San Juan, Puerto Rico — Survivors from Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico are offered several, quicker alternatives to initiate their recovery process when applying for FEMA disaster assistance, than the regular FEMA registration phoneline. These options include downloading the FEMA application, visiting www.disasterassistance.gov or the nearest joint Disaster Recovery Center (DRC).
The current high volume of calls to the FEMA registration phone line have considerably increased the wait time for survivors. Likewise, repetitive calls from survivors to verify their application status is delaying the initial application process for others also affected by the storm.
“We understand how frustrated survivors may be right now because they want to ensure they get registered for assistance with FEMA. However, when applying through the webpage or the FEMA Application, survivors not only avoid long waiting hours, or having to drive to certain location, they get fast access to their application if they want to check its status,” said Federal Coordinating Officer Nancy Casper. “We can assure that FEMA continues working on expanding the capacity of the call centers, establishing DRCs, and conducting outreach directly to communities with our disaster survivor assistance teams.”
Survivors may register for assistance with FEMA through their smart phone, home computer or by phone. The fastest ways to apply for assistance right now, are:
- Online at DisasterAssistance.gov
- Download FEMA’s mobile app. Select Disaster Resources and click on Apply for Assistance Online
- Visiting the nearest DRC, which may be located using the following link: Fema.gov/drc
Survivors that would rather apply by phone may call 1-800-621-3362. Press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish and 3 for all other languages. People who use a relay service such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, provide FEMA the number for that service. Operators are available from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week.