To: Board of Supervisors
From: County Administrative Office
Agenda Section: Departmental
Vote Requirement: 4/5th
SUBJECT:
title
Funding for Displaced Residents Impacted by Earthquakes and Supplemental Budget (4/5 Vote Required)
end
RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Direct staff to develop an Earthquake Recovery & Assistance Program to provide aid to displaced residents impacted by the Dec. 20, 2022 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks;
2. Approve the attached supplemental budget (Attachment 1) in the amount of $1 million to be allocated to the Earthquake Assistance 2022 budget unit (3232-120-204); and
3. Provide additional direction as needed.
Body
SOURCE OF FUNDING:
Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund
DISCUSSION:
On Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Humboldt County. Since this earthquake, the county has experienced over 200 aftershocks, one of which being a 5.4 magnitude on New Year's Day. As Humboldt County continues to respond to and recover from the earthquakes, staff have had difficulty locating federal programs to provide affected and/or displaced residents with emergency sheltering, housing and other types of individual assistance related to the disaster. Therefore, this agenda item recommends your Board approve and authorize staff to create a locally funded Earthquake Recovery & Assistance Program to begin to address those gaps.
Damages
Damage assessments are ongoing in communities that experienced earthquake impacts. As of Jan. 2, more than 70 structures have been determined unsafe throughout the county due to earthquake-related damages.
Building inspectors from the County of Humboldt, local cities and fire departments, and the State of California have been deployed to assist the city of Rio Dell and surrounding communities with damage assessment.
* Since the Jan. 1 aftershock occurred, more damages have been reported, including additional red- and yellow-tagg...
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