Co-ordinating and Extending Federal Assistance

Abstract

As a result of the Federal Disaster Act of 1950, the national govern ment can now provide disaster aid to states in the most effective way, co-ordinat ing, through the Federal Civil Defense Administration, the activities of all perti nent federal authorities. The prerequisites and the procedure which set this machinery into operation are described, and a graphic example of how the sys tem works is given in a story of the floods of August 1955, which caused the governors of several northeastern states to call for federal assistance and brought forth the combined efforts of six federal departments and four other federal agencies.—Ed.