Readying for Recovery: Strategies to Support Pre-Disaster Recovery Planning

10 D I SAS T E R R ECOVE RY TODAY.COM Though FEMA disaster recovery grants are the most well-known, other federal agencies through which grants can come include the Department of Housing, the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Transportation — all of which can support rebuilding, future mitigation and resiliency efforts, and overarching financial recovery. At an April 11, 2018 hearing, former FEMA Administrator Brock Long acknowledged the complexity of the process. “We’ve got to streamline a very fragmented recovery process,” he said. “Recovery funding comes from 17 different federal government agencies and it’s too difficult to understand what you’re entitled to and how to put it to work.” 16 Therefore, it is important to understand these programs, related cost-share requirements and how they can best be leveraged in a disaster. Doing so and knowing the processes in a pre- disaster plan prior to an incident will help communities recover more effectively. Developing Pre-Disaster Recovery Planning Tools To best adopt the plan, planning tools should be developed. This includes operational and tactical plans, templated disaster recovery ordinances and pre- event contracts. These plans may include specific standard operating procedures for disaster case management and disaster recovery centers, and damage assessment tools and templates. Disaster recovery ordinances and ordinance templates can support a community’s ability to quickly and efficiently allow waivers that would expedite recovery. Same ordinances can be found at www. planning.org/research/postdisaster and include: • Allowance for trailers and recreational vehicles on individual property. • Allowance for storage units on individual properties. • Waiver of building permitting fees for repair and reconstruction. • Waiver for temporary license to use city right-of-way. “It is important that strategies ensure effective communication and coordination internal to the organizational structure, as well as with state, local and federal partners.” FEMA/Steve Zumwalt