Decades of disaster research and practice highlight the community's power across all parts of disaster management. Yet, this power often remains unrealized and untapped in practice. As discussed below, understanding and engaging with communities and their needs, improving resource allocation, and measuring results can better leverage the community's power and promote successful disaster management preparation, responses, and outcomes.
After a disaster, households and communities almost always come together to support each other to rebuild, reconstruct, and reestablish their lives. Indeed, so much of recovery is in the hands of households (PDF) and communities that researchers have repeatedly identified them, rather than governments, as the primary agents driving recovery.…
The remainder of this commentary is available at domesticpreparedness.com.
