Disaster Recovery Centers: The Heart of the Recovery Process
Hurricane Rita's Six-Month Anniversary - 'Doing a 180: From Disaster to Recovery' One in a Series
Release Date: March 24, 2006
Release Number: 1606-165
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AUSTIN, Texas -- Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC) are the heart of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recovery process. They comprise almost all of the functions and activities which FEMA and the State use to provide services to victims of disasters. They are all similar in structure but they must adapt to fit many different situations.
That is why some of the DRCs are conducted out of Mobile Disaster Recovery Centers (MDRC). MDRCs are popularly but improperly viewed as rolling offices for registrants to visit. Client interaction occurs outside the vehicle, either on the adjacent ground or in a nearby building.
"Every disaster is different," said Jim McWilliams, who served as Disaster Recovery Center coordinator at FEMA's disaster recovery Joint Field Office in Austin , Texas . "The Katrina-Rita disaster is different to a degree which is totally new."
Disaster responses are usually set in motion by Presidential declarations. The need for a declaration is established in a preliminary damage assessment (PDA) made by State and FEMA officials. The PDAs also become the basis for evaluating the need for Disaster Recovery Centers. (Katrina and Rita declarations were exceptions; the declarations occurred before the hurricanes made landfall.)
The number and general location of the DRCs is determined by a team of State and FEMA officials who assess the areas of impact, the availability of sites and give final approval to selected locations. Team members and their responsibilities include:
- The State DRC coordinator, who works with county government officials.
- Individual Assistance officials, from the department in FEMA which delivers services to individual victims, who assess the location for availability to the impacted population.
- Security and Safety officials, who assess the physical site to make sure staff and victims will be in no danger on the site.
- Logistics personnel, who evaluate the site for power and other logistical needs such as availability of medical care, mass feeding, transportation, water and shelter.
- Information Technology officials, who make sure that the communications network will be supportable by assessing Internet capability and stability of power supplies.
Once the committee has approved a site, the General Services Administration negotiates a contract for fixed sites.
With these elements in place, both the State and the FEMA DRC coordinator identify staff requirements and arrange space for the many organizations to be represented in the DRC.
The goal for the DRC is a "one-stop shop" where disaster survivors, in one visit, can get an enormous amount of information about the State, Federal and local resources available to them.
State agencies, particularly the ones concerned with workforce and social service issues, weigh in on issues such as the Other Needs Assistance program, a joint state-FEMA funded program helping disaster survivors with replacement of personal property and other needs not addressed under FEMA's Individual and Households Program.
Disaster Unemployment Assistance, a state program extending jobless benefits to disaster registrants, is often available after a disaster, and agency representatives are present in the DRC to explain the program.
The U.S. Small Business Administration is always represented on the federal side, offering loans to residents and businesses affected in the disaster. Voluntary agencies include the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities as well as many faith-based and community organizations.
In the event a disaster is larger than a local region can handle, each region has a designated backup region from which they can draw. If that also proves to be inadequate, there are systems in place to add even more staff and materials to the recovery effort.
With staffing set up and beginning to arrive, logistics personnel provide land-lines and cell telephones, computers, vehicles, desks, lights, office supplies, copiers, printers, television sets, fax machines, and expendable supplies such as paper, pens, file folders, computer disks, note pads and paper clips essential supplies for office workers including those at the DRC.
A DRC staff has a number of responsibilities in addition to its primary mission of helping disaster survivors. It must prepare reports and maintain records for the Individual Assistance (IA) program. Accountable property, which is bar-coded goods the government will reuse, must be tracked. Records of visitors assisted must be kept. Staff must be managed.
All good things come to an end, and so, too, DRCs. As the number of visitors decline, staff is reduced, offices are consolidated and extra supplies and gear packed up for return to the regional offices from where they came. Accountable property is returned to its proper staging area, and the boxes known as DRC kits are restocked, repaired and returned to their regional office storage places. Final reports are drawn up and the DRC manager turns out the lights.
Most DRCs are open for 30-60 days. The phenomenon of two major hurricanes back to back in closely connected areas forced exceptions for the Texas DRCs. The Super DRC in Houston has operated for almost six months, sometimes handling as many as 2,500 applicants per day, and many other Texas DRCs have been in operation almost as long.
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: Tuesday, 30-May-2006 16:25:01