Misfortune and the amazing power of nature can combine to bring devastation and misery to our doorsteps at any time. Summers, with their excessive dryness and heat, often spawn wildfires and hurricanes that cost precious lives and resources. Proper disaster response planning and preparations can mitigate the potential loss of natural disasters, but when disaster strikes, we must pick up the pieces and move on in order to grow and thrive. Planning the steps to take after a tragedy can both speed up the healing process and prevent future costs and risks. Invest in your community’s safety by reading through the last year’s most-viewed resources related to disaster recovery:

• A case study on CARRI and the Community Resiliency Program, which is part 4 of a series of handouts from ICMA’s 2011 Annual Conference on best practices in disaster recovery.
• A PM cover story, called “Disaster Recovery: A Local Government Responsibility,” which offers an in depth look at different considerations for planning for long-term disaster recovery.
• Part 1 of the 4-part series on community resiliency in disaster recovery from the 2011 Annual Conference.
• This case study on recovery highlights the importance of 311 services as recovery tools in the aftermath of a local disaster – “Disaster Recovery: Two Cities Share Their Experiences”
• “Post Disaster Reconstruction: The Patchwork Quilt: A Creative Strategy for Safe & Long Term Post-Disaster Rebuilding” – A how-to guide for post-disaster reconstruction with specialized information on federal programs for disaster relief and funding reconstruction.
• A very juicy .pdf of the Committee on Increasing National Resilience to Hazards and Disasters’ report “Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative”
  
  

Take some time to think about all that you have learned in reviewing these resources. How can you improve your community’s disaster recovery plan? Share your thoughts and stories about in the comments section below; and be sure to check out the Disaster Recovery and Public Safety topic pages.

Aloha,

James Davidson

James Davidson is an intern for ICMA’s Knowledge Network. You can reach him for questions and comments at jdavidson@icma.org.