Disaster Mgt. Expert On Gutting NOAA And FEMA: "I Do Not Know How The Public Can Trust A Single Thing (They Say)"
The Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to disaster management will cost American lives, with hollowed-out agencies unable to accurately predict, prepare for or respond to extreme weather events, earthquakes and pandemics, a leading expert has warned. Samantha Montano, professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and author of Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis, said the death toll from disasters including hurricanes, tornadoes and water pollution will rise in the US unless Trump backtracks on mass layoffs and funding cuts to key agencies. That includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), whose work relies heavily on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), which is also being dismantled.
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“There’s already been a brain drain from Fema. We simply will not have the people to respond to a major disaster like Helene, but they’re also going to run into problems responding to multiple smaller disasters – fires, floods, storms that happen around the country simultaneously, which with the climate crisis are becoming more common. The administration has lit the world’s premier emergency-management agency on fire,” said Montano. Under Trump, Fema has so far denied federal assistance for tornadoes in Arkansas, flooding in West Virginia and a windstorm in Washington state. It also has refused North Carolina’s request for an extension for federal relief, as recovery efforts from Helene continue.
Pulling back resources will have an immediate impact on individual households and communities, many of whom voted for Trump. Somewhat harder to measure is the impact of shrinking Fema and the National Weather Service on messaging, a key element of emergency management that was already challenging amid mounting misinformation and disinformation about extreme weather, Covid, measles and even Fema itself.
“Effective communication rests on trust and I do not know how the American public can trust a single thing that this administration says and that extends to Fema,” Montano said, “where they put in an acting administrator [Cameron Hamilton] who himself was spreading disinformation about the agency during Hurricane Helene.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/05/trump-cuts-disaster-preparedness
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