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Disaster Assistance

Preparing for Emergencies

Before and during an emergency, New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM) works with other city agencies to provide language assistance to clients regardless of their immigration status.

Notify NYC

During emergencies, the City of New York communicates urgent information to city residents. Sign up for Notify NYC to receive e-mails, text messages, tweets, and/or phone calls and is available in 13 languages. Notify NYC staff are available for assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Assistance

"Ready New York" provides resources in many languages.

  • Ready New York is NYC Emergency Management's public education campaign, where you can learn about the hazards you may face in New York City and prepare for all types of emergencies by writing an emergency plan, choosing a meeting place, gathering supplies for your home, and preparing a Go Bag in case you need to leave your home in a hurry.
  • "Ready for New York" Guides show New York City residents how to prepare for 12 different emergencies, including how to create an emergency plan and how to prepare for storms. Resources are available in several languages.
  • NYCEM presentations teach emergency planning in your workplace, school, community center or house of worship. Presentations are available for English Language Learners.

Download NYCEM guides and request presentations

Reception Centers

During emergencies, help is available at local assistance/reception centers. On-site language assistance is provided through interpretation and translated informational material.

Recovery Relief

Following a disaster, recovery resources are available for New Yorkers, businesses, and community organizations.

NYC Recovery provides information about:

  • Housing Recovery
  • Business Resiliency
  • Disaster Recovery Funding

For more information, visit the NYC Recovery website.

To cope with stress related to disasters, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene helps New Yorkers with healthy tips and a 24-hour phone hotline in multiple languages.