DISASTER RESPONSE AND PREPAREDNESS
The American Bar Association seeks to help the surviviors of disasters, such as hurricane Katrina, and to help lawyers and law firms, bar associations, courts and community organizations prepare for the other disasters that happen every year.
Read a message from ABA President Carolyn B. Lamm.
Read a message from the ABA Special Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness
News and Information
H1N1 (Swine) Flu
Learn how to prepare for and mitigate the effects of H1N1 flu at flu.gov
Find on line legal resources from the ABA Health Law Section and the Centers for Law and the Public Health
Pandemics: Preparing Businesses for a Global Outbreak (D. Benson & A Paterra, South Carolina Lawyer, July 2009)
Will Swine Flu Merit Quarantines? (ABA Journal 2009)
FAQs about Federal Public Health Emergency Law (CDC September 2009)
Missouri and Kentucky are the latest states to open ABA disaster legal services hotlines. For more information go to Legal Assistance and Hotlines
Children, Law, and Disasters: What We Learned from Katrina and the Hurricanes of 2005. New publication from the ABA Center on Children and the Law.
The ABA House of Delegates, at the August 2009 annual meeting, adopted a recommendation urging federal, state and local governments to provide additional funding for legal services, bar associations, and pro bono programs to help address the unmet civil legal needs of disaster survivors.
Click here for the full recommendation and report.
Are you Ready?
Personal, family and business disaster planning should be everyone’s number one priority. Among the more comprehensive online resources are
Humane Society (pets)
Current YLD Hotlines & FEMA Information
Georgia Severe Storms and Flooding
Hotline: 866-584-8027
Kentucky Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, and Flooding
Hotline: 877-424-4388
Missouri Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding
Hotline: 800-829-4128
Minnesota Severe Storms and Flooding
Hotline: 800-450-8585 (Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota)
Post Disaster Resources and Assistance
While the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the best known, many public and private entities provide post disaster assistance. Click here for a partial listing.
Do You Need Legal Help?
The ABA may help provide legal assistance – from consultation and advice to referral to a free lawyer – to disaster surviviors who do not have adequate resources to engage a lawyer. For more information and a list of disaster legal serviceshotlines that are currently operating, go to Legal Assistance and Hotlines.
All states have mechanisms to help individuals find a lawyer, including free legal services. To find out about these services in your state go to http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/findlegalhelp/home.cfm
ABA Policies
In recent years the ABA has adopted policies related to disaster preparedness and response. Click here for a synopsis of these polices covering 2003 – 2007.
In 2009, the ABA approved numerous recommendations related to disaster insurance (pdf summary) including broader protection from property damage arising from storms. Click here for full text of the recommendations and ABA letter to FEMA Administrator.
Do You Want to Help?
For information on opportunities to volunteer to help disaster survivors or to donate to legal services providers in affected areas click here.
Disclaimer
This information is compiled and made available by the Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness of the ABA as a service to ABA members, the legal community, and the public. The information is not legal advice or legal representation, and we make no warranty or guarantee of the accuracy or reliability of information on this site or at other sites to which we link. We assume no responsibility for any information, advice, or services provided by any site to which we link. Some of the information on this site was prepared in the past, often in response to a specific disaster. As such, some information may be dated or not be applicable to other disasters.
To suggest updates/additions for this website, please send an email to the ABA Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness
