Portal Oficial de Texas

Natural and man-made disasters, from hurricanes to power outages to ice storms, can strike at any time with little or no warning. This website includes links to information and organizations that will help you prepare for and mitigate the effects of disasters.

Be Prepared

Planning for disasters is always a good idea. Having three days of food, water, medications, and other necessities on-hand just makes good sense. Use the publications below to help your family, business, and community be prepared for the unexpected.

General Disaster Preparation

• Before a Disaster - City of Austin Office of Emergency Management
• Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness - FEMA
• FEMA Mitigation Division - Resources to help lessen the impact that disasters have on people's lives and property.
• FEMA for Kids
• Be Prepared - American Red Cross
• Disaster Preparation for Business - American Red Cross

Preparing for Hurricane Season

• Local Government and Small Business Hurricane Checklist- American Red Cross
• Hurricanes - Are you ready? - FEMA

Help Organizations

Emergency Assistance

• Call 211 (in Texas), or 1-888-312-4567
  Information can be provided in almost any language including Spanish.
  Assistance for emergencies, food, housing and shelter, education, legal, childcare, physical and mental health, financial assistance, and transportation.
• Register for Disaster Assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Registering for aid helps FEMA direct the necessary resources to you and your area.
  1-800-621-FEMA (3362)
  TTY 1-800-462-7585 for the speech and hearing impaired

Local, State, and Federal Organizations

Local Government in Texas

First Responders often have the most current status on security, health, and safety. Contact the local resources in your area for help and information.

• Texas Cities
• Texas Counties
• Texas Law Enforcement
  • Texas Judicial Directory
  • List of Law Enforcement Agencies(PDF File)
  • Law Enforcement Agency Websites
  • Directory of Texas Sheriffs
  • Sheriff's Offices and Other Law Enforcement Websites

State of Texas

• Governor's Division of Emergency Management

Federal Government

• DisasterHelp.gov
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• FirstGov.gov
• The Federal Communications Commission

Resources by Topic

Child Support

• Office of the Texas Attorney General - Child Support Division

Consumer Protection

• Office of the Texas Attorney General - Consumer Protection
• Federal Trade Commission

Resources for People with Disabilities

• Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS)
  Provides a comprehensive array of aging and disability services, supports,and opportunities.
• Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS)
  Assists people with disabilities, and children who have developmental delays.
• Independent Living Research Utilization
  A national center for information, training, research, and technical assistance in independent living.

Employment

• Texas Workforce Commission

Education

• Texas Education Agency
• The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

Health Care

• The Texas State Board of Pharmacy - Pharmacies and pharmacists may obtain emergency prescription refills and establish a remote location to provide prescription dispensing services on an emergency basis.
• Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS)
  Provides a comprehensive array of aging and disability services, supports,and opportunities.
• Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS)
  Assists people with disabilities, and children who have developmental delays.
• Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS)
  Protects children, elderly, and people with disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
• Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
  Provides health, mental health and substance abuse services to Texans.
• Texas Health and Human Services
  Provide the leadership and direction for the health and human services system for Texans. Parent organization to DADS, DARS, DFPS, and DSHS.
• US Department of Health and Human Services - Disasters & Emergencies

Housing

• American Red Cross: 1-866-438-4636
• Habitat for Humanity
• Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs

Insurance Questions

• The Texas Department of Insurance
• Consumer Helpline 800-252-3439 (463-6515 in Austin)

Missing Persons

• American Red Cross
• The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
  1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678)

Taxes

• Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
  Information about exemptions, waivers and extensions for sales, hotel, diesel, and IFTA taxes.
• Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Transportation

• The Texas Department of Transportation
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How to Help

Donations

• Guidelines for making the right donation
• General information on how to donate (from FEMA)
• Texas Disaster Relief Fund
  Governor Rick Perry established the Texas Disaster Relief Fund to help provide immediate assistance to citizens in need.
• American Red Cross
• America's Second Harvest
• The Salvation Army
• The United Way
• The Humane Society of the United States
• The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Scams and Frauds

Relief and charity efforts began immediately after the hurricane devastated the Gulf Coast area. Websites began to appear which were designed to defraud unsuspecting users. Some of the activities include soliciting donations for seemingly charitable purposes, attempting to collect personal information through phishing scams and also spreading malware to unsuspecting users. Domain names that redirect users to malicious websites have appeared online, in addition to email scams requesting donations for those impacted by the hurricane. While some of these sites and messages may be legitimate, many are not.

In addition to fraudulent websites, opportunists may use this event as a vehicle for other types of online attacks. For example, email messages that claim to contain attachments with photos, video, or other information about the hurricanes may actually contain viruses, worms, or other malware.

We recommend people be advised to:

• Validate the relief fund or charity through a known reliable entity.
• Please refer to the FEMA link below for a list of reputable disaster relief resources.
• When a message containing a request for donations for these victims appears, do not respond unless you are certain it is a valid message.
• Avoid visiting untrusted websites.
• Avoid opening email messages and attachments that claim to contain video, photos, or other information relating to relief solicitation.
• Follow standard best practices for email and web browsing security.
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