Baton Rouge, La., — APTIM—a global provider of integrated services to the government, commercial and industrial, and energy markets—has supplied and managed temporary shelter for more than 15,500 Hurricane Ida survivors since October 2021. APTIM’s six-step temporary sheltering program, originally developed for the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), is a first-of-its-kind approach for quickly bringing survivors back into their impacted community following a disaster.
“Our goal continues to be to expedite disaster recovery by returning survivors quickly to a safe, habitable shelter placed on their own property, a loved one’s property, or local APTIM-managed group sites,” said APTIM Program Director John Mitchell, CHMM. “With its proven success, we are eager to provide the temporary sheltering program to other communities in advance of disasters, so that they may be prepared to implement this more resilient solution.”
APTIM’s Disaster Response and Recovery team developed this innovative temporary sheltering program’s process and procedures for the Louisiana Hurricane Ida Non-congregate Sheltering (NCS) Program. GOHSEP selected APTIM in September 2021 to develop and manage the NCS program. Since its inception, this program has been providing sheltering units (in this case, travel trailers) for survivors, oversight and management of the units, and assistance in the transition to recovery housing solutions.
The first Hurricane Ida survivor families received their unit within one week of the NCS program being announced. During peak need, unit deployments regularly exceeded 130 per day. As of June 21, the program has approximately: deployed 5,600 units; sheltered 15,500 survivors; registered 18,000 survivors; performed 19,000 site inspections; and managed 28,000 maintenance calls.
“These numbers are a testament to the dedication of our APTIM team to bring survivors home. In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, our people—many of whom were personally impacted by the storm’s devastation—prioritized applying their expertise to developing a program that offered immediate and quality sheltering for those most affected,” said APTIM Disaster Response & Recovery Manager Amy Courville. “The temporary sheltering program is a pride point for APTIM, not only because of its ingenuity and success, but because of the difference we were able to make in the lives of survivors.”
An award-winning industry leader, APTIM provides comprehensive, cost-effective emergency management and disaster services to public and private-sector clients. With more than 40 years of experience, APTIM has the technology, innovation, and in-house expertise needed to assist in preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation from all hazards. The APTIM team stands ready before, during, and after any disaster to help clients protect the health and safety of their employees and residents, as well as private and public property.
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