FEMA Announces Request For Safe-Room Stories

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Having a “Safe-Room” can save lives and prevent injuries from tornadoes and severe storms. If your family has built a safe-room and used it for shelter during the March 1, 2007, tornadoes, the Department of Homeland Security’s Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would like to hear about your experience. There may be an opportunity to use your story to encourage others to install safe-rooms. To report about safe-room use, please call FEMA at (334) 274-8819. Please note this telephone number is exclusively for reports about safe rooms. For all other FEMA-related matters, call 800-621-FEMA (3362), TTY 1-800-462-7585. Information may also be found at www.fema.gov.

FEMA manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident, initiates mitigation activities and manages the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA works closely with state and local emergency managers, law enforcement personnel, firefighters and other first responders. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.

Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, economic status or retaliation. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, you should call FEMA toll-free at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or contact your State Office of Equal rights. If suspicious of any abuse of FEMA programs, please contact the fraud hotline at 1-800-323-8603.