User Experience Enhancements: Improvements to Mobile Features and Access to Outreach Materials

As part of our continuing efforts to improve the user experience and respond to site visitor feedback, the Disaster Assistance Improvement Program (DAIP) recently implemented enhancements including a mobile version of the pre-screening questionnaire and a “Forms and Materials” page to provide disaster survivors with fact sheets and other printable information regarding disaster assistance.

Following a disaster, electricity and computers may not be available in many affected areas. Mobile devices are often the only means of communication or information access immediately following a disaster. With this in mind, DAIP developed an optimized version of the pre-screening questionnaire to make it easier for users with mobile devices such as the iPhone and Android to find and apply for forms of assistance (FOAs) they may be eligible to receive. Disaster survivors can not only take the pre-screening questionnaire to find FOAs for which they may be eligible, but also apply online for certain FOAs through the FEMA Disaster Assistance Center (DAC) and email the FOA results page for future reference. Users will be able to access the pre-screening questionnaire from a mobile device through the DAC landing page, which provides the user the option to access the optimized version of questionnaire or the full site.

A record number of disaster survivors, primarily from Hurricane Isaac, used www.DisasterAssistance.gov to apply for assistance, update their information and check the status of their application online. Read more about Hurricane Isaac survivors going mobile for assistance on the FEMA blog.

Another enhancement to the site is the addition of a “Forms and Materials” page. On this page, disaster survivors may download forms and access information about DAIP and the disaster assistance registration process. Informational materials specifically targeted to tribes, emergency managers, volunteers, students and disaster survivors are available—in downloadable PDF format. Disaster survivors may also download a “Disaster Assistance Registration Check List” to help them register with FEMA for disaster assistance, as well as the “Declaration and Release” form, which is critical to completing the disaster assistance registration process. Additionally, DAIP’s “Youth Materials” provide activities such as a crossword puzzle and word scramble to help students in elementary, middle and high school learn more about disaster assistance. Six youth preparedness programs in schools around the country include these activities in their curriculum to help students and families better prepare for, and respond to, disasters in their communities. DAIP will add the most up-to-date informational materials to the “Forms and Materials” page as necessary.