Recovery

Recovery is both a short term and long term process.  It starts at the same time as the response.  Short term recovery efforts usually focus on restoring essential services such as electricity, telephone, and water.  Long term recovery efforts focus on restoring the community to its pre-disaster condition or better.  This can involve rebuilding and continued social services for those affected by the disaster.  Long term recovery efforts will sometimes last for years following a major disaster.  Depending on the magnitude of the disaster, we may get assistance from the federal government in the form of loans or grants to assist in the recovery effort. 

What you can do

You can recover more quickly from a disaster by planning ahead.  Make sure you have an appropriate amount of insurance coverage.  Have a clear understanding of your deductibles and have a well documented household inventory, including replacement values. When recovering from a disaster, we must understand that the federal government will not fully pay to rebuild our homes or businesses.  In fact, if the damage is isolated or does not meet certain thresholds, there may not be any federal loans or grants to assist us in our recovery efforts.