Recovery

Recovery refers to actions taken to return a community to normal or near-normal conditions, including the restoration of basic services and the repair of physical, social and economic damages.  Typical recovery actions include debris cleanup, financial assistance to individuals and governments, rebuilding of roads and bridges and key facilities, and sustained mass care for displaced human and animal populations.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assists communities with two types of recovery if a certain level of damages are assessed. 

1. Public Assistance (PA) refers to assistance to State and local governments or tribes to repair damages experienced to public infrastructure.  In the Haines Borough, recovery for public infrastructure is the responsibility of the Haines Borough who may receive assistance from the State of Alaska, FEMA, or both, depending upon the threshold of damages infrastructure has sustained. 

2. Individual Assistance (IA) refers to assistance to residents of a community to damage sustained as the result of a event.  As in Public Assistance, depending upon the amount of damages an individual incurred, they may receive State of Alaska, FEMA, or both types of assistance.  The assisting agencies deal directly with the resident, if it meets a specific threshold. 

After a disaster, declarations for assistance may be for just Public Assistance, just Individual Assistance, or a variation of both.  Every community is responsible for their own recovery, regardless if any other recovery assistance is awarded.