America’s Disaster System Was Built to React. It Needs to Learn How to Prepare.
As billion-dollar disasters become more frequent, experts say the greatest threat isn’t just stronger storms, floods, and wildfires—it’s a disaster response system that hasn’t evolved to meet them. This week, we examine how decades of policy decisions, chronic underinvestment, and growing political divisions have left communities more vulnerable, and why rebuilding America’s approach to disaster preparedness and recovery will require much more than emergency aid after catastrophe strikes.
America's Disaster Response Is Failing. Here's How to Rebuild It.
Today’s vulnerabilities don’t come from a single source; some are rooted in systemic disparities, such as redlining. Others are the unintended consequences of incremental decision-making, where competing demands beat out disaster work. Americans have inherited infrastructure built without the climate crisis in mind, and despite having the science now, there’s still a struggle to adapt. The current federal approach to disaster work is largely "the opposite of what we should be doing," but the problem didn’t start with a single administration.
Sarah Sloat reports on why stronger local partnerships, more investment in preparedness, and a reimagined FEMA could save lives—and billions of dollars.
From the Reporter’s Notebook 📓
Reporting this story made it clear that our disaster-response problems run much deeper than any single administration. Experts consistently described today's failures as the result of decades of underinvestment, systemic inequities, fragmented institutions, and a longstanding preference for responding to disasters rather than preparing for them.
To me, what sparked hope was the work of community-based organizations who’ve made a commitment to staying with people affected by disasters long after the headlines. They expressed optimism that communities can become more resilient when disaster work is rooted in long-term partnerships and local expertise. That said, these organizations were also the first to say that they can’t manage disaster recovery alone—effective resilience depends on coordinated partnerships across sectors, including and especially FEMA.
Next Up in the Series: Public Health
Public health wasn’t built overnight, and it can’t simply be switched back on. In the next installment of Repairing America, we examine how decades-old structural weaknesses left federal health agencies vulnerable, and what experts say it will take to rebuild institutions that can withstand future political attacks.
Read More From the Series
America’s Grocery Monopoly Problem
A wave of corporate consolidation is reshaping the grocery industry, squeezing workers, limiting competition, and giving a handful of retailers unprecedented control over what Americans pay for food.
Read the full reporting from Max Burns here.
The Tax Code America Needs for the Next 250 Years
The history of taxation reveals how the nation has defined belonging—and how a fairer system could help repair the fractures of American democracy.
Read the full reporting from Portia Allen-Kyle here.
The Post-Trump Challenge Isn’t Restoration. It’s Reinvention.
Experts warn the federal government has lost generations of institutional knowledge under the latest Trump administration. They also believe the destruction could force long-overdue structural reforms.
Read the full piece from Max Burns here.
The Case for Rebuilding America’s Immigration System
With public anger mounting over aggressive raids and deaths in detention, immigration reform advocates are advancing a broader agenda aimed at limiting detention, strengthening oversight, and reducing the federal government’s enforcement powers.
Read Felipe De La Hoz’s reporting here.
The Blueprint for a More Affordable America Already Exists
From guaranteed income to universal childcare, solutions to the affordability crisis are already in motion. The challenge now is political will—not policy design.
Rainesford Stauffer reports.