mr. chairman. >> thanks, add minister fugate. we look forward to the question and answer period. mr. skinner, richard skinner, thanks for returning to capitol hill. it is your report of last september at fema's preparedness for the next catastrophic disaster. an update that led us to plan this marrying a long time ago. it comes obviously in the immediate context of the tragedy in japan. so it's just inevitable that we will be looking at the report based on what's happening there now, but it's a great piece of work. typical of the high standards that you reached throughout your career in public service and we welcome your testimony on the report now. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ranking member collins. it's a pleasure to be here again this afternoon. i don't really feel like i've retired yet and i've been spending a considerable amount of time actually preparing for this hearing, but it is a pleasure and honor to be here. i can't agree with you more. the tragic events that are unfolding today in japan is a stark reminder of hour important catastrophic preparedness is. can and will happ

mr. chairman. >> thanks, add minister fugate. we look forward to the question and answer period. mr. skinner, richard skinner, thanks for returning to capitol hill. it is your report of last september at fema's preparedness for the next catastrophic disaster. an update that led us to plan this marrying a long time ago. it comes obviously in the immediate context of the tragedy in japan. so it's just inevitable that we will be looking at the report based on what's happening there now, but it's a great piece of work. typical of the high standards that you reached throughout your career in public service and we welcome your testimony on the report now. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ranking member collins. it's a pleasure to be here again this afternoon. i don't really feel like i've retired yet and i've been spending a considerable amount of time actually preparing for this hearing, but it is a pleasure and honor to be here. i can't agree with you more. the tragic events that are unfolding today in japan is a stark reminder of hour important catastrophic preparedness is. can and will happ

mr. chairman. >> thanks, add minister fugate. we look forward to the question and answer period. mr. skinner, richard skinner, thanks for returning to capitol hill. it is your report of last september at fema's preparedness for the next catastrophic disaster. an update that led us to plan this marrying a long time ago. it comes obviously in the immediate context of the tragedy in japan. so it's just inevitable that we will be looking at the report based on what's happening there now, but it's a great piece of work. typical of the high standards that you reached throughout your career in public service and we welcome your testimony on the report now. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ranking member collins. it's a pleasure to be here again this afternoon. i don't really feel like i've retired yet and i've been spending a considerable amount of time actually preparing for this hearing, but it is a pleasure and honor to be here. i can't agree with you more. the tragic events that are unfolding today in japan is a stark reminder of hour important catastrophic preparedness is. can and will happ

mr. fugate is not here, because i had questions i wanted to ask him. apparently what fema had done was go out to suffolk county and took those maps and put them into nassau county. center of nassau county which they're saying on certain areas in this particular village were a little higher even though we're not near any water. i stress that, we're not near any water nor have any families had any floods for over 25 years. is there a possibility? absolutely. >> should we look at that? absolutely. i want to ask, the draft legislation contains a provision to bring back the technical mapping advisory council to address mapping standards made up of representations from many different agencies familiar with mapping. i'm interested in getting your thoughts on having the mapping process and an entire independent entity in an effort to ensure the most accurate data is used to update the maps. nassau county, long island, we had our maps updated. to give you a side bar, i have a retirement home somewhere out in suffolk county, very close to the water. i did not ge

mr. fugate, about getting supplies out there, meeting the needs. once you do that you don't have to start throwing debit cards or money around. >> the other issue is because the amount of funds we provide are really not designed to make people whole, the less money that we give them incrementally that takes away from the total amount, because it comes back to the issue if they lost eferl, don't have insurance, you want as much of that money going to their recovery not their immediate needs. this also comes back to the preservation of what the intense of these funds were. it's never been the intent of congress to make you whole after a disaster. it's to help you start recovery. if we're putting these funds out ahead of type and they're not getting to you that point, it decreases the ability to support people when they really should start now to manage things on their own and be able to use these funds to start that rek recovery process. if the basic needs aren't being met and we are in this situation, we go from being fast to a lot of haste and then

mr. fugate is not here, because i had questions i wanted to ask him. apparently what fema had done was go out to suffolk county and took those maps and put them into nassau county. center of nassau county which they're saying on certain areas in this particular village were a little higher even though we're not near any water. i stress that, we're not near any water nor have any families had any floods for over 25 years. is there a possibility? absolutely. >> should we look at that? absolutely. i want to ask, the draft legislation contains a provision to bring back the technical mapping advisory council to address mapping standards made up of representations from many different agencies familiar with mapping. i'm interested in getting your thoughts on having the mapping process and an entire independent entity in an effort to ensure the most accurate data is used to update the maps. nassau county, long island, we had our maps updated. to give you a side bar, i have a retirement home somewhere out in suffolk county, very close to the water. i did not ge

mr. fugate if he wants to respond. our final witness is william o. jenkins jr., director of homeland security and just is issues at the gao. >> chairman lieberman and ranking member collins i appreciate the opportunity to be here today to discuss fema's efforts to measure, and assess, natur capabilities to respond to a natural disaster. my comments echo that of mr. skinner. the heart wrenching videos from japan vividly illustrate a catastrophic disaster. the response capabilities of the affected areas are almost immediately overwhelmed and substantial outside assistance kirchs assistance -- katrina response resources from almost every state in the lower 4. basically prepares for disasters required identifying what needs to be done, by whom and how well it should be done. more specifically, this includes identifying one, the nature of the risk faced in the pacific jeer graph gee graphic areas. two, the types and scale of the specific disaster arising, three, desired outcomes in addressing these consequences. four, the capabilities needed to achieve th

mr. fugate. i question is, what is the role of the private sector in the rollout of fusion sinners? >> what they are our state, local, federal entities, not only personnel but databases. the idea is to be able to move begin more quickly share information among different levels of government, but also to receive information back. one thing that happens here in washington -- information needs to be garnered that can be used to analyze trends and tactics. there are also hazards, and that is where the fusion centers protect the public health. when we had h1n1, we employ the fusion centers to get out information about vaccines and vaccine availability and the like. different vision centers have different relationships with the private sector. your utility segment, water and so forth. as we look at fusion centers around the country, that is a relationship and the capacity that we are encouraging. that is part of the guidance we are giving and something we look for when we travel. there are now 72 fusion centers. >> in terms of the recent attacks to our critical infrastructure abroad and h

mr. fugate were here to address that officially. i think that's definitely one of the options that needs to be on the table and discussed in terms of reforming the program going forward. >> okay. ms. mcconkey, a question for you on vouchers. you talked about vouchers before. can you give me any sort of an idea on how you anticipate or would like to see something like this, how it would be administered, and do you have any idea what the cost of that would be? >> to answer your last question first, no. that's actually the cost of it is a study that we recommend be initiated through this draft legislation. the voucher system we envision as something to be managed through the housing and urban development because they have experience with means tested voucher systems. fema does nots, but this way it allows for people to get the message about the risk that they have with their home, and yet, not be burdened in these times or because families that really are just operating on the edge would not be burdened with the cost that we would put

mr. fugate. i queion is, what is the role of the pvate sector in the rollout of fusion sinners? >> what they are our state, local, federal entities, not only personnel but databases. the idea is to be able to move begin more quickly share information among different levels of government, but also to receive information back. one thing that happens here in washington