Disaster Recovery Centers Provide Information
Centers Staffed With Officials From Various Agencies

Release Date: October 8, 2004 Release Number: FNF-04-021

Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs) are set up in hard-hit disaster locales specifically to give people who have suffered losses in a disaster the opportunity to sit down face-to-face with state and federal recovery specialists and discuss their unique situation.

At each center, state and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staff and U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loan officers are able to provide one-on-one assistance with paperwork, answer questions and access updated information on applications already filed.

Applicants often seek information about specific aid programs, including a wide range of housing assistance, possible grants for necessary expenses or serious needs caused by the disaster, available SBA low-interest loans for homeowners, renters and businesses, "how-to" preventive measures to reduce future disaster risk and other disaster-related programs to help cover residential and business losses not fully compensated by insurance.

Visitors to any DRC first should register for assistance at 800-621-3362 (FEMA). Individuals with speech or hearing impairments should call (TTY) 800-462-7585. The lines are 24 hours a day. The best times to call are after 6 p.m. or on weekends when call volume is the lowest.

DRC sites are selected to provide a convenient, easily reached location for most of the people in disaster area. Some DRCs are mobile units, fully staffed and equipped and able to travel to outlying or hard-to-reach areas. Any applicant can go to any DRC.