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DUA to end in Feb.; over $138K disbursed
The Disaster Unemployment Assistance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency being administered by the CNMI Department of Labor will be closing soon.
According to Labor Secretary Edith DeLeon Guerrero, the program will end in February.
“It’s coming up to a close. It’s only good for 27 weeks,” DeLeon Guerrero said.
The DUA, like other financial assistance from FEMA, is also under the Stafford Act and is available to U.S. citizens, non-citizen nationals, and qualified aliens who lost their jobs and self-employed individuals who have been unable to work due to damage sustained from Typhoon Soudelor.
It is an assistance that eligible individuals have to file for every week.
According to DeLeon Guerrero, the funds that were disbursed so far amount to $138,315.
A total of 67 individuals have qualified for the assistance, nine of whom were self-employed.
She said most of the workers who were under the program have entry-level position jobs. There were also about two farmers and an aquaculture worker who were given assistance.
“Many of them already have returned to work. Some of them are self-employed individuals so they’ve already opened their doors back to operations,” DeLeon Guerrero said.
“It really helps them out in the meantime that they are looking for work,” she added.
DOL started receiving applications for DUA last September. Overall, 352 applications were received but most of them were foreign workers under the CW program, who are not eligible for financial assistance from FEMA.
