What is the Sustainable Disaster Recovery Handbook?

When the small farming community of Greensburg, Kansas experienced their tornado in 2007, we heard a lot of people mention that they wished there was a handbook available to provide guidance as they were navigating through the enormous challenges associated with disaster recovery. It is hard enough to deal with the fallout of such a disaster without having to do everything from scratch, or “reinventing the wheel”, as the case often is in recovery efforts.

The experience gained by those who have been through a natural disaster is invaluable and can be of great benefit to those who no doubt will go through a similar experience in the future. We decided that there should be such a handbook, and specifically one that outlines how sustainable principles can be incorporated into disaster recovery.

We are partnering with Greensburg GreenTown and GreenTown Joplin to take their experiences, as well as the experience of dozens of experts in the recovery field, and are publishing that needed handbook. We are offering lessons learned and, perhaps most importantly, bringing inspiration and hope for the future to people recovering from disaster. This handbook is a simple way to offer relief, reassurance, direction, and inspiration to individuals who are likely facing one of the most daunting tasks of their life.

We are designing it to be easy to read, graphically pleasing, and full of concise and essential information that will serve as an invaluable resource both to local leadership and to the average persons and business owners whose lives are profoundly affected by natural disaster.

Stay tuned for information and updates as this project progresses!