Reporting Damages to Primary Residences and Businesses
The Process
The affected public must report disaster damage to their local city/county emergency management agency, which in turn documents the information on specified forms and sends it to the state Emergency Management Division (EMD) for analysis. This process is called the “Initial Damage Assessment.”
In addition to a list of damaged properties, affected local jurisdictions are also required to submit a supplemental justification (PDF) when reporting damages during the initial damage assessment process. At the very latest, it must be submitted at the time of the Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA).
The supplemental justification is a very detailed document that will require input from many different local government departments. Essentially, the Supplemental Justification paints a verbal picture of the local jurisdiction, before, during, and after the event. More than the number of homes sustaining major damage or destroyed, this document will paint a verbal picture of the damage and the community’s ability, or lack thereof, to recover without federal assistance.
As much as possible, the Supplemental Justification should be prepared ahead of any disaster as this can be an overwhelming requirement at the time of an event. Incomplete or inaccurate information could lead to a delay or worse - a denial of federal assistance. When the numbers of homes damaged or destroyed is low, the Supplemental Justification carries most of the weight of the request for federal assistance.
The state Emergency Management Division, in consultation with the affected local jurisdictions, may determine that the damages are significant and warrant a request for federal disaster assistance. EMD will ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and the local jurisdiction, as appropriate, to validate the reported damage.
This process is called the “Preliminary Damage Assessment” (PDA) and is nearly always a requirement to obtain federal assistance. The PDA not only validates the damage but it also assesses the need for various other forms of assistance such as crisis counseling, disaster unemployment, legal services, etc.
Several options for providing disaster assistance are available to a community affected by disaster. Determining which type of assistance the local jurisdiction is eligible for depends on reliable damage assessment information, submitting the appropriate forms, and providing that information to EMD within specified time-frame and guidelines.
Damage to primary residences is reported on EMD HS Form 1-PR. Physical damage to businesses is reported on HS Form 2-BU. Download the NEW 2011 HS forms 1-PR and 2-BU (MS Excel), with instructions. Please read the directions before completing any portion of the HS Forms 1-PR and 2-BU. (Attention MS Office 2007 users: Save the Excel doc as a Excel 97-2003 Workbook (*.xls) NOT as a *.xlsx file.) Use the Economic Injury Worksheet (PDF) to report economic injury losses suffered by the business community.
One thing to keep in mind when recording and reporting damage – no matter which federal agency or voluntary organization provides the assistance, secondary homes and recreational homes are not eligible for disaster assistance of any kind. Detached garages and storage buildings do not count either. So, when you are submitting damage reports, please know that these will not be counted in determining eligibility for disaster assistance.
Orchards and crops should be reported to the local farm service representative and subsequently to the State Farm Service Agency and the state Department of Agriculture.
See Types of Assistance - Criteria and Document Requirements