One more week to apply for South Napa earthquake disaster assistance

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced on Dec. 22 that individual and business owners in the California couties of Napa and Solano who had damages or losses as a result of the South Napa earthquake have one week left to register with the agency for disaster assistance. Officials with FEMA and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) urge anyone who still needs help to register before the Dec. 29, 2014, deadline.

FEMA will close its Napa Earthquake Local Assistance Center at 301 1st Street in Napa at 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 29. But the agency assured individuals and business owners that help will still be available in person, online or over the phone. For the next week, the local assistance center will operate on its existing schedule of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and closed Sunday. In observance of Christmas, the center will be closed Dec. 24–26.

Disaster assistance includes grants for homeowners and renters to help pay for rent, essential home repairs and other serious disaster-related needs not covered by insurance or other sources. FEMA offers three ways to register for disaster assistance: log on to DisasterAssistance.gov, screen tap m.fema.gov on a smartphone or tablet, or call 800-621-3362 or (TTY) 800-462-7585. People who use 711-Relay or VRS may call 800-621-3362.

Phone lines remain open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (PST) seven days a week until further notice. Multilingual phone operators are available in 93 languages to take registrations, answer questions about disaster assistance, or check the status of an application. Caller should choose Option 2 for Spanish and Option 3 for other languages.