Disaster by Any Other Name : Congress must probe FEMA’s L.A. failure, too

Congress owes the American taxpayers an explanation. Why did the Federal Emergency Management Agency fail so miserably to provide timely and adequate relief after disasters in 1992? The victims of Hurricane Andrew need answers. So do the victims of the Los Angeles riots.

Unfortunately, congressional investigators are expected to focus only on the bureaucratic snarl that delayed federal aid in response to the hurricane that devastated parts of South Florida and Louisiana, and to Hurricane Iniki, which destroyed parts of Hawaii.

The Los Angeles riots--the first urban disturbances to be declared a federal disaster--also belong on that list. Those victims, too, got trapped in a tiresome, frustrating process. Many got nothing more than false hopes for their efforts.

President Bush visited Los Angeles and declared the riots a national disaster. He promised help, but either it took months to arrive or it never arrived at all.

For its part, FEMA rejected at least half of the desperate men and women who applied for assistance in Los Angeles. Many who did get help had to wait months.

In southern Florida, the response was also delayed and uneven. But why investigate the checkered response to one disaster and ignore the plodding and inadequate response to another? Are congressional leaders that insensitive? Are some members of the House and Senate viewing victims of natural disasters more sympathetically than victims of man-made disasters?

The California delegation--the largest and some say the least effective delegation in Washington--should insist that Congress investigate FEMA’s response to the riots here. California’s huge number of taxpayers, who help to pay the bill no matter where a disaster happens, are owed no less.

Rep. Maxine Waters, a Los Angeles Democrat who represents much of the riot zones, has already expressed her extreme disgust with the decision not to look at FEMA’s behavior in the aftermath of the civil strife. Fairness requires a parallel probe.

An investigation is warranted for another reason also. FEMA’s mission is to coordinate relief for Americans hurt by disasters. Preparedness is crucial to a quick response. But the agency proved in Los Angeles, South Florida, Hawaii and elsewhere that it was obviously not well-prepared.

The results of such an investigation could be of considerable help to the nation in the sad event that other civil disturbances, not to mention the inevitable natural disasters, cause damage.

FEMA is clearly an agency in need of reform. The congressional investigations should improve general preparedness for disasters--whether natural or man-made.