Recovery is defined as the actions taken to return the community to normal following a disaster. Repairing, replacing, or rebuilding property are examples of recovery.
The aim of the recovery phase is to restore the affected area to its previous state. It differs from the response phase in its focus; recovery efforts are concerned with issues and decisions that must be made after immediate needs are addressed. Recovery efforts are primarily concerned with actions that involve rebuilding destroyed property, re-employment, and the repair of other essential infrastructure. Efforts should be made to “build back better," trying to reduce the pre-disaster risks inherent in the community and infrastructure.
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Public Law 93-288, as amended (the Stafford Act) was enacted to support state and local governments and their citizens when disasters overwhelm them. The disaster process and disaster aid programs explains the disaster declaration process and provides an overview of available assistance.
There are individual assistance programs that assist people and businesses following a disaster and may help your employees get back on their feet. Public Assistance Programs provides supplemental state and federal disaster grant assistance to help state and local governments and certain private non-profit organizations rebuild.
As many people working in special districts know, relief programs designed to help state and local government are often not available to special districts. One example is during the current COVID crisis, where federal assistance dollars are provided only to cities and counties. (The California Special District Association is working with Senator Garamendi to get this remedied as of the date of this writing.)
Next steps
Now that you’ve made it to the last post in the series, get to work creating your risk assessment, disaster response and recovery plans! If you missed any of the other posts, you can find them here:
Phase 1: Mitigation | Phase 2: Preparedness | Phase 3: Response | Phase 4: Recovery
As usual, we’re here for you! If you have any additional questions we might answer,
give us a shout.
