FEMA Community Relations Teams Communicate Help 

Release Date: February 13, 2006
Release Number: 1606-136

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AUSTIN, Texas -- Hurricane Katrina evacuee Bernard Nora listened intently as Community Relations (CR) strike team members Paul "Doc" Davis and Andrea Perez sought information about Nora's current needs in getting his life back on track.

Davis, an employee of FEMA subcontractor G.D. Barri, and Perez, assigned to FEMA from the private, non-profit San Antonio Family Services, were among more than 400 CR team representatives deployed throughout Texas to help bring FEMA's messages to those affected by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

"What is your housing plan?" asked Davis .

"I'm going to continue living here," Nora responded.

"Here" for Nora is an apartment in suburban San Antonio , with rent paid for by FEMA. Nora and his wife Mercedes avoided the extended hotel residence that a large number of evacuees have experienced in Texas .

Davis probes further, seeking to find out if Nora has any other "unmet needs," a widely-used term to describe a need for housing, child care, health care, transportation or specific requirement of daily life. Sometimes, evacuees have many unmet needs; others, like Nora, have arranged for the basic necessities.

Nora was a shipyard supervisor in Louisiana , but he considers himself fortunate to have found a construction job in Texas . Employment is important for everyone, but especially for evacuees trying to start on the road to recovery. That is why eligible evacuees are urged to take advantage of the rental assistance that can stretch available dollars.

When a disaster strikes, FEMA's Community Relations (CR) teams fan out, explaining FEMA's role to governmental agencies, community organizations and faith-based groups who can get the message to a larger audience.

But the twin-disasters of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina have broadened CR's role as a vital component in getting information to disaster victims. Katrina and Rita required large numbers of evacuees to stay in hotels and CR teams have been active in carrying messages to places where the evacuees settled. This effort has carried CR representatives to churches, nursing homes, assisted living centers, hotels, apartments and any other sites where evacuees have settled.

CR teams also ensure that the state-run Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC) have a continuing supply of informational material to hand out to disaster survivors and make sure that evacuees know about services available at the DRCs.

"The overall goal is to make sure that every bit of information that comes down the line will be received by the evacuees," said Donnie Paul, a CR strike team commander based at the Austin , Texas , Joint Field Office.

Expanding personnel needs in disasters require FEMA to come up with large groups of people quickly. Two of the groups that have had extensive involvement in FEMA CR are the Blackfeet Indians of Montana and firefighters. At the height of the hurricane response, more than 4,000 firefighters from all over the United States responded to the need, Paul said.

Referrals to evacuees are free and plentiful, and special needs cases, such as the elderly and disabled, are getting an extra measure of help from FEMA's Special Needs group. Assistance is delivered in Vietnamese, Spanish and other languages, as well as by American Sign Language experts, to ensure the message is clear: help is available.

For more information, individuals and businesses can call toll-free 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or TTY 1-800-462-7585 for the hearing- and speech-impaired.

FEMA manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.

Last Modified: Thursday, 25-May-2006 16:11:27