FEMA And State Partners Hold Grand Opening--Celebrating The New Joint Baton Rouge Disaster Recovery Facility
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's Louisiana Recovery Office and the Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness opened a new joint Disaster Recovery Facility yesterday in Baton Rouge at 1500 Main Street with a celebration that included Louisiana congressional and local officials.
In his opening address to fellow recovery partners, FEMA Region 6 Administrator Tony Russell said, "This office will foster a working environment that best enables us and our state partners to continue working side-by-side with the shared goal of Louisiana's full recovery in mind. It represents our commitment to Louisiana and her residents."
GOHSEP Director Mark Cooper added, "Our staff is very proud of their new work environment, and we appreciate FEMA's continued commitment to Louisiana and their willingness to fully support the recovery of our coastal communities."
Russell also commented that the agency's commitment to helping this state recover from hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike include, at the current time, 478 dedicated FEMA staff and an additional 235 federal contractors working this effort "on the ground" in Louisiana.
In addition to its main purpose of enabling further recovery work, the new facility will also serve as FEMA's main disaster response center for future storms that may threaten the state. Specifically, Russell mentioned that the Disaster Recovery Facility's proximity to the governor's office, and close, but safe distance from the coast, will best facilitate valuable and timely response efforts.
If a future storm threat arises, FEMA plans for federal response workers to quickly co-locate to the new Baton Rouge facility and seamlessly integrate with state partners, working together to best respond to the potential disaster at hand.
"While we all focus on the recovery at hand, we keep in mind that the next hurricane season is only a few months away," said Russell. "This facility will support both of these important missions - rebuilding and protecting Louisiana."
To date, FEMA has provided approximately $18.6 billion in individual, public and hazard mitigation assistance to support recovery efforts related to hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike throughout Louisiana.
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.