GUAYNABO, Puerto Rico – Grants awarded by FEMA’s Public Assistance program to help the government and municipalities of Puerto Rico recover from hurricanes Irma and María now total over $2 billion.
Recent grant obligations by the program include:
- More than $388 million to the Puerto Rico Department of Housing for emergency protective measures
- Grants were awarded to six municipalities for debris removal:
- More than $8 million to the Municipality of Toa Alta
- More than $2.8 million to the Municipality of Guaynabo
- More than $2.7 million to the Municipality of Mayagüez
- More than $2.4 million to the Municipality of Barranquitas
- More than $2.2 million to the Municipality of Corozal
- More than $1.7 million to the Municipality of Maricao
- More than $3.1 million was awarded to the Puerto Rico Public Housing Administration for congregate sheltering.
- More than $1.4 million was awarded to the Metropolitan Bus Authority for emergency protective measures.
Emergency protective measures are actions taken to eliminate or lessen immediate threats to lives, public health or safety, or to reduce significant additional damage to public or private property in a cost-effective manner. Approved funding may include overtime pay for essential personnel carrying out these activities and short-term costs directly related to specific emergency health and safety tasks.
FEMA’s Public Assistance program provides grants to eligible government organizations and certain private non-profit organizations for debris removal, life-saving emergency protective measures and the repair, replacement, or restoration of disaster-damaged facilities. The program also encourages protection of these damaged facilities by providing assistance for hazard mitigation measures during the recovery process. The program is funded by FEMA and administered by the government of Puerto Rico.
For more information on Hurricane María recovery, visit fema.gov/disaster/4339.
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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-FEMA (3362) 711/VRS - Video Relay Service). Multilingual operators are available. (Press 2 for Spanish). TTY call 800-462-7585.
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