Federal assistance after tornadoes

[Tim Vasquez]

Is anyone aware of whether Federal (or state/local) assistance is ever available to the general public after tornado outbreaks? I'm not really clear on how this works. I know that parts of Oklahoma were under a state of emergency after the May 10 outbreak and we had the National Guard and FEMA out here in our subdivision, but yesterday I heard on the radio that the remaining family of Tammy Rider's 3 kids (the mother was killed, this was in the next subdivision over) are needing donations and Bank of Oklahoma is collecting those funds.

Most of our neighbors from what we gather appear to have insurance, but are low-income people who have no insurance just going to have to suck it up? I know this is the case for routine storm damage but I'm not sure whether this being a disaster area changes anything.

Tim

 

[Mike Smith]

Tim,

I learned a little about this while researching Warnings. In order to get federal assistance there has to be a disaster declaration. Without one, there is little or no assistance available.

If there is a disaster declaration, your friends can contact:

• For personal assistance, FEMA
• For business assistance, the Small Business Administration

The theory seems to be that if the disaster is small enough that there is no disaster declaration, local charities (Salvation Army, Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services, etc.) can fill the need.

Hope this helps.

Mike

 

[Clarence Bennett]

Mike is exactly right. If the area is not considered a "federal disaster", there is no aid available from FEMA or the SBA. Only the non-profits offer assistance. I just went through this firsthand in Nashville with the flooding we had.

 

[John Massura]

Strangely enough, May 10th has not been declared a federal disaster, in any county in OK:

http://www.fema.gov/news/disasters.fema?year=2010

I say strangely, because there were areas affect by the wildfires last year that were declared disaster areas, and at rough glance, had less homes affected.

 

[GPhillips]

Strangely enough, May 10th has not been declared a federal disaster, in any county in OK:

http://www.fema.gov/news/disasters.fema?year=2010

I say strangely, because there were areas affect by the wildfires last year that were declared disaster areas, and at rough glance, had less homes affected.

If you look at the list on that link, you see there is a delay between the disaster and the declaration. There is a process that has to be gone through for request from the state and approval from the federal government.

 

[John Massura]

I looked at it again, and you are right. I looked at the fires from last year, and on another page, it said it was declared the same day as the fires (which may have not been true). And the MS event from a few weeks ago looks like it took maybe 3 weeks to be declared.