PNNL

Abstract

Around the world, communities are wrestling with what it means to be resilient enough to recover from a catastrophic disaster. Emergency management agencies have come to recognize that response and recovery are only two phases along the road to resilience and that there is no real dividing line between response and recovery. Some response activities will continue into the recovery phase; however, recovery preparations need to begin during the response phase if communities are to limit the damage to the economy, a key driver affecting resilience. Since its inception in 2007, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s (PNNL) Northwest Regional Technology Center (NWRTC) for Homeland Security in Seattle, Washington, has been working with state, local, and federal agencies; the private sector; and other organizations to develop approaches that foster resilience and support rapid recovery following an accidental, intentional, or natural disaster. This paper describes the NWRTC’s approach to building robust local and regional coalitions, shares some notable successes in improving recovery and increasing resilience, and identifies challenges and issues that still need to be addressed if communities are to be resilient in the face of disasters.