MEMA and FEMA Expedite Aid For Emergency Repairs To Public Agencies
Release Date: September 9, 2005
Release Number: 1604-011
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Jackson, MS - Expedited funds, in the amount of $230,000, have been released to Jones County for repair to their emergency services communication tower. The payment came nine days after Hurricane Katrina slammed into Mississippi, causing massive damages to vital community infrastructure.
"We anticipate that the payment to Jones County will be the first of many to be expedited to hurricane stricken communities," said Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Robert Latham.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency accelerated their Public Assistance (Infrastructure) program to help public agencies with immediate and critical emergency repair needs. Assistance through the Public Assistance program is normally delivered later in the recovery process to allow more time for evaluating the extent of infrastructure damages.
"While ensuring that vital public service was restored quickly has always been part of our continuing commitment, due to the exceptional devastation from Hurricane Katrina we saw a need to identify and accelerate help to public agencies that had critical emergency service repair needs," said Federal Coordinating Officer William Carwile.
Infrastructure teams fanned out rapidly throughout the damaged areas to determine the need for immediate infrastructure repairs. Assistance will continue to be accelerated as projects are identified through the Preliminary Damage Assessment process. The preliminary damage process is the first step in getting devastated vital emergency services functioning.
The Public Assistance program is funded in partnership between FEMA and the state of Mississippi. Under the program, eligible disaster-related costs are reimbursed to government and certain private non-profit units providing essential government-like services in the area of emergency protective measures, debris removal, and restoration of public facilities.
FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, trains first responders, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.
Last Modified: Thursday, 13-Oct-2005 06:19:39