WASHINGTON: The US government isn’t fully prepared to handle a nuclear terrorist attack or a large-scale natural catastrophe, lacks effective coordination, and in some cases is years away from ensuring adequate emergency shelter and medical treatment, congressional investigators have found.

The report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, obtained by The Associated Press before its release, found that the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, did not always keep track of disaster efforts by agencies, hampering the nation’s preparedness even after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

That storm hit a large swath of the eastern US that received federal disaster money. “FEMA is not aware of the full range of information,” according to the report.

The investigation relied in part on internal documents from the Homeland Security Department, which oversees FEMA, including previously undisclosed details from a 2013 disaster plan that highlights needed improvements in the event of an attack from an improvised nuclear device.

The Government Accountability Office said it would still take one to five years to develop a strategy to determine whether people were exposed to unsafe levels of radiation and five to 10 years to plan for a full medical response.

Guidance also was lacking as to communication among first responders and making shelters and other basic needs available. Inves­tigators said FEMA, which leads an interagency group in creating a disaster response plan, needs to set clear deadlines and estimated costs to ensure that agencies fulfill the goals.

It is one of several reports that the office plans in the coming months on the US level of disaster readiness.

“This report makes clear that there are some areas of our country’s preparedness that need strengthening up,” said Sen. Bob Casey, who co-chairs the US Senate Caucus on Weapons of Mass Destru­ction Terrorism.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2014