Why Start With Recovery?

America Recovers, a business unit of ERUdyne LLC, was launched to change the way America recovers from catastrophic events -- one person, one business, and one community at a time.  Traditionally, the emergency management community is focused on preparedness and response...and debates where does response end and recovery start.  Then when a catastrophic event occurs that is widespread like Hurricane Katrina or SuperStorm Sandy, no one can figure out why the response does not measure up to expectations.  And the people watching start blaming those they think should be responsible and the media frenzy begins.  

People start pointing fingers, the media covers story after story of all of the people that did not get help...they were left to fend for themselves, they were waiting on rooftops, they didn't see anybody for days, they almost died...and the media headlines go on...and recovery blends with response...and very little changes from catastrophic event to event...year to year.  The government may launch new programs, non-profits get formed, assessments on response get conducted, and new frameworks are developed by the emergency management community.  And each of these create new challenges as well as address old issues.  But none of them solve the problem.  Why?  Because they are not solving the real problem.  They are actually improving response but none of these actions are significantly impacting recovery.  

My solution...Start with Recovery...and work backwards.  Plan for Recovery.  Train for Recovery.  Exercise for Recovery.  Design for Recovery.  Live for Recovery.  Why?  Because I contend if you plan for recovery it will automatically change the way we prepare and respond to catastrophic events.  How will that help?  Think about the comments we see over and over again...They are recovery issues.  Some common examples:

"No one has come to help me yet."

"What do I do now?"

"I have no money to pay for..."

"My business was already struggling..."

"This has never happened before..."

"Why can't FEMA pay for that?"

"Thank God for these kind people that came to help us..."

And the list goes on...

The purpose of this blog is to share with our readers how to "prepare for recovery" and by doing so, how that will change the way the Nation prepares and responds to catastrophic events...ultimately building greater resiliency, less government dependence and a stronger community.  Stay tuned!