A Methodology for Community-Centric Recovery Planning and Operations

Abstract

Governments around the world have implemented policies, programs, and technologies to reduce human suffering and help residents in the aftermath of disasters. The effectiveness of these programs has generally gauged by measures such as the amount of funding committed and the quantities of supplies moved. While these measures are useful for determining the effectiveness of logistical operations, they are poor surrogates for measuring the fundamental, desired outcomes - the well-being of individuals and families and their ability to reenter, prosper, and thrive in their communities. This paper identifies 12 community magnets through a meta-analysis of literature and personal experience. These community magnets describe the conditions of a community as it transitions from a survival state, to a stable state with limited capacity, and finally to a post-disaster normal. We also show how government and community functions can be mapped to how they motivate state-transitions across the community magnets of interest. This paper illustrates how this methodology can provide a foundation to unify approaches, integrate model and simulation work, promote systemic decision making, and ultimately improve how response decisions affect the recovery of whole communities.