After months of waiting, the Federal Emergency Management Agency set up a Disaster Recovery Center in Wrangell. FEMA specialists are at the center every day this week to help individuals affected by November’s deadly landslide.
Several tables line up along the Nolan Center’s walls to help with assistance. Besides FEMA there is the National Preparedness Division and the Small Business Administration.
Nika Herford, FEMA’s individual assistance branch director, said the Disaster Recovery Center can help Wrangell residents sign up for assistance available to them. This also includes a disaster-caused loss they experienced or something else that could help. She said they have partnered with Wrangell’s tribal government, Wrangell Cooperative Association.
“It’s not all about FEMA assistance or assistance from the Small Business Administration,” she said. “We work with a lot of different partners that have programs and other resources that may be helpful not only for this incident, but for the future.”
The partners also include the Internal Revenue Service for tax help and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for mortgage and foreclosure issues. The USDA Rural Development Agency also has loans and grants that may be available for people who were affected.
“If people lost work, they were affected.”
Herford said that people should come in if their home was affected in any way. Even if the slide didn’t make it uninhabitable, they could receive repair funds. For example, FEMA could help if the storms caused a lost vehicle or impacted septic systems or wells.
“If people lost work, they were affected,” she said. “If they’re self employed and they wouldn’t otherwise qualify for regular unemployment assistance, that would be another area where they would want to talk with us about applying for disaster unemployment assistance.”
FEMA can also help replace subsistence foods and firewood.
Herford said FEMA and Wrangell’s tribe are talking about a possible crisis counseling grant to help with healing in the community and disaster legal services.
“We would love to see anybody who wants to come in to talk with us and share their experiences, provide them with more information and to help determine whether an application would be something that they would want to do,” she said.
The Disaster Recover Center will be available for community members at the Nolan Center every day this week from 9am to 7pm and Monday, April 14 from 9am to 7pm and Tuesday, April 15 from 9am to 4pm. Assistive listening devices and translation services, including American Sign Language, are available.
