FEMA releases personal information

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Thousands of disaster applicants to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency have been affected by a court ruling on the release of personal information.

A federal court directed FEMA to release the addresses of disaster-damaged dwellings to certain media organizations for 95,840 applicants for federal disaster assistance in California and 156,236 North Carolina applicants.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Pensacola News-Journal and the News-Press used a Freedom of Information Act request for the names and addresses of applicants who received disaster assistance and flood insurance payments in 31 presidentially declared disasters that occurred from 1998 to 2004.

FEMA is attempting to contact California residents who applied for assistance following the 2003 fires in Los Angeles and four other counties, and in connection with the 1998 storms and flooding that affected 41 counties in California. Also, FEMA is trying to make contact with North Carolina residents who applied for assistance after hurricanes Floyd, Isabel, Ivan, Bonnie and Tropical Storm Frances in the state.

Initially, FEMA refused to produce the names and addresses, but through an appeal, the court determined that the public interest in FEMA’s disbursement of disaster aid in those circumstances outweighed the privacy interest of the individuals who received disaster assistance and flood insurance payments.