FEMA Starts Letter Drive for Quake Aid

To ensure that all earthquake victims have an opportunity to apply for federal aid, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has begun to send 620,000 letters with additional information and toll-free assistance numbers.

FEMA began sending the letters out Friday to encourage all quake victims to submit completed aid requests by the Oct. 17 deadline.

FEMA officials had originally planned to send the letters out by the end of August, but because of delays in working out the details of the letters, they were not ready to send until Friday, spokesman Russ Edmonston said.

The letters come a month after federal officials released the results of a survey that showed many quake victims did not complete their loan applications because they did not understand the Small Business Administration’s procedures and needed more information.

The letters will be sent to every person who registered for aid with FEMA. But not everybody will get the same letter. One version of the letter specifically addresses aid to business owners, while another version offers assistance to single-family homeowners.

So far, FEMA has approved more than $1 billion in temporary shelter funding and another $909 million to rebuild buildings, roads and other public facilities. For its part, the SBA has approved more than $3 billion in quake recovery loans.