North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. Photo courtesy Creative Commons
Disaster Preparedness and Resilience
Experts at Duke are informing the disaster management cycle, working at efforts to reduce or mitigate risk.
This series examines how communities recover from extreme climate disasters and ways Duke experts are focused on rebuilding better.
When a Disaster Hits Home
Amid tragedy and loss, communities can struggle to rebuild themselves after a disaster. But Duke experts say experience shows there is a way. Finding hope will require looking at past disasters and the various paths that communities take to rebuild.
This story is an introduction to how university experts are thinking about those paths, through the lens of what’s known as the disaster management cycle: initial emergency response, longer-term recovery, and mitigation and preparation measures.
What Happens Before, During & After a Disaster
Trying to make sense of layers of governments, regulations and communications in emergency response and rebuilding can be like a game of connect the dots. How do decisions ever get made? Although experiences differ, common lessons in community and relationship building emerge in stories shared by people across Duke, North Carolina and beyond.
Are We Prepared?
Disasters can appear to come out of the blue – but in hindsight, the damage is amplified from multiple bungles, often preventable. “Things can go catastrophically wrong,” said Duke engineering professor David Schaad. “It is a cascade of failures that led to a horrible disaster.”
With extreme weather events happening with greater intensity, and federal disaster response and preparedness programs under threat, experts across Duke are urgently thinking through ways for communities to become more resilient in the face of disaster – from training a new generation of engineers, to implementing nature-based solutions and new insurance methods, to preparing emergency responders.
Helping Hands in Western North Carolina
Duke student groups traveled to Western North Carolina to help with Hurricane Helene recovery efforts. With the hurricane leaving an estimated $60 billion in damages, the students emphasized the importance of helping our North Carolina neighbors.
Healing After Disaster
There are the physical efforts to prepare communities for a natural disaster, to communicate during response, and to mitigate damage — and to learn from the things that went catastrophically wrong. Here’s how Duke experts are thinking about the less visible impacts on communities: our health, both mind and body.