Web-based Symposium: Community Recovery from Disaster

The Symposium will bring to practitioners and public officials practical information about the latest research and lessons learned about the economic, social, physical, institutional and interdisciplinary dimensions of disaster recovery. These dimensions were explored in depth by top researchers in the field at the recent Theory of Recovery Workshop sponsored by the Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI) and funded by the National Science Foundation.

This online symposium will investigate how these dimensions of disaster recovery could affect your community and offer lessons that will help you prepare.

Each day of the symposium, registered participants will be able to log in and read the papers and post comments and questions. Provided as a public service, PERI Virtual Symposium Programs are free and open to anyone with Internet access (registration required).

This symposium program will be moderated by Dr. Laurie A. Johnson. Laurie Johnson is Principal of Laurie Johnson Consulting and a senior science advisor to Lexington and Chartis Insurance companies. She has over 20 years of professional experience in urban planning, risk management, and disaster recovery management and has studied most of the world's recent, major urban disasters including Chile (2010) Sichuan China (2008), Kobe Japan (1995) and Northridge (1994) earthquakes, Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the 2004 Florida storms, and the World Trade Center disaster. In 2006, she was a lead author of the recovery plans for the City of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and coauthored the book, Clear as Mud: Planning for the Rebuilding of New Orleans, published in April 2010.

The following experts have been invited to contribute Issues and Ideas Papers:

• Charles Eadie, Principal Associate, Hamilton Swift & Associates, will present a paper on the physical dimensions of disaster recovery
• Dr. Rick Sylves, professor and senior research scientist at the Institute of Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management, Department of Engineering Management, University of Delaware, will present a paper on the institutional dimensions of disaster recovery.
• Chuck Wemple, Economic Development Program Manager of the Houston-Galveston Area Council and manager of the Gulf Coast Economic Development District, will present an article on economic issues in post disaster recovery based on his experiences in Texas.
• Dr. Rob Olshansky, professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will co-author the symposium introduction and synthesis paper with the moderator.
• Dr. Liesel A. Ritchie, assistant director for research at the Natural Hazards Center, will present on the social dimension of disaster recovery.

If you have trouble logging in to the Symposium Program or if you are having trouble registering, e-mail Jessica@riskinstitute.org.

Registration: https://www.riskinstitute.org/peri/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,101/