Trump cuts will increase devastation after disasters, expert warns: ‘It is really scary’

<p>Layoffs and funding cuts to Fema and Noaa will hamstring emergency managers, warns professor Samantha Montano</p><p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/trump-administration">Trump administration</a>’s sweeping cuts to disaster management will cost American lives, with hollowed-out agencies unable to accurately predict, prepare for or respond to extreme weather events, earthquakes and pandemics, a leading expert has warned.</p><p>Samantha Montano, professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and author of <a href="https://www.disaster-ology.com/">Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis</a>, said the death toll from disasters including hurricanes, tornadoes and water pollution will rise in the US unless Trump backtracks on mass layoffs and funding cuts to key agencies. That includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), whose work relies heavily on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), which is also being dismantled.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/05/trump-cuts-disaster-preparedness">Continue reading...</a>