Two Disaster Recovery Centers Open on St. Thomas for Hurricane Survivors

ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands — Two Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC) opened today in St. Thomas to provide information and help for survivors of hurricanes Irma and Maria. The new recovery centers are in different areas of the island for the convenience of survivors: 

1. New Hotel Company Omar Brown Fire Station, Conference Room #108, 100A Ross Taarenberg, Charlotte Amalie
2. Bordeaux Farmers Market, 109 East Bordeaux, Estate Bordeaux

Operating hours for both DRCs are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily until further notice.Recovery centers offer one-on-one support to homeowners, renters and small-business owners who are working to recover from the September hurricanes. Recovery specialists from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will be available to provide information on the types of help available, assist with filling out applications and answer questions. “With communications still a real challenge on St. Thomas, we hope survivors will use these recovery centers as a resource for help and answers – and also as a place to get accurate information,” said FEMA’s Federal Coordinating Officer William Vogel. “We encourage anyone who is not sure about federal assistance, or is hearing rumors that just don’t sound right, to stop by and visit with our folks. They can give you the facts.”  FEMA now has recovery centers open in St. Thomas and St. Croix, and will soon announce the opening of a recovery center in St. John. Survivors with connectivity may register with FEMA for assistance at DisasterAssistance.gov, or by calling 800-621-3362. Individuals who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY should call 800-462-7585 directly. Those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS) may call 800-621-3362. These toll-free telephone numbers operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. (local time) seven days a week. Operators are standing by to assist survivors in multiple languages. ### Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-3362 (voice, 711/VRS - Video Relay Service) (TTY: 800-462-7585). Multilingual operators are available (press 2 for Spanish). 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. For official information on the recovery effort following the hurricanes, please visit www.informusvi.com or www.usviupdate.com. Follow us on social media at twitter.com/femaregion2 and www.facebook.com/FEMAUSVirginIslands To donate or volunteer, contact the voluntary or charitable organization of your choice through the National Voluntary Agencies Active in Disasters (NVOAD) at www.nvoad.org.  For those who wish to help, cash donations offer voluntary agencies the most flexibility in obtaining the most-needed resources and pumps money into the local economy to help businesses recover. The Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands also has the “Fund for the Virgin Islands” at www.USVIrecovery.org.