Reporting Your Damages
The importance of the initial local assessment of damages cannot be over emphasized. This process is essential in determining:
- What happened and how it has affected individuals and communities
- How residential, business, and infrastructure property has been affected
- Which areas were hardest hit
- Which situations must be given response priority
- What types of assistance are needed (e.g., local, state, or federal)
Accurate and timely damage reporting is crucial to successfully requesting and receiving federal assistance in the form of either low-interest loans or grants to help Pennsylvania’s citizens, businesses, and infrastructure recover from a disaster.
Who To Report Damages To
The recovery process begins with the identification of damages at the local level and the expeditious reporting of those damages within the emergency management channels:
- Individuals and businesses report property damages to the community’s emergency management coordinator
- Elected officials report municipal property and infrastructure damages to the community’s emergency management coordinator
- Community emergency management coordinators report damages to residential, business and municipal property and infrastructure within their community to the county emergency management coordinator
County emergency management coordinators report overall damages to residential, business, and municipal property and infrastructure within their county to PEMA using the Initial Damage Reporter function of the automated Pennsylvania Emergency Information Reporting System (PEIRS).
PEMA analyzes the damage information it receives from the county/counties to determine if the event warrants requesting assistance from either FEMA or the SBA.
Commonwealth Damage Reporter
The Commonwealth Damage Reporter is an interactive web-based system that provides a systematic and accurate process of assessing damages and reporting them to federal standards and guidelines.
This system can be accessed via a web browser and on any mobile device for ease of field use. Once the damage is rapidly collected at the municipal level, county and state emergency management can quickly analyze the data to determine the scope of damage to a specific area, county, or the state.
Municipalities should contact their county emergency management coordinator for training and access to the Commonwealth Damage Reporter.
Commonwealth Damage Reporter Training Modules
P019 PA Damage Reporter Module 101 - Damage Reporting Overview
Following a disaster, a systematic and accurate process of assessing damages and reporting them according to federal standards and guidelines is extremely important to ensure that proper disaster assistance is secured. This course reviews these federal standards, introduces the damage assessment process and provides an overview of how this data is rapidly collected and summarized in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
P020 PA Damage Reporter Module 201c - Console Application
This training session focuses on how to use the Commonwealth Damage Reporter to enter and report damage data in multiple jurisdictions and roll that data up, to provide summary information at the county or Commonwealth levels using the Commonwealth Damage Reporter's Console Application.
P021 PA Damage Reporter Module 201h - Handheld Application
This training session focuses on how to use Commonwealth Damage Reporter to enter and report damage data in multiple jurisdictions and roll that data up, to provide summary information at the county or Commonwealth levels using the Commonwealth Damage Reporter's Handheld Application.
P022 PA Damage Reporter Module 301 - Quick Guide to Damage Assessment Reporting
This training session provides a review or just-in-time training for those who have previous experience in damage assessment. This course reviews these federal standards, introduces the damage assessment process and provides an overview of how this data is rapidly collected and summarized in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It also focuses on how to use the Commonwealth Damage Reporter to enter and report damage data in multiple jurisdictions and roll that data up, to provide summary information at the county or Commonwealth levels using the Commonwealth Damage Reporter's Console and Handheld Applications.
Assessment Forms
Emergency management coordinators and elected officials can use the following links to access forms and information to assess and document damages within their community or county: