Compassion On Wheels In Disasters 

Mobile Disaster Recovery Centers

Release Date: February 23, 2006
Release Number: 1606-146

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AUSTIN, Texas -- A Mobile Disaster Recovery Center is something you really don't want to see coming - unless you're a disaster victim.

A popular misconception is that these converted recreational vehicles are places where applicants for disaster assistance can walk in and be served. This impression may come from the fact that some of the units are equipped with desks and chairs to accommodate staff and can double as a headquarters for command personnel.

In reality, MDRCs are self-contained, satellite-linked vehicles that provide technological services and a base from which a team of federal, state and volunteer agencies can serve disaster victims.

"Our job is to support the DRC personnel," says Harold "Hank" Stover, a FEMA transportation management specialist and driver/mechanic for one of the newer MDRCs in the fleet. "We make sure they're ready to do their job."

Stover said the MDRCs, operating out of a base in Cumberland, Md., are pre-positioned in advance in each state so that the vehicles can respond within a day of any disaster. At the height of the hurricane response, there were about two dozen MDRCs making multiple stops throughout Texas.

Stover takes pride in being ready to roll without prior notice to a disaster scene. The 40-year-old former U.S. Navy man has worked disasters from Florida to Texas.

"This is the perfect job for me," he says. "My readiness mentality says you have to have everything ready to go."

And ready it is. The 37-foot bus that Stover drives is a mobile asset that forms the technological core of a Disaster Recovery Center. A satellite system provides Global Positioning System (GPS) capability, as well as Internet service that connects computers to FEMA's Individual Assistance network.

Ideally, the MDRC is set up where the electronics can be deployed via cable in a nearby building, but a stand-alone facility can be set up with the use of tents or similar portable shelters. Stover said the GPS system helps to find addresses when roads, street signs and other identifying landmarks have been destroyed in a disaster.

Disaster victims respond favorably when the MDRCs come to them, Stover said, adding, "There's something about that RV that makes people feel better."

He said he has seen MDRC teams register 450 disaster victims in a single day.

The MDRC crews themselves are touched emotionally by disasters.

"Cross Plains suffered the loss of 116 homes and the Carbon area had 41 losses," said Pat Ferris, who managed a MDRC in the Texas wildfire country. She said $13,000 was raised in Carbon to benefit a family that lost its home at the time the mother was undergoing chemotherapy. Other families were given temporary housing help in the form of travel trailers, houses or apartments.

"Everyone in the MDRC was touched by the spirit of community," she said.

Disaster victims can seek assistance by calling FEMA at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or
TTY 1-800-462-7585 for the hearing-impaired. The deadline for applying for FEMA assistance for the Texas wildfires is March 13, 2006 and for Hurricane Rita the deadline is March 11.

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, 18-May-2006 10:12:58