FEMA: Flood Recovery is the Business of Tennessee’s Private Sector
Monday, July 12, 2010 | 07:00pm
NASHVILLE - Tennessee's business community has risen to the occasion to help the state recover from the historic spring floods and has teamed with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its partners to promote disaster assistance to nearly half a million Tennesseans.
"Tennessee's business and entertainment community have found creative ways to help the citizens of this state," said James Bassham, Director of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA). "They demonstrate how well TEMA, federal, and private sector partnership operates with the same focus – connecting disaster survivors with disaster assistance."
FEMA's Federal Coordinating Officer Gracia Szczech agreed that The Volunteer State's private sector has offered many unique avenues to educate and encourage Tennesseans to register for federal assistance.
"This really demonstrates our message that FEMA is just one part of a successful emergency management team," she said.
World Wrestling Entertainment® (WWE®) in the Music City has provided one of the latest creative examples of reaching out to storm victims by taking time during its July 5, 2010 Nashville event to announce and display the extended registration deadline of August 5, 2010.
"More than 8,700 people attended WWE's Monday Night Raw® event at the Bridgestone Arena and they couldn't miss the announcement made during the show," said Gary Davis, WWE's Vice President, Global Public Affairs. "We're happy we could assist FEMA and TEMA in providing this public service to our fans in Tennessee."
Video of the WWE® announcement and other examples of the private sector displays can be viewed at www.facebook.com/TNDisasterInfo.
To encourage registration, FEMA's private sector group has collaborated with a wide range of other events such as the Carson & Barnes Circus, Tony Formosa Racing, and NASCAR. Companies that participated in the outreach include Gaylord Entertainment, owners of Opryland, Lamar Outdoor Advertising, Advertising Vehicles, Graffiti Indoor Advertising, The Nashville Sounds, Nashville Convention Center, and State Farm Insurance.
FEMA's private sector outreach group made regular contact with 50 chambers of commerce and over 600 businesses, universities, and associations since the April 30 to May 18, 2010 storms and flooding.
More than 65,000 Tennesseans have registered for assistance from 46 counties declared for Individual Assistance. FEMA and its federal partner, the U.S. Small Business Administration, have approved more than $260 million in disaster assistance to individuals and businesses to help their recovery.
Questions about disaster assistance applications can be answered by calling the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 (FEMA) or (TTY) 800-462-7585 for those with speech and hearing disabilities. The helpline operates seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and assistance is available in all languages.
Follow the recovery in Tennessee online at www.twitter.com/tema, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/TNDisasterInfo, www.youtube.com/fema and www.flickr.com/photos/t_e_m_a.
The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA and TEMA do not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.
FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
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