document: title: privacy & terms of use
text: Privacy & Terms of Use

Thank you for visiting DisasterAssistance.gov and reviewing our privacy and terms of use statement. We are strongly committed to maintaining the privacy of your personal information. With respect to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information, we make every effort to ensure compliance with applicable Federal law. The personally identifiable information (PII) you provide on our website will be used only for the purpose for which you provided it. We will protect your information consistent with the principles of the Privacy Act of 1974, the E-Government Act of 2002 and the Federal Records Act.

  * Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

PII includes information that is personal in nature and which may be used to identify you. You are not required to provide PII to visit the website or to use the anonymous prescreening questionnaire. If you complete an online registration, you will be asked to supply PII that will be used for the primary purpose of determining eligibility under a presidentially-declared disaster. For further information, please reference the privacy compliance documentation below:

DHS/FEMA-008 - Disaster Recovery Assistance Files System of Records (September 24, 2009 74 FR 48763)  
DHS/FEMA/PIA-012 - Disaster Assistance Improvement Plan (DAIP) (September 6, 2012)

Additionally, information may be reviewed internally within FEMA for quality control purposes. For further information, please reference the privacy compliance documentation below:

DHS/FEMA/PIA-015 - Quality Assurance Recording System (QARS) (November 10, 2010)  
DHS/FEMA-002 – Quality Assurance Recording System (February 15, 2011 76 FR 8758)

You may provide PII to us when you send us an email message or request for information, however, we will never ask for PII over email. We only share the PII you give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency, and only with your permission, or as otherwise required by law. We never collect information for marketing purposes.

  * Regulatory Compliance – Paperwork Reduction Act Notice (Public Law 104-13)

Public reporting burden for this data collection is estimated to average 18 minutes per response for a registration and an average of 2.5 minutes per pre-screening questionnaire. The burden estimate includes the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and submitting this form. This collection of information is required to obtain or retain benefits. You are not required to respond to this collection of information unless a valid OMB control number is displayed on the form. Send comments regarding the accuracy of the burden estimate for the registration and any suggestions for reducing the burden to:

Information Collections Management, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency  
1800 South Bell Street, Arlington, VA 20598-3005  
Paperwork Reduction Project (1660-0002)

NOTE: Do not send your completed registration form to this address. Comments regarding the accuracy of the burden estimate for the pre-screening questionnaire may be sent to: 

U.S. Department of Labor, Benefits.gov / GovLoans.gov Office  
FPB, Room N-4309  
Washington, DC 20210

  * Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires all Federal agencies to make electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. We are constantly pursuing compliance with Section 508 specifications as set forth by the Federal government. E-Gov websites, such as DisasterAssistance.gov, are subject to regulations requiring self-enforcement of Section 508 compliance.

When a Web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be required on the client system to interpret page content, the page must provide a link to the plug-in or applet a user needs in order to view that content. Links to applets, plug-ins or other applications are listed below:

  * Interaction with Children Online

FEMA is committed to the protection of children’s online privacy on its DisasterAssistance.gov website. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) governs information gathered online from or about children under the age of 13. Verifiable consent from a child’s parent or guardian is required before collecting, using or disclosing personal information from a child under age 13. The DisasterAssistance.gov website does not intend to collect information from children under 13 years old.

  * On a limited number of our web pages, we employ cookies to provide better service to our customers. Cookies are small pieces of temporary data that are exchanged between a website and a user's computer which enable a session, or dialog, to be established between the two machines. With the session established, we are able to tailor responses (i.e., identify and provide you with the information you want) and help you traverse our web pages in the most efficient and effective manner possible. The session ends when we do not receive further requests from your computer or you simply exit your browser.

We limit our use of cookies to session cookies, types of cookies that are temporarily stored in your computer's memory. DisasterAssistance.gov does not issue persistent cookies, which are cookies that could be stored permanently on your workstation and reused each time you visit the DisasterAssistance.gov website. We do not use cookies to collect any PII from users or to track user activities beyond our website.

  * The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has enabled Google Analytics on DisasterAssistance.gov. Google Analytics is a tool that helps the program gather feedback using non-identifiable aggregated data such as number of unique visitors to a page and the navigation the visitor took to get to a specific piece of content. We will use this data to make modifications to improve the user experience and monitor the traffic on the website.

In order to use this tool, Google sets a session cookie on your machine or device. While this cookie is set automatically, you may choose not to have the cookie placed on your machine or device without any modifications to the appearance or functionality of the website. To opt out of having the cookie installed on your machine or device, you may need to adjust your internet browser’s cookie settings. If you use multiple browsers on your machine or device, you will need to complete this process for each browser used. You may also delete the cookie at any time through the options tab on your browser. Please visit USA.gov for instructions for common browsers.

The cookie monitors your navigation through the website and records, including:

What content was viewed

How you arrived at the specific content

Your ISP provider including the ISP provider’s geographic information

The time spent viewing a specific piece of content

The time spent on the entire website

The path taken to access the website

The connection speed of the session

Google Analytics does not tell the program who you are or allow the program to determine your identity nor does the cookie monitor or record your web usage after you leave DisasterAssistance.gov. The data is automatically sent from the cookie on your machine or device to Google’s system which immediately aggregates the data. Google will never have access to the specifics of your particular session including PII provided on the application. What the program will see is the aggregate data from all users for a particular time period. The program is gathering this information for internal purposes and has chosen to not share the aggregate data with Google. We may use the aggregated data to share with our partners and contractors to help improve the user experience. The program will retain the aggregated data as long as required per our records retention policy. For more information about the Department’s use of Google Analytics, please see: DHS/ALL/PIA-033 - Google Analytics (June 9, 2011).

  * AddThis is a URL-based social bookmarking tool that allows users to share links of DisasterAssistance.gov on various social media sites. While DisasterAssistance.gov’s implementation of AddThis does not use cookies, AddThis does collect non-personally identifiable information about browser type, operating system and selected social media platform, which is provided as aggregate data to DisasterAssistance.gov. AddThis does not store any personal information about you, such as your social media account log in information. For more information, please see the AddThis privacy policy. Please also note that use of AddThis will navigate you away from DisasterAssistance.gov. Once you leave DisasterAssistance.gov, the privacy policy of the destination website will apply. FEMA’s use of AddThis is covered under the following PIA: DHS/ALL/PIA-031 - Use of Social Networking Interactions and Applications Communications/Outreach/Public Dialogue.

  * DisasterAssistance.gov uses online surveys to collect opinions and feedback from a random sample of visitors. This survey does not collect PII. Participation in the survey is voluntary. If you decline the survey, you will still have access to the identical information and resources on the website as those who take the survey. Answers to the survey help us improve this website to make it easier to use and more responsive to the needs of our visitors.

DisasterAssistance.gov conducts analyses and reports on the aggregated data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The reports are only available to website managers, members of their communications and web teams, and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties.

  * Our website contains links to private organizations, and some commercial entities. These websites are not within our control and may not follow the same privacy, security or accessibility polices. Once you link to another site, you are subject to the policies of that site. All Federal websites, however, are subject to the same Federal policy, security and accessibility mandates.

  * The contact information referenced on this website should not be used to contact FEMA during an emergency. If you are in need of emergency assistance, please contact 9-1-1. If you need to register for FEMA assistance, please return to the homepage and click on “Apply for Assistance.” 

For more information, please contact FEMA-Privacy@fema.dhs.gov.