This course provides an introduction to the National Disaster Recovery Framework and establishes a common platform and forum for how the whole community builds, sustains, and coordinates delivery of recovery capabilities.

To help you keep track of your place in the course, the current lesson title will be displayed in the upper center of each screen, under the course title. In addition, a Lesson List will be presented at the beginning and end of each lesson.

Each lesson overview states the approximate length of the lesson.

This course should take approximately 3 hours to complete.

Welcome to the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) Overview Course. The goal of this course is to familiarize you with the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) and the ways it is applied in actual recovery situations.

Course Objective:

By the end of this course, participants will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the Guiding Principles, Recovery roles, responsibilities, planning considerations, Recovery Core Capabilities, Recovery leadership, and Recovery Support Functions (RSFs).

At the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe the development of the NDRF, its Guiding Principles, and the concepts of Recovery Continuum and Successful Recovery.
• Describe the various roles and responsibilities outlined in the NDRF within different sectors of the community.
• Describe the Recovery core capabilities included in the NDRF.
• Describe the coordinating structures used to deliver recovery capabilities including Recovery Support Functions (RSFs) and their mission, and how they can work meet different disaster needs.

Finally, this course will prepare you for more in-depth courses for which you will need a basic understanding of the NDRF.

The goal of this course is to familiarize you with the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) and the ways it is applied in actual recovery situations.

Lesson Overview

This lesson will introduce the NDRF by describing how it was developed and how it transforms recovery, and will provide an introduction to the Recovery Continuum. It will also introduce the Guiding Principles for Recovery and what it identifies as factors of a successful recovery.

Enabling Objectives:

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Describe why the NDRF was developed and its purpose.
• Describe the Recovery Continuum.
• Describe each of the eight Guiding Principles for recovery.
• Explain how each of the principles can be applied to disaster recovery.
• Describe successful recovery.

James D. Yarbrough
Galveston County Judge
It’s right at a year anniversary now and everyday sometimes I think god, it seems like it’s been ten years we’ve been dealing with Ike and another time it seems like it’s been two months. So it’s been kind of a mixed bag, it’s gone by quickly. We’re not where we need to be, where we want to be but we’re on track.

Bob Arbeitman
Jamaica Beach, TX Resident
More and more people are coming back; I mean if you look at the area here, over the last six months things have just gotten much better there, you know we’re not recovered by a long shot but they’re way better than they were, some months ago.

Josie Walker
Galveston, TX Resident
Compared to other people that had hurricanes I think we’ve done a real good comeback.

John Simsen
Emergency Management Coordinator
It’s hard to believe that a year has passed. I feel pretty good about where we are, I think if you were to drive around the county, today versus just a couple of weeks or a couple of months after the storm the difference is amazing.

Bob Arbeitman
Jamaica Beach, TX Resident
Physically the house is essentially fully recovered. It’s as good as it was before.

Steve Spicer
Jamaica Beach, TX Fire Chief
Everybody just did their own thing. Cleaned their own homes and hired their own contractors and, it is a year later and you can’t hardly even tell there was a storm.

James D. Yarbrough
Galveston County Judge
Every storm, every event's unique and its uh, you gotta deal with the circumstances and the facts as you get them, as they come in for each event.

John Simsen
Emergency Management Coordinator
In this area where you’re basically facing a hurricane or a tropical storm every year or year and a half on average. They’ve gotten used to the mantra that you know when you see the storm approaching in the gulf you should be prepared; you should’ve been prepared June 1.

Steve Spicer
Jamaica Beach, TX Fire Chief
I think a lot of people learn that evacuation is the way to go.

John Simsen
Emergency Management Coordinator
We’re going to continue to pursue that and push people to understand that this is the coast, we are definitely at risk all the time and we really don’t have any alternative but to evacuate.

James D. Yarbrough
Galveston County Judge
We’re on the right path, as I tell people we’re in a marathon we’re not in a sprint. We’ve got a long way to go. We don’t want to run out of steam but hopefully as we look back two or three years from now we’re gonna say “hey we learned a lot of lessons from Ike, rebuild better, smarter, mitigated where we could, and when we have another similar type of event we’ll have less damage.”

Bob Arbeitman
Jamaica Beach, TX Resident
I hope we don’t see another storm like that for a long time again.

The National Disaster Recovery Framework describes principles, processes, and capabilities essential for all communities to more effectively manage and enable recovery following an incident of any size or scale.

This Framework defines how the whole community, including emergency managers, community development professionals, recovery practitioners, government agencies, private sector, nongovernmental organization (NGO) leaders, and the public, will collaborate and coordinate to more effectively utilize existing resources to promote resilience and support the recovery of those affected by an incident.

The National Preparedness Goal defines resilience as “the ability to adapt to changing conditions, as well as withstand and rapidly recover from disruption due to emergencies.”

This Framework provides guidance to recovery leaders and stakeholders by: 

• Identifying Guiding Principles for achieving successful recovery
• Outlining pre- and post-disaster roles and responsibilities for recovery stakeholders and recommending leadership roles across all levels of government
• Describing how the whole community will build, sustain, and coordinate the delivery of the Recovery Core Capabilities
• Explaining the relationship between Recovery and the other mission areas (Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, and Response)
• Promoting inclusive and equitable coordination, planning, and information sharing processes
• Encouraging the whole community to grab a hold of opportunities to increase flexibility and incorporate climate adaptation as well as mitigation measures pre- and post-disaster (e.g. continuity planning, land use, and environmental regulations)
• Identifying scalable and adaptable organizations for coordinating recovery
• Describing key factors, activities, and considerations for pre- and post-disaster recovery planning
• Ensuring recovery resources are sourced from a wide range of whole community partners, including individuals and voluntary, nonprofit, philanthropic, and private sector and governmental agencies and organizations

Experience with disaster recovery efforts highlighted the need for:

• Focused recovery leadership at every level of government
• A strategic approach to addressing a wide range of recovery needs
• An effective structure for coordinating and supporting federal resources to support disaster-impacted communities

The process of developing the NDRF included stakeholder engagement through in-person and online workshops, and meetings with academia and other professional associations from across the Nation to capture diverse perspectives on recovery issues. The information gathered at these meetings helped to shape the NDRF.

In partnership with the National Planning Frameworks for other Mission Areas, the NDRF expands on the integration and inter-relationships among the other Mission Areas of Prevention, Protection, Mitigation and Response. It incorporates lessons learned and best practices from real-world incidents and national level exercises. This Framework provides a strategic national perspective to enable coordination, information sharing and increase resilience across the whole community regardless of the threat or hazard.

Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 8: National Preparedness is aimed at strengthening the security and resilience of our country through systematic preparation for the threats that pose the greatest risk. The NDRF is one of five Frameworks that provide the national planning strategy to meet the PPD-8 goal. The Recovery Federal Interagency Operational Plan (FIOP) provides details to implement the strategy outlined in the NDRF. It specifies the critical tasks and identifies the requirements for delivering Recovery core capabilities.

The Recovery FIOP is written to describe how the Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator (FDRC) and Recovery Support Function (RSF) agencies and their partners will work to support local, state, tribal, territorial, and insular area recovery efforts in coordination with nongovernmental and private sector organizations.

The NDRF transforms recovery operations in five ways. The NDRF:

1. Defines the roles and responsibilities of recovery stakeholders
2. Recommends dedicated leadership at every level of government, including a:
   • Local Disaster Recovery Manager
   • State Disaster Recovery Coordinator
   • Tribal Disaster Recovery Coordinator
   • Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator
3. Advances the concept of pre- and post-disaster recovery planning and the importance of building partnerships

The NDRF also:

4. Establishes Recovery Support Functions (RSFs) to coordinate Federal recovery support for local, state, tribal, and territorial governments. RSFs help address problems and effectively coordinate resources
5. Focuses on how best to restore, redevelop, and revitalize the health, social, housing, infrastructure, economic, natural, and environmental fabric of the community and build a more resilient Nation

These will be discussed in more detail as you progress through the course.

Daniel Alexander
Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator

The National Disaster Recovery Framework, NDRF as we call it, is a conceptual way in which Federal agencies are supposed to come together and work in a recovery environment post disaster. The Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator is the lead Federal official to coordinate all of that interagency coordination and bring them together, to actually work together in a disaster environment.

Roy Dunn
Federal Disaster Recovery Officer

One of the biggest challenges in recovery is there is so many, either programs or, the problems are so complex, that there is no one solution. Now we have a national framework that lays out what the leadership structure should look like, but also the coordination structure. So for an individual survivor that has a housing issue this is a way to understand what types of resources, what types of recovery support can be coordinated to help them with their (you know) with what happened from the disaster.

The ability of a community to accelerate the recovery process begins with its efforts in preparedness, to include coordinating whole community partners, mitigating risks, incorporating continuity planning, identifying resources, and developing capacity to effectively manage recovery, and through collaborative and inclusive planning processes. These efforts result in a more resilient community with an improved ability to withstand, respond to, and recover from disasters.

This Framework is not intended to alter or impede the ability of any local, regional/metropolitan, state, tribal, territorial, insular area, or Federal Government department or agency to carry out its authorities or to comply with applicable laws, executive orders, and directives. Instead, it requires the whole community to coordinate or integrate individual authorities and missions.

Although the NDRF is intended to provide guidance for the whole community, it focuses especially on the needs of those who are involved in delivering and applying the Recovery core capabilities defined in the National Preparedness Goal. Recovery practitioners will find guidance on Recovery core capabilities and critical recovery functions such as leadership, organizational and coordination structures, key recovery partners, applicable resources, and inclusive public engagement and communication strategies. For stakeholders involved in Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, and Response Mission Areas, the NDRF identifies the objectives, principles, practices, and stakeholders that lead, manage, and guide disaster recovery. Educating a broad audience on pre- and post-disaster recovery principles, processes, and capabilities will increase resilience and further enhance integration and coordination across mission areas and the whole community.

These stakeholders include local, state, tribal, territorial, and insular area governments, nonprofits, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), voluntary agencies, and the private sector.

The Recovery mission area defines capabilities necessary for communities affected or threatened by any incident to rebuild infrastructure systems, provide adequate, accessible interim and long-term housing that meets the needs of all survivors, revitalize health systems (including behavioral health) and social and community services, promote economic development, and restore natural and cultural resources.

The ability to manage recovery effectively begins with pre-disaster preparedness and requires support and resources focused on recovery at the immediate onset of an incident.

To better understand how the National Disaster Recovery Framework fits into the overall national preparedness efforts, we need to look at the National Preparedness System (NPS) and the National Preparedness Goal.

The NPS was developed to provide the approach, resources, and tools to aid the whole community in its preparedness activities to achieve the National Preparedness Goal. While the NPS emphasizes the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as the basis for organizing operations during incident management, Recovery capabilities are built, sustained, and delivered by a wide range of organizational arrangements. Also, the NPS includes determining what capabilities are needed, how they should be developed and sustained, and how they should be delivered.

The National Preparedness Goal presents an integrated, layered, and whole community approach to preparedness. It indicates that a wide range of threats and hazards continue to pose a significant risk to the Nation, affirming the need for an all hazards, capability-based approach to preparedness planning. The Goal itself is a result of contributions from the whole community. It recognizes that everyone can contribute to and benefit from national preparedness efforts.

The National Preparedness Goal lays out the nationwide preparedness vision and identifies the Core Capabilities necessary to achieve that vision across the following five Mission Areas:

• Prevention
• Protection
• Mitigation
• Response
• Recovery

Successful achievement of the National Preparedness Goal will result in a secure and resilient nation with the capabilities required across the whole community to Prevent, Protect against, Mitigate, Respond to, and Recover from the threats and hazards that pose the greatest risk.

Both the National Preparedness System and National Preparedness Goal discuss the development of capabilities needed to ensure a secure and resilient nation. These capabilities, known as core capabilities, are the way we can measure, describe, and implement our security and resilience techniques.

The National Planning Frameworks elaborate on these capabilities by discussing how to deliver the core capabilities from each mission area, and how to support the delivery of core capabilities from the other mission areas.

The core capabilities are:

• Distinct critical elements
• Necessary to achieve the National Preparedness Goal, which the whole community must be able to perform
• Helpful in providing a common vocabulary describing the significant functions that must be developed and executed across the whole community to ensure national preparedness

Developing and maintaining the core capabilities within a community requires a multiagency, interdisciplinary approach that engages the whole community, including a wide range of service and resource providers and stakeholders. Actionable efforts to build capabilities should be integrated across mission areas.

We will discuss Recovery core capabilities in more depth in Lesson 3.

Examples include:

• Meet health and safety needs beyond rescue
• Assess the scope of recovery needs
• Start to restore critical infrastructure (like electricity) and services (like law enforcement)
• Mobilize recovery organizations and resources such as restoring essential services for recovery decision making
• Identify disaster survivors that will benefit from receiving outreach services (i.e., individual crisis counseling, basic supportive or educational contact, group counseling, public education, community networking and support, and assessment, referral and linkage), offered by the Crisis Counseling Program
• Identify people who need behavioral health or counseling services and begin treatment

Examples include:

• Continue the restoration of critical infrastructure and services
• Develop temporary housing solutions
• Support the reestablishment of local businesses
• Establish relationships with community resource organizations, faith-based groups, and local agencies to check-in with the community to determine the need for and provide outreach services as needed, and to identify local disaster relief services and mental health or substance abuse services for disaster survivors
• Engage support networks for ongoing behavioral health and counseling services
• Ensure healthcare services are uninterrupted
• Inform community members of opportunities to build back stronger

Examples include:

• Rebuild infrastructure to meet current and future needs
• Develop long-term housing solutions
• Implement economic revitalization strategies
• Make certain community organizations have the information and tools (i.e., basic disaster information, typical reactions to disasters and coping skills), to empower disaster survivors to take charge of their recovery
• Follow up on behavior health and counseling services
• Reestablish permanent healthcare and educational facilities
• Move toward self-sufficiency, sustainability, and resilience

Considering the examples of short-, intermediate-, and long-term activities mentioned on the previous screens, being prepared will ensure that your community will be able to recover faster. For example, you can:

• Plan for individual, family, and business (especially small business) needs ahead of the disaster
• Undertake mitigation planning and implementation to lessen future losses
• Build community capacity and resilience to strengthen your community
• Conduct disaster preparedness exercises so you are ready when disaster strikes
• Build partnerships so that it is easier for you to begin recovery activities right away
• Plan to meet the emotional and healthcare needs of adults and children

During the development of the NDRF, stakeholders from across the Nation came together and highlighted fundamental concepts that became the Guiding Principles of the NDRF. They are:

1. Individual and Family Empowerment
2. Leadership and Local Primacy
3. Pre-Disaster Recovery Planning
4. Engaged Partnerships and Inclusiveness
5. Unity of Effort
6. Timeliness and Flexibility
7. Resilience and Sustainability
8. Psychological and Emotional Recovery

Individuals and families are the core of all you do to support recovery.

All community members must have equal opportunity to participate in community recovery efforts in a meaningful way. This helps to develop many types of knowledge, ideas, and opinions that can be drawn from as a vision for recovery takes shape. This diversity also helps to ensure that recovery efforts benefit everyone in the community. Care must be taken to assure that actions, both intentional and unintentional, do not exclude any groups of people.

After tornados struck Alabama in 2011, residents came together during multiple workshops and other local events to not only learn about recovery options available, but also share their ideas about what was needed most in their communities. These events were widely publicized and open to all residents and stakeholders in each community.

The Quadrennial Homeland Security Review Report (QHSR), February 2010 recognized the importance of individual and family empowerment when it included in the objectives for the homeland security mission of “Ensuring Resilience to Disasters,”

Reduce the vulnerability of individuals and families: Improve individual and family capacity to reduce vulnerabilities and withstand disasters. Individuals and families must be a focal point of mitigation efforts, as they are best positioned to reduce their own vulnerabilities. Promoting individual and family mitigation requires identifying the factors that influence the psychological and social resilience of individuals. Government must actively engage to help individuals understand the risks that their communities face, the resources available to them, and the steps they can take to prepare themselves, their homes, and their businesses.

The group conducting the QHSR discussed the importance of building principles of disaster Preparedness, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery into academic curricula at all levels so that it gradually becomes part of the culture embedded in individuals and families.

Man 1:
We came up with five or six strategic plan issues that were identified and found to be the most important to the people of the Spirit Lake Nation.

Man 2:
The tribe has an excellent strategic plan. What we’ve done is bring in a team of subject matter experts to the reservation to participate in working groups and community meetings with tribal leadership and staff. These working groups and community meetings are helping the tribe identify priorities and connect the tribe to a wide range of partners; Federal, state, local, non-profits, and private sector, who may be able to help with funding or resources for their projects.

Catalina Herman
Member-Spirit Lake Tribe
I think the greatest need is housing, you know, from my own experience we don’t have enough housing for all the families that reside on the reservation.

Georgalene DuBois
Member-Spirit Lake Tribe
Poverty is another big issue, there’s not enough jobs.

Man 1:
I think there’s some issues in regard to health, you know, access that are, you know that are of concern to us.

Clarence Greene
Roads Director – Spirit Lake Nation
Main challenges up here right now with all this high water is roads issues.

The speed and effectiveness of recovery operations, and the resilience of outcomes associated with them, can be greatly improved through pre-disaster recovery planning. The scale and magnitude of recovery needs can also be reduced through pre-disaster actions. Pre-disaster recovery planning makes your community better prepared to address disaster impacts. Involving stakeholders, including other mission areas such as Response and Mitigation, in the planning process and developing relationships enhances post-disaster decision making. Making pre-disaster recovery planning part of everyday decisions makes recovery easier.

Additional guidance on pre-disaster recovery planning is available from FEMA and other sources. These include:

• The American Planning Association’s Planning Advisory Service Report titled Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery: Next Generation
• FEMA's Local Mitigation Planning Handbook

Fairfax County, Virginia, one of the first communities in the United States to develop a disaster recovery plan under the NDRF, modeled their recovery organization structure on that in the NDRF.

After a disaster, the Fairfax County Pre-Disaster Recovery Plan would guide the establishment of a temporary Recovery Agency, led by a Recovery Coordinator/Local Disaster Recovery Manager and Recovery Policy Advisory Board. Depending on the scope and scale of the incident, one or more Recovery Support Function (RSF) Branches would be activated under Agency leadership and assigned responsibility for addressing recovery objectives.

Using the NDRF as an operational model is an approach that any community can take and provides a number of benefits, including improved coordination with partner agencies that operate under the NDRF.

Several states and cities, particularly those in high risk or repetitive risk areas, undertake extensive disaster preparedness and response planning. Planning for recovery needs the same attention.

The state of Florida developed Post-Disaster Redevelopment Planning: A Guide for Florida Communities. It lays out a planning process for pre-disaster recovery planning. Florida requires such a plan for all coastal counties and municipalities, and encourages the same for inland communities.

Also, for states, see the State Disaster Recovery Planning Guide prepared by the University of North Carolina, Center for the Study of Natural Hazards and Disasters for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Coastal Hazards Center.

Partnerships among community organizations, the private sector, and all levels of government promote successful recovery. Partnerships in the recovery process can be formal or informal. Formal partnerships may include a memorandum of agreement with a nearby community to share resources if a disaster strikes. Informal partnerships might be a network of information sharing with external organizations.

For those communities that cannot complete recovery from significant disasters on their own, locating the right partners early on will help realize the community’s recovery goals.

In May of 2007, an EF5 tornado struck Greensburg, Kansas and destroyed or damaged nearly all of its buildings. To help implement community members’ goal of a “green” recovery, the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) became involved only a month after the disaster occurred. NREL played a critical role by providing specific guidance on recovery projects, developing studies and recommendations, and creating an integrated energy plan that became part of the city’s comprehensive plan.

With NREL’s assistance, the city’s green initiative led to a variety of positive results including:

• Significantly lower energy usage by new homes in Greensburg
• Significantly lower energy use and environmental impact by the city’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified public buildings
• Creation of a 12.5-megawatt wind farm that produces enough energy to power the entire city
• Increased expertise in green design throughout the region

Inclusiveness means involving individuals with disabilities and others with access and functional needs, advocates of children, seniors, and members of historically underserved populations in the recovery process.

Outreach promotes inclusiveness. In any federally supported recovery activity, it is not only important but mandatory that every effort be made to include those with functional access needs. In FEMA, the Office of Disability Integration and Coordination serves as a primary resource for information and guidance.

After the tornado hit Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011, city leaders formed a “Citizens Advisory Recovery Team” of city officials, business leaders, community leaders, and residents in an inclusive effort to plan the community’s recovery.

The NDRF offers guidance on how to coordinate recovery efforts among different levels of government and nongovernmental partners.

Unity of effort means there are common objectives, built upon consensus and a transparent and inclusive planning process. It means that members from all levels of government and sectors of society are working with and supporting one another to achieve recovery.

Spirit Lake Nation, ND underwent a recovery planning effort in 2010 after years of flooding issues. Throughout the recovery planning process, all levels of government and sectors of society worked together to develop consensus on recovery projects. Federal agencies that supported the tribe’s recovery worked with tribal officials to ensure that recovery objectives were aligned with the tribe’s strategic goals. The tribe’s strategic goals formed the basis for recovery planning objectives.

The window of attention and opportunity often is shorter than the recovery itself. Timeliness and flexibility in achieving goals and objectives can help strengthen support and the opportunity for a successful recovery.

Opportunities for leveraging resources after a disaster may be lost if timely action is not taken. Flexibility is also important; you must be willing to adjust your own approach to achieve common recovery goals.

Clear and frequent communication to the public is essential to promoting everyone’s involvement in disaster recovery. Communication with the public should be timely, accurate, and accessible. The audience for such communication may have access to few communications outlets after a disaster. Also, the audience often includes people with limited English proficiency and/or persons with hearing or sight impairments. Before you distribute public communications, consult with a public affairs officer to determine when translation services (e.g., in-person translators, flyers, etc.) are needed.

A successful recovery process promotes practices that minimize the community’s risks. It strengthens its ability to withstand and recover from future disasters. This constitutes a community’s resiliency.

Resilience incorporates hazard mitigation and land use planning strategies as well as critical infrastructure, environmental, and cultural resource protection. It also includes sustainability practices to reconstruct the built environment, and measures to revitalize and strengthen the economic, social, and natural environments.

Resilience and sustainability are promoted through existing FEMA guidance, e.g., The Local Mitigation Planning Handbook. This handbook speaks directly to local officials and residents by providing step-by-step guidance for communities to use in increasing their resilience and incorporating sustainable concepts ahead of a disaster.

In addressing recovery needs, we have to remember that the state and community are comprised of individuals who have been through traumatic events.

Recovery does not apply exclusively to the built environment. It applies to the emotional recovery of individuals and families as well. Successful recovery includes both the built environment and the emotional and physical health of people, and acknowledges the relationship between them.

Disasters can be traumatic events that cause psychological and emotional injury to survivors, family and friends of victims, and even those not directly physically impacted. It can trigger post-traumatic stress syndrome and disorder and related diagnoses. A disaster can also trigger increased incidents of domestic violence. This psychological trauma can last well beyond the disaster response period and may not even present itself until well into the recovery phase of a disaster.

Recovery officials should seek guidance from, and make available the opportunity of counseling from, trained professionals. Psychological issues were significant for survivors, recovery workers, and those in the general community after Hurricane Sandy, the Joplin tornado, and many other major events. These issues are sometimes unnoticed but still present.

FEMA’s Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program funds the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services to provide technical assistance, consultation, training for state and local mental health personnel, grant administration, and program oversight.

Some NGO resources include:

• American Red Cross
• International Critical Incident Stress Foundation
• National Organization for Victim Assistance

Every community defines successful recovery outcomes differently based on its circumstances, challenges, recovery vision, and priorities. For example, one community may characterize success as the return of its economy to pre-disaster conditions while another may see success as the development of new economic opportunities.

Experience shows that the presence of certain factors in a community can help ensure a successful recovery. The NDRF lists the following factors:

1. Effective Decision Making and Coordination
2. Integration of Community Recovery Planning Processes
3. Well-Managed Recovery
4. Proactive Community Engagement, Public Participation, and Public Awareness
5. Effective Financial and Program Management
6. Organizational Flexibility
7. Resilient Rebuilding
8. Health Integration
9. Comprehensive Scope

Characteristics of Effective Decision Making and Coordination include:

• Defining roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders
• Examining recovery alternatives, addressing conflicts, and making informed and timely decisions
• Establishing ways to measure and track progress of assistance, ensuring accountability, making adjustments to ongoing assistance, and reinforcing realistic expectations

In Joplin, Missouri, the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team of city officials, business leaders, community leaders, and residents formed after the May 22, 2011 tornado. This group established community guidance:

• “First and foremost, to engage residents to determine their recovery vision for Joplin and to represent their views to the community
• To provide a systematic way to address recovery through a planning process
• To bring all segments of the community together to share information and work together”

This set the stage for effective coordination and for decision making by the city officials, school administration, and business.

Characteristics of Integration of Community Recovery Planning Processes include:

• Linking recovery planning to other community planning efforts (e.g., Response, Mitigation, comprehensive plans)
• Providing a foundation for recovery plans with individual, business, and community preparation and resilience-building
• Developing processes and criteria for identifying and prioritizing key recovery actions and projects
• Creating an organizational framework that involves key sectors and stakeholders from all sectors and interests

Disaster recovery provides the opportunity to establish or update building codes and make land use decisions that are timely, so as not to impede the pace of recovery, and to build back smarter by using mitigation and sustainability measures to enhance the resilience of the community.

Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery: Next Generation is designed to help communities improve their resiliency and provides how-to guidance for communities to start their mitigation planning and disaster-recovery planning processes. The new report was produced by the American Planning Association (APA) through a cooperative agreement from FEMA.

Characteristics of a Well-Managed Recovery include:

• Effectively leveraging resources (funding, subject matter experts, staff, etc.)
• Coordination of pre-disaster partnerships at the local, state, tribal and federal levels, including those with the private sector and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
• Seeking out and successfully using outside sources of help such as surrounding governments, foundations, universities, non-profit organizations, and private-sector entities
• Management of the transition from response to recovery
• Planning for surging personnel demands post-disaster

In the aftermath of a disaster, departmental responsibilities typically expand to accommodate recovery demands in addition to pre-disaster assignments.

Examples of disaster-specific assignments for which departmental staff might be responsible include:

• Building department staff will develop guidelines for selecting contractors and will monitor contractor complaints and licensing issues.
• The Planning Department will address incorporation of mitigation improvements into repair and redevelopment plans.
• The Public Works Department will coordinate debris removal and address landfill capacity issues.
• The Housing Authority will help tenants find transitional or permanent housing.
• The Economic Development Agency will help businesses locate temporary facilities and financing.
• The Health Department will provide or coordinate crisis counseling services for affected citizens.
• The Finance Department will establish accounting and documentation procedures to track expenditures related to recovery.

Including guidance in pre-disaster recovery plans regarding how these expanded responsibilities will be accommodated will help decrease post-disaster workloads and facilitate training and other pre-disaster preparation.

Characteristics of Proactive Community Engagement, Public Participation, and Public Awareness include:

• Stakeholders working together to maximize the use of available resources
• Creating post-disaster recovery plans that reflect the community’s long-term recovery goals
• Making public information available and accessible to keep everyone informed throughout the recovery process
• Full participation in the recovery process to address challenges and opportunities facing the community, which can assist an individual to make personal decisions about recovering from a disaster

Characteristics of Effective Financial and Program Management include:

• Understanding which funding sources could finance recovery
• Knowing how to administer external funding programs
• Having a system of internal financial and procurement controls and external audits for all funds and in-kind resources
• Developing and maintaining adequate financial monitoring and accounting systems for new and large levels of investment
• Maximizing the use of local businesses to aid recovery of the local economy

Appropriations laws for some disaster recovery resources will explicitly require recipients to have financial and procurement systems in place that prevent fraud, waste, and abuse and that avoid unnecessary and unreasonable costs.

Characteristics of Organizational Flexibility include:

• Having recovery structures at all government levels that evolve, adapt, and develop new skills and capacities to address changing recovery needs
• Facilitating compliance with laws, regulations, and policies
• Ensuring flexible staffing and management structures
• Having pre-disaster partnerships to help reduce or avoid the challenges of establishing new partnerships in a post-disaster environment

Characteristics of Resilient Rebuilding include:

• Taking into account ecological, environmental, and local capacity
• Adopting sustainable building techniques, building codes, and land use ordinances
• Incorporating risk reduction strategies into local governance and decision making

Characteristics of Health Integration include:

• Considerations regarding health
• Implications of health in recovery decision making

Characteristics of Comprehensive Scope include planning and operating recovery programs and organizations with the understanding that efforts serve people, their culture, and their place.

Recovery efforts must address a continuum that includes individual survivor needs as well as the needs of the community and surrounding environment.

You have completed the first lesson of the course. You should now understand the NDRF Guiding Principles and factors for a successful recovery. You should also understand why the NDRF was developed, and how it transforms recovery and planning activities associated with the Recovery Continuum.

Lesson 2 will introduce how different sectors, from individuals and families to the Federal Government, can support recovery.

This lesson will introduce you to the roles and responsibilities outlined in the NDRF within different sectors of the community.

Enabling Objectives:

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Explain the respective recovery roles and key responsibilities of different stakeholders among sectors of the community.
• Describe the NDRF’s core planning activities.
• Describe local, state, tribal, territorial, and Federal recovery leadership roles and responsibilities.

Mamnda Koehn
Youth Working Group
I feel like our voice is finally being heard and they're actually taking our ideas into account.

Woman’s Voice 1:
We brought in some artists, we brought in some land use planners, some people with architectural backgrounds to help us do some sketches of what would this look like, and so we brought these people in and they worked with the residents and they were able to come up with some great ideas.

Man’s Voice:
From what you’ve seen, heard, and know so far in this whole process, what do you think is the most important thing that needs to be dealt with?

Woman 2:
I see it right there, the grocery store, the bank, keeping…

Man’s voice:
The services…

Woman 2:
Things like that, the services for the people in the community.

Man’s voice:
Right.

Kim Miller
Wagon Wheel Restaurant
Every community deserves the basics and Shickshinny doesn’t have any of the basics right now.

Woman 1:
After the feedback that we got from the design workshop we decided to take all of that information and really figure out what projects are going to get us the most bang for our buck.

Stakeholders from all sectors of the community have important recovery roles and responsibilities, both pre-disaster and post-disaster. When all members of the community participate, the likelihood of successful recovery increases.

The NDRF describes roles and responsibilities for:

1. Ensuring Inclusion of Whole Community
2. Individuals, Families, and Households
3. Nongovernmental Organizations
4. Private Sector Entities
5. Local Governments
6. State, Tribal, Territorial and Insular Area Governments
7. Federal Government

This lesson will discuss pre- and post-disaster responsibilities and actions for each of these sectors of the community.

Before we begin, it is important to understand the difference between Pre- and Post-disaster roles and responsibilities.

• Pre-disaster responsibilities and activities relate to mitigation and capacity building for recovery before disaster strikes. These responsibilities and activities lessen the potential impact of disasters while growing your understanding of and ability to implement recovery activities.
• Post-disaster responsibilities and activities relate to determining needs and resources for recovery after a disaster strikes. These responsibilities and activities involve addressing the needs of individuals and households, assessing damages, gaps in the financial ability to address losses, and having an understanding of the resources available to support recovery.

This lesson will include a few planning actions and activities that different sectors of your community can take to plan for recovery.

Individuals and families make up the basic fabric of any community. They provide a personal perspective on community recovery needs both pre- and post-disaster that no other public-sector or private-sector organization can provide. They are the primary beneficiaries of any pre- or post-disaster recovery activity.

Examples of Pre-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for individuals and families include:

Developing an individual or family plan for disaster recovery: It is important to be prepared to take care of yourself and your family first, after disaster strikes. This includes but is not limited to: having a disaster preparedness kit (with food, water, and battery powered communication devices) and a recovery plan addressing evacuation, sheltering-in-place, and sheltering needs.

Maintaining adequate insurance coverage: Having insurance to help cover damages will enable you to recover your losses faster. It will also lessen or eliminate your need to get loans or grants to pay for damages.

Participating in pre-disaster preparedness activities: If your community is engaged in planning for disaster preparedness (e.g., developing or updating a pre-disaster recovery or hazard mitigation plan), contribute your ideas to the process.

Examples of Post-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for individuals and families include:

Managing individual and family recovery: In the aftermath of a disaster, make sure you and your family are safe, and begin reaching out to resource providers as needed (e.g., local NGOs, your insurance company, FEMA, and so forth).

Participating in post-disaster recovery planning: Post-disaster recovery planning is an inclusive process. That means you can contribute your thoughts and ideas about community recovery.

Participating on specific recovery projects: If you are interested in a particular recovery project, volunteer your time to support the effort.

Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) play a vital role in the recovery of impacted communities. NGOs include voluntary organizations, faith-based and community organizations, charities, foundations and philanthropic groups, professional associations, and academic institutions.

NGOs are stakeholders in community recovery planning, case management services, volunteer coordination, behavioral health and psychological and emotional support, technical and financial support, housing repair and construction that meets accessibility/universal design standards, and project implementation.

Examples of Pre-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for NGOs include:

Building relationships with emergency managers and other recovery officials to ensure an active voice in the recovery process: NGOs provide a wide array of services to the public. Their involvement in recovery starts with establishing relationships with recovery leaders.

Identifying resources to provide services: NGOs can identify local organizations that are able to support community recovery equitably, and build relationships with them.

Helping to ensure accessible communications: NGOs can help government officials ensure that Pre-disaster planning efforts are communicated to all individuals and families in the community in an accessible manner (e.g., for those with sight or hearing impairments, persons not proficient in English, etc.).

Examples of Post-Disaster Responsibilities and Activities for NGOs include:

Facilitating and encouraging the participation of leaders and representatives from historically underserved communities: NGOs have outreach capability and can ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate in the recovery process.

Facilitating stakeholder workshops: NGOs can help community members learn about resources available to them after a disaster.

Serving as subject matter experts in their fields of expertise: The community depends on NGOs to provide services, including education, volunteer coordination, communications support, feeding, long-term sheltering, alternate housing solutions, community recovery planning, case management services, short-term psychological and emotional support, donations management, debris removal, and other areas of expertise and assistance.

Ensuring implementation of Whole Community: When needs are identified that fall outside the scope of one organization, these needs can be coordinated with other disaster recovery organizations, including whole community partners to ensure a unified recovery process that maximizes effectiveness of the overall effort.

Examples of Pre-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for the private sector includes:

• Developing and testing business continuity and restoration plans: Similar to individuals and families, Private Sector Entities should also be prepared for disasters since the services they provide (e.g. utility services, employment) are vital to community recovery.
• Building relationships with emergency managers and other recovery officials to ensure an active voice in the recovery process: Private Sector Entities, especially utility providers, plays a major role in supporting the restoration of critical infrastructure.
• Having adequate insurance coverage: This may include not just hazard coverage but also business interruption and other coverage with appropriate specific endorsements, such as for utility service interruption or discretionary payroll expense.

Examples of Post-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for the private sector includes:

• Helping their employees: First and foremost, businesses should make sure their employees are safe and provide them guidance on returning to work.
• Providing resources: Private Sector Entities can provide volunteers, leaders, technical assistance, commodities, and facilities to support recovery.
• Rebuilding safer and stronger: Disaster impacts may present opportunities to rebuild in a safer, more resilient way.
• Collaborating: Private Sector Entities may contribute to recovery through collaboration by establishing or serving on recovery groups or a task force. Local businesses may also participate directly through chambers of commerce or other associations. 

Examples of Pre-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for the local government include:

• Understanding and communicating key hazards, risks, and vulnerabilities that can cause challenges to recovery: Knowing risks enables the community to plan to mitigate those risks before a disaster strikes. The Pre-disaster recovery planning process is necessary to enable local governments to predetermine local recovery functions, roles, structures, and funding for post-disaster recovery efforts to expedite the recovery process, including planning for and training a Local Disaster Recovery Manager (LDRM). Local governments should conduct trainings and exercises regularly to educate recovery partners and stakeholders about local recovery plans.
• Identifying critical infrastructure and key services that should be restored immediately after a disaster: Local government officials, NGOs, and private-sector businesses should work together to identify and plan for the quick restoration of critical community services.
• Planning outreach to individuals with disabilities, limited English proficiency, seniors, children, and members of underserved populations: It is important to understand the community makeup and community organizations that can support outreach to all individuals and families. Ideally, local governments will plan with, rather than for, community members to ensure a comprehensive recovery plan for the whole community.

Examples of Post-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for the local government include:

• Providing leadership in recovery preparedness: The local government leads the recovery effort. This is in line with one of the NDRF’s key concepts: local primacy. Local governments seek to rebuild and revitalize all sectors of the community, including local critical infrastructure, essential services, business retention, and redevelopment of homes that are damaged or destroyed.
• Appointing a Local Disaster Recovery Manager (LDRM): LDRM is the point person for organizing local recovery. Sample roles and responsibilities of the LDRM are discussed in greater detail later in this lesson.
• Communicating essential information: Throughout the recovery process, it is critical to find opportunities to share information with the public on the status of recovery efforts to maintain community coordination and focus.
• Reviewing pre-existing plans: Pre-existing plans (e.g., comprehensive plans, land use plans, capital improvements plans, etc.) can help guide recovery planning. If the community already has some or all of these plans in place, capitalize on them and avoid re-inventing the wheel.

States lead, manage, and drive the overall recovery process at the state level, and play a central role in coordinating recovery activities that include providing financial and technical support to help communities address recovery needs.

In addition to managing federally provided resources, state government may develop programs or secure funding that can help finance and implement recovery projects.

Examples of Pre-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for the state government include:

• Creating post-disaster recovery authority: This involves developing a recovery structure and leadership, such as a State Disaster Recovery Coordinator (SDRC), with the legal authority and fiscal tools to manage recovery.
• Ensuring state laws do not inhibit recovery efforts: Local recovery should be streamlined as much as possible. If there are state laws that could interfere with recovery after a disaster, identify ways to change those laws (if possible) to support local recovery.
• Maintaining and promoting hazard mitigation plans: Keeping hazard mitigation plans up to date ensures that risks and vulnerabilities are known and can be addressed before disaster strikes. If a plan is already in place, the state may conduct exercises and training to ensure recovery partners are well-versed in their roles and responsibilities.

Examples of Post-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for the state government include:

• Determining the need for and deploying a State Disaster Recovery Coordinator (SDRC): Depending on the scope of the disaster, it is up to the state to determine if an SDRC is needed. Roles and responsibilities of the SDRC are discussed in greater detail later in the lesson.
• Streamlining the delivery of resources to local communities: States assist local governments post-disaster by identifying, securing, and leveraging recovery resources and funds for local governments. The state provides a critical link between Federal resource providers and local governments.

Examples of Pre-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for the tribal government include:

• Pre-assigning tribal recovery functions, roles, and responsibilities to a Tribal Disaster Recovery Coordinator (TDRC): Having recovery leadership in place early ensures that recovery efforts can be organized and implemented quickly. The roles of the TDRC are discussed in greater detail later in this lesson.
• Understanding and communicating key hazards, risks, and vulnerabilities that can cause challenges to recovery: Knowing risks enables the community to plan to mitigate those risks before a disaster strikes.
• Integrating recovery and hazard mitigation in community planning processes: Recovery and hazard mitigation are critical components of the planning process, specifically maintaining and promoting of mitigation plans and actions, implementing continuity of operations and government plans, and conducting Pre-disaster recovery planning.

Examples of Post-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for the tribal government include:

• Defining tribal recovery goals: Post-disaster, tribal governments drive the process of assessing recovery needs, setting priorities, and communicating and collaborating with local, regional/metropolitan, state, other tribal, territorial, insular area, and Federal, and nongovernmental partners to address recovery needs. This means establishing goals, supporting objectives, and timelines for recovery.
• Determining the need for and deploying a Tribal Disaster Recovery Coordinator (TDRC): Depending on the scope of the disaster, it is up to the tribe to determine if a TDRC is needed. The roles and responsibilities of the TDRC are discussed in greater detail later in this lesson.
• Managing federal funds: Managing federal funds and understanding regulations for using those funds is important to ensure that they are used responsibly.

The roles and responsibilities of territorial and insular area governments are similar to those of a state. Their governments are responsible for coordinating resources to address actual or potential incidents. Due to their remote locations, territories and insular area governments often face unique challenges in receiving assistance from outside the jurisdiction quickly. They may request assistance from neighboring islands or nearby countries.

Information about the roles of State, Tribal, and Territorial Disaster Recovery Coordinators will be covered later in this lesson.

Examples of Pre-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for the Federal Government include: 

• Planning for national-level responsibilities of recovery challenges: The Federal Government is responsible for always being prepared to support recovery in disaster-impacted areas. Specifically, Federal departments and agencies work to build capacity for all Recovery Core Capabilities across the Federal RSFs through joint planning, training, and exercises prior to a disaster.
• Facilitating Coordination: The Federal Government uses the NDRF and its coordinating structures to engage necessary and available department and agency capabilities to provide enhanced coordination and support state, territorial, tribal, territorial, and local recovery efforts when necessary.
• Identifying and training federal recovery leadership: The Federal Government identifies and trains Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinators (FDRCs), Recovery Support Function (RSF) leadership, and others so that they are prepared to support recovery.
• Identifying and resolving potential overlaps among federal programs and resources: It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to identify programs that duplicate or overlap one another to ensure that the delivery of resources to local communities, states, and tribes is efficient and equitable.

Examples of Post-disaster Responsibilities and Activities for the Federal Government include:

• Deploying a Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator (FDRC) and Recovery Support Functions (RSFs) as necessary: Depending on the scope of the disaster, the Federal Government may deploy an FDRC and some or all RSFs to support disaster recovery. The roles and responsibilities of the FDRC and RSFs are discussed in greater detail in the following lessons.
• Supporting local, state, and tribal recovery efforts: The Federal Government supports, but does not lead, local, state, and tribal recovery. The Federal Government’s supporting role is especially important during the early weeks after a major disaster or catastrophic incident, when many local communities are overwhelmed with response and short-term recovery efforts.
• Identifying Federal programs or technical expertise that can help address local, state, or tribal needs: The Federal Government will help identify resources to support recovery based on needs identified at the local, state, and tribal levels.
• Communicating essential information: The Federal Government also plays an important role in providing accessible information to the public and all stakeholders involved in recovery, including information about federal grants and loans with potential applications to recovery.

The National Planning Frameworks explain the role of each mission area in national preparedness and provide the overarching strategy and doctrine for how the whole community builds, sustains and coordinates the delivery of the core capabilities. The concepts in the Frameworks are used to guide Operational Planning at all levels, which provides further information regarding roles and responsibilities, identifies the critical tasks an entity will take in executing core capabilities, and identifies resourcing, personnel, and sourcing requirements.

At the Federal level, each Framework is supported by a mission-area-specific Federal Interagency Operational Plan (FIOP). The Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 101 is a guide for local, regional/metropolitan, state, tribal, territorial and insular area governments to develop a disaster planning process.

The NDRF also lists operational planning assumptions, which are fundamental considerations that will make the operational planning activities and responsibilities mentioned earlier easier. Recovery planning assumptions are typically broad and help to frame the objective of the planning effort. They require acknowledgement that planning objectives are complex and apply to the whole community. Some overarching recovery planning assumptions include: 

• Future risk is evolving and presents new challenges.
• Incidents are typically managed at the lowest possible geographic, organizational, and jurisdictional level.
• Resilience, both physical and social, is a desired outcome—the state of being able to adapt to changing conditions and then withstand and effectively rebound from the impacts of disasters and incidents. 
• Resilience can be acquired through a process of Pre- and Post-disaster planning, leadership development, and partnership building.

Pre-disaster recovery planning enables local, state, and tribal governments to guide recovery decisions and activities. When done in conjunction with comprehensive local and regional community development, pre-disaster planning helps to identify recovery priorities and hazard mitigation strategies that could be incorporated into recovery in the wake of a disaster.

Some Pre-disaster planning considerations include:

• Establishing clear leadership, coordination, and decision making structures at the local, state, and tribal levels
• Developing pre-disaster partnerships to ensure identification of potential recovery needs and engagement of all potential resources
• Integrating pre-disaster recovery planning with other community planning efforts

Communities that take a deliberate approach to managing recovery efforts and resources after a disaster can improve their outcomes. Recovery planning puts community decisions in the context of the disaster’s impacts and effects, and can form a foundation for allocating resources. The planning process can aid in establishing benchmarks or measures for a successful recovery process.

Some Post-disaster planning considerations include:

• Working with all groups of people affected by the disaster to promote inclusive and accessible outreach to their communities and address issues relevant to them
• Building partnerships among local agencies, jurisdictions, and state, tribal, and Federal governments

Using a community-driven and locally managed process to promote local decision making and ownership of the recovery planning and implementation effort.

The LDRM’s role is to organize, coordinate, and advance the recovery at the local level. He or she works with other levels of government and other sectors of the community to coordinate resources and support.

The LDRM in a community may be a specially designated position, or an existing local government staff person may assume the responsibilities associated with being a designated LDRM.

Pre-disaster Responsibilities of the LDRM include:

• Serving as the primary point of contact for local disaster recovery preparedness
• Coordinating the development, training, and exercise of a local recovery plan
• Building and maintaining relationships for recovery resources and support
• Promoting resiliency and sustainability in recovery

NOTE: This is an overview of Pre-disaster Responsibilities.  More detail can be found in the NDRF.

Post-disaster Responsibilities of the LDRM include:

• Leading and coordinating local recovery-dedicated organizations
• Working with the State Disaster Recovery Coordinator (SDRC) to develop communication strategies
• Participating in damage and impact assessments
• Organizing the local recovery planning process

NOTE: This is an overview of Post-disaster Responsibilities. More detail can be found in the NDRF.

The SDRC's role is to organize, coordinate, and advance the recovery at the state level. He or she works closely with local officials to help communicate local recovery priorities and resources to federal officials. The SDRC establishes or leads a state-wide structure for managing the recovery.

The SDRC is the link between local recovery operations and the resources available at the state and federal levels. He or she is responsible for facilitating communication between the federal and local efforts, while also coordinating with other state agencies.

Pre-disaster Responsibilities of the SDRC include:

• Serving as the primary point of contact with local, tribal, and Federal governments and the FDRC
• Coordinating the development, training, and exercise of state recovery plans
• Establishing and maintaining contacts and networks for recovery resources and support
• Promoting resiliency and sustainability in recovery

NOTE: This is an overview of Pre-disaster Responsibilities. More detail can be found in the NDRF.

Post-disaster Responsibilities of the SDRC include:

• Establishing and/or leading a state-wide structure for managing recovery and supporting local and tribal recovery organizations
• Encouraging the incorporation of mitigation, resilience, and sustainability into recovery efforts
• Coordinating state, federal, and other funding streams, and communicating issues, solutions, and resource gaps and overlaps in funding

NOTE: This is an overview of Post-disaster Responsibilities. More detail can be found in the NDRF.

The TDRC’s role is to organize, coordinate, and advance the recovery at the tribal level. He or she works closely with federal and sometimes state and local officials to communicate tribal recovery priorities. The TDRC establishes or leads a tribal structure for managing the recovery.

The TDRC has responsibilities in common with the LDRM and the SDRC. Depending on the political makeup of the tribal community, there may be no tribal districts or localities with individual LDRMs. In this case, the TDRC’s responsibilities may overlap those of an LDRM.

Pre-disaster Responsibilities of the TDRC include:

• Serving as the primary point of contact with neighboring local and tribal governments, the Federal Government, and the state
• Coordinating development, training, and exercise of recovery plans
• Establishing and maintaining contacts and networks for recovery resources and support
• Promoting resiliency and sustainability in recovery

NOTE: This is an overview of Pre-disaster Responsibilities. More detail can be found in the NDRF.

Post-disaster Responsibilities of the TDRC include:

• Serving as the primary point of contact with neighboring local and tribal governments, the Federal Government, and the state
• Coordinating funding streams
• Organizing the tribal recovery planning process
• Ensuring that the tribal recovery process is inclusive
• Communicating tribal recovery priorities to state and Federal governments, stakeholders, and supporters

NOTE: This is an overview of Post-disaster Responsibilities. More detail can be found in the NDRF.

During non-disaster times, FDRCs maintain relationships at the local, state, tribal, and federal levels, as well as with nongovernmental entities, so that the FDRC has the knowledge, organization, and partnerships to act appropriately and effectively if a disaster strikes in their region.

NOTE: This is an overview of Pre-disaster Responsibilities. More detail can be found in the NDRF.

Post-disaster Responsibilities of the FDRC include:

• Developing a strategic approach for coordinating federal recovery support
• Working with impacted communities to help establish recovery priorities and objectives
• Promoting inclusiveness in recovery

NOTE: This is an overview of Post-disaster Responsibilities. More detail can be found in the NDRF.

You have completed the second lesson of the course. You should now understand NDRF-recommended leadership roles at the local, state, tribal, and Federal levels of government. You should also now understand how different sectors, from individuals and families to the Federal Government, can support recovery and key planning considerations that apply Pre- and Post-disaster.

Lesson 3 will describe the core capabilities (introduced in Lesson 1) as outlined in the National Preparedness Goal. 

Sources:

• National Disaster Recovery Framework

This lesson will introduce you to the core capabilities in the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) which enable effective recovery support to disaster-impacted states, tribes, and local jurisdictions through their delivery.  

Enabling Objectives:

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Identify the eight core capabilities for recovery.
• Describe how the core capabilities contribute to recovery.

Core capabilities are defined within each mission area (Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, Recovery). 

These core capabilities are activities that:

• Support accomplishment of the National Preparedness Goal
• Are necessary for carrying out the mission area
• Require a whole community effort

What is Recovery?

Recovery is restoring, redeveloping and revitalizing the community following a disaster. It includes health, social, economic, natural and environmental recovery.

The Recovery Core Capabilities support local governments by:

• Assisting with problem solving
• Improving access to resources
• Developing coordination among government agencies, nongovernmental partners and stakeholders

As we begin to look at the core capabilities, it is important to understand that the National Preparedness Goal specifically defines each of the core capabilities as well as the critical tasks that must be implemented to successfully deliver each one. 

No single jurisdiction or agency can accomplish these critical tasks by itself; it takes cooperation at all levels within the whole community to achieve national preparedness.

For each core capability, the NDRF provides a description and a list of critical tasks.

• The core capability is the function or activity that must be accomplished.
• The description defines the core capability.
• The critical tasks are the steps that must be taken to deliver the core capability.

As you explore the eight recovery core capabilities in this lesson, you will see the description and critical tasks for each capability.

There are 8 core capabilities for recovery:

Select this link to view a summary of the 8 core capabilities.

Planning

Conduct a systematic process engaging the whole community as appropriate in the development of executable strategic, operational, and/or tactical- level approaches to meet defined objectives.

 Public Information and Warning

Deliver coordinated, prompt, reliable, and actionable information to the whole community through the use of clear, consistent, accessible, and culturally and linguistically appropriate methods to effectively relay information regarding any threat or hazard and, as appropriate, the actions being taken and the assistance being made available.

Operational Coordination

Establish and maintain a unified and coordinated operational structure and process that appropriately integrates all critical stakeholders and supports the execution of core capabilities.

Economic Recovery

Return economic and business activities (including food and agriculture) to a healthy state and develop new business and employment opportunities that result in an economically viable community.

Health and Social Services

Restore and improve health and social services capabilities and networks to promote the resilience, independence, health (including behavioral health), and well-being of the whole community.

Housing

Implement housing solutions that effectively support the needs of the whole community and contribute to its sustainability and resilience.

Infrastructure Systems

Stabilize critical infrastructure functions, minimize health and safety threats, and efficiently restore and revitalize systems and services to support a viable, resilient community.

Natural and Cultural Resources

Protect natural and cultural resources and historic properties through appropriate planning, mitigation, response, and recovery actions to preserve, conserve, rehabilitate, and restore them consistent with post- disaster community priorities and best practices and in compliance with applicable environmental and historic preservation laws and executive orders.

First, you will learn about three core capabilities that are shared by all five mission areas (Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, Recovery)

The three cross-cutting core capabilities are:

 Planning

 Public Information and Warning

 Operational Coordination

The cross-cutting core capabilities help to tie the five mission areas together.

Let's take a closer look at the three cross-cutting core capabilities, starting with Planning.

The Planning core capability is described as conducting a systematic process engaging the whole community as appropriate in the development of executable strategic, operational, and/or tactical-level approaches to meet defined objectives.

It is important to plan; all governments from local to federal should work with their stakeholders to develop recovery plans before a disaster occurs.

To be effective, Recovery Planning should involve the whole community in defining how their area will achieve shared recovery goals. An effective plan developed by representatives of the whole community can increase community resilience and speed recovery efforts when a disaster occurs.

Planning should include Pre-disaster efforts to reduce the impact of a disaster. Pre-disaster plans that result in investment in resilient infrastructure will help communities to recover from disasters more effectively.

Post-disaster planning for recovery builds upon this Pre-incident planning. Post-disaster plans support a unified recovery effort and guide recovery decisions and activities.

Planning

Both pre- and post-disaster recovery planning are critical for communities to develop resilience and for successful and timely recovery. All governments have the responsibility to develop recovery strategies prior to and following an incident.

Pre-Disaster Recovery Planning

Pre-disaster plans provide a common platform to guide recovery decisions and activities and expedite a unified recovery effort. Pre-disaster recovery planning helps to establish roles, responsibilities, and partnerships; lay out recovery priorities and policies; incorporate hazard mitigation strategies in the wake of a disaster; and identify post-disaster processes and coordination.

Community-Based Planning

The responsibility of preparing for recovery begins with the individual and integrates with the larger responsibility of the community and local government. Community planning efforts need to reflect and involve the whole community and be supported by voluntary, faith-based community organizations; businesses; and local, regional/metropolitan, state, tribal, territorial, insular area, and Federal Governments.

Post-Disaster Recovery Planning

Post-disaster recovery planning supports a post event decision-making process to adapt and implement pre-disaster priorities and policies. Planning results in establishment of community vision, goals, initiatives, programs, strategies, and/or projects.

As discussed earlier, each capability has an associated set of critical tasks that are necessary for the delivery of the capability. Let’s take a look at the critical tasks that are needed for the Planning capability in regard to Recovery:

• Convene the core of an inclusive whole community planning team, identified pre-disaster, which will oversee disaster recovery planning process and activities to reduce recovery risk and increase resilience
• Develop a unified approach to making investments in resilient infrastructure to enable communities to withstand the effects of a disaster, respond effectively, recover quickly, adapt to changing conditions, and manage future disaster risk
• Complete an initial recovery planning process that provides an overall strategy for recovery, including operational and tactical level approaches
• Address all Recovery core capabilities and integrate socioeconomic, demographic, accessibility, and risk assessment considerations in recovery planning processes and strategies
• Identify achievable, tangible community based recovery actions and activities that support the community’s identified recovery goals. Coordinate planning efforts across jurisdictional boundaries

The Public Information and Warning core capability is described as the delivery of coordinated, prompt, reliable, and actionable information to the whole community through the use of clear, consistent, accessible, and culturally and linguistically appropriate methods to effectively relay information regarding any threat or hazard, as well as the actions being taken and the assistance being made available, as appropriate.

Information is important for recovery; it helps everyone to understand what actions they must take, what assistance is available and how long recovery efforts will continue.

Governments, the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) work together to provide this information during disaster recovery.

Public Information and Warning should be understood as a two way conversation between residents and community leaders as the whole community works to achieve a timely recovery.

Warning about incidents, emergencies and other public information must be delivered in a way that ensures all people can access the information that they need.

Think about the challenges in communicating critical information to people in a way that they can understand and take action. How do you ensure that the message reaches all people including those with various disabilities, those who can’t read or those who cannot understand the English language?

The critical tasks that are needed for the Public Information and Warning capability in regard to Recovery are:

• Develop communications strategy to ensure stakeholders have a clear understanding of the available assistance and their own roles and responsibilities throughout the recovery process
• Manage expectations through clarity, accuracy, and transparency
• Ensure information is in accessible formats for the whole community, including individuals with disabilities and others with access and functional needs, and owners and their animals (including household pets and service and assistance animals)
• Provide achievable, tangible recovery goals to local and other audiences; follow up with progress reports, as appropriate

The Operational Coordination core capability is described as the establishment and maintenance of a unified and coordinated operational structure and process that appropriately integrates all critical stakeholders and supports the execution of core capabilities. This is the capability that supports networking, planning, and coordination between recovery partners.

Leadership builds the confidence of their community when they effectively address the impacts of a disaster. Operational Coordination uses a unified operational structure and coordinated processes to bring together stakeholders to support recovery.

Operational Coordination is an activity used by leaders as they:

• Assess their community’s challenges
• Determine recovery priorities
• Use partners and resources to recover effectively

Operational Coordination helps to integrate the diverse recovery efforts. It can bring in recovery resources such as information, technical assistance, subject matter expertise and funding that are not available locally.

While governments have responsibility for the recovery of their communities, coalitions that ensure coordination and a whole community approach are needed for Successful Recovery.

The critical tasks that are needed for the Operational Coordination capability in regard to Recovery are:

• Lead, coordinate, and drive the recovery process
• Coordinate and leverage Recovery core capability resources
• Integrate the interests of the whole community into ongoing recovery efforts and future initiatives
• Ensure cross-mission and cross-capability integration through information sharing and coordination
• Establish mechanisms to more effectively engage whole community partners
• Improve future operational coordination through continual process improvements

Now that you have learned about the three common core capabilities shared by all mission areas, we will cover the five remaining core capabilities for recovery.

The first is a core capability shared by the Recovery and Response mission areas:

 Infrastructure Systems

The remaining four core capabilities are unique to the Recovery mission area. These are:

Economic Recovery

 Health and Social Services

Housing  

Natural and Cultural Resources

The Infrastructure Systems core capability is described as actions to stabilize critical infrastructure functions, minimize health and safety threats, and efficiently restore and revitalize systems and services to support a viable, resilient community.

This core capability brings together the efforts of the owners and operators of public and private infrastructure such as buildings, roads and power supplies.

Resource owners identify vulnerabilities and work to improve their ability to quickly restore services for the people and businesses they serve.

Recovery Planning should include efforts to improve resilience, accessibility, and sustainability of infrastructure.

These efforts can include new construction or system upgrade projects that will help infrastructure to recover faster and more effectively.

The critical tasks that are needed for the Infrastructure Systems capability in regard to Recovery are:

• Facilitate the restoration of and sustain essential services (public and private) to maintain community functionality
• Coordinate planning for infrastructure redevelopment at the regional, system-wide level
• Develop a plan with a specified timeline for developing, redeveloping, and enhancing community infrastructures to contribute to resilience, accessibility, and sustainability
• Provide systems that meet the community needs while minimizing service disruption during restoration within the specified timeline in the recovery plan

The Economic Recovery core capability is described as returning economic and business activities (including food and agriculture) to a healthy state and develop new business and employment opportunities that result in an economically viable community.

Everyone must work together to reestablish the local economy following a disaster.

Think about all of the costs that result from a disaster. Damage to lives, property and the local economy will require an investment of resources. Consider the numerous business activities to include food and agriculture that are necessary for recovery. No one source can cover all of these costs.

It takes cooperation, expertise and resources from the private sector, government, non-governmental organizations, and the whole community to rebuild businesses, restore employment, and develop economic opportunity following a disaster.

The critical tasks that are needed for the Economic Recovery capability in regard to Recovery are:

• Share, aggregate, and integrate economic impact data to assess economic issues and identify potential inhibitors to fostering stabilization of the affected communities
• Implement economic recovery strategies that integrate the capabilities of the private sector, enable strong information sharing, and facilitate robust problem solving among economic recovery stakeholders
• Ensure the community recovery and mitigation plan(s) incorporate economic recovery and remove inhibitors to post-incident economic resilience, while maintaining the rights of all individuals

The Health and Social Services core capability helps to restore and improve health and social services capabilities and networks to promote the resilience, independence, health (including behavioral health), and well-being of the whole community.

Timely restoration of health systems and social services such as hospitals, dialysis centers and child care is critical to a community’s recovery. People will need access to these services immediately after a disaster.

This requires a unified effort from the whole community:

• Government Agencies
• Aging, disability, nonprofit, voluntary, faith-based, and community organizations
• For-profit businesses
• Service providers
• Individuals and families

Unified action after a disaster is improved by planning before a disaster. The whole community should work together to identify how a disaster would affect the community, what health system and social services resources they would need for recovery, and what recovery strategies they will use. This Pre-disaster planning improves community health and resilience.

The critical tasks that are needed for the Health and Social Services capability in regard to Recovery are:

• Identify affected populations, groups and key partners in recovery
• Complete an assessment of community health and social service needs; prioritize these needs based on the whole community’s input and participation in the recovery planning process; and develop a comprehensive recovery timeline that includes consideration of available human and budgetary resources
• Restore health care (including behavioral health), public health, and social services functions
• Restore and improve the resilience and sustainability of the health care system and social service capabilities and networks to promote the independence and well-being of community members in accordance with the specified recovery timeline
• Implement strategies to protect the health and safety of the public and recovery workers from the effects of a post-disaster environment

The Housing core capability is described as implementing housing solutions that effectively support the needs of the whole community and contribute to its sustainability and resilience.

Housing is another critical requirement following a disaster. People will need accessible and affordable housing options, first temporary and then long term.

Challenges, including lack of resources and availability of financing, affect both the immediate requirement to ensure survivors are sheltered and the long term need to rebuild housing.

The Housing Core Capability supports the development of permanent housing options within existing resources and authorities.

Housing solutions must support the housing needs of the whole community and be:

• Safe
• Healthy
• Adequate
• Affordable
• Accessible

The critical tasks that are needed for the Housing capability in regard to Recovery are:

• Assess preliminary housing impacts and pre- and post-disaster needs, identify available options for temporary housing, and support the local development of the plan for permanent housing
• Address affordable, accessible, and workforce housing needs in community planning efforts
• Address interim housing needs, assess options for permanent housing, and define an achievable timeline for achieving a resilient, accessible, and sustainable housing market in community recovery plans
• Meet the resilient and sustainable permanent housing needs of the community, including the need for accessible housing and housing options for owners and their household pets within a specified timeframe

The Natural and Cultural Resources (NCR) core capability seeks to preserve, protect and restore the affected community's

• Natural resources
• Cultural resources
• Historic properties

in a way that is inclusive, sustainable, and resilient.

NCR recovery is a preservation operation since these resources can be fragile. It is more effective to protect or conserve them before a disaster; restoring or replacing them following a disaster is often impossible. For this reason, communities benefit from planning for the preservation of their NCR before a disaster occurs. This requires the expertise and resources of the whole community: individuals, governments, natural and cultural resource stakeholders (nongovernmental, nonprofit, and voluntary organizations), and the private sector.

The critical tasks that are needed for the Natural and Cultural Resources capability in regard to Recovery are:

• Implement measures to protect and stabilize records and culturally significant documents, objects, and structures
• Mitigate the impacts to and stabilize the natural and cultural resources and conduct a preliminary assessment of the impacts that identifies protections that need to be in place during stabilization through recovery
• Complete an assessment of affected natural and cultural resources and develop a timeline that includes consideration of available human and budgetary resources for addressing these impacts in a sustainable and resilient manner
• Preserve natural and cultural resources as part of an overall community recovery that is achieved through the coordinated efforts of natural and cultural resource experts and the recovery team in accordance with the specified timeline in the recovery plan

You have completed the third lesson of the course. You should now understand the core capabilities for recovery.

Lesson 4 will introduce the six Federal Recovery Support Functions, their general responsibilities, and how the Recovery Support Function structure is flexible to meet local, state, and tribal needs.

This lesson will introduce the Recovery coordinating structures, including Recovery Support Functions (RSFs). It will describe the RSF structure, its scalability, and each RSF’s mission in support of recovery.

Enabling Objectives:

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Identify coordinating structures used to deliver recovery capabilities.
• Define the term RSF.
• Describe the mission of each RSF.
• Explain how the RSF structure is scalable to meet different levels of Post-Disaster needs.

Jurisdictions develop arrangements with other organizations before a disaster to plan and coordinate the delivery of the Recovery Core Capabilities. These are arrangements, called Coordinating Structures, which maintain and deliver Core Capabilities.

For example, a recovery task force is a Coordinating Structure that can be established between a locality and other jurisdictions and groups to organize and integrate recovery resources.

Coordinating Structures support preparation for recovery through activities including information sharing, resource identification and technical assistance.

Coordinating Structures are not the same for all jurisdictions; each tailors the structures to meet its specific needs. 

Next we will explore local, state, territorial, tribal and non-governmental Coordinating Structures for recovery.

Local/ State/ Territorial Coordinating Structures

• Task forces and recovery committees are two common types of Coordinating Structures that organize and integrate their capabilities and resources with neighboring jurisdictions, the state, tribes, territorial, the private sector, and NGOs.
• Many jurisdictions employ a coordinating structure called Recovery Support Functions (RSFs) which will be discussed later in this lesson.

Tribal Coordinating Structures

• Tribes interact directly with the Federal Government, with state and local governments, and with the private-sector and nongovernmental partners. Tribal Coordinating Structures support this interaction.

The recovery coordinators discussed in Lesson 2 (State, Tribal, and Territorial Disaster Recovery Coordinators), are selected to facilitate these Coordinating Structures.

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Coordinating Structures

• Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) and Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) are coalitions that provide disaster-related services through volunteer resources.
• Long-Term Recovery Groups/Interfaith Roundtables are Coordinating Structures in which the local faith community, government, voluntary organizations, and others form a committee to support disaster recovery activities such as donations and volunteer management.

Federal Coordinating Structures

The Federal government uses a Coordinating Structure called Recovery Support Functions (RSFs). RSFs are similar to the Federal Emergency Support Functions (ESF) used for the response core capabilities.

RSFs bring together the knowledge, experience, skills, and resources of Federal departments and agencies and other supporting organizations to focus on recovery issues and needs.

RSFs are utilized to organize and request assistance, and to contribute resources and solutions for recovery.

The RSFs are organized into six functional components that support the Recovery core capabilities.

Each RSF is headed by a coordinating agency. Through the coordinating agency, supporting agencies and entities provide subject matter expertise for a particular sector or issue related to disaster recovery.

Now we will examine the six recovery RSFs, describing the structure, scalability and mission in support of recovery for each.

Roy Dunn
Federal Disaster Recovery Officer
Under the National Disaster Recovery Framework we have a recovery support function called Community Planning Capacity Building. That function inside of recovery is specifically to help local communities with their recovery plans.

Tim Gelston
Community Planning & Capacity Building Field Coordinator
We work with the community to understand what their needs are Post-disaster, and specifically recovery needs, at that community level again. And then we try to bring the needed resources together, or information to the communities so they can make better decisions really.

We don’t come to a community and force ourselves upon them and you know there is some vetting that goes on, because we want to make sure our efforts are provided to those communities who have the most need, but we’re also not necessarily saying no to anybody, if we can help out we will.

Roy Dunn
Federal Disaster Recovery Officer
We have over seventeen Federal agencies that are deployed here in New York to do that federal interagency coordination on the Federal level. And they are working directly with their state agency partners and local agency partners and communities to help us all; we’re all working together toward creating a recovery support strategy for Hurricane Sandy here in New York.

Natalie Grant
Health & Social Services Field Coordinator
Principally, we are here to collaborate amongst the Federal Interagency and bring to bear all those programs and resources that exist not only within the US Department of Health and Human Services but also throughout the Federal Interagency. That includes programs that support childcare, family well-being, schools principally as well as they are a hub for Healthcare and Human Services for some at risk groups. In addition, we are looking to coordinate across the larger, broader community effort with community planning, capacity building, economics and housing recognizing that the health of the community is where they reside and where they work and play, so really seeking to infuse concepts of healthcare, and healthy living principles as well in part of all of the community redevelopment, as community is recovering from disaster.

Sheila Daniels
Housing Field Coordinator
Our primary focus is on housing. We’re HUD, we’re housing, and to bring to the table support and resources for those who have been impacted in terms of helping them to identify housing solutions whether they are permanent or temporary. There are always going to be challenges, when you bring together major organizations, Federal Government or non, just in terms of organizational culture how we operate independently, and then in a very much emergency situation, try to bring us together and have us work collectively, you’re going to run into some challenges, but I think that we all recognize that this is a disaster and we’re all here for the good of the community and the people that we serve.

Daniel Alexander
Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator
We have different Federal agencies assigned functional responsibility for those six recovery support functions, and they work on the ground in trying to support state and locals. Under Housing it’s obviously Housing and Urban Development, Under the Economic Recovery, it’s the Economic Development Administration of the Department of Commerce. Under infrastructure it’s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Hibba Wahbeh
Infrastructure Systems Field Coordinator
We’re focusing on the 18 critical infrastructure sectors that are described in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan. Definitely transportation, Public Transit, Waste Water facilities in the state got hit really hard, the coastal areas were definitely hit hard, that was one of the biggest cross cutting issues between the different recovery support functions. And energy, energy was a big one.

Cheryl Hapke
Natural & Cultural Resources Field Coordinator
Our main goal is to work with state and local agencies to address a variety of issues having to do with Natural and Cultural Resources for developing a strategy, for resilient rebuilding of the coast line and the structures that are associated with it. We are trying to find out what the needs of the different agencies are at the variety of levels, and with the hope that we can identify the need and either provide things like technical assistance, access to data, funding if possible or at least help them leverage funding or direct them to funding, and any sort of assessments and technical assistance that they might need.

Each RSF has a coordinating agency, primary agencies, and supporting organizations.

1. Coordinating Agencies
• The RSF coordinating agency, with the assistance of FEMA, provides leadership, coordination, and oversight for that particular RSF.
2. Primary Agencies
• Primary agencies are Federal agencies that have significant authorities, roles, resources, or capabilities within an RSF.
3. Supporting Organizations
• Supporting organizations are organizations with specific capabilities or resources that support the coordinating and primary agency. Supporting organizations may be more or less involved in recovery depending on need.

The six RSFs, each with a specific focus area, have as members multiple agencies with specific responsibilities, expertise, and resources. The RSFs and their respective coordinating agencies are:

• Community Planning and Capacity Building (U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency)
• Economic Recovery (U.S. Department of Commerce)
• Health and Social Services (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
• Housing (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development)
• Infrastructure Systems (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
• Natural and Cultural Resources (U.S. Department of the Interior)

Coordinating Agency: U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (DHS/FEMA)

The CPCB RSF supports local government, states, and tribes to effectively organize, plan, and manage their recovery process. To that end, the RSF identifies opportunities to foster leadership, create partnerships, engage citizens and leverage resources.

Examples of CPCB RSF activities include:

• Identifying disaster impacts
• Providing planning support
• Promoting an inclusive planning process

Select this link to access the FEMA website.

Coordinating Agency: U.S. Department of Commerce

The Economic Recovery RSF brings the expertise of the Federal Government to help state, tribal, territorial and insular area governments, and the private sector to sustain and/or rebuild businesses and employment and to develop economic opportunities after a disaster.

Examples of Economic Recovery RSF activities include:

• Providing economic development support
• Supporting workforce development
• Assisting in the identification of economic opportunities

Select this link to access the U.S Economic Development Administration (Department of Commerce) website.

Coordinating Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The HSS RSF assists locally led recovery efforts in the restoration of the public health, health care, and social services networks to promote the resilience, health, and well-being of affected individuals and communities.

Examples of HSS RSF activities include:

• Providing analysis of local health and social service impacts
• Supporting planning for the recovery of local health and social services programs
• Identifying and leveraging resources to enable the recovery of local health and social services

Select this link to access the HHS website.

Coordinating Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

The Housing RSF addresses pre- and post-disaster housing issues to assist local, state, tribal, territorial, and insular area governments as they rehabilitate and reconstruct destroyed and damaged housing, when feasible, and develop new accessible, permanent housing options.

Examples of Housing RSF activities include:

• Encouraging decisions about land use and housing location
• Identifying gaps and resolving conflicting policy issues regarding housing
• Identifying and leveraging resources to assist in the development of long-term housing solutions

Select this link to access the HUD website.

Coordinating Agency: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The IS RSF helps local, state and tribal governments, as well as other infrastructure owners (which may be from the private or non-profit sectors) in the identification of infrastructure impacts and solutions for addressing those impacts.

Examples of IS RSF activities include:

• Assessing damage to infrastructure
• Identifying and leveraging resources to support the recovery of infrastructure
• Helping to resolve conflicts (e.g. competition for key resources) essential for the overall recovery of impacted infrastructure systems

Select this link to access the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website.

Coordinating Agency: U.S. Department of the Interior

The NCR RSF brings federal resources to help state and tribal governments and communities address long-term environmental and cultural resource recovery needs after a disaster.

Examples of NCR RSF activities include:

• Identifying opportunities to incorporate hazard mitigation into natural or cultural resource recovery projects
• Conveying the relationships between natural and cultural resources and other community assets in recovery planning
• Identifying and leveraging resources to support the recovery of natural and cultural resources

Select this link to access the Department of the Interior website.

The following screens will present examples of how the Federal structure for recovery aligns with state recovery sectors. An important theme to keep in mind is that the Federal recovery structure is flexible to meet the needs of states and tribes. States and tribes do not necessarily follow the Federal structure in organizing their recovery since that is not required. Managing recovery is a state/tribal responsibility and the Federal structure will be flexible to support the way they choose to organize their recovery operations.

Alternatively, in large-scale disasters, all RSFs may be needed.

• In the diagram, the state has activated its Public Health and Health Care, Human Services, and Education recovery sectors. On the Federal side, the Health and Social Services RSF is activated to support those departments.
• The state’s Transportation and Infrastructure and Public Safety and Flood Protection recovery sectors are supported by the Infrastructure Systems RSF.
• The state’s Environmental Management and Coastal Restoration recovery sectors are supported by the Natural and Cultural Resources RSF.
• In a large-scale disaster that affects utility, transportation, and other infrastructure, housing, environmentally sensitive areas, historic properties, physical and mental health of survivors, and local businesses, all RSFs will be activated.

Roy Dunn
Federal Disaster Recovery Officer
The implementation of the National Disaster Recovery Framework is going to be different in every disaster, with every state. The key for the federal family is to make sure that we modify our implementation to meet the needs of the state and to meet the needs of those local communities. The framework is very clear that all disasters are local and what that translates to is how we develop our organization in making sure we are supporting the local primacy and local leadership.

Daniel Alexander
Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator
What the NDRF is designed to do and what is provides, because of the folks that are working across the country at the Regional Level, it provides that consistency to keep a coordination structure in place for years to come. To continue working the issues that are going to be long term issues.

Effective recovery requires the ability for the recovery coordinating structures to link to, and share, information with the coordinating structures in other mission areas. For example, effective mitigation efforts directly impact recovery. Establishing close working relationships, lines of communication, and coordination protocols between Protection, Prevention, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery mission areas is critical to achieving Successful Recovery.

Let's take a look at how Recovery integrates with the other four mission areas.

Select the first four sections on the graphic below for more information. You will need to review each item before proceeding to the next screen.

After a terrorist incident, public information and security related to law enforcement activities will impact recovery. Through the management of the release of public information following an incident, follow-on attacks can be prevented while initiating psychological and social recovery efforts.

Additionally, proper recovery planning can ensure that all available resources and response assets are identified and trained to fill relevant vulnerability gaps to meet evolving threats that may prolong recovery efforts. Finally, proper crisis response plans can aid in the prevention of significant economic loss resulting from an incident and damage to vital infrastructure.

Previous mitigation activities may reduce recovery requirements. Opportunities for mitigation occur during recovery. Following an incident, recovery efforts can capitalize on the critical post-disaster window of opportunity to influence public opinion to take steps toward mitigation. These mitigation concepts can be communicated to community officials, homeowners, NGOs, and private sector owners, operators, and managers to minimize risks resulting from future incidents. Application of mitigation initiatives and investments pre-disaster can aid in reducing recovery resource requirements post-disaster.

Proper recovery planning can ensure that all levels of government work to implement disaster resistant building codes and incentivize private sector and individual pre-disaster preparedness activities and mitigation. Finally, recovery plans should work to incorporate health considerations and resilience and sustainability measures into identified infrastructure systems and housing recovery strategies.

The National Response Framework and ESF activities will be the foundation for early recovery processes and decision-making. The NDRF does not speak to short-term activities such as life sustaining, property protection, and other measures intended to neutralize the immediate threat to life, environment, and property and to stabilize the community. However, these activities influence recovery activities, necessitating the need for a structure to consider and advise on recovery implications during the early phases of incident management.

The recovery organizational constructs introduced in the NDRF coexist with ESFs and build upon the response organizational structure and resources to more effectively address inclusive recovery needs. These constructs incorporate and adopt the central tenets of the National Incident Management System and support the primacy of local, regional/metropolitan, state, tribal territorial and insular area governments in preparing for and managing the response and recovery from natural and human-caused incidents.

The NDRF also provides the tools to encourage early integration of recovery considerations into planning the response operations. The Response and Recovery mission areas include some of the same people and organizations; therefore, each coordinating agency ensures ongoing communication and coordination between primary agencies and support organizations, and between the Federal agencies, corresponding local, regional/metropolitan, state, tribal, territorial and insular area authorities, and nonprofit and private sector organizations.

The Recovery Federal Interagency Operational Plan (FIOP) provides further detail regarding roles and responsibilities, specifies the critical tasks, and identifies resourcing and sourcing requirements for delivering the Recovery core capabilities. It is written to describe how the Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator (FDRC) and Recovery Support Function (RSF) agencies and their partners will work to support local, state, tribal, territorial, and insular area recovery efforts in coordination with nongovernmental and private sector organizations.

The Response and Recovery mission areas are developing joint incident Annexes; the final plans will be attachments to both the Response and Recovery FIOPs. The incident Annexes identify authorities, capabilities, and roles and responsibilities that are unique to responding to and recovering from identified incidents.

The purpose of this Course Review is to:

• Review the key concepts presented in this course.
• Prepare to take the final exam.

This lesson introduced the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF). The NDRF was developed to address the need for:

• Focused recovery leadership at every level of government
• A strategic approach to addressing a wide range of recovery needs
• An effective structure for coordinating Federal resources to support disaster-impacted communities

The Recovery Continuum depicts the level of effort associated with each phase of recovery and includes the following phases of activities:

• Pre-Disaster Preparedness
• Post-Disaster Short-Term (days to weeks)
• Post-Disaster Intermediate-Term (weeks to months)
• Post-Disaster Long-Term (months to years)

The NDRF eight Guiding Principles were identified as necessary principles to incorporate into recovery efforts. They are:

• Individual and Family Empowerment
• Leadership and Local Primacy
• Pre-Disaster Recovery Planning
• Engaged Partnerships and Inclusiveness
• Unity of Effort
• Timeliness and Flexibility
• Resilience and Sustainability
• Psychological and Emotional Recovery

Experience shows that the presence of certain factors in a community can help ensure Successful Recovery efforts. The NDRF lists the following factors:

• Effective Decision Making and Coordination
• Integration of Community Recovery Planning Processes
• Well-Managed Recovery
• Proactive Community Engagement, Public Participation, and Public Awareness
• Good Financial Management
• Organizational Flexibility
• Resilient Rebuilding

This lesson covered Recovery stakeholders from all sectors of the community and how they have important recovery roles and responsibilities, both Pre-disaster and Post-disaster.

• Individuals and Families
• The Private Sector
• Local Government
• State Government
• Tribal Government
• Federal Government

The NDRF outlines roles and responsibilities of recovery leadership:

• The Local Disaster Recovery Manager (LDRM) organizes, coordinates, and advances the recovery at the local level. He or she works with other levels of government and other sectors of the community to coordinate resources and support.
• The State Disaster Recovery Coordinator (SDRC) organizes, coordinates, and advances the recovery at the state level. He or she works closely with local officials to help communicate local recovery priorities and resources to Federal officials.
• The Tribal Disaster Recovery Coordinator (TDRC) organizes, coordinates, and advances the recovery at the tribal level. He or she works closely with Federal and sometimes state and local officials to communicate tribal recovery priorities.
• The Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator (FDRC) is a central coordinator and leader for the Federal recovery support effort. Additionally, the FDRC supports non-disaster activities by building interagency and intergovernmental recovery support capacity and Pre-disaster planning and coordination with other Federal agencies.

This lesson covered the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) which provides guidance that enables effective recovery support to disaster-impacted states, tribes and local jurisdictions through delivery of the Recovery core capabilities.

Planning

Public Information and Warning

Operational Coordination

Economic Recovery

Health and Social Services

Housing

Infrastructure Systems

Natural and Cultural Resources

This lesson covered the RSFs which represent the Coordinating Structure for Federal recovery support.

• Community Planning and Capacity Building
• Economic
• Health and Social Services
• Housing
• Infrastructure Systems
• Natural and Cultural Resources

 Select this link to access all information presented.

• Coordinating Agency: U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (DHS/FEMA)
• Supports local government, states, and tribes to effectively organize, plan, and manage their recovery process

• Coordinating Agency: U.S. Department of Commerce
• Helps state, tribal, territorial and insular area governments, and the private sector to sustain and/or rebuild businesses and employment and to develop economic opportunities after a disaster

• Coordinating Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Assists locally led recovery efforts in the restoration of the public health, health care, and social services networks to promote the resilience, health, and well-being of affected individuals and communities

• Coordinating Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Assists local, state, tribal, territorial, and insular area governments as they rehabilitate and reconstruct destroyed and damaged housing, when feasible, and develop new accessible, permanent housing options

• Coordinating Agency: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• Supports local, state, and tribal governments and other infrastructure owners and operators in their efforts to achieve recovery goals

• Coordinating Agency: U.S. Department of the Interior
• Provides Federal resources to help state and tribal governments and communities address long-term environmental and cultural resource recovery needs after a disaster

You have completed the NDRF Overview Course.

You should now understand:

• Why the NDRF Was Developed
• NDRF Guiding Principles
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Coordinating Structures

This overview course has prepared you to take other, more advanced NDRF courses. Additionally, if you would like to explore the concepts presented in this course in more detail, you may download a copy of the NDRF from FEMA’s web site.

You may now take the final course exam. You will also have an opportunity to provide feedback about the course.

Sources:

National Disaster Recovery Framework