FEMA Disaster Assistance Documentation Guide

If you've experienced property loss from a declared disaster, documenting what you lost is one of the most important steps in applying for FEMA disaster assistance. Applications move faster and more smoothly when your documentation is thorough — quantity, condition, replacement cost, and photos where you can get them.

This guide covers what to document, and gives you a free way to organize it quickly, even under difficult circumstances.

What to document for each item

• Item description and quantity
• Purchase date, if known
• Estimated replacement cost and current value
• Whether you have a receipt
• A photo, if the item or its remains are still accessible

Document by room, and don't skip the obvious items

It's easy to focus on big-ticket items and forget the smaller, everyday things that add up — kitchenware, clothing, tools. Working through your home room by room, the same way you'd have walked through it before the disaster, tends to produce a far more complete list than trying to remember everything at once.

Build it online, free, aligned with FEMA guidance

Contents Proof lets you build this documentation quickly — room by room, with a photo attached to anything you can still photograph — then export a PDF formatted to align with FEMA's personal property and proof-of-loss documentation guidance, including quantity, replacement cost, and a receipt indicator per item.

Contents Proof is a self-prepared documentation aid based on publicly available FEMA guidance. It is not an official FEMA form and does not guarantee eligibility for, or the amount of, any assistance.