About The FEMA Web Site

The FEMA web site is updated 24-hours per day, 7-days per week so you'll always have the latest information relevant to national emergencies. FEMA web pages are organized into several major sections, each with its own main subject or homepage page. Please visit our Site Index to view the various sections of the FEMA Web site.

Which browser is best to use?

The FEMA Web pages are best viewed using Netscape 4.0 or above or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or above (for Mac) and 4.0 or above (for windows). You can download a browser at the Netscape site or the Microsoft site.

Bookmark the FEMA Homepage

If you want to stay on top of disaster-related news and information, then FEMA should be a place which you can access easily and routinely. To do this add the FEMA web site to your browser's list of favorite sites, by selecting ADD in the Favorites or BookMarks Menu item.

What are Plug-ins?

Plug-ins are software programs that extend the capabilities of web browsers in a specific way - giving you, for example, the ability to play audio samples, view video movies from within a browser and view documents over the Web that look just as they do when created.

Portable Document Format (PDF)?

PDF is an acronym for "Portable Document Format." PDF is a file format created by Adobe that lets you view and print a file exactly as the author designed it, without needing to have the same application or fonts used to create the file. Since its introduction in 1993, PDF has become an Internet standard for electronic distribution that faithfully preserves the look and feel of the original document complete with fonts, colors, images, and layout.

Many documents on the FEMA web site are published using Adobe's® Portable Document Format (PDF). In order to comply with Section 508 Regulations, many of the PDF documents available on the FEMA web site require the most recent version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader. To display or print these documents, you must download the free Acrobat® Reader. The Acrobat® Reader allows you to view, navigate, and print PDF documents.

All PDF documents on the FEMA Web site are characterized by the following or similar graphic icon (). This icon is usually placed next to the document link. If you prefer, online conversion tools to obtain the document in text format are available at: http://access.adobe.com/simple_form.html.

If you are having difficulty viewing a PDF document on the FEMA web site:

• Make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Save the file to your computer before viewing.
  • For Netscape users, right-click on the link, and select "Save As" from the pop-up menu.
  • For Internet Explorer users, right-click on the link, and select "Save Target As" from the pop-up menu.
• Be patient -- occasionally PDF documents have large file sizes and may take longer to download/view than other pages online. Depending on your internet connection, download times will vary.

For more information, troubleshooting problems when downloading or installing Acrobat Reader, please visit the Adobe Web site.

Word Documents

FEMA makes wide use of Microsoft Office in it's day to day operations. Consequently, many documents on this web site are made available in the default Microsoft Office format. A common solution for viewers without Microsoft Office software is to acquire and use a Word Viewer, for viewing Microsoft Word documents. Microsoft® Word Viewer 97 for Windows 16-bit Operating Systems (Word Viewer), is a freeware product that allows you to view and print Microsoft Word 97 documents. Like previous versions of Word Viewer, the latest version can also open documents created with all previous versions of Word for Windows and version 4.x and above of Microsoft Word for Macintosh®. You cannot edit an open document in Word Viewer. However, you can copy text to the Clipboard to paste it in other applications. Users of windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000 are encouraged to download the 32-bit version of the Word Viewer. This version of the viewer supports Word 97 and Word 2000. For more information, system requirements and installation instructions, please visit the Word 97/2000 Viewer Support Page

Excel Documents

The Microsoft Excel 97 Viewer allows users to view and print Excel 97 and Excel 2000 spreadsheet files, in addition to other Excel for Windows® (versions 2.0 and greater) and Excel for the Macintosh® (versions 2.2a and greater) spreadsheet files. This small, freely distributable viewer gives users the flexibility to view page layout, copy and control cell sizes, and access the zoom and AutoFilter features. This viewer also supports OLE DocObject as well as the ability to view any Excel file. This is a freeware application and can be downloaded from this site by clicking this link.. For more information, system requirements and installation instructions, please the Excel 97/2000 Viewer support page

Streaming Audio and Video

To listen to audio or watch videos on the FEMA website, you'll need either the Real Player, Windows Media Player or QuickTime plug-ins. The plug-ins are available for free by clicking on the links above.

For more information about Plug-ins, we suggest that you visit the following sites: Netscape plug-ins or Browserwatch.

Spanish Language Translation

For Spanish language translation see this site. This may not be an exact translation.

Printing a "Printer Friendly" Version of our Pages

With many different versions of browsers and operating systems, some users may not be able to print a page from our site correctly while others can. In order to ensure that you print a correct version of our pages (without the sides cut off), we ask that you change your print options in your browser.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

• Go to File on the top of your browser and highlight Page Setup
• On the bottom right hand corner of your Page Setup box, change your left and right margins to 0.25.

Netscape Navigator

• Go to File on the top of your browser and highlight Page Setup
• On the middle of your Page Setup box, change your left and right margins to 0.25.