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Disaster Recovery Operations

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Recovery in the aftermath of natural or man-made disasters is directly related to the availability of local resources and the infrastructure and operational ability to deliver assistance from outside the affected region. RAND researchers have helped governments, militaries, and private organizations organize recovery operations during disasters, learn from past experience, and prepare for future disasters.

Q&A

Disaster Recovery in Puerto Rico: Q&A with Marielena Lara

Apr 26, 2021

When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September 2017, it peeled roofs from houses, turned roads into rivers, and left millions of people without electricity or safe drinking water. Marielena Lara, a senior physician policy researcher at RAND, was grateful to be part of the recovery planning.
Commentary

New Thinking to Translate Infrastructure Dollars into Resilience

Jun 2, 2021

Infrastructure investments the United States makes today to recover from the pandemic can help boost resilience for the future. We will need to think beyond what we've done in the past to ensure that these investments can continue to protect the nation from shifting threats in the future.

Explore Disaster Recovery Operations

Journal Article

Short-Term Solutions to a Long-Term Challenge: Rethinking Disaster Recovery Planning to Reduce Vulnerabilities and Inequities

We review case examples to illustrate how post-disaster policies may influence the nature, pace, and inclusiveness of community recovery.

Apr 30, 2020
Research Brief

How the U.S. Coast Guard Can Leverage Social Media and Enhanced Cell Phone Data to Improve Emergency Response

A growing proportion of maritime distress calls to the U.S. Coast Guard comes indirectly through social media, 911, or cell phones. Better understanding of the social media and cell phone environments could help inform future Department of Homeland Security policy on using these media in response operations.

Mar 17, 2020
Report

U.S. Coast Guard Emergency Response and Disaster Operations: Using Social Media for Situational Awareness

Researchers are helping the U.S. Department of Homeland Security understand whether and how social media might be better leveraged for situational awareness in U.S. Coast Guard response operations.

Mar 17, 2020
Report

U.S. Army North in the Hurricane Maria Response

This report addresses questions from U.S. Army North about the assistance it provided to civilian disaster-response operations in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 1997.

Mar 10, 2020
Journal Article

Climate-Resilient Planning for Urban Stormwater and Wastewater Utilities: Workshop Proceedings

This document summarizes the Climate-Resilient Planning for Urban Stormwater and Wastewater Utilities Workshop, held July 16–17, 2019 at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility in Brooklyn, NY.

Mar 5, 2020
Journal Article

What Can FEMA Learn from the Historic 2017 Hurricane and Wildfire Seasons?

Emergency managers—including FEMA, but also extending to the states and localities that are the first line of defense—could do much more to identify statewide risks and build community resilience long before an event makes headlines.

Feb 12, 2020
Commentary

What Can FEMA Learn from the Historic 2017 Hurricane and Wildfire Seasons?

When a hurricane comes ashore or a wildfire ignites, most of a community's vulnerability to disaster is already set. Emergency managers including FEMA, states, and localities could do much more to identify statewide risks and build community resilience before an event makes headlines.

Feb 3, 2020
Testimony

California's Hospital Seismic Safety Requirements: Cost and Affordability

By 2030, California hospitals will be required by law to remain operational after a major earthquake. How much might it cost to reach compliance by the deadline? And can hospitals afford this estimated spending?

Jan 28, 2020
Commentary

Australia's Fires: Respond Now, but Also Measure Toll on People for the Future

As an Australian, Melissa Finucane has watched with anguish as massive bushfires devastated wide swaths of her home country. As a researcher who studies community resilience, she can't help but think of how much blood, sweat, tears, and money will be required to recover.

Jan 20, 2020
Journal Article

On the Need for Prospective Disaster Survey Panels

Understanding how human beings respond to emergencies is difficult, because a lack of predisaster data often makes before-and-after comparisons impossible.

Nov 26, 2019
Blog

Disinformation, Drug Policy, Artificial Intelligence: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on tools to fight disinformation online, the negative consequences of punishing pregnant women for drug use, how to ensure public trust in artificial intelligence, and more.

Nov 15, 2019
Report

The Benefits and Drawbacks of Early Assistance After Disasters

After human-made disasters, early assistance from potentially responsible parties can sometimes fill gaps that are not always addressed by NGOs and first responders. But is providing such assistance a good strategy in terms of reducing future litigation or improving public opinion?

Nov 14, 2019
Commentary

Hurricane Recovery in the Bahamas: Turning Good Intentions into Good Decisions

Recovery in the Bahamas will have to be a balancing act. Plans will need to allow for transition toward long-term strategic goals for the nation, but also be mindful of not perpetuating inequities.

Sep 6, 2019
Essay

How Citizen Scientists Are Protecting Their Communities

After Superstorm Sandy, residents of Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood cleaned up debris, pumped out basements, and teamed up with researchers to find out what was in the floodwater. They established safety protocols to help local businesses prevent their chemicals from escaping and wrote a guide to help other communities.

Aug 29, 2019
Report

The Potential of Community Citizen Science

Community citizen science offers unique opportunities to engage the public in science and to enhance civic life. It is used for activities like monitoring ecosystem health and enhancing disaster preparedness. But there are challenges to translating citizen science research into action.

Jun 18, 2019
Tool

Database of Literature on Oil Spills and Public Health

Overview that describes the literature search CRCG undertook and the database developed with a goal of assessing the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the health, social, and economic wellbeing of Gulf Coast communities.

May 20, 2019
News Release

Seismic Safety Upgrades May Cost California Hospitals Billions, Increase Number of Hospitals in Financial Distress

After the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, in which 11 hospitals were damaged and eight were evacuated, California adopted SB1953, which aims to improve hospital resilience to seismic events. The law requires hospitals to reduce their buildings' risk of collapse by 2020 and to remain operational after an earthquake by 2030. California hospitals would need to make substantial investments to meet 2030 state seismic safety standards.

Mar 28, 2019
Report

Seismic Safety Upgrades May Cost California Hospitals Billions

California hospitals are required by law to reduce their buildings' risk of collapse by 2020 and to remain operational after an earthquake by 2030. Hospitals have to pay for the upgrades, which could cost between $34 billion and $143 billion statewide. One-third of California hospitals are already in some form of financial distress.

Mar 28, 2019
Tool

Database of Literature on Disaster Surveys

The Consortium for Resilient Gulf Communities presents an overview of a literature review on the impacts of natural and man-made disasters in the United States and a corresponding database with the results from that review.

Mar 18, 2019
Report

Countering China's Efforts to Isolate Taiwan Diplomatically in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Role of Development Assistance and Disaster Relief

Taiwan provides development assistance and disaster relief programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. This report considers how Taiwan can optimize its help to this region to ensure that it gets the maximum diplomatic value for its generosity.

Mar 13, 2019

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RAND Topic:
Disaster Recovery Operations

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