the new fema administrator who will be testifying for the first time since his confirmation wellcome mr. fugate and the general who will be testifying today as well. let me say this hearing is focused on hurricane response because we started hurricane season and this week. but we will be examining issues that affect not just the hurricane region but all regions of the country. and we will be focusing on playpens and processes that actually have applicability across the board for many types of threats earth quakes come hurricanes, , etc. the ranking member and i represent states that have seen the large portions of our states major cities and a very important role areas devastated by recent hurricanes. 2004, 2005 and 2008 were particularly hard years for cities and communities throughout the gulf coast from florida to texas. the last century has been difficult for many, many states. i would like to put to the first chart up. these are the number of hurricanes that have hit in this particular region of the country which is the hurricane belts 1955 through 2005. the blue line is hurricane katrina