The underwriter may also decide that the property is completely uninsurable even with improvements. The owner, of course, would be notified of this decision.

Throughout the process the owner has the right of appeal both to the FAIR Plan governing board and to the state insurance regulation authority.

An interesting and constructive outgrowth of the FAIR Plans is a proposed program of loans and grants to be administered by HUD. Under this program, money is made available through regional offices of HUD to property owners and certain installment contract purchasers in order to bring their property up to standards established under the FAIR Plans.

The rehabilitation grants are made up to amounts of $3,000. For the most part, they are designed for people who have an annual income of less than $3,000.

The rehabilitation loans are repayable at a rate of three percent over no more than 20 years. The amount is limited to $10,000 for residential property and up to $50,000 for non-residential property. In certain cases the loan for residential property can be increased.

Another interesting sidelight of the plan, one that the Hughes panel may not have had envisioned, is the protection of some property owners on the other end of the economic scale from the urban ghetto dweller.

Several areas of California had been considered bad risks because of the serious threat of brush fires. Included among these were the residences of many wealthy Californians, including some Hollywood stars.

The California FAIR Plan has now been broadened to include the homes and businesses located in these areas under the FAIR Plan provisions.

But the FAIR Plans were primarily designed for America's inner cities and it is there that they have had their most notable success. Not only is insurance now guaranteed, but this insurance has also provided the "cornerstone of credit" that the Hughes panel called "an essential force in revitalizing our cities."

Senator BAYH. The next witness is Mr. Creed C. Black, Assistant Secretary for Legislation, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Senator DOLE. Mr. Chairman, I have had a chance to read his statement, and it is by and large a recitation of the fine efforts they have made in Camille. Very little of the statement is directed toward either the Chairman's bill or the administration's bill. The witness might be willing to summarize it and then comment specifically on the legislation, if that is satisfactory with the Chairman, we might save time.

Senator BAYH. That sounds like an excellent idea.

We don't want to give Mr. Black the idea that his presence is not important and appreciated by the committee, but we will put the entire statement in the record and ask him if he would follow the suggestion of the Senator from Kansas.

(The statement referred to follows:)

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CREED C. BLACK

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee: The Department of Health, Education and Welfare is pleased to join the Office of Emergency Preparedness and other Federal Departments and agencies in considering with your committee ways to improve the Federal response to major disasters.

HEW's role in disaster assistance is targeted primarily on what President Nixon's message last week called our first objective after disaster occurs--help to individuals and families.

We have worked under the leadership of the Office of Emergency Preparedness, of course, and will continue to do so. Each of our regional offices has a written disaster plan and keens in close contact with the corresponding OEP region to respond promptly when a disaster strikes or threatens. The Department's regional director represents the Secretary and coordinates the HEW

field effort, with backing as required from other regions and from the operating agencies at headquarters.

Our specific concern in disaster assistance is to provide resources of professional and technical personnel, supplies and equipment, and funds, where authorized, to:

Protect the public health.

Assist in medical and casualty care.

Provide emergency public assistance for disaster victims who are in need. Assist in restoring education facilities and services.

Expedite payment of Social Security claims.

An example of how these responsibilities are met in practice can be obtained from a brief review of our efforts in Hurricane Camille. A summary of these is contained in the composite report of the Office of Emergency Preparedness which has already been made available to you. I will just hit the highlights and add some more recent information:

IMMEDIATE RESPONSE

When the disaster struck last August, special HEW teams were dispatched to all major trouble spots within 24 hours. Three regional offices were involved: Atlanta (for Mississippi), Dallas (for Louisiana), and Charlottesville (for Virginia and West Virginia).

Thereafter closely coordinated relations were maintained with our State counterparts the departments of public health, education, and welfare, and the State and local food and drug agencies. Federal and State personnel worked as a team in these areas to facilitate provision of our assistance. The effectiveness of this effort was attested to by the Executive Officer for the Mississippi State Board of Health (Dr. H. B. Cottrell), who stated in an earlier hearing before this Committee:

“A major contributing factor (in the control of health problems in the disaster area) was the effective work of some 300 State Board of Health employees and the energetic collaboration of some 100 Federal employees who worked directly with State and local Public Health officials."

USE OF SURPLUS PROPERTY

Hurricane Camille struck the Gulf Coast on Sunday night, August 17, 1969. The Surplus Property Utilization Program had representatives at the scene of the greatest impact the following day. This immediate response was made possible by the surplus property distribution centers located in each State and the surplus property regional offices located in each region. These distribution centers have stocks of thousand of line items of property on hand for donation to eligible health, educational and civil defense donees. This property, which is usable and needed during a disaster, can be released for immediate use. John B. Burnett, Director, Surplus Property Procurement Commission was appointed by the Governor of Mississippi to coordinate all relief efforts for Mississippi. Mr. Burnett had his State Agency trucks moving property from his distribution center in Jackson to the disaster area on the day following the night Camille struck. Mr. Burnett was in telephone contact with our regional office in Atlanta making the emergency needs of the area known. The regional office immediately contacted surplus property distribution center directors in other States in Region IV as well as the central office in Washington. The central office passed on to the other regional offices the list of required items which were not locally available in sufficient quantities. Regional Representatives contacted their State Agencies and the ball began to roll. Thousands of blankets, cots, pillows and pajamas were moved to the Gulf Coast. Dozens of jeeps, pickup trucks, generators, Sedans, wreckers, 21⁄2 ton trucks were provided. Bulldozers, dump trucks, radio receivers and transmitters were also furnished.

Generators were moved in from Alabama and Florida. The Mississippi State Agency had received 35 ten KW generators from the overseas property program in Germany the week before. They were all put into immediate use. Five large 40 KW generators were released by the California Surplus Property State Agency and flown to the Gulf Coast. Large generators were in special demand for the purpose of delivering power for water wells and purification machines in order to obtain potable water. The generators released in Sacramento, California were in operation on the Gulf Coast within three days of the date of the disaster.

Six hundred blankets were shipped from Seattle by the Washington State Agency. Another 400 blankets and pillows were shipped in from the South Carolina State Agency. More than 8,000 beds, cots and mattresses were distributed as a result of the combined DHEW and State Surplus Property Agency effort in South Mississippi. The items listed are only a small part of those furnished, and property came from many State distribution agencies in addition to those mentioned.

State Surplus Property Agencies for Louisiana, Virginia and West Virginia were also very active in the disaster areas in their States. They followed the same procedure in determining needs and in making these needs known to other centers. The same types of property provided in Mississippi were provided in these States.

The ability of the Surplus Property Program to make an immediate response to the disaster was one of the major contributing factors in providing relief at the time it was probably most needed.

HEALTH

Medical stockpiles and packaged disaster hospitals prepositioned in the hurricane area were made available to care for Camille's victims. Many thousands of items from the National Medical Stockpile were supplied, such as 15,000 blankets and 5,000 cots, disposable eating utensils, some 50,000 doses of typhoid vaccine, 1,000 bottles of insulin, 3,100 bottles of tetanus toxoid, over 100,000 doses of children's vaccines, 25,000 disposable syringes, and an undetermined number of refrigerated trucks, mobile toilet units, and 125 generators (63 15 KW generators and 67 21⁄2 KW generators) for emergency power requirements.

More than 100 public health officials, including sanitary engineers, assisted local health officials in recovery efforts, including restoration of sewer and water systems and emergency distribution of water in tank trucks, barrels, and half-gallon cartons.

As a single example of the activities of the Food and Drug Administration on the Gulf Coast during the first two weeks following the hurricane, FDA teams spent 1,500 manhours surveying 380 Mississippi food and drug establishments and supervising the destruction of unsafe food and drugs valued at $2.5 millions.

Quoting again from Dr. Cottrell's Mississippi health report, he summarized as follows: "... despite the magnitude of Hurricane Camille, despite the large population in the affected area, despite the fact that every water supply was adversely affected . . . and despite the human death toll, there was not one single death attributable to disease or lack of medical attention as a result of Hurricane Camille and the many health complications which arose in its wake. No major epidemics or disease outbreaks occurred."

EDUCATION

As of April 20, 1970, the Gulf Coast States of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama have submitted 31 applications for elementary and secondary school assistance due to the Camille disaster. Virginia has submitted 7 applications. Total entitlements for these applications is estimated to date as $4,476,318, of which initial payments thus far made amount to $3,510,251. Several additional applications are not yet complete, including one with an additional estimate of $1,924,000 and another for which a request is pending for $170,500. The Office of Education is giving priority to the completion of the processing of all disaster aid requests.

With respect to higher education disaster aid, which is authorized but not funded under a separate law (Higher Education Facilities Act, Section 408), five applications were submitted. These totalled $199,600. In the absence of available appropriations under Section 408 (d), the Office of Education has referred these requests to the Office of Emergency Preparedness and they will be funded under OEP disaster appropriations.

Another action was taken by the Department on September 12 following the hurricane. An emergency amendment to the Guaranteed Student Loan regulations was promulgated to allow the losses of families in the disaster area to be taken into account in determining eligibility of students for assistance under the program. The Secretary said: "It is my hope that this will make it possible

for every student whose family has been stricken by this disaster to continue his education in spite of it."

ELDERLY

Immediately following Hurricane Camille, SSA local office managers made use of established emergency procedures to expedite the processing of claims and the emergency postal distribution of monthly benefit checks to clients of the Social Security Administration, who were advised of these procedures by public announcements through newspapers, radio, and other local media. Priority handling was given by all offices concerned to assure prompt settlement of claims so that these funds would be quickly available to help meet essential living expenses.

In the last three calendar years these procedures have expedited 250 SSA emergency claims, of which approximately 50 were connected with Hurricane Camille.

Many of the elderly are public assistance clients of the State and local welfare departments. Staff members of these agencies carried a heavy workload during the Camille emergency, often under the direction of the American Red Cross, whose charter gives it a major responsibility for aiding natural disaster victims.

WELFARE

The Federal agency which provides matching funds for public assistance is the Department's Social and Rehabilitation Service. SRS regional staff were dispatched to the hurricane areas where they helped to assess the human needs. In the days just after the disaster, special arrangements were made with the Post Office to hold public assistance checks until recipient families could be located and delivery arranged by the local welfare office.

Separate legislation for disaster relief is now contained in public assistance amendments to the Social Security Act (P.L. 90-298). Two types of special aid are authorized in this law: (1) a 50% Federal matching of costs up to 30 days in any one year for families with children to provide temporary cash assistance, payments-in-kind, medical care and other services where these are necessary to avoid destitution or to provide family living arrangements following a sudden disaster, and (2) a 50% matching for the repair of welfare recipientowned housing up to a maximum of $500 under similar circumstances. Such temporary assistance does not require a Federal declaration of a major disaster, but does require the availability of State funds to meet the 50% matching requirements.

Thus far only a few States have taken advantage of these relatively new amendments. The five States in the Camille area are not as yet among this group. But it is the policy of the Department's Social and Rehabilitation Service to encourage all States to amend their State plans to utilize these additional disaster aids.

As for legislation to improve the federal response to disasters, you are aware that the President's Message was accompanied by a legislative proposal designed to implement his recommendations. Other Administration witnesses have addressed themselves to the differences between that proposal and S. 3619. Because those differences bear only indirectly on programs administered by this Department, we have nothing to add to the testimony that they have given.

We recommend enactment of the President's proposal. And, of course, we stand ready to answer any questions the Committee may have concerning our role in disaster assistance.

STATEMENT OF CREED C. BLACK, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR LEGISLATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE

Mr. BLACK. We would be glad to do that, Mr. Chairman, but I think this committee is familiar with our role in this area from its hearings earlier in Mississippi and elsewhere. Most of our work is carried on through our counterpart State agencies, and our statement points out what HEW's responsibilities are.

We work, of course, with OEP. Also we are represented on the various bodies that do the preliminary planning and keep the plans up to date. We do then, when disasters occur, send in teams to provide whatever help we can in the way of manpower, resources, money where it is authorized. Generally, however, our work is done through the State agencies.

As to the legislation, Mr. Chairman, our statement points out that it touches us only indirectly because of the nature of our programs. I don't think there is any purpose in burdening the committee with comments you have already received from General Lincoln and others in support of the administration bill.

Senator DOLE. There is one provision, Mr. Black, with reference to matching funds for welfare recipient housing. It is mentioned on page 8 and apparently you do have authority there to provide a maximum of $500.

Mr. BLACK. There were two provisions of this kind that were put in the Social Security Act Amendments in 1967, I believe.

Senator DOLE. Was that used extensively in Camille?

Mr. BLACK. No, because the States there have not taken advantage of this.

Senator DOLE. I see. Because of the matching problem.

Mr. BLACK. None of the five States affected in Camille have taken advantage of it. The Department is encouraging all States to do so in this 50-percent-matching program for repair of homes of welfare recipients, and in this other special matching program which would provide for temporary welfare assistance over a period of 30 days for people who otherwise do not qualify.

Senator DOLE. That is the only question I had. And, again, your statement describing the efforts of HEW in Camille and your responsibilities in any disaster will be made a part of the record. And I thank you.

Senator BAYH. Let me ask one question relative to communications we have received from U.S. Civil Defense Council and from the president of the National Association of Counties. I will ask without objection, that these two pieces of correspondence, together with one of the resolutions adopted by the Civil Defense Council, be put in the record.

(The communications and the resolution referred to follow :)

Hon. BIRCH BAYH,

U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.

[TELEGRAM]

Experience has dictated that welfare services including feeding, clothing, lodging and rehabilitation to individuals and families in need must be available in any kind of disaster. Recommend you include this total area of human need created by any emergency and governmental responsibility therefor in your hearings. Urge that $3619 be amended to place this responsibility in the USDHEW, to require that agency to develop a comprehensive Federal plan and to provide Federal funds to do so. Comprehensive Federal plan must incorporate full use of private agencies and their resources with the coordinating responsibility delegated to public welfare agencies at the Federal, regional. State and local levels as the welfare arm of government.

CONRAD M. FOWLER, President, National Association of Counties.