Statement of Commissioner Gail Heriot in the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Report: Civil Rights and Protections During the Federal Response to Hurricanes Harvey and Maria by Gail L. Heriot :: SSRN

On September 21, 2022, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights published a report entitled Civil Rights and Protections During the Federal Response to Hurricanes Harvey and Maria. This Statement is a part of that report (and critiques the staff-written part of the report).

Hurricane Harvey (Texas), Hurricane Irma (U.S Virgin Islands and Florida), and Hurricane Maria (U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico) were epic disasters. In 2017, they occurred in quick succession over a period of less than 30 days.

In many ways, Puerto Rico suffered the worst of it, in part because Maria struck after FEMA s emergency supplies had been seriously depleted. But other factors especially the complete failure of Puerto Rico s power system were even more important in contributing to the catastrophe there.

The Statement criticizes the staff-written portion of the report for its tendency to blame far too much of what happened in the wake of these hurricanes on discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, and/or disability. That is unfair to the many individuals federal, state, and local government employees, members of the military and National Guard, employees of non-profits, and many, many volunteers who knocked themselves out to help the victims.

With luck, we will learn from the mistakes made during the 2017 hurricane season and be better prepared when the next horrific hurricane season comes along (as it inevitably will). But it is doubtful that we will ever reach a point where hurricanes do not cause disasters.

via papers.ssrn.com

Thank you, Gail.