The Obama administration aspires to work with communities to help them rebuild smarter and better by providing the best data about the risks they face, setting clear resilience standards to help protect against those risks, and bringing a wide range of stakeholders together to foster innovative ideas and ensure a comprehensive regional approach to rebuilding.… Read more
This after-action report provides an overview of Hurricane Sandy, its impacts and response, as well as recommendations for improvement. Primary areas of improvement as recommended by the report include: Ensuring unity of effort across the Federal response Being survivor-centric Fostering unity of effort across the whole community Developing an agile, professional emergency management workforce Unity… Read more
A post-disaster town hall meeting is first and most important opportunity for localities to update their community on the status of recovery efforts underway. The agenda and content of a press release notifying the community of the meeting will vary widely depending on the locality, peril and extent of damage. Below are several examples of how… Read more
The post-disaster town hall meeting, is one of the first and most important opportunities for the incident commander – typically the emergency manager – to update the community on the status and timeline of disaster recovery. Click here to download a post-disaster town hall meeting agenda template, and here for press releases and agendas used by… Read more
A post-disaster town hall meeting is one of the first and most important opportunities for incident command – typically the emergency manager – to update the community on the recovery timeline, and help set the tone for the entire recovery process. Emotions will be running high; community members will demand answers on when they can… Read more
A post-disaster town hall meeting is one of the first and most important opportunities for local leaders to update the community on the status of recovery, yet federal representatives from and will also play a critical role in providing property owners with important information regarding the recovery process. No matter the situation, homeowners’ biggest concern… Read more
The authors examine (1) reasons that community resilience has become a key area of focus in national policy within just the past few years (2) the core principles embodied in community resilience theory, including equality and social justice considerations, (3) the challenges of integrating community resilience with traditional public health practices and (4) the importance… Read more
An EF-5 Tornado struck Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011, with damage estimated at up to $3 billion. Yet Joplin has seen a rapid recovery despite the extensive damage. The Joplin tornado provides an opportunity to determine if findings from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina apply to other major natural disasters. This study uses interviews… Read more
A collection of 13 reports on lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy related to health systems and services. The report’s first section includes and Executive Summary of each article. Common recommendations included filling gaps in planning, communication and coordination, more integrated systems, more practice and training between facilities, building in redundancies, clarifying authority, preparing for environmental… Read more
One week after Hurricane Sandy, the author recommends short-term and long-term preparations that can help reduce the impact of such disasters. Short-term preparation focuses on planning, early warning, and preparedness. Long-term preparation focuses primarily on strengthening building codes and infrastructure. The Lessons Learned From Hurricane Sandy
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