FEMA now requires disaster victims to have an email address

This story was originally published by WIRED and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will now require disaster survivors to register for federal aid using an email address — a departure from previous policy where email addresses were optional. The move, FEMA employees tell Wired, puts people across the U.S. with little to no access to internet services at risk of losing out on crucial federal financial assistance after disasters.

In an internal operational update document seen by WIRED, the agency states that the new requirements are “an important step to prepare for the transition to digital payment methods and enhance communication with survivors throughout the application process.” The changes, the document states