Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters Strategies, Opportunities, and Planning for Recovery (2015) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix B: Disaster Recovery Funding: Achieving a Resilient Future?
Appendix B: Disaster Recovery Funding: Achieving a Resilient Future?
Pages 421-442
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From page 421... ...
Specifically, this paper seeks to describe the major governmental and nongovernmental funding sources for disaster recovery, delineate the complex pathways by which those funds reach affected communities and are allocated for recovery activities, and identify key decision makers at state and local levels responsible for directing the dissemination of recovery funds. INTRODUCTION Disaster recovery can be defined as "the differential process of restoring, rebuilding, and reshaping the physical, social, economic, and natural environment through pre-event planning and post-event actions" 1 A white paper prepared for the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine Committee on Post-Disaster Recovery of a Community's Public Health, Medical, and Social Services.
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. The network is characterized as a loosely coupled set of organizations whose FIGURE B-1 Disaster recovery assistance network.
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As noted in the definition of disaster recovery, pre-event planning and post-event actions assume an ideal condition as the United States does not have in place a robust pre-event planning policy nor do most states or local governments maintain pre-disaster recovery plans that address the coordinated timing of assistance. For example, the National Disaster Recovery Framework, developed due to a congressional mandate established following Hurricane Katrina, has not been fully codified nor is there sufficient attention tied to pre-event planning.2 Even with the advent of the NDRF, the vast majority of attention remains placed on the administration of the often substantial influx of post-disaster funding rather than a meaningful commitment to pre-event investments in capacity building and the modification of policies dominated by a response or post-disaster orientation.3 A focus on response and post-disaster funding has limited the development of a thoughtful set of procedures, put in place before a disaster and agreed to by stakeholders, to coordinate the timing of that assistance across members of the assistance network.
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Promises of "building back better" often ring hollow for those who were among the most vulnerable and least powerful in a community. Understood relative to the disaster recovery assistance network, the timing of assistance varies across each member of the network, in part, because of the lack of good pre-event planning and collaborative problem solving (Smith, 2011, pp.
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25. PRE- AND POST-DISASTER RECOVERY FUNDING ACROSS THE DISASTER RECOVERY ASSISTANCE NETWORK The remainder of this paper will focus on the role of disaster recovery funding, including how it affects the three dimensions of the assistance framework (resources and local needs, timing of assistance and horizontal and vertical integration)
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From page 426... ...
The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) can be used to fund a series of risk reduction measures such as the acquisition or elevation of flood-prone housing and the strengthening of homes and buildings to withstand the forces of nature (e.g., ground motion associated with earthquakes, high wind tied to hurricanes or tornadoes, or storm surge tied to coastal storms)
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At least half of CDBG-DR funds must be used to assist low and moderate income persons. The HUD criteria help to address three important shortfalls described in the larger disaster recovery assistance network: grant flexibility, the ability to address unmet needs, and assistance provided to socially vulnerable populations.
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Two, there is little incentive for communities to be proactive and adopt forward-looking strategies that embrace hazard mitigation measures, for instance, when they believe that sufficient post-disaster aid is available regardless of the pre-disaster choices made by them.8 Pre- and post-disaster planning grants have the potential to positively influence disaster recovery outcomes if specific changes to existing guidance and requirements are made. Grants that are most relevant to disaster recovery include comprehensive local planning grants, hazard mitigation planning grants, and post-disaster recovery planning grants.
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, and the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) , local governments have to make the development of recovery plans a priority as the noted grant programs have historically been used to fund hazard mitigation projects (HMA)
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are needed to build the capacity of federal agencies to craft and implement sound national policy, including those policies that link planning and the provision of disaster recovery funding. DISASTER RECOVERY FUNDING PROVIDERS AND RECIPIENTS There are a number of entities that provide and receive pre- and post-disaster recovery funding across the disaster recovery assistance network as shown in Figure B-1.
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Focusing on the administration of these funds at the state and local level tends to shift attention away from a thoughtful discourse surrounding other issues such as achieving preexisting state and community goals, coordinating federal assistance with other types of aid that comes from the larger assistance network, and ensuring that socially vulnerable populations are receiving the help they need (Smith, 2011)
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Regional planning organizations, for instance, are often contracted by local governments to write pre- and post-disaster recovery plans as well as write and administer post-disaster grants received by communities. Community development corporations may seek funds to repair or reconstruct damaged affordable housing as private sector developers may not view this as a profitable venture.
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, nor do emergent groups tend to be adequately involved in post-disaster decision making, even though they play important roles in filling gaps in disaster recovery assistance networks (Smith,
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A TEMPORAL REVIEW OF DISASTER RECOVERY FUNDING Next, we discuss the timing of funding across the disaster recovery assistance network, emphasizing pre- and post-disaster timeframes. Pre-event recovery activities that influence the access to funding involve preparedness, planning, and capacity-building initiatives.
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of disaster and the capacity of local, state, and federal agencies (and the larger disaster recovery assistance network) , this phase of the disaster can take days or even months to achieve.
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The integration of physical, social, economic, and environmental dimensions, achieved through the implementation of complementary policies and projects, requires gaining access to the funds needed to realize these aspirations. A Hypothetical Disaster Recovery Scenario While drawing on the myriad resources of the disaster recovery assistance network is critically important, it is equally important to develop a strategy or plan to help shape the integration and temporal dis
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Based on the assessment, the disaster merits a presidential disaster declaration, which triggers the release of federal aid as well as the assistance of the larger disaster recovery assistance network. As part of the recovery process, the community assesses its needs and forms a disaster recovery committee.
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Planning provides one way to improve the coordination of funding across the disaster recovery assistance network. This holds true, however, only if all members participate in a meaningful process that fosters collective action over time.
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Examples of this approach could include requiring communities and states to develop pre-disaster recovery plans that meet increasingly higher standards of practice over time, while investing in training, education, outreach, as well as providing the financial resources needed to develop these plans. Good recovery plans include strong inter-organizational coordination and implementation mechanisms, among other principles.18 Operationalize Broad Concepts Found in National Disaster Recovery Framework Through Coordinated Actions Implemented by Identified Members of the Disaster Recovery Assistance Network and the Passage of the Disaster Recovery Act.
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Federal legislation like the proposed Disaster Recovery Act should be passed to provide the federal government the resources they need to carry out the intent of the NDRF. ENHANCE THE INTEGRATION OF HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATIONS AND PROVIDERS IN THE DISASTER RECOVERY ASSISTANCE NETWORK A review of the NDRF suggests that it focuses primarily on the repair of infrastructure and places inadequate attention on "human recovery," including the psychological effects of disasters as well as acute and chronic health issues faced during recovery (Chandra and Acosta, 2010)
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2014. Adaptive planning for disaster recovery and resil iency: An evaluation of 87 local recovery plans in eight states.
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2014. A comparison of local hazard mitigation plan quality in six states, USA.
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