New Disaster Recovery Awareness Course Available Online at No Cost

COLLEGE
STATION – After a year plagued by hurricanes, wildfires, floods, mass shootings
and a volcanic eruption, communities and families nationwide are facing a long
road to disaster recovery, which can take months or years.

To
help communities navigate the rough seas of the disaster recovery process, the
Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) has rolled out a free online
course, Disaster Recovery Awareness. The course is designed to introduce the
key elements involved in disaster recovery, from developing a recovery plan to
finding disaster assistance resources.

The
impetus to develop disaster recovery training came on the heels of Hurricane
Harvey, which wreaked havoc on the Texas Gulf Coast in 2017. Disaster Recovery
Awareness is the first in a series of courses devoted to providing communities
a roadmap to recovery, helping them to bounce back from a disaster and become
more resilient.

“Working
in devastated communities like Rockport and Aransas County, with the Governor’s
Commission to Rebuild Texas, made us realize that many city and county
officials need support and tools to help them get through the recovery phase of
a disaster,” said Tony Crites, Associate Division Director with TEEX’s
Infrastructure Training and Safety Institute.

“With
TEEX’s expertise in emergency preparedness and response and our experience
working with federal agencies like FEMA, we realized we could offer training to
help communities build resilience and recover from the next disaster. We knew
we could provide some tools and templates to help them get started in the
recovery process.”

Developing
and implementing a successful recovery strategy is a critical function of
disaster management, he added. “The disaster didn’t end when Hurricane Harvey
left the state — the recovery phase was just beginning, and it is still going
on. It is vital that jurisdictions know where to find recovery guidance, how to
plan for and manage recovery operations, and what public assistance is
available to the community and how to access it.”

The
disaster recovery training is aimed at community leaders and emergency
management personnel, public works employees, fire and public safety officers,
community planners and economic development organizations, health and human
services, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), public-private partnerships
(P3s) and/or private sector organizations that support recovery and economic
development. 

In
addition to the online Disaster Recovery Awareness course, other face-to-face
courses will address Disaster Recovery for Senior Officials and an Introduction
to Disaster Recovery Pubic Assistance Programs. The courses are offered in
partnership with TEEX’s National Emergency Response and Recovery Training Center. All courses align with the Presidential Policy Directive (PPD)-8 on
National Preparedness and follow the key elements of the National Disaster
Recovery Framework.