2. RECOVERING FROM NATURAL DISASTERS © 2015 Texas Future Problem Solving Program

3. What is a Natural disaster? A natural disaster is a sudden, extreme event that occurs in a place where many people live. Disasters can leave people separated and without homes or access to food. Ensuring a successful recovery from disaster begins before a disaster even strikes and extends years afterward.

4. Some examples of natural disasters include tropical storms, extreme heat or cold, winds, floods, earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. Disasters are still widely thought of as sudden onsets of cataclysmic events; however, some disasters such as famine and drought are sometimes called “slow- onset” natural disasters. Disasters can even become “chronic” when they frequently happen over short periods of time.

6. Since natural disasters are unlikely to go away anytime soon, humans must continue to prepare, endure, and recover from the disasters as they happen. Preparing for disaster goes a long way in determining how effectively a country, state, city, or group of people will be able to recover.

7. Whether preparing on behalf of a group of individuals or a business, planning in advance has proven valuable in ensuring that people, pets, and organizations survive threats of nature.

8. Immediately following a disaster, life-saving assistance is most urgent. Humanitarian relief agencies, governmental organizations, and nonprofits prioritize providing food, water, shelter, and medical care to those in need. The goal is to prevent any further loss of life and to alleviate suffering as much as possible.

9. There are several successful global support agencies that kick off the initial recovery efforts after natural disasters happen. Some of these agencies are The Red Cross, Red Crescent, and The International Federation. A key responsibility of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent is to respond to disasters as quickly and effectively as possible. This means mobilizing resources such as people, money, and other assets to those in need as expediently as possible.

10. Disaster Relief All support agencies must utilize their full resource network in order to insure a disaster’s effects are countered and the immediate needs of the affected community are met. Every disaster is different; this means that relief organizations have to make in-the- moment decisions about how to collect and distribute aid.

11. Once support agencies have evaluated immediate needs, governmental agencies may step in to provide assistance. In the United States, a state’s governor can ask for a federal declaration of emergency. The President must then grant or deny the request.

12. The primary aims of disaster response are rescuing people from immediate danger and stabilizing the physical and emotional condition of survivors. Efforts to recover the bodies of those who have not survived and restore essential services such as water and power occur simultaneously.

13. Search and Recovery How long this takes varies according to the magnitude, type, and location of the disaster, but the time period typically falls between one and six months. Most disasters begin with a search and rescue phase in the immediate aftermath of a disaster that is then followed by a medium-term phase devoted to meeting the survivors’ physical and emotional needs.

14. Disasters also leave large-scale economic damage in their wake. Theseverity of this economic damage depends on the affected population'sresilience or ability to recover. The social, economic, and politicalconsequences of disasters can be extremely complex. Disasters candestroy health facilities and damage medical equipment needed toprovide long-term care for the affected population.

15. Disaster recovery focuses on programs that go beyond providing immediate relief and includes assistance that helps people rebuild their homes and lives. Recovery programs also strive to strengthen communities, so they are prepared to cope with future disasters.

16. The length of the recovery process can also depend on where a disaster has taken place. In developed countries, repairing damaged infrastructure may take significantly less time than reconstruction processes in developing countries. A Nepali girl on a bed frame salvaged from the ruins of her home in the village of Barpak, which lost 90 percent of its homes. View a short 2:30 video about the Nepal earthquake at : http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/14/asia/nepal-earthquake/

17. In general, poorer countries often do not have the resources available to rebuild. In many instances, people decide to move somewhere else and start over rather than rebuild. While no place on earth is safe from natural disaster, Asia is regularly the worst affected area, and in 2013 it composed 87.1 percent of those displaced, or 19 million people. Developing countries account for a similar percentage of the overall statistics, accounting for more than 85 percent of displacement. In the Philippines, in 2013 typhoon Haiyan alone displaced 4.1 million people, a million more than in Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania combined. The United States had 220,000 people lose their homes in 2013 due to extreme storms and tornadoes in Oklahoma and another 100,000 from flooding in Colorado.

18. Disaster Resilience Research shows that even during the relief stage right after a disaster, thought must be given to how communities will recover long-term. As people begin to get their feet back under them and rebuild their lives, it remains important that they strengthen their resilience to future disasters in the process.

19. Everyone has been affected by natural disaster in someway. Whether our experiences are because we were a victim of anatural disaster, saw images on television in the news orvolunteered to help recovery efforts, our experiences are powerfuland very real.

20. Decisions are made every year that determine how well people will survive, how to offer assistance, and ultimately how to recover from disaster. Whatever our choices, it is important to know that there are neighbors, agencies, governments, and supporters in humanity that will be there when people are in need.

21. Are you and your family prepared in the event that a natural disaster strikes?

22. What can YOU do to assist those in need due to a natural disaster?