BATON ROUGE – The last day for individuals affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to apply for initial disaster assistance with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency is March 11, 2006.

Individuals, families and business owners affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita should not hesitate to register for disaster aid if they have not already done so.

A toll-free application telephone number is operational 24 hours a day for those who suffered injury or property damage or loss in the declared counties affected by the disasters.

FEMA has operators available to take applications for disaster assistance at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362).

Those with speech or hearing impairment may call TTY 1-800-462-7585. Non-English speakers should know registrations can be conducted in up to 173 languages.

Individuals may also register for disaster assistance online at the FEMA website www.fema.gov.

Click on &#8220Online Individual Assistance Center” and the screens will prompt you through the process.

The Internet application expires after 30 minutes as a security precaution, and information entered will be lost if applicants do not complete the process within this time period.

Log on to www.fema.gov to submit an application.

The deadline to apply for FEMA disaster assistance is March 11, 2006.