Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
2001 S. Lincoln Ave.
URBANA,IL 61801
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The purpose of this project is two-fold. First, the project will identify best practices to prepare for disaster and to recover from disaster. This will be accomplished by reviewing relevant literature and working with Dr. Robert Olshansky, an international expert and scholar in the area of disaster response and recovery. Further, the best practices will be informed by case studies of communities that have recovered from disasters in Illinois, Indiana, and Nebraska.Second, this project is designed to address the confusion surrounding information needs and difficulty of collecting information for various agencies and governmental bodies. This will be accomplished by creating a set of assessment tools. This project will compile all the federal, state, and local disaster relief funding sources for Illinois, Indiana, and Nebraska. The data required for all of the applications will be summarized in a matrix, and survey instruments developed for various populations, including homeowners, business owners, and public officials. When Extension staff and others step in to help gather information following a disaster, they will be able to collect all the information for all agencies in one interview.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of the project is to help Extension personnel and community leaders respond and recover from disasters more efficiently. This will be accomplished in two ways: first, by creating and disseminating best practices generated from disaster literature and case study development; and second, by creating assessment tools including an information matrix of funding agencies and data requirements, and accompanying worksheets for collecting the requisite information to access disaster funds.The project is designed to meet four related objectives:1. Compile best practices for disaster response and recovery.2. Create assessment tools including a funding matrix, survey instruments and an outline of data collection needs for Extension personnel and local officials to use in the aftermath of a disaster.3. Contribute the assessment tools to local and regional disaster planning efforts, informing local and regional officials of potential data collection needs.4. Develop new relationships with various state and federal agencies in the three project states, to provide the needed funding eligibility requirements, and to educate the agency staff about how the local Extension office and the national Extension system can contribute.
Project Methods
The methods used in this project include literature review, secondary data analysis, key-informant interviews, and focus groups. Each of these techniques contributes to meeting the objectives outlined above. The literature review will provide a scholarly perspective on disaster recovery best practices, whereas the key-informant interviews will provide a practical perspective. The focus group will inform and enhance the efficacy of the assessment tools that are developed by directly asking Extension personnel who have done post-disaster recovery work.