President Joe Biden has raised funding for extreme weather preparedness from $500m To $1bn.
Gatekeepers News reports that the United States President on Monday announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would double the funding available to help cities and states prepare for extreme weather disasters, from $500 million in 2020 to $1 billion this year (2021).
Biden declared the additional funding after he was briefed on the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season during his visit to FEMA headquarters.
Gatekeepers News reports that Biden also announced the launch of a new NASA initiative to more closely track how the climate is changing, and the impact of these changes on local communities, both in the near term and farther into the future.
“Now is the time to get ready for the busiest time of the year for disasters in America,” Biden after the briefing. “Hurricane season in the South and East, and the fire season out West.”
“We all know that the storms are coming, and we’re going to be prepared,” he added. “We have to be ready.”
Gatekeeper News reports that the newly announced funds will be distributed through FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program.
Biden has, from the beginning of his tenure, made tackling climate change an integral part of his governing strategy.
Monday’s actions are the latest in a series of initiatives launched by the Biden administration to help measure and prepare for extreme weather events, which have increased in both frequency and severity as the climate has warmed over the past few decades.
The U.S President, last week, signed an executive order directing federal agencies to conduct a broad assessment of the financial risks posed by climate change to both government and the private sector
Last year, the U.S experienced 22 separate weather and climate-related disasters (primarily wildfires, hurricanes and snowstorms) that each gulped about $1 billion in damages, according to a White House fact sheet.
