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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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March
2006
Volume
10 - Number 2 |
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In order to fulfill its mission of managing response and recovery efforts during a major disaster, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has two distinct assistance programs. The public assistance program (PA) is focused on providing aid to communities as a whole, while the individual assistance program (IA), as its name implies, is dedicated to meeting the emergent and long term needs of individual citizens. According to FEMA’s website, the IA program provides assistance to citizens who own a business, or work in a county declared a Major Disaster Area, incur sufficient property damage or loss, or otherwise do not have the resources to meet their needs following a disaster. In order to be considered eligible, citizens must first register either by telephone or in a new online format that can be found on the FEMA website. Applicants can lookup their specific community to see if they meet the criteria for particular grant assistance. Assistance under the IA programs ranges from temporary housing assistance to psychiatric or legal counseling. Immediate needs are divided between Housing Assistance and Other Needs Assistance. For both groups, cash grants can be provided for up to $26,200 per household. Housing assistance may take the form of temporary hotel cost reimbursement, rental assistance or home repair and replacement. Items such as medical, dental, funeral and transportation related costs are covered in other needs. Additional assistance to individuals is available from the Small Business Administration and the Farm Service Agency. In order to further assist individuals FEMA works with the Internal Revenue Service to ensure that certain tax relief is granted to qualified citizens. IA programs ensure that both veterans and unemployment benefits are granted to citizens affected by disasters. Finally, IA programs provide legal and crisis counselors to answer questions and support disaster victims. Recent events in the Gulf Coast have drawn attention to the individual assistance program. By the end of 2005, over 450,000 families in Louisiana and Mississippi had received some type of financial assistance from FEMA. According to that agency, as of January 6, 2006 one billion dollars in individual assistance grant monies had been sent to the Gulf Coast. FEMA’s break down of funds shows $729 million going to housing assistance and the balance to other needs. In order to cope with the demand for information regarding that assistance, FEMA extended their tele-registration hours and deadlines and also initiated a new feature that allows residents to immediately check the status of their application by phone. As a result of Hurricane Katrina, the IRS, working within the limits of the FEMA IA programs, has not only extended the 2006 filing date to the end of August for Hurricane victims but also authorized individuals to file using 2004 incomes rather than those of 2005. Individual assistance programs take on many forms within FEMA. Their effects are broad and far reaching, yet, as they are designed, their impact allows each individual citizen to obtain federal financial assistance during a time of national disaster. http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=21860 http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=147085,00.html http://www.fema.gov/rrr/inassist.shtm http://www.katrinarecovery.disasterhelp.gov/archives/05-007.shtm |