David Durenberger: “the task force should examine questions like the following: Should trailer parks be reestablished in hurricane areas?…”

“the task force should examine questions like the following: Should trailer parks be reestablished in hurricane areas? Should homes and farms be built on flood plains? Is there less damage in the long run if rivers are allowed to choose their own course, or should we continue to chart their courses through the use of levees? Should we build--or rebuild--highways on faults without proper earthquake-proof structure? How can we make all structures more earthquake proof? On a related matter, I am encouraged that the administration is moving quickly on crop insurance reform--an issue I pressed in conjunction with the flood relief in 1993, and one on which I have spent a great deal of time over the last year. Fortunately, the administration appears to be incorporating many of the components of my own crop insurance reform legislation into its proposal, which should be released shortly. But insurance reform will not work if we continue to encourage the perception that the Federal Government has an easy way to pay for disasters. The bottom line is that we have to seek an effective insurance system if we want to avoid huge Federal relief expenditures. What we do spend should be spent in a way that will make future disasters less costly, both in property and human lives.”