President Biden has announced a $770 one-time payment for California fire victims.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that United States President, Joe Biden, has announced a federal aid of $770 one-time payment to California wildfire victims as the Los Angeles County battles one of the worst sets of fires in state history.
Biden, whose tenure in the White House is drawing to a close, made the announcement on Monday.
According to Hollywoodunclocked, the wildfire, which had claimed 29 lives, is a growing concern among Americans.
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However, Biden, in a meeting, vowed to offer a one-time payment of $770 to the victims of the deadly Los Angeles County fires and that the government would be covering 100% of the disaster response costs for the next six months.
He said, “I want to be clear: we are not waiting until the fires are over to help victims. We are helping them all right now. People impacted by these fires are going to receive a one-time payment of $770. So they can quickly purchase things like water, baby formula, and prescriptions. So far, nearly 6,000 survivors have registered to do just that, and $5.1 million has gone out.”
For those who the Los Angeles County fires have impacted, President Joe Biden said victims can visit DisasterAssistance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362. As mentioned, the federal government will be covering all fire-related and firefighting costs for the next 180 days.
Nearly $5.1 million in immediate aid has already been distributed, with victims of the wildfires in Los Angeles being given a one-time payment of $770.
Additionally, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has reported that about 33,000 residents have already registered for disaster assistance.
In a briefing with Vice President Kamala Harris and emergency officials, Biden stressed, “It’s going to cost tens of billions of dollars to get Los Angeles to what it was. We are going to need Congress to step up with the funding.”
According to AccuWeather, the total damage and economic loss from the fires is now estimated to be between $250 billion and $275 billion.
AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter claims the preliminary estimate has surpassed the total damage and loss accrued during the 2020 wildfire season.
The damage and economic loss has also surpassed Hurricane Helene in 2024, which cost between $225 billion to $250 billion, and has surpassed the deadly Maui, Hawaii fires in 2023, which cost an estimated $13 billion to $16 billion.
