What is a Disaster?

A widely accepted definition of disaster, recognized by organizations in the fields of disaster response and humanitarian response, is derived from the official United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Their definition of disaster is as follows:

“A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts.”

Hawai‘i has experienced its fair share of disasters in the last few decades including, but not limited to: floods, fires, lava flows, hurricanes, tsunamis and a pandemic. The Hawai‘i Community Foundation has been a dedicated partner to many of the most recent disaster response efforts helping communities to recover and return to normalcy over time.

When a disaster occurs, there is a network of resources that communities across Hawai‘i can expect a specific response from. This will often begin with the quick response of the local community and transition into the formal processes and execution of local, State, and Federal response agencies.

What is a Long -Term Recovery Group?

To help communities recover from a disaster, Long-Term Recovery Groups (LTRG) are formed to help meet the needs of survivors by curating and coordinating resources that will fulfill survivors’ unmet needs that are present after a disaster. The LTRG is considered an effective recovery strategy that relies on organizations rooted in the affected community to ensure recovery incorporates strong relationships that build trust and familiarity into the recovery process. An LTRG operates as a team and is often composed of members representing the non-profit, business, faith-based, government or other sectors representative of a community.

The goal of an LTRG is to ensure that resources for recovery are pooled and distributed to disaster survivors through a data-centered and organized process working in alignment to case management. Survivors of a disaster who engage in formal disaster case management will have their unmet needs presented to a “resources roundtable” where the coordination of services and resources are strategized for meeting needs until each survivor is made whole from what was lost to the disaster. Each survivor will have a different case of needs presented and have a unique journey through this process.

Long Term Recovery Groups are often staffed with a formal instrastructre of leadership and administrative support but can take shape in a variety of structures that make best sense for serving the community in recovery. Regardless of the structure of the LTRG process, the goal is always the same and that is to ensure an integration of resources meet the coordinated needs of the community recovering from the disaster.

Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (VOADs) support LTRGs as a collective of services and resources that will serve as a support system to the recovery. VOADs operate as an association of organizations that are activated in a time of disaster that focus on emergency response and recovery services. Every state and territory has a State VOAD that falls under the National VOAD umbrella. VOADs provide a long-term recovery guide and help give authority to the formed LTRG as the operational leader of a community-led recovery process.

Important Links
The National VOAD Long Term Recovery Guide (PDF) 
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy
Ho’ōla iā Mauiakama Long Term Recovery Group

 

Be prepared. Here is a list of helpful articles and websites that will help inform and prepare you for the next emergency.

Planning and Preparing for a Disaster (HI-EMA)
Disaster Preparedness (Red Cross) 
Prepare your Family(HI-EMA)
Tsunami Evacuation Zones(HI-EMA)
Volcano Eruption & Vog(HI-EMA)
Weather Alerts (NOAA)

Below is a summary of the different levels of government agencies and community programs that provide information or assistance during times of Emergency.