“A National Disaster Safety Board would assess the effectiveness of the nation’s disaster preparedness, response, and recovery actions and identify ways we can improve. Like the highly successful National Transportation Safety Board, the NDSB would investigate the root causes of deaths, injuries, and damage and provide fact-based recommendations for the future.”

“The proposed NDSB, as part of an overall emergency management reform effort in America, offers the chance to leverage decades worth of data, human capital, and technology to inform its investigative work. In a time when our national risk is increasing due to decades of bad development decisions, centuries of discriminatory policy, and climate change the need to transform how we address disaster is more urgent than ever.”

“True accountability depends upon the timely completion of a successful investigation that is spearheaded by a non-partisan, independent, trusted commission. It must be comprehensive in scope, take into account the lived experiences of those harmed by the pandemic, and not be subject to the whim of self-serving politicians.”

DRJ is currently compiling resources for journalists reporting on disasters, including a contact database of relevant experts, fact sheets, and other resources.