The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) is a non-partisan watchdog organization dedicated to improving disaster management systems. DAP was founded in 2007 by Ben Smilowitz as a reaction to the responses to hurricanes

Katrina Katrina or Katrine may refer to: People * Katrina (given name) * Katrine (given name) Meteorology * List of storms named Katrina, a list of tropical cyclones designated as Katrina ** Hurricane Katrina, an exceptionally powerful Atlantic hurrican ...

and

Rita Rita may refer to: People * Rita (given name) * Rita (Indian singer) (born 1984) * Rita (Israeli singer) (born 1962) * Rita (Japanese singer) * Eliza Humphreys (1850–1938), wrote under the pseudonym Rita Places * Djarrit, also known as Rita, a ...

. DAP is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

non-profit organization and is a 2008 Echoing Green fellowship organization.

Initiatives

* Disaster Accountability Project Hotline - a toll free hotline through which survivors of a disaster, relief workers, and whistle-blowers can report gaps in relief services. * Federal Emergency Management Agency's ice policy - an effort to pressure FEMA to reverse its decision to only deliver ice for "medical emergencies" following a disaster. * FEMA Structural Reforms - among other reforms, DAP has advocated for the elevation of the FEMA Administrator to a

U.S. Cabinet The Cabinet of the United States is a body consisting of the vice president of the United States and the heads of the executive branch's departments in the federal government of the United States. It is the principal official advisory body to ...

-level position. * Report on Southern Louisiana Emergency Preparedness - a study conducted in 2009, which evaluated the emergency preparedness plans of 22 Southern Louisiana

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

based upon their comprehensiveness and accessibility to the general public. The study revealed that 11 of the 22 parishes surveyed could not or would not produce copies of their emergency plans when requested. * ReliefOversight.org - a website created as a response to the

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...

. ReliefOversight.org monitors the activities of relief organizations in disaster zones during the aftermath of a natural or man-made disaster.

References

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External links

Disaster Accountability Project website
Charities based in Maryland

Accountability Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the publ ...

Investigative journalism