The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act allows assistance to State and local governments, and some not-for-profits, to support the uninsured costs of response, recovery and preventive efforts after presidentially declared emergencies. Under the Stafford Act, there are two kinds of federal declarations: Emergency Declarations and Major Disaster Declarations.

1. Emergency Declarations occur any time the president determines federal assistance is needed to supplement State and local efforts to save lives, protect public health, safety, and property, and, lessen the threat of a catastrophe.  Financial assistance from emergency declarations is designed for smaller emergencies and capped at $5 million.

2. Major Disaster Declarations occur when the federal government determines that damage from a natural event, fire, flood, or explosion has exhausted recovery resources of State and local government authorities. Major Disaster Declaration programs include Public Assistance and Individual Assistance.

Public Assistance is aid to help government agencies respond to and recover from emergencies. It can fund both the cost of emergency protective measures taken to respond to an event, plus the uninsured costs of repair, restoration, reconstruction, or replacement of public property damaged by the disaster. When there is a declaration, State and local governments, Native American tribes and certain private not-for-profits may be eligible for public assistance.
Visit FEMA's website for more information

When the President declares a disaster and authorizes providing Individual Assistance, FEMA's Individuals and Households Program (IHP) can help homeowners and renters affected by the disaster with uninsured housing needs and necessary expenses not covered by insurance. For more information, visit: http://www.fema.gov/media/fact_sheets/individual-assistance.shtm or http://www.disasterassistance.gov/daip_en.portal.

When the President declares a major disaster for individual assistance, SBA’s assistance programs are automatically activated. Loans are the primary form of federal assistance for the repair and rebuilding of disaster losses not covered by insurance.SBA does not provide disaster grants. For more resources, visit:

• SBA website for Disaster Assistance
  • SBA disaster loan fact sheets
• The Small Business Administration Disaster Assistance Customer Service Center
  • Phone: (800) 659-2955, TTY: (800) 877-8339
  • E-mail: disastercustomerservice@sba.gov
  
  

New Yorkers often support relief efforts in the wake of international disasters. The City urges New Yorkers who want to help international victims of disasters to make monetary donations to established charities, which will distribute donations to appropriate relief agencies. The following websites offer excellent information about making donations to such organizations:

American Council for Voluntary International
UN Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Recovery from a traumatic disaster can require emotional and financial assistance. Be sure to identify your psychological needs, and those of others, as you rebuild other aspects of your life. In some cases, you may need to speak with mental health professionals in order to begin more obvious, structural restoration.