LEWISTON – More than $111,000 in federal Department of Homeland Security money is headed to local programs to protect people if a catastrophe ever strikes.

Nearly $50,000 will go to a regional resource center at Central Maine Medical Center for emergency shelter planning, supplies and training. Another $48,000 will train police from Lewiston, Lisbon, Auburn and the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department who make up the county’s hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction emergency response team.

Without the money, the county team might not have survived, said Joanne Potvin, director of the Androscoggin Unified Emergency Management Agency.

The team must constantly train to remain certified to use breathing equipment or machines needed at a chemical spill or similar disaster.

“Every year we apply for a grant and we hope to get money to continue the work,” Potvin said.

In all, more than $2 million was distributed across Maine. Androscoggin County received more than double the $49,000 it requested.

Lewiston, Auburn, Durham, Poland and Potvin’s department were all promised money in the grant. In Potvin’s office, the money will be used to replace an aging computer.

The county emergency management agency helped the towns prepare the grant applications and verify the towns’ compliance with the National Incident Management System, an arm of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.