The recovery process is a sequence of activities that move a community toward recovery. These activities are interdependent and may overlap. For example, some aspects of short-term recovery may begin before the response to an incident or event has been completed; some large scale, long term recovery activities may need to be initiated within days after a disaster.    

Because there is a need for recovery action immediately following a disaster, communities benefit from pre-disaster preparation. Decisions and priorities established before a disaster and early in the recovery process will impact how quickly and comprehensively the community will be able to recover from an incident.

The graphic shows the interconnectedness of recovery activities from pre-incident recovery preparation through the long term recovery.