Feb. 16-18: Disaster Resistance Workshop 2011, New Orleans. Feb. 23: FEMA/GOHSEP Open House, 10 a.m.-Noon, 1500 Main St., Baton Rouge. March 3: DFIRMS for Vernon Parish go into effect. March 17: DFIRMS for Allen Parish go into effect. March 20-25: National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), Mid-Year Meeting, Alexandria, VA. Be Prepared Winter is still here; be prepared and keep these important numbers handy: GOHSEP 1-800-256-7036 National Weather Service 504-522-7330 (NO/BR) 337-477-5285 (LC) Louisiana State Police 1-800-469-4828 American Red Cross 1-866-438-4636 Cleco Corp. 1-800-622-6537 Entergy 1-800-368-3749 Outages: 1-800-968-8243 Demco 1-800-262-1160 Washington/St. Tammany Electric Co-Op 985-643-6612 Outages: 1-866-672-9773 Housing Update: Katrina/Rita: 476 occupied units Gustav/Ike: 163 occupied units January 29 to February 4, 2011 Announcements End of Katrina and Rita Housing Program The FEMA temporary housing unit (travel trailer, park model, and mobile home) program for Katrina and Rita is scheduled to close on May 1, 2011. FEMA provided more than 142,000 units to displaced residents following the 2005 storms. Since that time, 99 percent have returned to permanent housing — some utilizing assistance from voluntary and faith-based organizations, HUD housing choice vouchers, and case management. As part of FEMA’s continued commitment, two additional initiatives began in November 2010: a “team approach” involving FEMA, the State, and various representatives of public and nonprofit organizations to help find additional housing solutions for the remaining households; and FEMA replacing or relocating units in order to provide residents the option to purchase a park model for $1 and a mobile home for $5. Creating a team approach to assess the needs of these residents, community by community, is reflective of FEMA’s philosophy: “that we are one member of the emergency management team, and that we can better help those we serve by bringing to bear all of the resources of the entire team.” Public Outreach Key Component of Secondary Programmatic Agreement Louisiana residents will have access to information about historic and other property resources in the state under the recently signed Louisiana-State-Specific Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMPG) Secondary Programmatic Agreement. The agreement, signed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, calls for a public outreach initiative to give citizens useful tools to assist with recovery, now and in the future. The agreement will also allow FEMA and GOHSEP to deal more effectively with specific large-scale mitigation projects in the state through a broader “programmatic” review and compliance process rather than reviewing each project individually. The agreement can be found here. FEMA: Week in Review Louisiana Recovery Office New Orleans, LA Calendar 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.