The Other Disaster Assistance-Public Assistance
Release Date: May 8, 2008
Release Number: 1751-061
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Typically, when disaster strikes, the first reaction by those directly affected is to address personal and family safety issues, followed by concern with material losses. And fortunately, there are recovery mechanisms in place immediately ready to respond to a community's urgent needs.
There is, however, another element of disaster recovery that often is not so widely publicized. It is a form of assistance that affects an entire community, but usually not in the immediate and direct way individual assistance programs do. That form of assistance is the federal Public Assistance (PA) program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
FEMA's PA benefits everyone- neighborhoods, cities and states. PA dollars clean up the community, repair the bridges people cross every day going to work and school, put water systems and utilities back in order, clean and rebuild libraries and replace the damaged books, repair hospitals and emergency services, rebuild schools and universities, and put swing sets, trees and flowers back in public parks. These PA funds benefit facilities and services used by the entire community.
Types of entities that may be eligible for Public Assistance include:
- State government agencies;
- Local governments, and special districts;
- Private nonprofit organizations or institutions that own or operate facilities that are open to the general public; and
- Federally-recognized tribes.
"FEMA Public Assistance dollars come to the community through a partnership of cost sharing between the state, local authorities and the federal government," says FEMA's Federal Coordinating Officer Ken Riley. "FEMA picks up 75 percent of the eligible cost of putting a community back on its feet, and in Arkansas, the remainder comes from the state and the applicant splitting the remaining 25 percent."
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.
Last Modified: Thursday, 08-May-2008 10:32:45