FRONTLINE: Business Of Disaster
FRONTLINE and NPR investigate the question of who profits when disaster strikes, focusing on the insurance companies that profited in the wake of the Superstorm Sandy and the government agencies that were supposed to help people rebuild. This major collaboration examines why, more than three years after the storm, thousands of people are still not home - despite billions of dollars spent on recovery efforts. The investigation examines two key parts of the disaster recovery system - the federally backed flood insurance program, and the special housing aid Congress gives to local governments after major disasters - and reveals that private insurance companies working for the government have made hundreds of millions of dollars at the same time that thousands of homeowners are claiming they have been underpaid.
Business of Disaster includes revealing interviews with the head of FEMA's flood program, the head of disaster recovery at HUD, and the top official who oversaw Sandy housing recovery for New York City, as well as a top representative from the insurance industry and people who have worked for years in the disaster recovery business. This eye-opening documentary raises troubling questions about whether the government - and the communities it serves - are prepared for the next big storm.
Producer: Rick Young, Emma Schwartz, Fritz Kramer
Executive Producer: Raney Aronson-Rath
Production Company: American University School of Communication’s Investigative Reporting Workshop; National Public Radio
Production Year: 2016
Copyright Year: 2016
Director: Rick Young
Host: Laura Sullivan
Writers: Rick Young
Discs: 1
Subtitles: Y
Subtitle Language: English (SDH)
Audio Format: Stereo
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 Widescreen