Long-Term Community Recovery from Natural Disasters

ISBN-13: 9781466593022 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 312 str.

Daniel J. Alesch; Lucy Arendt

Opis

Today, governmental efforts at long-term community recovery from a natural disaster consist primarily of rebuilding the physical artifact of the community. This entails reestablishing vital community services and infrastructure and creating housing to replace that which has been lost. While restoring the built environment of a disaster area is essential, alone it is not sufficient to achieve complete recovery. Long-Term Community Recovery from Natural Disasters presents what the authors have learned over two decades from more than two dozen community disasters in and outside the United States. Based on their experiences, they provide a set of practical, cost-effective steps for both reducing the consequences of extreme natural hazard events on communities and for facilitating community recovery. To achieve long-term recovery, it is essential that we understand how communities develop and/or decay in the absence of an extreme natural hazard event. Then, by recognizing how these events disrupt "normal" development and change, we can determine which parts of the community have to become reestablished or made more functional so that the community can achieve long-term viability. The authors explain how this appreciation of community dynamics and the consequences of extreme natural hazard events enables us to identify those critical points for policy intervention at appropriate levels of government. The combined practical and philosophical insight presented in this book will be valuable not only to policy makers but to scholars as well.

Recenzje

"Typical books on disaster response focus on rebuilding the infrastructure of a city. This unique book draws on the authors’ experience with over two dozen community disasters to design a holistic approach to not just rebuilding, but recovering from an extreme natural hazard. The authors examine the normal development of communities, and then consider the ways in which a natural disaster interferes with this development. This enables readers to identify the specific issues that require policy intervention and devise a plan that recruits the appropriate branches of government. Specific topics include workload and employee stress, the effect on the local economy, and the starting point of recovery."
—Ringgold, Inc. Book News, February 2015

Spis treści

The Problem. Purpose and Approach. A Basic Consideration. Specification. Two Vignettes: The Makings of a Disaster. From Extreme Natural Hazard Event to Community Disaster. Social Definitions, Experiential Congruence, and Initial Consequences. Metrics and Extreme Natural Hazard Events. What, Then, Is an Extreme Natural Hazard Event? Communities as Complex, Open, and Self-Organizing Social Systems. Meaning of "Complex," "Open," and "Self-Organizing". And Then, a Great Disturbance. Categorizing Consequences. Real Problems for Real People in Real Places. Postdisruption: Real Problems for Real People in Real Places. The Local Economy May Unravel. Housing and Rebuilding Issues. Postevent Demographic Changes. Social and Psychological Consequences. Impacts on Local Government. Workload and Employee Stress. The Building Department as an Example. Unmet Expectations and New Roles. Conflicting Demands between Home and Work. Consequences of Employee Stress. Diminished Revenue Base. Expenses and Shortages. Funding for Long-Term Recovery. Community Disaster Recovery: Definition, Processes, and Obstacles. What Constitutes Community Recovery? Community Recovery Processes. Will It, Can It, Ever Be the Same? Variables That Impede or Facilitate Recovery. Facilitating Recovery. Who’s in Charge? First Things First. Assessing the Nature and Extent of the Consequences. Ensure That Local Government Is Up to the Demands That Will Be Placed on It. Devise a Local Recovery Strategy. Ensure Two-Way Communication. A Recovery Starting Point. Shaping the Postevent Community Trajectory: Rebuilding or Restoring the Economy. Seven Strategies. Pitfalls to Avoid. What to Do before the Next Disaster. Prerequisites for Taking Precautions against Risks Associated with Extreme Natural Hazard Events. Other Concerns: Moral Hazard, Learned Helplessness or Dependency, and Political Opportunism. Goals and Means for Mitigating the Risks Associated with Extreme Natural Hazard Events. Things to Do Now, before the Next Disaster. Index.