The City of Quinhagak will not receive disaster relief funds from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Quinhagak City Administrator Michelle Matthew says NOAA denied the request because the community is not facing a natural resource disaster.
“Meaning there was plenty of fish, so they couldn’t agree to it - the declaration,” Matthew said.
Representative Bob Herron had applied for a disaster declaration on behalf of the village after CVRF, the Coastal Villages Region Fund, unexpectedly did not open its Kuskokwim area processing plant this summer, putting many people out of seasonal work.
Matthew says the city is searching for other emergency funding sources.
Correction: The location of the shut-down processing plant has been corrected.