40 P ost hurricane Recovery is a protracted, multidimensional, multi-sectoral, multi-component, multi-agency effort to restore a community affected by a hurricane to an acceptable level of normalcy. It is intended not only to restore life as it was but to make the community more resilient to hazards of all kinds in future. It is costly and fraught with conflict and misunderstanding. It is a complex process that is sometimes difficult to grasp in its entirety. When there is a common understanding of the conceptual framework for Recovery there is less misunderstanding and confusion and much more collaboration, coordination and cooperation. That common understanding is critical for all key actors in the process. Public sector managers are the usual leaders of the process in a structural setting such as a Recovery Task Force. The CARICAD Schema for Post Hurricane Recovery Management was developed to provide as a “single-page view” a schematic that shows the process in logical, connected relationships of role, structure, systems, skills, outputs and deliverables. The CARICAD Schema illustrates the following: There is a long sequence of important planning, coordination, management, leadership and implementation activities that are required after a hurricane impact Hurricane Recovery often takes several years The process is essentially sequential but there is overlap and iteration; strategies and plans will probably have to be changed several times Many organisations, agencies and stakeholders are involved A journey of successful Recovery leads to greater Resilience Good information and data management are a critical components of Recovery There are several tiers of oversight in Recovery management A Recovery Task force should have an end-date for its work External experts should have an end-date for their work Successful Recovery is likely to occur in phases – early, short and medium-term and long-term The Bahamas is the CARICAD member state that has the greatest occurrence of hurricanes in recorded history. (Photo by Fr. Bowe) CARICAD has developed and recently promulgated a comprehensive template as Model Recovery Strategy for Member States. Both the schema shown on the next page and that template were inspired by and rooted in work done by CARICAD in 2017/18 with the Government and people of the Turks and Caicos Islands in developing that territory’s Post-hurricane Recovery Strategy.
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