Recovery Information Sharing Project

Selected Resources re Disaster Recovery at the Community Level

This site is a central location for collecting and sharing citations and links to worthwhile documents and other sources dealing with community recovery from major disasters. It will be a work in progress -- watch for additions in the coming months. We welcome suggestions and comments. [This is not the place for individual and family assistance.]

For a quick overview of all categories of information included, use the Site Map option at the top of this page.

New:

FEMA recovery website. FEMA has just launched a new site intended for use regarding Gulf Coast area recovery. (Nov. 2008). The site is still under development; presently, it just appears to be a new gateway into the basic information available on the FEMA website.

Public Administration Review. Dec. 2008, Special Issue. Mega-Disasters and Federalism by Marc Landy. Despite the title, the article does address recovery post-Katrina.

GAO. Disaster Recovery; Past Experiences Offer Insights for Recovering from Hurricanes Ike and Gustav and Other Recent Natural Disasters. Sept. 27, 2008. GAO-08-1120. 41pp. This report is rather disappointing, in terms of offering insights and guidance to public officials charged with recovery from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. It is a rather superficial recap of some past events. Too bad, because this is the time for some serious lessons to be shared and significant guidance to be offered.

__________________________________________________

On the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, some new studies and data are available. Many of these provide valuable baseline data for those researching the effects of recent disasters.

• The Brookings Institution has issue its Anniversary Edition; Three Years After Katrina Report ( August 2008). See their website for both the full report or an executive summary report.
• The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation has released a new report; titled New Orleans Three Years After the Storm. The executive summary is 7 pages and the full report is 81 pages. (August 2008)
• LA Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. Disaster Recovery Index -- data on recovery measures.
• Craig E Colton, Robert W. Kates, and Shirley B. Laska. Three Years After Katrina: Lessons for Community Resilience, in Environment , Sept./Oct. 2008, Vol. 50, Iss.5, pages 36-48. This is an excellent article, giving specific details about resilience.

_______________________________________________________

To contribute, comment, or ask questions, please write to the Project Manager.

This project was created and is managed by Claire B. Rubin, President of Claire B. Rubin & Associates.

Photo Credit: FEMA/DHS