5 1/2 Months

As you know, this part of Alaska suffered a 7.1-magnitude earthquake at 0830 on Nov. 30, 2018.
A couple of weeks later, we applied for State assistance with recovery.

Recovery with what, you may ask? 49 broken or cracked sheets of drywall, partially separated door frames, a partially collapsed septic tank; little things like that.

So we applied to the State, and waited. And waited. And waited some more ... for nearly two months.

FINALLY, news began to trickle out via the grapevine: the State bailed on us. The damage was way more extensive, and expensive, than they'd estimated. They didn't have enough funds to cover it.

In the meantime, our new Governor declared an emergency and applied for Federal aid. President Trump received the application, and declared it a Federal emergency.

FEMA and the Small Business Administration (SBA) opened offices all over the place, and directed folks to either apply on-line or by visiting one of the emergency offices they'd set up.

We did that, too.

Old NFO predicted that FEMA would be of little use; he was right.

Here's how it works: you apply for FEMA assistance. While they consider the application, they both send an inspector to look over the property, and urge you to file an application to the SBA for a low-interest loan.

Then the SBA inspects the property.

You jump through a series of hoops, sign a stack of papers, promising to provide a rabbit's foot, a pint of blood, and your first-born male child as surety. (Joke's on them: we only had girls. Heh.)

Eventually, the SBA loan application was approved, and quite a large sum was approved: about double what we think we need to put everything right again. But the kicker is that if you go over $25,000, they want a Deed of Trust on your home.

So we didn't.

Bottom line is, this week we received the money for the repairs, and have already arranged for a contractor whom we've used before to do the drywall repairs, reinstall the second earthquake strap on the hot water storage tank, and repaint the downstairs family room.

We still need to get the septic tank replaced, and have the lower half of our driveway repaired or repaved. It has a series of side-to-side cracks which were hidden by the snow and ice until recently. The gas insert in the fireplace also needs to be re-centered and inspected for damage before we fire it up again.

I once again thank those of you who contributed to our repair fund when it wasn't apparent that we'd be able to get any federal assistance. We are deeply appreciative, and it means more to us than we can adequately express.