Business of Disaster (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

Who profits when disaster strikes? FRONTLINE & NPR investigates how much insurance companies profit after a natural disaster. (Aired 2016)

When Superstorm Sandy made landfall in October of 2012, the historic natural disaster killed more than 100 people and caused catastrophic damage along the Eastern seaboard. “Business of Disaster” puts two key parts of the disaster recovery system under scrutiny: the special housing aid Congress gives to local governments after major disasters, and the National Flood Insurance Program that’s run by the Federal Emergency Management Administration. Major insurance companies declined to be interviewed, but FRONTLINE and NPR spent months working to track their profit numbers down. With storms expected to grow in frequency and intensity, this joint investigation raises troubling questions about disaster relief in America.

#Documentary #BusinessOfDiaster

Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

[xtscarfacem]

The Netherlands built a 1 billion dollar a year maintenance gate to avoid floods in their country. It cost them even more to build. When asked if they didn't think it was too much to spend on maintenance per year they responded saying that with what was spent rebuilding from hurricane Harvey in the US one time, they could maintain the gate for 125 years. It is a business.

[SEAZNDragon]

I went to NYC post-Sandy with a veteran disaster relief group, had my apartment flooded during the 2016 "Tax Day" floods in Houston, and worked as a first responder during Hurricane Harvey. One thing in each situation is seeing face to face the human experience of these flood disasters and it boils my blood to see how the people here are reduced to numbers.

[christinasuozzo]

Frontline has been the best news program on television for years.

[stevemattson]

Sure wish this this program would be on prime time on one of the big three channels, people would learn a lot, most in-depth reporting program there is!!!

[JTuaim]

The insurance lobby spends over $150, 000, 000. Pharmacy spends over twice that. So we don't get much of a break that's a lot of money they need to rip us for to make up for it.
The lobby needs to be severely regulated. Congress doesn't work for us and that's why so many are multimillionairs.

[taytuned]

I remember a group of bikers that did more for our neighborhood than FEMA and the red cross ever did. They came with food and water and generators to charge our phones, they were there for about 2 months. Red Cross gave us weird tasting water and MREs, once. I'll never forget that WE the people are the ones that help not the politicians.

[jessicamelu]

Your work as a reporter is what the government and oversight powers are supposed to do! Thank you for your hard work and impact in exposing fruad.

[robertschlesinger]

Excellent video showing what seems obvious examples of corruption and economic crimes by insurance companies. Thoroughly disgusting.

[davidmorgan]

Insurance companies being dishonest? Shocking!

[jonathankleinow]

The question about whether or not homes should be lifted should not have been left to the homeowners, quite honestly. It would be unpopular, but the rule should have been that every uninhabitable ground-level home needed to be razed and replaced with a new, elevated home. If you have a ground-level home on a barrier island in Florida that gets wiped out in a storm, you do not get to rebuild it just like it was. The rule is, you can finish off the first floor, but you can't put plumbing there and you can't put bedrooms there, and any finishing work you do on that ground floor is not covered by insurance. It would have been cheaper to build new houses up on stilts for most of these folks than it was to lift a damaged house into the air and then repair it.

Now, the question is, are the residents of Staten Island okay with the character of their neighborhoods changing from what it was to a line of beach homes on stilts? And don't forget, there's good reason to say, well, it doesn't really matter how you feel about it, you replace it with an elevated home or you sell off the lot to someone who will. There are going to be more Sandys and Katrinas. How many times do we want to pay to rebuild homes that will be destroyed more and more often in the coming decades?

[simba]

Frontline & NPR great job as usual. I'm glad we can rely on your team for unbiased information in today's media landscape.

[Headytopper]

I just finished this and sent it to my entire family chat. A lot of them were luckily spared by Sandy but know people who are still dealing with this bureaucratic hell. I just hope the people that were affected by these storms are able to get back into their houses

[bonuscardboy]

I am at about 38 minutes into watching this documentary and I have this one question. Why on earth is the government trusting billions of dollars to a person to lead an organization that has never been a real estate investor or construction contractor ever? With this kind of money on the line, you don’t learn how to do this as you go. Simply put, go straight to the experts who put up houses day in and day out on the regular.

[longforgotten]

Insurance exists for only one purpose. That purpose is to funnel money to the pockets of executives.

[crittercrossing]

Thanks for such good reporting and digging deep into the terribly corrupt world of how government programs and insurance companies work to rip off those in need. It would be better if people did not live in such vulnerable areas to begin with, especially going through this more than once. Great coverage and information!

[amandarobb]

I live in Peterborough Ontario Canada. In 2004, we had a 1000 year flood. This followed a 100 year flood 2 years proir. Things in Canada are a lot different from in America by how government is run as well as many other parts involving business. I'm just stating that to say, really, apples and oranges. When we had the flood in 2004, the city gained access to emergency funds for those who needed it. Flood insurance is often not available here. There were people who lived on the 9th floor of an appartment building who were not affected by the flood whatsoever who got cheques for a lot of money! I, on the other hand, had 5 feet of raw sewage in the basement, had 3 ft in diameter holes knocked out of tge foundation of the house, a landlord who refused to let us get our dirt floor basement pumped out (Victorian area home), had part of the roof collapse from such extreme storm, had no hydro for days, no hot water for over a month (whole city was on back order for hot water tanks). I missed a LOT of time off work having to do the clean up without pay etc. My bf and I got a cheque for a whopping 2 dollars!!! Goes to show ya, we all get ripped off everywhere when floods happen.

[oliverstone]

This Frontline agent is excellent at her job.

[patriciaposton]

After Super Storm Sandy hit NJ in 2012....I was still so surprised that years later a lot of people had not their homes rebuilt

[jacquig]

Watching this from the UK and it makes me feel sick. The government national disaster programme needs an overhaul. How can a family be still waiting 3 years later to move back into their home and be paying a mortgage, rent and flood defence insurance. Unbelievable.

[woodymcwooderson]

I did tree work in Nassau County cleaning debris from storm retaining ponds. I met so many great people. I remember the tens of thousands of balls in each retaining pond. Every lost tennis ball, racquet ball, baseball, softball etc made it down there.