On a shoe-string budget and in little time, DAP has become the lead independent non-profit providing public oversight to the U.S. disaster management system. Now, we have large shoes to fill and critical work to do to ensure improvements are made and life-saving safety-nets work.

"If the Disaster Accountability Project can have even a modest positive impact on citizen-based, non-partisan oversight, accountability and follow-through for disaster-relief services, it will be worth every cent and every ounce of energy expended. Those impacted by disasters deserve no less."

-- Dr. Ray Scurfield, Professor and Director, Katrina Research Center, The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast, Long Beach, Miss.