Long Term Recovery

Even as many communities that flooded later are still in relief work, trying to stabilize coverage of basic needs, some are beginning to look at the long term recovery, which will likely be as long as 2 years in some areas.

For those churches and communities an important first task will be to gather local leaders from faith communities, civic organizations, and public officials to commit to working together for the long haul. Given notice, FEMA will provide someone to be there also. Same for me, as well as, before or after such a meeting. With that commitment, first tasks

1. Make every effort to have everyone register with FEMA and Red Cross.
   
2. Once FEMA registered, education on need to fill out SBA Loan application that is received in mail (additional grants or loans from FEMA only available after this form has been filled out
   
3. Initial assessment of needs and followup on those needs (cleanup, temp housing, etc.)
4. Rapid pulling together of key community partners and getting the LTR Committee/Organization in place

I'll be traveling around as best I can to share more information on this with you all, but please contact me if you have questions. Early next week we'll have down-loadable LTR manual and sample. Jason Brock, DisasterReponse@tnumc.com, 615-695-2765.