From 9/11 to One-to-One: FEMA's Disaster Assistance Service Center

Ginny Duffy watched from the window of her 26th floor Battery Park City apartment as the World Trade Center exploded. Horrified, she grabbed her cat, ran out of her building, and didn't stop until she was 20 blocks uptown.

When, for safety reasons, Duffy was unable to get back into her apartment, she was relieved to be able to get personal attention from FEMA's Disaster Assistance Service Center (DASC) in downtown Manhattan.

"When I went to the center a couple of weeks later, I was still so rattled and dazed that I could barely remember my address," says Duffy. "But everyone at FEMA was so helpful. It put me at ease. They were all compassionate, warm and well-informed."

At the FEMA DASC, Duffy found even more than a warm smile. She learned that FEMA could help her and her husband with three months' rent until their apartment was cleaned and repaired.

Providing disaster information to survivors like Duffy is one of the main functions of a DASC. Though victims and survivors of the Sept- ember 11 disaster registered for assistance by phone, many also chose to visit one of FEMA's three DASCs to talk face-to-face with a FEMA representative or any of the myriad federal, state, local, and voluntary agencies located in the DASC.

"After a disaster, information is critical," says David Hart, FEMA's Individual Assistance Officer at the main DASC, located on Worth Street in lower Manhattan. "Our assistance programs aren't complicated, but for most people, they were new. A lot of New Yorkers had never heard of FEMA before September 11. So we encouraged people to come to the DASC to explain, person-to-person, exactly how we could help."

With the huge outpouring of voluntary support that the attack generated, there was much information to sort out. "Practically every volunteer organization under the sun came forward," says Hart. "We've never had so many under one roof before. FEMA's expertise in coordinating help to victims really came to the fore here."

Given that more than 60 different languages and dialects are spoken in New York, FEMA's downtown DASC became a city within a city. FEMA hired translators for more than 35 different languages, from Cantonese to Punjabi.

At the beginning, FEMA's resources were also used to help some of the voluntary organizations that were understaffed and unable to process such a large number of people quickly.

"There were many brave souls who traveled from other parts of the country in the first few days and weeks to volunteer," says Ben Hendrickson, who spent the first three months serving as FEMA's manager for the Worth Street DASC. "But initially, there were still a lot of people who were afraid to come, or couldn't travel yet, and some of the volunteer groups had a shortage of trained people. We were able to have FEMA employees and reservists pitch in, relaying information on specific and unique needs as well as common concerns."

Much of the assistance arose from economic hardship in the aftermath of the disaster. "Typically, FEMA deals with natural disasters where there are more-easily identified damages," says Hendrickson. "But this was different. We had people who didn't live near the disaster, but who suffered economically because they did business with clients or companies near the site. Others, such as cab drivers and street vendors, lost their customers but couldn't always provide documentation for their losses. FEMA adjusted its policies to make sure they got the help they needed."

At its height, 360 FEMA workers staffed the Worth Street DASC. Eleven months after the attack, more than 130,000 people have visited the three sites.

Though renamed the FEMA Applicant Assistance Center, the information hub is still operating at Worth Street, sometimes seeing as many as 500 people a day.

Says Hart: "We'll be here as long as it takes to help rebuild New York, one person at a time."