Democratic Presidential candidate and Senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton, said that the US is unprepared for a serious disaster. In an article by Time, she indicated that the Bush administration had made a grave error in putting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under the auspices of the Homeland Security Department. Clinton also advocated more focus on severe weather events and other disasters before they occur, so that prevention of serious damage is also a focus and not just mitigation.
Clinton is proposing a national catastrophe insurance fund. This fund would provide insurance for all kinds of catastrophes, including earthquakes in California, tornadoes in the midwest or hurricanes on the Gulf and eastern seaboard. Clinton said that insurance costs have become astronomical for homeowners, especially for wind coverage, and there should be a national system that keeps coverage affordable. Clinton said, "We can't put so many millions of people at risk that they can't afford
to meet the insurance requirements. We've got to do something."
We couldn't agree more.
Monique L. Attinger
