Sept. 24 Marks Year Of Recovery
Release Date: September 19, 2006
Release Number: 1606-251
» More Information on Texas Hurricane Rita
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) role in a disaster is to provide financial assistance to individual disaster victims and public agencies to give them a head start in the recovery process.
Hurricane Rita struck Sept. 24, 2005, less than a month after Hurricane Katrina sent hundreds of thousands of evacuees fleeing Louisiana. The combined recovery issues involved in sheltering evacuees from both storms and rebuilding infrastructure damaged in the Rita hurricane have forged new ground for FEMA.
Countless hours of effort by thousands of federal employees has been expended this past year on behalf of both disaster survivors and public agencies. FEMA has to follow the law - the Robert T. Stafford Act - that authorizes FEMA's involvement, but officials at all levels have endeavored to make sure that compassion and flexibility uncharacteristic of the spirit of the law isn't ignored in the efforts to adhere to the letter of the law. Deadlines have been changed to accommodate the needs of disaster victims as FEMA has moved from emergency sheltering to longer-term assistance programs. FEMA has also responded to congressional initiatives to increase Public Assistance funding to the same levels as seen in Louisiana.
FEMA was never designed as a social services agency. FEMA's limited-term payment programs, deadlines and recertification requirements are meant to be incentives for disaster survivors to take responsibility for their own recovery. But the enormity of the Katrina-Rita experience caused sheltering on a mass scale -first in mass care shelters, then in hotels.
FEMA, in concert with faith-based and community organizations, has worked hard to make sure that disaster survivors find ways to tackle the social, physical, emotional and financial needs generated in the wake of the storm. In a practical sense, this has meant getting survivors out of mass care shelters and hotels into longer-term living arrangements, ultimately with no dependence on federal aid.
Despite what you might have heard or read, FEMA has never evicted anybody from a hotel or an apartment. FEMA provides benefits for which people are either eligible or ineligible. To provide benefits to people who are ineligible is wrong and a violation of the spirit of the Stafford Act.
The hundreds of people who staff FEMA's call centers, responding to disaster victims, are dedicated disaster workers whose goal is to help people along the way. We believe these efforts have been successful, with thousands of people now living productive lives in spite of the disaster.
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, 19-Sep-2006 08:36:25