Insurance May Not Cover Everything So Stay In Touch With Fema

TRENTON, N.J. — Disaster assistance may be available for losses not covered by an insurance settlement for New Jersey survivors of Superstorm Sandy.

That is why the Federal Emergency Management Agency urges survivors who have registered for disaster assistance to call the FEMA Helpline, 800-621-3362 as soon as they receive their insurance settlement.

When the insurance check finally comes it may not cover all the losses a survivor has had, so if you applied for assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency you should let FEMA know that you have your insurance settlement.Make sure you have the registration number FEMA assigned to your application.

If you received a letter from FEMA saying you were not eligible for assistance, part of the reason may be that your insurance settlement could not be factored into your application.

If you have already filed an appeal of the original assistance decision, that appeal may be amended based on your insurance settlement.

These are just a few of the reasons it is important applicants stay in touch with FEMA.

Survivors who have registered for assistance should keep their contact information current to ensure timely delivery of important assistance updates.

Keeping one’s contact information current with FEMA will also help connect survivors with FEMA’s home inspectors. Unnecessary delays may occur if an inspector is unable to reach an applicant by phone to schedule an appointment. Applicants are also urged to keep their appointments with home inspectors in order to avoid delays.

Applicants who need to update their contact information or who have questions regarding their application can call the toll-free FEMA helpline, 800-621-3362, from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m., seven days a week. Help is available in most languages.

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.

Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema. 

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.