Release No. 0313.07
Contact: USDA: Terri Teuber (202)
720-4623
Angela Harless (202) 720-4623
Food Assistance: Jean Daniel (703) 305-2281
Printable version
USDA Provides Additional Disaster Food Assistance to Southern California
Burned Area Emergency Response Teams in Place Oct. 27
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2007—Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner today
approved the state of California's request to operate a Disaster Food Stamp
Program (DFSP) in San Bernardino and is prepared to approve Riverside County
later today. Both programs will run from Oct. 22 to Nov. 20, 2007. This is in
addition to the DFSP approved yesterday for San Diego County.
"The Agriculture Department joins many other government agencies in providing
both direct fire fighting support and assistance to individuals impacted by the
fires," said Conner. "We will continue to work closely with state and local
officials in California to help meet their needs."
The USDA Forest Service (FS), in conjunction with other responding interagency
state and federal agencies, is mobilizing five Burned Area Emergency Response
(BAER) teams. Members of these teams will assess threats to the burned areas,
including potential mudslides, and will identify stabilization and
rehabilitation needs for the land.
USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is dispatching Damage
Survey Assessment (DSA) teams to the burn areas to determine damage to natural
resources, including impairments to watersheds as a result of the fires. The
surveys will begin after safety officials give NRCS permission to enter those
areas. DSAs in Los Angeles and Ventura County are expected to begin at the end
of next week. Other county DSA's will begin in approximately 10-14 days. USDA
will not begin crop loss assessments until all human needs are met and the area
is determined to be safe.
Disaster Food Stamp Program
The Disaster Food Stamp Program approved today allows people who ordinarily
might not qualify for food stamp benefits to be eligible if they had expenses
related to protecting, repairing, or evacuating their homes; or if they lost
food or income as a result of the disaster. In the DFSP, eligibility and
procedural requirements are minimized to enable local agencies to serve large
numbers of people quickly and provide a one-month benefit. California estimates
that there may be about 11,500 applicants for DFSP in San Bernardino County.
People who already are participating in the Food Stamp Program may be eligible
for additional benefits under the DFSP if they suffered a disaster-related
expense and file a simple affidavit.
Disaster benefits are provided like regular program benefits – through a debit
card that can be used at authorized food retailers to buy food. These systems
are commonly referred to as Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) systems.
USDA's Food and Nutrition Service can authorize the issuance of emergency food
stamp benefits when the President declares a major disaster. FNS works closely
with States to prepare plans for the Disaster Food Stamp Program.
Administered by the Food and Nutrition Service, the Food Stamp Program is the
cornerstone of USDA's 15 nutrition assistance programs that form the nation's
nutrition safety net. The Program provides a vital supplement to the food
budgets of 26 million low-income men, women and children each month. For more
information on the Food Stamp Program and USDA, visit
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp or
call 1-800/221-5689.
Additional information about USDA's Southern California wildfire response
efforts is available at
www.usda.gov/californiafires.
Last modified:
09/25/2008
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