A Workshop on the Theory of Disaster Recovery

Public Entity Risk Institute, Fairfax VA

Investigators

Abstract

This is a project to hold a 2 ½ day workshop on the Theory of Disaster Recovery. A lot of research has been done on disaster recovery, however little has been done to pull together the research results into an overall theory that could help shape and prioritize future research and to help those who can use it in communities affected by disasters. The workshop will ask the leading researchers in disaster recovery to help shape such a theory and develop a five year research plan for further disaster recovery research. Recovery is the least understood aspect of emergency management. Researchers do not fully understand the roles of all the different types of organizations and interest groups that are involved in recovery. They also do not understand how these many different groups interact with each other or if the people that are more vulnerable (old, the infirm, minorities and the poor) can be properly taken care of by the government or the community. Most local governments also do not plan for disaster recovery and there is no state or federal government policy to help frame and to coordinate the disaster recovery process. Recovery is also not understood by the practitioners that work in all three levels of government. Hurricane Katrina illustrated how dangerous it is when we fail to understand the recovery needs of a community, a region, and a state. Although Katrina struck almost five years ago many communities still struggle with the hardships of rebuilding homes, businesses, and infrastructure, as well as a sense of community. Since Hurricane Katrina many scholars have started looking at disaster recovery again so that the knowledge of how communities can recover best can be improved. These same scholars also now need to look at the overall results of this latest research and to see if there are common themes and ideas that can be drawn from these research efforts. They will then be able to determine if there are gaps in the knowledge there is about recovery and determine what still remains to be done to understand it better. Finally, the workshop results will help those that work in local, state, and federal government improve their disaster recovery policies and improve the chances that another catastrophe like Katrina will never happen again.