Earlier this week, FEMA opened disaster recovery centers (DRC) at the Matewan Town Hall, the Larry Joe Harless Center in Gilbert and the Delbarton Volunteer Fire Department Substation No. 1 at Musick.
The help centers are open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The centers will also be open on Memorial Day.
“The good thing about opening up the disaster recovery centers is that individuals can actually come in and sit down across the desk with a FEMA specialist and go over their individual needs with them,” Mike Wade, an official with FEMA, said. “If they have already registered, they can look and see the status of their registration. If they haven’t registered, they can register right there at the DRC. It’s all based on individual need. There are three ways to register. They can go to our DRC and register or they can register through our 800 number or they can go to our web site and register at FEMA.gov. Recovery or our assistance with what they are eligible for will be reviewed at that point, once they have registered.”
Wade said people need to realize that FEMA isn’t going to
“There is direct assistance, which does not have to be paid back,” Wade said. “And then, as the process goes on, they will have to go through the SBA process to see if they qualify for a loan. If they do, it will continue down that road. If they don’t, based on their income or whatever their financial situation is, at that point it’s referred back over to FEMA to determine if they are eligible for a grant and that money would not have to be repaid. The maximum for that is $30,000.
“The one thing people need to realize is that our assistance may not get them back to their pre-disaster assistance. We’re there to get them back into their homes where it’s habitable and to get them back on their feet. A lot of people think we’re going to bring them back to whatever their house was the day before the storm and that is not necessarily true.”
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The FEMA phone number is 1-800-621-FEMA.
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