ortiz, Mr. 
  Becerra, Mr. Pastor, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. 
Reyes, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr. Underwood, Mr. Gonzalez, Ms. 
  Roybal-Allard, Mr. Baca, Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Filner, Mr. Berman, Mr. 
   Crowley, Mr. Capuano, Mrs. Morella, Mr. Kucinich, and Ms. Pelosi) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize emergency disaster assistance for recovery from the 
 earthquakes of January and February 2001 in the Republic of India and 
          the Republic of El Salvador, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Relief, Community Vitalization, and 
Emergency Readiness in India and El Salvador (RECOVERIES) Act of 
2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) In January and February of 2001, earthquakes in the 
        Republic of El Salvador and the Republic of India killed more 
        than 20,900 people, injured more than 175,000 people, destroyed 
        or damaged 1,400,000 homes, and left 2,000,000 people homeless. 
        As many as 22,000,000 people were affected by the earthquakes, 
        amid widespread devastation to infrastructure and livelihoods.
            (2) On January 26, 2001, India's Republic Day, the most 
        powerful earthquake in India in 50 years struck the state of 
        Gujarat. To date, 19,739 people have been killed, 167,000 have 
        been injured, 1,112,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged, 
        600,000 people are homeless, and as many as 20,000,000 people 
        overall have been affected--40 percent of the population of 
        this region. To date, 400 aftershocks, 19 of which qualify as 
        small earthquakes, have been reported.
            (3)(A) On January 13 and February 13, 2001, powerful 
        earthquakes struck El Salvador. Other, smaller earthquakes and 
        more than 5,000 aftershocks have devastated the country, a 
        nation already battered by years of civil war and Hurricane 
        Mitch in 1998.
            (B) The combined number of deaths from the two earthquakes 
        in El Salvador is 1,159, the number of injuries is 8,519, and 
        the number of destroyed or damaged homes is 334,866. Nearly 
        1,600,000 Salvadorans have been affected, almost 1 in every 4 
        of the country's population. The equivalent in the United 
        States would be that the entire populations of California, 
        Texas, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia were affected.
            (4) The estimated cost of rebuilding El Salvador is between 
        $1,600,000,000 and $2,800,000,000. Many public buildings and 
        churches, and 1,700 schools (more than one in three in the 
        country) have been damaged. In some municipalities, 80 to 95 
        percent of the buildings have been destroyed. More than 640 
        landslides have occurred, blocking roads (including the Pan 
        American Highway) and destroying houses. The start of the rainy 
        season in early May 2001 will bring more landslides and another 
        disaster if mitigation plans are not implemented quickly.
            (5) In Gujarat, estimated damage from the January 26, 2001, 
        earthquake is between $4,600,000,000 and $5,500,000,000. 
        According to the Indian Red Cross Society, infrastructure has 
        been severely damaged, including large scale collapse of 
        buildings, mine cave-ins, train derailments, and power failure 
        that has cut off the water supply. Almost 24,000 schools were 
        damaged or destroyed, and up to 14,000 of them will need to be 
        rebuilt. Also lost were 3 hospitals, and many health centers. 
        Devastation from the earthquake comes on top of an already 
        existing drought. Catholic Relief Services, on the ground in 
        India for 40 years, reports that needs far outstrip projected 
        aid.
            (6) The people of the United States and India have 
        developed a strong friendship based on mutual interests and 
        respect. India is the world's largest democracy and shares a 
        common bond with the United States in its development as a 
        nation. The United States is India's largest trading partner 
        and largest investor.
            (7) The people of the United States and El Salvador share 
        strong friendship and mutual interests and respect. The United 
        States is El Salvador's largest trading partner. El Salvador 
        has worked hard to consolidate peace and democracy after many 
        years of a difficult war, and has become an important ally in 
        the effort to stem the flow of illegal narcotics.
            (8) Approximately 150,000 lives are lost each year through 
        natural disasters. Statistics show that 97 percent of deaths 
        from natural disasters occur in developing countries. 
        $100,000,000,000 is lost each year in damages from natural 
        disasters.
            (9)(A) Studies show that investment in disaster mitigation 
        and preparedness pay off. In the United States, the Federal 
        Emergency Management Agency reports that for every $1 spent on 
        mitigation, at least $2 are saved in costs toward 
        reconstruction following disasters.
            (B) In the developing world, savings are much more 
        dramatic. The World Bank reports that if only 10 percent of the 
        costs of disaster relief and recovery were instead spent on 
        mitigation and preparedness before disasters struck, a 7-fold 
        return on investment would be seen.
            (C) The Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance of the United 
        States Agency for International Development reports that 
        following a 1998 flood in Kinshasa, Congo, that caused 
        $7,100,000 in damages, the Office of Foreign Disaster 
        Assistance spent $130,000 to cleanup and mitigate against 
        future flooding. In 1999, similar flooding hit, but the 
mitigation efforts prevented damages, saving $7,000,000.
            (10)(A) House Concurrent Resolution 15, as adopted by the 
        House of Representatives on January 31, 2001, and Senate 
        Concurrent Resolution 6, as adopted by the Senate on February 
        8, 2001, resolved that Congress ``expresses its support for 
        continuing and substantially increasing the amount of disaster 
        assistance being provided [to India] by the United States 
        Agency for International Development (USAID) and other relief 
        agencies''.
            (B) Senate Resolution 18, as adopted by the Senate on 
        February 8, 2001, ``encourages a continued commitment by the 
        United States and other countries to the long-term, sustainable 
        development of El Salvador''.
            (C) House Concurrent Resolution 41, as adopted by the House 
        of Representatives on March 21, 2001, ``expresses support for 
        continuing and substantially increasing, in connection with 
        these earthquakes, relief and reconstruction assistance 
        provided by relief agencies . . . including . . . the United 
        States Agency for International Development''.
            (11) In the wake of Hurricane Mitch, the Mitch Consultative 
        Group formulated what have become known as the ``Stockholm 
        Principles'', namely that the reconstruction and transformation 
        of the affected countries should be guided by the following 
        goals and principles: (A) reduction of social and environmental 
        vulnerability, (B) transparency and good governance, (C) 
        decentralization and civil society participation, and (D) human 
        rights and equality.
            (12) Development assistance, aimed ultimately toward 
        poverty reduction, is the best mitigation against catastrophic 
        disaster.
            (13) Nongovernmental organizations working on the ground, 
        such as CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Habitat for Humanity 
        International and others, strive to focus on long-term 
        sustainable development, even in the midst of tragedy and 
        immediate emergency relief efforts.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the nature and scale of the earthquake disasters that 
        recently struck El Salvador and India demonstrate that these 
        are true disaster emergencies and that the United States should 
        respond by providing emergency disaster assistance;
            (2)(A) emergency disaster assistance programs must 
        complement and work with development assistance programs in 
        order that the two types of programs reinforce one another; and
            (B) emergency disaster assistance programs should support 
        and not undermine the long-term sustainable development efforts 
        of nongovernmental organizations already working on the ground 
        in countries that have suffered disasters; and
            (3) as such, regular United States bilateral development 
        assistance funds that have been reallocated in order to meet 
        the current emergency needs for relief and recovery following 
        the earthquakes in India and El Salvador should be reimbursed 
        with the funds authorized in this Act.

SEC. 3. EMERGENCY DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR INDIA AND EL SALVADOR.

    (a) Emergency Disaster Assistance.--The President is authorized to 
provide assistance under chapter 9 of part I of the Foreign Assistance 
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2292 et seq.; relating to international disaster 
assistance) for recovery from the earthquakes of January and February 
2001 in the Republic of India and the Republic of El Salvador.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) Emergency disaster assistance.--There is authorized to 
        be appropriated to the President $468,500,000 for fiscal year 
        2001 to carry out subsection (a). Of such amount--
                    (A) not less than $117,600,000 is authorized to be 
                appropriated for recovery in India;
                    (B) not less than $301,400,000 is authorized to be 
                appropriated for recovery in El Salvador;
                    (C) not less than $500,000 is authorized to be 
                appropriated for technical assistance to develop 
                emergency management systems in El Salvador and India; 
                and
                    (D) such sums as may be necessary are authorized to 
                be appropriated for operating expenses of the United 
                States Agency for International Development.
            (2) Reimbursement.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
        to the President $73,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 to reimburse 
        the appropriate development assistance accounts for amounts 
        obligated before the date of the enactment of this Act for 
        recovery from the earthquakes of January and February 2001 in 
        the Republic of India and the Republic of El Salvador.
            (3) Availability.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to the 
        authorization of appropriations under paragraphs (1) and (2) 
        are authorized to remain available until expended.

SEC. 4. DISASTER MITIGATION ASSISTANCE FOR INDIA, EL SALVADOR, AND 
              CERTAIN OTHER COUNTRIES.

    (a) Disaster Mitigation Assistance.--The President is authorized to 
provide assistance under chapter 9 of part I of the Foreign Assistance 
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2292 et seq.; relating to international disaster 
assistance) for disaster mitigation activities in the Republic of 
India, the Republic of El Salvador, and other countries that contain 
highly disaster-prone areas.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to 
        the President $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 to carry out 
        subsection (a).
            (2) Availability.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to the 
        authorization of appropriations under paragraph (1) are 
        authorized to remain available until expended.

SEC. 5. DESIGNATION AS EMERGENCY REQUIREMENT.

    All funds appropriated pursuant to the authorization of 
appropriations under section 3(b) and section 4(b)(1) are designated as 
an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the 
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.
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