United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1995-09-14 monographic deposited born digital 54 p. GA 1.13:RCED-95-242 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-95-242 P0b002ee1803a2298 f:rc95242 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-RCED-95-242 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-95-242 RCED-95-242 Disaster relief aid Eligibility determinations Federal aid to localities Comparative analysis Relief agencies Intergovernmental relations Planning Emergency preparedness Federal aid to states Letter Report RCED

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the federal disaster declaration process, focusing on: (1) whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) and the Small Business Administration's (SBA) disaster declaration policies differ for rural and urban areas; (2) the length of time taken to respond to disaster declaration requests for rural and urban areas; (3) the proportion of requests granted for rural areas, as compared with the corresponding proportion for urban areas; and (4) factors that influence disaster declaration processing time.<p/>GAO found that: (1) FEMA and SBA disaster declaration policies do not differ with respect to whether the affected area is rural or urban; (2) both FEMA and SBA use criteria such as measures of damage to homes, businesses, or public facilities, rather than measures of population density, to assess requests for disaster declarations and to determine whether to grant assistance; (3) in 1993 and 1994, the median processing time for disaster declaration requests to FEMA was 11 days for rural counties and 7 days for urban counties; (4) FEMA has made more rural counties eligible for disaster assistance than any other type of county, while SBA has made more urban counties eligible for assistance than any other type of county; and (5) factors affecting the time required for the disaster declaration process include how quickly damage assessments are made and how well the damage is documented. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-95-242/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-95-242.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-95-242/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-95-242.pdf GAO/RCED-95-242 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-95-242 Letter Report GAO/RCED-95-242; Disaster Assistance: Information on Declarations for Urban and Rural Areas; Disaster relief aid Eligibility determinations Federal aid to localities Comparative analysis Relief agencies Intergovernmental relations Planning Emergency preparedness Federal aid to states Title 42 Section 5121 42 U.S.C. 5121 Public Law 100-707