Disasters are big business. Decades ago, meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration started tracking the number of natural disasters in the US – the ones that incurred at least a billion dollars in damages. The numbers have gone up and up. FEMA used to handle 25 major disasters per year on average; in the past decade, the number is 63. FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund averaged $3.4 billion a year in the 90’s and the early years of the new century. Now, annual spending is closer to $16 billion.
As the climate warms, there are more severe hurricanes, wildfires, floods, droughts, and deadly heatwaves. Responding to and rebuilding from these disasters is costing staggering amounts of money. And the bigger the disaster, the more widespread are its economic consequences. More intense disasters affect greater numbers of people and larger amounts of infrastructure. The price of home insurance continues to go up and up and the cost of rebuilding homes has soared.
This year, the Trump administration has directed NOAA to stop publishing data on billion-dollar disasters, eliminating one of the clearest indicators of the growing cost of natural disasters. The administration has also reduced spending on resilience efforts such as upgrading of stormwater systems, conducting prescribed burns, and building flood-control systems.
The growing impact of natural disasters is much like the effects of fighting wars. Both are terrible for the people caught up in the midst of them, but both are extremely profitable for some. All that spending on disasters puts money into certain pockets. The disaster economy is big business.
**********
References:
A look at the growing ‘disaster economy’ turning crisis into cash
