Disaster Recovery Journal

Task 4: Identify the roles of all economic recovery stakeholders. Emergency partner organizations identified roles and responsibilities of partner organizations for both short- and long-term recovery. An early decision was made about which orga-nization/individual would serve as the media contact to ensure consistency of information communicated.

Task 5: Produce a complete economic analysis. At the conclusion of the disaster event, a complete economic analysis was conducted to measure the economic impact of the event on the local and regional economy. The analysis included quantitative data gathered through BR&E and post-disaster to measure the direct, indirect, and induced impact of the disaster on all sectors of the economy. The impact analysis provided a snapshot of current economic conditions while providing key information for creation of a long-term economic development strategy.

Survey Results from Other Communities
To gauge reactions to the notion that BR&E could aid in
disaster recovery, four communities were recruited to provide
additional perspective on the effectiveness of an ongoing BR&E
program in responding to disasters (see Table 1). The communi-
ties were selected based on the following criteria:
n similar rural demographic characteristics
n major natural disaster with significant impact to local economy
n community had utilized a business visitation or BR&E program
n varied geographies and type of natural disaster

Table 1

Disaster Hurricane Flood Tornado Tornado

Year 2005 Ongoing 2007 2002

After identifying the communities, a contact person (e.g. extension educator, mayor, and/or community economic development director) from each community was identified who would be knowledgeable about the disaster and recovery efforts. The person was initially called to explain the project and obtain permission to participate.

Contact persons were sent an e-mail link to a Web-based questionnaire designed to gain knowledge about how the community perceived BR&E’s role in responding to disasters. Respondents were asked to respond to the questions on a Likert-type scale, “strongly agree,” “agree,” “disagree,” or “strongly disagree.” An opportunity to provide open-ended responses on how BR&E might be used or improved as a disaster recovery tool was also provided.

Responses indicated that pre-disaster, the communities considered BR&E programs to be somewhat important or of no consequence one way or another in responding to a disaster. Post-disaster, however, all four community contacts indicated “strongly agree” in response to the statement, “Familiarity with the business community pre-disaster better prepared us in making quick contact and assisting them with their needs post-disaster.” (See Table 2.)

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