DISASTER RECOVERY

By,
USMAN ILYAS
Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department
University of Management & Technology, Lahore
Disaster Recovery
 Disaster Recovery
There is no real consensus about when
the response phase of the Emergency Management
Cycle ends and the recovery phase begins.
While response involves immediate actions taken to
save lives, protect property, and meet basic human
needs, recovery is not as easily defined.
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 Disaster Recovery
• Recovery is the fourth phase of disaster and is the
restoration of all aspects of the disaster’s impact on
a community and the return of the local economy
to some sense of normality.
• By this time, the impacted region has achieved a
degree of physical, environmental, economic and
social stability.
 Disaster Recovery
The recovery phase of disaster can be broken into
two periods.
• The short-term phase typically lasts from six
months to at least one year and involves delivering
immediate services to businesses.
• The long-term phase, which can range up to
decades, requires thoughtful strategic planning and
action to address more serious or permanent
impacts of a disaster.
 Disaster Recovery
The National Response Framework (NRF) published by
the Department of Homeland Security in 2008 describes
short-term and long-term recovery as follows:
Short-term recovery is immediate and overlaps with
response. It includes actions such as providing essential
public health and safety services, restoring interrupted
utility and other essential services, reestablishing
transportation routes, and providing food and shelter for
those displaced by the incident. Although called “short
term,” some of these activities may last for weeks.
Long-term recovery, which is outside the scope of the
Framework, may involve some of the same actions but
may continue for a number of months or years,
depending on the severity and extent of the damage
sustained. For example, long-term recovery may include
the complete redevelopment of damaged areas. (DHS
2008, 45)
 Disaster Recovery
• During a recovery phase, which takes place after an
incident had occurred, affected community is
assisted in restoration of concerned area.
• The phase comprises initial rehabilitation during
which services are restored to their regular order,
so local governments and responsible agencies
regain the ability to manage the ongoing recovery
processes and repair of social, physical and
economic damage.
 Disaster Recovery
• Recovery also concerns long term reconstruction of
health, utility and communication facilities.
• Finally, efforts to reduce future risk factors should
also be included in the plan.
Disaster Planning for Economic Recovery
• After a disaster, communities are often unprepared
for the confusion that emerges, even if they have
engaged in pre-disaster planning.
• Planning for long-term recovery seems like a
difficult task when there are rebuilding needs to
address.
Disaster Planning for Economic Recovery
• Still, a disaster-impacted community needs to
develop a vision for how it will rebuild its economy.
It takes time, leadership, and resources – all of
which will be in short supply – to develop an
economic recovery plan with buy-in from
community stakeholders.
• Yet, a post-disaster strategic plan provides the
opportunity to re-evaluate economic objectives in
light of vulnerabilities to disaster, and establish
strategies and action steps to make progress
toward long-term recovery.
 The Recovery Function
• The recovery function can often begin in the initial
hours and days following a disaster and often
continues for months, and in some cases years,
depending on the severity of the event.
• Recovery activities can be characterized by complex
issues and decisions that must be made by the
impacted individuals and communities.
 The Recovery Function
• These involve addressing challenges such as:
• Rebuilding homes,
• Replacing property,
• Resuming employment,
• Restoring businesses, and
• Permanently repairing and rebuilding infrastructure.

The process of the recovery phase requires

balancing the immediate need to return a
community to normalcy with long-term goals of
reducing the community's vulnerability and
increasing its resiliency to future events.
Recovery Themes

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Disaster Recovery Functions
 Partners in Recovery
• Each partner plays a key role in determining the
progress of the recovery phase.
• These roles can be regulatory, such as the application
of state and local building ordinances, and some
provide important financial support, such as insurance
provisions.
• The process of recovering from a disaster has long-
lasting effects, and often incurs high costs. Therefore,
the participating partners in the process are
numerous and diverse. They include:
Partners in Recovery

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 National Disaster Recovery Framework
(NDRF)
• FEMA has developed a National Disaster Recovery
Framework (NDRF).
• The goal of recovery activities is to engage all the
necessary participants in the process so as to properly
plan, finance, and implement a strategy to rebuild a
safer and more secure community – one that is
resilient to the effects of future disaster events.
• Recovery Framework (NDRF) to coordinate the
Federal support to State and local governments for
recovery.
 Pakistan 2005 Earthquake: Early recovery
framework
Early recovery needs assessment
• As a first step in formulating the Early Recovery
Framework, the UN system undertook an assessment
of early recovery needs in affected areas, in support
of the Government's early recovery involvement.
• This assessment was complemented by a damage and
loss assessment that was lead by the Asian
Development Bank and the World Bank in a
simultaneous undertake to identify long-term
reconstruction needs.
 Pakistan 2005 Earthquake: Early recovery
framework
Early recovery needs assessment

• Objectives of the early recovery needs assessment

were to:
• Assess key vulnerabilities; identify strategic
interventions to address these vulnerabilities over the
next 12 to 18 months; anticipate spontaneous early
recovery efforts by the affected communities; and
identify key programs areas to facilitate early recovery
and transition from relief in different geographic
locations.
 Pakistan 2005 Earthquake: Early recovery
framework
Early recovery needs assessment

• The needs assessment identified a variety of social

groups that have become particularly vulnerable in
the impact of the earthquake.
• It also detected emerging environmental risks such as
those associated with the unsafe disposal of waste,
the unsustainable using of natural resources to meet
increased demands for building materials.
 Pakistan 2005 Earthquake: Early recovery
framework
Early recovery needs assessment

• It is essential that recovery strategies and programs

adopt appropriate mechanisms to immediately
contain and address these emerging risks while at the
same time addressing the longer-term underlying root
causes.
 Guiding principles for recovery

• The Early Recovery Framework is guided by a set of 10

principles that are to be applied during the planning
and implementation of early recovery involvement.
(1) These principles take a rights-based approach. They
also reflect the priorities of the affected
communities in a participatory and people-centred
manner.
The guiding principles for the Early Recovery
Framework are as follows:
 Guiding principles for recovery
1. Focus on the most vulnerable
2. Restore capacities
3. Rebuild people's livelihoods
4. Secure human development gains
5. Reduce disaster risk
6. Engage the private sector
7. Independence and self-sufficiency
8. Transparency and accountability
9. Subsidiarity
10. Coordination

The term human development may be defined as an expansion of human capabilities,

a widening of choices, ‘an enhancement of freedom, and a fulfilment of human rights.
THANKS