A disaster recovery and development center agency opened Thursday to provide what Living Word Baptist Church Pastor Stevie Duncan said is a program designed to help people statewide prepare for disasters and recover from their effects.

“Our approach to aiding families in times of need ties into our overall plan for economic and community development,” he said. “Through the development of our network of ministries and business, we will be able to effectively activate our disaster plan in the event a disaster occurs. Our disaster plan has four basic concepts.”

They involve preparation to work with other agencies during a disaster; help individuals, families and businesses recover in the aftermath of a disaster; assist families and businesses after other assistance ends; and help disaster victims overcome physical, economic, social and mental distress from the disaster.

Located in the service department building of the old Blackburn Motors complex on South Washington Street, the nonprofit center has a statewide call center funded by a $50,000 Mississippi Disaster Relief grant, which has also paid for other equipment and supplies.

The center has also received a $1,000 Walmart Foundation grant, and has a work site agreement with the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, which has allowed the center to provide work for 28 people.

The six-month work site agreement is funded by a U.S. Department of Labor National Emergency grant to the state, which pays the salaries of the workers hired by TempStaff of Vicksburg. Duncan said the grant can be renewed for an additional six months in 2012.

The center is the second long-term disaster recovery group in Warren County. The Warren County Long-Term Recovery Group was organized after the spring flood, when Mississippi River rose to record heights, cresting at 57.1 feet at Vicksburg, 14.1 feet above flood stage and 0.9 foot above the Great Flood of 1927. The Warren County group also has a $48,000 disaster relief grant, which it has used to help people rebuild in the wake of the flood.

Duncan said Living Word participates in the group’s board meetings, adding that the disaster recovery and relief center is designed to supplement the state and federal aid to the long-term relief efforts.

“We want to be able to work with long-term disaster recovery groups across the state,” he said. “Our goal is to assist to plug into areas so we can extend what the agencies do.”