Emergency/Disaster Recovery

1. Recovery Management Overview

Welcome to Module 4: Emergency/Disaster Recovery

Great work this far! You have now made it through to the final module. If you recall, module 1 introduced you to some basic emergency management concepts, risks, and risk analysis. Module 2 focused on community and organisational resilience, risk readiness, and risk reduction. Module 3 discussed response management, collaboration, and coordination with the aim of supporting the communities and organisations within them during times of trauma and disaster. 

Now it is time to look at how communities and organisations can recover from disasters and emergency situations. 

Watch the video below (6:09 mins) which introduces recovery management.

1.1. Topic 1, Activity 1

Answer the following question. Although the activities in this course are not mandatory, they will prepare you to complete the certificate of achievement exam, if you elect to challenge it at the end of the course. 

1.2. Additional Resources

If you are interested in learning more, have a look at this resource: 

1. Recovery Management Overview.  NEMA

Photo: Jon Mitchell

Temporary housing at Poggio Picenza, L'Aquila, Italy, 2019, ten years after the 2009 earthquake.

2. Recovery Management- Long Term Impacts

Now that we have looked at recovery in general, this topic takes emergency management a step further and explores the long-term impacts that should be accounted for in recovery management. 

Watch the video below (6:03 mins) which explores the realities and issues involved in understanding and managing recovery from the long-term impacts of emergencies.

2.1. Topic 2, Activity 1

Answer the following question. Although the activities in this course are not mandatory, they will prepare you to complete the certificate of achievement exam, if you elect to challenge it at the end of the course. 

2.2. Additional Resources

For an discussion of some of the longer-term impacts of disasters, the article below is a good start:

1. Long-Term Consequences of Natural Disasters - A Summary of the Literature.

3. Readiness for Recovery

Now that you have accounted for some of the long-term impacts of emergencies in order to aide in recovery management, this topic looks at readiness for recovery. 

Watch the video below (6:21 mins) which explores the need to be ready to activate and scale up recovery management capabilities when the need arises. Part of this concept is overcoming the tendency of emergency management to put too much focus on readiness for response alone.

3.1. Topic 3, Activity 1

Answer the following question. Although the activities in this course are not mandatory, they will prepare you to complete the certificate of achievement exam, if you elect to challenge it at the end of the course. 

3.2. Additional Resources

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has developed a comprehensive guide to planning for recovery that you might well find useful:

1. Planning for Recovery.  NEMA.

4. The Role of Insurance

Disasters are expensive. Responding to disasters is expensive. Recovering from disaster is expensive. That is where insurance comes in to help compensate for specified losses, damage, illness, or death. 

Watch the video below (6:48 mins) which discusses the role of insurance in risk management and recovery. 

4.1. Topic 4, Activity 1

Answer the following question. Although the activities in this course are not mandatory, they will prepare you to complete the certificate of achievement exam, if you elect to challenge it at the end of the course. 

4.2. Topic 4, Activity 2

Discussion Forum

After watching the video a couple pages back, take a moment to consider the following questions and post your responses into the 'Preparing for Recovery' discussion forum. 

Question to consider for this discussion: 

1. What one critical thing could your community or organisations do to be more ready for disaster recovery?
   

**Note:  Although the activities in this course are not mandatory, they will prepare you to complete the certificate of achievement exam, if you elect to challenge it at the end of the course. 

4.3. Additional Resources

For a more detailed discussion of the role of insurance in risk reduction and disaster recovery, have a look at the article below:

• The Role of Natural Disaster Insurance in Recovery and Risk Reduction

5. National Recovery Management Model

In the previous topic, we looked at the role of insurance in disaster recovery. Another important consideration is a national model for disaster recovery. The main presenter for this topic is Sarah Stuart-Black, who was a senior manager and, later, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency in New Zealand.  Sarah is a Recovery Management specialist, the Secretary General of Red Cross New Zealand in 2021.

Watch the video below (6:56 mins) which provides an explanation of New Zealand's national recovery management model.

5.1. Topic 5, Activity 1

Answer the following question. Although the activities in this course are not mandatory, they will prepare you to complete the certificate of achievement exam, if you elect to challenge it at the end of the course. 

5.2. Additional Resources

The National Emergency Management Agency hosts a webpage with loads of information on Recovery Management.

1. Recovery Managers. NEMA

6. Recovery Processes

We have discussed short and long-term impacts of emergencies that should be considered in recovery management, the importance of considering recovery readiness, the role of insurance and the national recovery management model that New Zealand implements. Now is the time to take a step back and look at some general implications for that we have learned. 

Watch the video below (6:38 mins) which introduces the role, structures, and processes of effective recovery management.

6.1. Topic 6, Activity 1

Answer the following question. Although the activities in this course are not mandatory, they will prepare you to complete the certificate of achievement exam, if you elect to challenge it at the end of the course. 

6.2. Topic 6, Activity 2

Discussion Forum

After watching the video on the previous page, take a moment to consider the following questions and post your responses into the 'Challenges in Recovery' forum. 

Questions to consider for this discussion: 

1. What are some of the issues that are likely to come from applying recovery management processes?
2. After reading what some of your peers have said about the issues that are likely to come form applying recovery management processes, make some suggestions of how these could be addressed.
   

**Note:  Although the activities in this course are not mandatory, they will prepare you to complete the certificate of achievement exam, if you elect to challenge it at the end of the course. 

6.3. Additional Resources

For a detailed guide on organisational recovery for and management of disaster recovery, you can't go past the guideline produced by the New Zealand National Emergency Management Agency:

1. NEMA, 2020.  Recovery Preparedness and Management Guideline.

7. Psychosocial Resilience and Recovery

One of the key components of successful disaster recovery is psychosocial recovery which considers the impacts of disaster on social and psychological aspects of the communities involved.

Watch the video below (6:23 mins) to explore the concepts, challenges, and opportunities of psychosocial resilience and recovery.

7.1. Topic 7, Activity 1

Answer the following question. Although the activities in this course are not mandatory, they will prepare you to complete the certificate of achievement exam, if you elect to challenge it at the end of the course. 

7.2. Additional Resources

Dr Mauren Mooney and Dr Carol MacDonald are New Zealand-based international experts on the psychosocial impacts of disasters and approaches to addressing their effects on communities:

1. Psychosocial recovery from disasters: A framework informed by evidence

8. Case Study: Community Resilience

We talked about psychosocial resilience in the previous topic. This topic goes into more detail about how to build resilience within a community who is recovering from disaster. Resilience building should be a continuous consideration across all of the 4 Rs (reduction, readiness, response, recovery) of emergency management.  

Watch the video below (6:44 mins) which discusses community resilience in more detail, through a case study of community resilience-building in Wellington, New Zealand.

8.1. Topic 8, Activity 1

Answer the following question. Although the activities in this course are not mandatory, they will prepare you to complete the certificate of achievement exam, if you elect to challenge it at the end of the course. 

8.2. Additional Resources

For more details on the Wellington community resilience approach you can check out the document at the link below:

1. Wellington Region Emergency Management Office. Community Resilience Strategy. Second Edition. 2012

9. Case Study: Recovery

We have been on quite the journey exploring risk reduction, risk readiness, emergency response and recovery management. We have touched on some important concepts and you have seen some examples of real life emergency situations, how they were managed and what we can learn from them. 

Now, in this final topic, we are going to look at a recovery case study to to bring everything together. The Canterbury earthquakes is one such example that hits home for many of us.  

Watch the video below (6:09 mins) which explores a case study of recovery management in practice, the Canterbury earthquake recovery programme.

9.1. Topic 9, Activity 1

Answer the following question. Although the activities in this course are not mandatory, they will prepare you to complete the certificate of achievement exam, if you elect to challenge it at the end of the course. 

9.2. Topic 9, Activity 2

Discussion Forum

After watching the video a couple pages back, take a moment to consider the following questions and post your responses into the 'Canterbury Earthquake Case Study' discussion forum. 

Question to consider for this discussion: 

1. What are some of the issues that would have come from the lack of a standardised approach to response or recovery in the Canterbury earthquake context?
   

**Note:  Although the activities in this course are not mandatory, they will prepare you to complete the certificate of achievement exam, if you elect to challenge it at the end of the course.

9.3. Additional Resources

There is a wealth of resources on lessons identified from the Christchurch and Canterbury earthquake recovery experiences at the link below:

1. Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Learning and Legacy Programme

10. End of Module 4

Congratulations! 

You should have received a Module 4 completion badge. Great work!  

You should now have access to the course conclusion and certificate exam.

In addition to being able to access the final eBook, you will also see the list of discussion forums found within this topic so that you can easily access them throughout the course if you want to.