Disaster Recovery Reform and Resilience

This contribution discusses the need for a substantial reform of recovery, intended as the disaster phase stretching between the end of the emergency and the beginning of reconstruction. First, the main features and emerging needs of this phase have been explored on the base of both literature review and reports on extensively investigated recent disasters, such as the recovery after Katrina in New Orleans or the Christchurch earthquake in 2010–2011. Then, two recovery case studies have been in-depth analyzed: the ongoing recovery after the Central Italy seismic swarm 2016–2017, and the past successful recovery following the Gujarat earthquake in India in 2001. Finally, a set of recommendations—aimed at improving practices and tools that should be prepared and dedicated to this rather neglected, albeit crucial, disaster phase—has been outlined. An innovative governance model oriented towards a more participatory approach, capable of involving all stakeholders that should have a say on the recovery and reconstruction pathways, is proposed. Pre-disaster planning is then recommended as a set of tools that should oversee the entire process, allowing a rapid and smooth shift into reconstruction. Such tools should include guidance and rules for building back better and for rehabilitating cultural heritage that can be saved or at least partially restored; urban and spatial planning that are essential for example to identify the most suitable sheltering solutions so that they will be coherent and aligned with visions for the future development of the hit areas. Last but not least, post-disaster damage and loss assessment is proposed as a key activity that permits not only to establish priorities for immediate recovery, but also to learn lessons about vulnerabilities, both physical and systemic, that should be reduced for a resilient recovery.