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Disaster
Assistance
Disaster Preparedness Manual for the Aging Network
VI. Disaster Application Centers
I. Description
Disaster assistance programs are made available under disaster
declarations by the President and the Governor. The primary
functions of these programs are:
A. To register applicants for disaster assistance and to provide
follow-up services for those already registered.
B. To provide public information and continuing assistance in
disaster areas.
C. To support community recovery, restoration and rebuilding
efforts.
D. To promote community preparedness for potential disasters.
II. Purpose
Disaster Application Centers represent a transition from initial
disaster response activities such as disseminating information
concerning available assistance programs and processing of registrations
and applications to activities focused on individual and community
recovery, restoration, and rebuilding issues.
The Centers are designed to not only register individuals for
appropriate assistance programs, but to accommodate the needs
of individuals who need to complete processes begun either at
the Centers or by teleregistration, who have specific questions
about program eligibility, pending applications for assistance,
or responses they have received to their applications.
III. Services
The Centers offer services aimed at facilitating community and
individual recovery, restoration, and rebuilding processes.
The Centers are intended to be the focal point for the provision
of community-oriented services and educational information
offered by local government agencies and community-based organizations.
Local, State, Federal, and voluntary agencies are represented
so as to meet the evolving needs of those impacted by the disaster.
IV. Locations
Disaster Application Centers are designed to serve multi-community
areas. Centers are located based on physical damage assessments
and the areas of concentration from which disaster assistance
registrations were made. Site selection considerations also include
public transportation and freeway accessibility and, the structural
safety of facilities available for long-term occupancy.
V. Types of Services at Centers
A. Small Business Administration (SBA) - Providing low interest
rate loans for home/personal property losses and damages.
B. FEMA Disaster Housing Assistance Program (408A) - This program
helps people who cannot or should not live in their homes.
C. FEMA Disaster Mortgage and Rental Assistance Program (408B)
- This emergency grant program helps people who, as a result
of the disaster, have lost their job or business and face foreclosure
or eviction from their homes.
D. Individual Family Grant Program (IFGP) - Grants may be available
to those eligible, who are unable to meet disaster-related necessary
expenses and serious needs for which assistance is unavailable
or inadequate.
E. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - Guidance provided in obtaining
tax relief for disaster casualty losses.
F. Social Security Assistance (SSA) - Help in expediting checks
delayed by the disaster, and in applying for benefits.
G. Veterans Administration (VA) - Guidance in obtaining death
benefits, pensions, and insurance settlements.
H. Crisis Counseling - Short term intervention counseling is
available for emotional and mental health problems caused or
aggravated by the disaster.
I. Disaster Unemployment Assistance Employment
Development Department (EDD) - Provides weekly benefit payments
to those out of work
due to the disaster.
J. Local Department of Aging - Provides disaster
relief assistance to the senior population, geared to avoid
long line waits, and
an understanding of the forms and process. K. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - Section 8 Rental Certificate
Program - To assist very low-income families.
L. Contractor's Licensing - Homeowners may request guidance
in obtaining licensed contractors to assist in repair or restoration
of damaged property.
M. American Red Cross - Immediate assistance
with food, clothing.N. Salvation Army - Provides food vouchers,
and clothing, immediately following the disaster.
O. Department of Motor Vehicles - Provides replacement of documents
and fee extensions.
Other agencies and volunteers as are necessary
and available will also be represented. Refer to the layout suggested
by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at the end of this
chapter for an idea of the floor plan and traffic flow at a DAC.
While a waiting area is available, special need individuals are
assumed to have preference over the able-bodied in traffic flow.
The Role of the AAA in the Disaster Application
Center The Aging Network is represented at the Disaster Application
Center (DAC) by the staff of the local Area Agency on Aging
(AAA). The role of the AAA is not quite the same as that of
other agencies. The primary function of the AAA is to assist
the elderly victims who are going through the center. This
involves first making the representatives of other agencies
aware of some of the special problems older persons often have
during and after a disaster, and second, accompanying the elderly
through the center. Of course, like the other agencies the
AAA will also interview elderly victims as regards services
that it can provide.
More specifically, the AAA role in staffing DACs should include
the following:
I. Personnel to Staff the AAA Desk at the Center
There should be at least four AAA representatives on duty at
a center at any one time. Since the centers may be open as long
as ten or twelve hours a day, two or more shifts will be necessary.
The ideal staffing pattern would include:
A. Social workers or information and referral specialist experienced
in working with the elderly, who are familiar with the functioning
of the existing social services structure, and who can solve
the unusual problems that are sure to occur.
B. One or two (or more in larger disasters) disaster advocates
from the communities who know the elderly and who are known by
them.
C. A person designated as a supervisor or
team leader of the DAC activities.
II. Supplies
In operating the center desk, the personnel will need the following
supplies:
A. Identification badges giving the name of
the AAA and the name of the individual.
B. Information blanks to obtain basic information
for follow-up activities. C. Legal pads, pens, pencils, stapler, paper clips.
D. Brochures for the elderly describing the function of the
AAA.
E. Brochures or leaflets on the other services provided by the
AAA that would be most helpful to disaster victims.
F. Phone numbers of the agencies that disaster center might
need to contact.
III. What To Do
The staff assigned to the center should be at the center at
least a half-hour before opening time. During this period, the
staff should establish some contact with other agencies, explaining
the role of the AAA and finding out what each of the other agencies
will be doing.
When the center opens, it should be made clear to the intake
workers that elderly are to be referred to the AAA station. Disaster
Advocates should go up to the elderly person, explain what the
AAA will be doing, and take the elderly individual first to the
intake interviewer, then to the appropriate agency. If the elderly
person needs to be escorted from agency to agency, the Disaster
Advocate will be prepared to do so.
If possible, arrange for representatives of the other agencies
to come to the more infirm elderly, rather than require the elderly
to wait in several lines.
Explain to the elderly that the AAA personnel will be contacting
them again to see if their problems are being solved, and will
help if needed in obtaining any additional action from other
agencies after the centers are closed.
Transportation to and from the disaster will probably be a major
problem. The AAA may be the only source for this service, using
the vehicles normally used in Title III. Providing this transportation
service is, in addition to serving an urgent need, extremely
helpful in establishing credibility with victims and with other
agencies.
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