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eLearning Series:
Your Most Popular Insurance Questions
Answers For Health and Home
Insurance
( 50 articles
in this series )
FEMA: Who Qualifies
For Emergency Aid?
If you are ever involved in a national disaster
the initials FEMA will become very familiar to you. FEMA
is the US Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency
Management Agency. In the event of a national disaster, FEMA
takes action to provide victims with shelter, food and necessities
they may be left without. But FEMA’s efforts during a disaster
do not stop there. FEMA is also in charge of training and sending
emergency specialists to assist victims, putting into action
flood insurance programs, and overseeing the federal response
to the emergency that has occurred. If you are ever involved
in a national emergency, you will be glad FEMA is there for
you.
FEMA
uses a disaster life cycle to describe what they are responsible
for. The disaster life cycle begins when a national
disaster occurs. National disasters can take the form of a
variety of things from hurricanes to earthquakes to terrorist
attacks. Indeed, the initials FEMA were heard often following
the Hurricane Katrina disaster in the Southeastern United States.
Once the disaster occurs, FEMA’s first step is responding to
the disaster. The response includes helping the disaster victims
get necessary items to survive during such trying times. Food,
water, and vital medications are provided to the victims while
medical care and temporary shelter are offered as well. Following
the initial response, recovery begins to take place. This is
the second step for FEMA in the event of a disaster. Recovery
includes helping communities rebuild themselves after they
have been ravaged by disaster. FEMA assists disaster victims
with the rebuilding of community buildings such as schools,
police stations, and homes. If flooding has occurred FEMA officials
work to clear the area of water, debris or any other disaster
remnants.
FEMA’s next step is mitigation. Mitigation
allows recovery to occur within safe means. If certain areas of the community
are unstable for buildings to be built on due to the possibility
of future disasters, buildings are cleared from that area.
If an earthquake has occurred, mitigation helps in engineering
new buildings that will safely stand on the land. Once the
disaster area has been successfully rebuilt, FEMA moves to
the risk reduction portion of the disaster life cycle. It is
at this time that FEMA helps people of the disaster area with
planning for future disasters and reducing their risk of loss.
Flood insurance is one of the major risk reducing offerings
by FEMA that helps people in the event of a disaster like a
major flood. The following steps of the disaster life
cycle are prevention and preparedness. In these life cycle steps,
FEMA assists communities in preventing future disasters if
possible. Of course, many national disasters that occur are
natural disasters and cannot be stopped. In this case, the
preparedness comes in handy. By being prepared for future hardships,
citizens can better deal with the aftermath of a national disaster.
In
the event of a major national disaster there are a number
of people who qualify for FEMA assistance. FEMA requires all
qualified citizens to fill out an application to apply for
FEMA aid. Those who feel that they qualify can find applications
on the FEMA website and also readily available in most post-disaster
areas. In order for most of FEMA’s special disaster aid programs
to go into effect, the President of the United States must
sign a declaration of major disaster. If your home was destroyed
in the disaster applying for FEMA aid can get you disaster
housing. This can help in giving you a place to call home while
you get your life back on track. If you are without food or
water, there are often plenty of FEMA and American Red Cross
volunteers on hand in disaster areas providing victims with
food, water, clothing, etc. If you have lost your job as a
result of the disaster you are able to apply for Disaster Unemployment
Assistance. FEMA also offers victims low cost legal help at
Disaster Recovery Centers set up following disasters.
No matter what region of the United States you live in, national
disasters may threaten your livelihood. The best thing you
can do is to prepare for anything, but rest assured that when
disaster strikes, FEMA would be there for you.
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2005
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