What Happens When You Contact the Gulf Coast Claims Facility

Does anyone know what the Gulf Coast Claims Facility actually does? Are they just in charge of determining eligibility and disbursing emergency financial assistance or will they handle a claim from start to finish? The residents who have been affected by the BP oil spill need to have one person help them from start to finish. Their entire lifestyle collapsed in just a few minutes and apparently BP knew this could happen. The government had given them a number of safety violations over the years, some ten to fifteen times more than their competitors. I hope everyone gets their fair share.