Keith Tidball, leader of the Nature and Human Security Program at Cornell University and an expert in emergency response, explains the various stages of disaster recovery as well as how long recovery could take following the typhoon in the Philippines.
Tidball is also coordinator for the New York Extension Disaster Education Network, which has partnered with Bicol University – a Philippines institution currently aiding in local response efforts.
Tidball says:
“Generally disaster response focuses on rescue from immediate danger and stabilization of the physical and emotional condition of survivors. These are in tandem with the recovery of the dead and the restoration of essential services such as water and power. Usually this takes between one and six months and includes a search and rescue phase in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. This is followed by a mid-term phase devoted to stabilizing the survivors’ physical and emotional condition and further restoration of infrastructure. In the case of Typhoon Haiyan, which is a disaster of huge scale, I expect these time frames to be quite a bit longer. “Our work at Cornell on disaster resilience and readiness is part of a larger national and even international extension disaster education network. In fact, our first international partner in the extension disaster education network is Bicol University (BU) in the Philippines, located in Legazpi City.
“BU is planning a post disaster intervention, including a relief operation by gathering resources (cash and in kind) to donate to the area. They have named their efforts Operation BULIG (bulig means help, but it is also an acronym for Bicol University—Loving, Inspiring, Giving). Their short and long term recovery efforts will need many types of support, not least of which is education on practical topics such as clean up safety, mold, financial and identification papers, stress management, and rebuilding.”
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