Disaster Relief and Recovery: Shifting from Disaster to Recovery

Disaster Relief and Recovery: Shifting from Disaster to Recovery K. Lee Lerner [email protected] Harvard University Originally Published April, 2013. (Updated: 2015) See endnotes for publication and citation information. After a disaster the role of the incident commanders and other decision makers, must eventually must shift from assisting coordination of emergency search, rescue, and relief operations to positioning resources and preparing personnel for integrated recovery operations. Flexibility and dexterity are essential. Based on insights gained from other major metropolitan area recovery operations (e.g., post-Hurricane Katrina and post-Hurricane Sandy efforts), decision makers must anticipate deviations from preexisting recovery plans. Novel situations--ranging from yet undiscovered infrastructure damage to unanticipated shortages--will demand dynamically developed alternatives to even the most carefully crafted plans. Coded markings indicate an abandoned home in the lower 4th ward of New Orleans' Treme neighborhood after hurricane Katrina, showing that the home was been searched (the completed "X"), who searched it (right quadrant), the search date (top quadrant), identified hazards inside (right quadrant), and victims (lower quadrant). Hurricane Katrina Search and Rescue Operations: New Orleans September 2005 LMG photo by K Lee Lerner. All rights reserved Ultimately, as Robert Olshansky and Laurie Johnson assert in their book, Clear As Mud, a study of recovery efforts in New Orleans, recovery is a process of obtaining and allocating large amounts of money and other resources effectively, efficiently, and equitably. In addition to meeting interim recovery goals, a sustainable recovery must also develop and measure itself against metrics that create positive perceptions. More than being politically prudent, positive perceptions broadly facilitate recovery efforts. Key general challenges to recovery include dealing with the complexities and cost of infrastructure restoration; continued challenges to civil stability and public health (including mental health); spurring economic restoration and revitalization; reducing political fractionalization; and attention to a myriad of legal and indemnity issues essential to recovery efforts. Infrastructure recovery is multifaceted, from debris removal to rebuilding utility and road infrastructure. Recovery will proceed through phases demanding differing emphasis. We will shift, for example, from a focus on mass temporary sheltering to long-term housing solutions. Throughout, and in accord with the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF), effective recovery plans will not simply seek to replace, but also anticipate and meet future community needs. As recovery proceeds, ongoing monitoring of civil stability, especially in the form of police and fire protection is essential. A perception of safety is key to restoring the integrity of neighborhoods, reestablishing businesses, and encouraging investment. Public health also requires both assertive practices and continued monitoring. Stressed populations are immunologically vulnerable populations, ripe for explosive outbreaks of disease, especially in temporary housing for displaced populations. Recovery efforts must also properly prioritize rebuilding of hospitals and clinics that serve a broad diversity of socioeconomic groups. Major disasters can quickly revert even the most sophisticated public health systems-especially fresh water and sanitation systems--to developing world status. According to the New York Times during the months following Hurricane Sandy, "hundreds of millions of gallons of raw and partly raw sewage from Bay Park and other crippled treatment plants" flowed into New York and New Jersey waterways. Infrastructure repair must, however, balance urgent and long-term concerns. Even the urgent elimination of sewage and repair of sewage treatment plants requires long-term vision. Many post-Hurricane Sandy sewage plant repair plans, for example, incorporate improvements to harden facilities against future flooding. Regardless, infrastructure recovery must proceed on a timescale that allows for removal of hazardous or toxic debris. Recovery planning must also offer contingencies for public health revisions that include prophylactic vaccination efforts along with plans to implement and enforce isolation and quarantine strategies to control outbreaks of contagious disease. Although mental health is often considered a third or fourth tier recovery issue, in accord with the NDRF, initial efforts should begin early with a focus on identifying individuals and populations most at risk, and then transition into developing networks to provide support. Delays in recovery or funding inevitably result in frustration and political friction. All recovery efforts ultimately pass through a political prism that can fractionate even the most expert-driven and thoughtful plans into partisan characterizations. Regardless of merit, redevelopment plans may, for example, be labeled as anti-competitive, or lacking in sufficient sensitivity to the inherent tensions between government controlled and free market based recovery schemes. As part of its toolkit for recovery, FEMA and the American Planning Association assert in their joint publication, Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction, "Creative planners employ the concept of multi-objective management," incorporating stakeholders concerned with policy objectives that range from greenbelt preservation to preserving or restoring tourism. It is important to identify businesses critical to local economic recovery, and ensure that secondary infrastructure failures do not inhibit economic revitalization. Adequate attention must also be given to development of resources such as reestablishment of Internet access, reestablishment of credit, and secure banking. Planners also need to consider options for novel redevelopment as described by a postHurricane Sandy New York Times article, "In the Bronx, Restoring a Fleeting Paradise," that essentially argues that redevelopment may need to depart from replacement and chart a novel course. New York, for example, is creating new wetlands "in hopes of spurring business along the shoreline." Decision makers must, however, anticipate that akin to the Urban Land Institute's advice for recovery in New Orleans, even plans created by outside parties with broad expertise may meld politically into fears that recovery operations are manifestations of long-feared agenda to reduce the presence or voice of segments of the community. In the extreme, recovery plans such as New Orleans' Bring New Orleans Back (BNOB) plan may be characterized as racist or a pretext to reduce the footprint of the poor. Throughout the recovery process, decision makers must consult with legal staff to identify and address legal issues to reduce exposure and maximize immunity. There are precedents. During the 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak, in coordination with the CDC, a number of U.S. states and cities implemented policies that relied on a range of planned options, from voluntary isolation agreements to quarantine detention and closure orders. There is also precedent from the H1N1 response for asking state authorities to grant civil immunity to local health officers issuing emergency orders. Legal staff may wish to use these precedents to seek for broader immunity for recovery efforts. Recovery is both a state and federal concern. Consistent and effective communication with various agencies, including Recovery Support Functions (RSFs) and the RSF national coordinator, will lessen duplication of efforts and avoid waste and coordination delays. Special efforts need to be made to ensure clear and consistent communication between the decision makers and appropriate state and federal officials. Close attention to funding sources and criteria is also critical. New Orleans recovery efforts suffered from time spent developing recovery plans that failed to meet specific state and federal funding criteria. As Olshansky and Johnson point out with regard to the post-Katrina Louisiana Speaks effort, coordinated multi-tiered recovery planning is often a "marriage of convenience" with local, state, and federal parties having different "goals, approaches, and time frames." Accordingly, early articulation of differences, clarifications of terminology, and accurate assessments of resources can mitigate disputes as recovery unfolds. Assuming implementation of Emergency Support Function #14 regarding long-term community recovery, while the ESF asserts that "long-term community recovery and recovery planning efforts will be coordinated with State/tribal/local-level stakeholders" it does not articulate the mechanisms for such integration. Accordingly, officials should be proactive in both horizontal and vertical communications. Ultimately, rejection of state and federal initiatives--and the funding they may bring--as "outside meddling" may be forestalled by efforts to publicize the participation of recovery officials and other local leaders. According to Kates, et al. in their article, Reconstruction of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: A research perspective, "conflict arises between groups or institutions and even individuals pursuing… different goals because they cannot be given equal attention in time, resources, and values." This maxim also applies to effective relations with local independent neighborhood efforts. Effective interface with neighborhood efforts, or at least tolerance of local initiatives not in absolute conflict with safety or overall recovery efforts, allows civic infrastructure to rebuild as the grassroots level. The enthusiasm and engagement embodied in the recovery of the Broadmoor community in New Orleans is exemplar. Where possible, recovery officials should encourage and facilitate the restoration or development of multi-function facilities and community meeting places such as libraries and schools that enhance community cohesion. Inattention or lack of willingness to accommodate local initiatives can lead to political friction and charges of cultural insensitivity. In a sense, integration with neighborhood efforts can be viewed as a continuation of effective volunteer management critical in rescue and early relief efforts. Recovery managers can utilize prior relationships and create credibility, positive expectations, and community enthusiasm eventually found in recovery plans such as the Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP). Recognized for his use of language, accuracy, and balanced presentation, K. Lee Lerner's portfolio covering science and global issues includes multiple RUSA Book and Media Awards, books named Outstanding Academic Titles, and two global circumnavigations. He serves as an advisor, editor, and contributor to respected international news and academic resources. Holding degrees in science (with concentrations in biology and molecular biology), education, and journalism, including a master's degree and academic honors from Harvard, Lerner is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest all-discipline academic honor society. His academic writing is enriched by classroom experience teaching college level physics, chemistry, and biology. Postgraduate programs in crisis leadership and emergency nuclear response at Harvard's Kennedy School and Harvard School of Public Health, as well as broad experience working in challenging environments, add expertise to Lerner's writing on issues related to, science, public heath, intelligence, terrorism, and disasters. Photo by K Lee Lerner ©LMG All rights reserved. This is a draft copy similar by the author published in both print and online academic media. It is representative of a portfolio of more than 200 published book chapters and academic papers written by K. Lee Lerner. Additional information is available at scholar.harvard.edu/kleelerner and/or harvard.academia.edu/kleelerner How to cite this article: Lerner, K. Lee. Disaster Relief and Recovery: Shifting from Disaster to Recovery. Harvard University. April 2013. Available online at harvard.academia.edu/kleelerner (Accessed on DATE). Permission to excerpt limited portions of this text, with appropriate author acknowledgments, is granted for academic use. Commercial use is strictly prohibited and all content is copyright restricted. All rights reserved.