Evidence Matters: Winter 2015

Evidence Matters: Winter 2015

The Winter 2015 issue of Evidence Matters: Transforming Knowledge Into Housing and Community Development Policy, focusing on community disaster recovery and resilience, is now available online. This issue discusses the federal government's roles and responsibilities in assisting communities with disaster recovery and mitigation, and presents information on the growing frequency and costs of disasters, as well as the theory and practice underpinning the concept of resilience. It examines how communities are rebuilding after a disaster to ensure long-term resilience and profiles three localities that have recovered from major disaster events with adaptations that have bolstered resilience and yielded economic benefits.

Key Findings

• The government's response to Hurricane Katrina and the recovery following the disaster offered important lessons for improving disaster resilience and have helped shift federal disaster policy toward a more proactive approach, as evidenced in the response to Superstorm Sandy.
  

• Disaster recovery offers people an opportunity to rebuild for resilience while they are still highly sensitive to their vulnerability. Programs such as the Rebuild by Design competition and the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities promote promising resilience practices.
  

• Disaster resilience research often focuses on the ability of systems and places to mitigate the risk of, withstand, and quickly recover from extreme events. The strength of social bonds within communities is a critical component of disaster resilience.
  

• A resilience framework that takes into account the interdependencies within the built environment and complexities of local conditions and is developed using a consensus-based approach can help communities that have weathered disasters rebuild to better withstand future stresses.