When natural disasters unpredictably strike, communities can become crippled without effective government leadership and support. Federal, state, and local governments and agencies are essential in coordinating efforts simultaneously and on multiple fronts to provide urgent and necessary healthcare, emergency management, response systems, and aid, which require close interaction between the public and private sectors and with local, state, and federal authorities. Legal practitioners need to be aware of the complexities of the interactions between the public and private sectors to better advise clients in the areas of disaster response. Local health departments, regional, and state emergency management, and federal partners each have a role to play in planning and implementation of emergency response and must work in unison because they each have distinct resources to respond quickly in urgent situations. Finally, local governments and/or municipalities are uniquely positioned to provide direct support in emergency situations, assisted by the resources provided by their state and federal government counterparts in affected communities that are likely to be disproportionately impacted communities. Through the lens of federal and state agencies, the panel will look at practical lessons learned in disaster response after Hurricane Maria and other natural disasters in the U.S. mainland of heightened frequency, such as storms, heat waves, extreme freezes, floods, among disasters in an effort to improve the role of government and coordination for an uncertain future. Our distinguished panel’s discussion will center on understanding the role of each branch of government in addressing emergencies resulting from most disasters, the close coordination that must ensue between agencies (such as health, environmental, public protection, communications, and utilities), and the associated regulatory and financial hurdles. We will explore how to create a coordinated effort to approach disaster response in light of the differing roles of government in disaster response.

The content of this program does not meet requirements for continuing legal education (CLE) accreditation. You will not receive CLE credit for participating.