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.

"Ready New York" provides resources in many languages.

• "Ready for New York" Guides show New York City residents how to prepare for 12 different emergency situations, including how to create an emergency plan and how to prepare for storms. Resources 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

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.

Assistance/Reception Centers

During emergencies, help is available at local assistance/reception centers. On-site language assistance 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.

Read the Hurricane Sandy Immigrant Outreach Initiative report for an overview of help available for New Yorkers affected by Hurricane Sandy.