[StBernard] damage challenge

[Westley Annis]

Hey Westley,
 
This confusion stems from a bad plan from the start.  The early "damage
Assessments" were simple estimates of how much damage the house had- no
specific structural assessment; a no entry estimate and a no cost related
estimate.  Additionally, the issue of the rating scale of 30 - 60 was
requested to be changed and the group that FEMA sent basically said that
their system did not calculate at 50%-  So the damage assessments have been
now applied to a cost related damage projection, which is obviously creating
some real confusion for people.  I think as a means to allow some
flexibility for the early mishandling of the issue the early damage ratings
are standing for the under 30 and the rest of the world is faced with doing
it right for themselves.  To me this is another example of how we have added
to the paralysis of the recovery-  How clear it would have been to say at
the start of all of this- p eople will have to procure a damage assessment
and document it in community development and then receive a gutting voucher
to allow for assistance where needed.  Anyway, before I go to far off the
issue here- A structural assessment is to assess the actual structural
integrity of the house and a damage assessment in today's terms is related
to the extent of and cost to repair the damage.  The crossover is that Mike
is accepting damage assessments from structural engineers and now that has
to be clarified to know if the structural engineer for a house previously
rated at 30 -60% just needs to indicate structural soundness or make a
statement that includes cost considerations.  I'll let you know.
Thanks for keeping up with all of our blunders.
 
Craig
 
-----Original Message-----


Craig,

I think I may be confused on the damage assessments.

In my mind there are two different types of damage assessments, general
damage and structural.  The drive-by assessments, I thought, were more of
structural damage.

I know FEMA doesn't care what of damage it is, but the parish should care if
is structural damage or not.

Westley