Moving from “Reaction and Relief” to
“Recovery and Resilience”
A primer for long-term recovery in LA
In less than 90 days, the shock will wear off. In less than 180 days, FEMA will leave. The debris you drive by will become part of the landscape. The first responders will have returned to their local stations and homes. For the people who have been displaced, the scramble for more livable shelter, the fight with insurers, and the temporary placements of children in new schools will become part of their daily struggle.
Here’s what you might not know, that I learned when I worked with victims of the Camp Fire that destroyed the Town of Paradise: At each juncture of rebuilding their lives, those who were impacted will relive the trauma. As they argue with insurers, trying to document the furniture, art, clothing, dishes, and the large and small belongings they lost, they will suffer those losses all over again. As they go over the requirements for new construction of their homes, working with local permitting, they will sorely miss the details that were in plain sight for years – and that they will never see again. Even as they stand in a store trying to replace a jacket, a frying pan, or a hair brush – the realization of why they are in that place trying to get those things can flood them with painful memories.
Oddly, for many of us who were merely inconvenienced and frightened, the fires will seem like a crisis averted. If you hear that tens of thousands of people lost their homes, the sheer magnitude of loss causes your compassion to diminish. If you know someone who lost their home, you may well up with the pain of their tragedy. This most recent disaster, with more than 10,000 structures lost, is unimaginable… until you put a face and name to someone who lost everything.
How you feel as you go about your day – including the relief that you are no longer under the threat or that you have made some adjustments to manage the consequences – does not mean the disaster is over. The desire to take a breath and put distance between now and then does not mean anything has been resolved. It simply means that, in this moment, you have to commit to long term recovery if you want to see it happen. You cannot say, “I made my donation to [pick your favorite cause or fund]. I did my part.” You cannot imagine that someone else will do the work.
That won’t help the community recover. That doesn’t help LA recover from this or any other disaster. Recovery takes a long-term commitment to the path to resilience. And it’s a bumpy road.
As a member of the community who chooses to face this challenging time with clarity and resolve, here’s a quick primer to jumpstart your participation in making real progress towards community resilience. These four key points are geared to you and other leaders who are committed to a sustained recovery that leads to resilience and not a simple recovery that leads to a repeat.
1. Social infrastructure is essential and unseen until it’s gone.
The investment in relief should be an investment in resilience. Indirectly impacted organizations are critical to long term, sustained recovery. While our neighbors who lost their homes and businesses must be supported, we would underserve their long-term needs as well as the region’s, if we fail to also invest in nonprofit organizations that support community recovery. Thinking long-term, private sector and philanthropic funds should allocate a percentage of their grants to strengthen and expand social infrastructure. For example, groups working to coordinate business groups, neighborhood groups, faith communities, and even entrepreneurship programs will be key to resilience. A connected community can respond quicker and coordinate more seamlessly if they have strong bonds before the next event.
A formula for this comes from the Federal government. As much-needed FEMA personal assistance funds come to the region, 7% to 20% of the total amount will be made available next year to California as part of their Hazard Mitigation Grant program for use in physical mitigation (from land buy-back programs to retrofitting to many other things). It would be prudent if a percentage of funds from grants were provided for social infrastructure to bolster these organization’s strength, health, and capacity.
2. Small businesses are overlooked, and we cannot afford to lose them.
For businesses beyond the burn area, there may not be grants to stay afloat despite the real losses they incurred due to power outages, worker interruptions, road closures, and more. While it may not be obvious, small businesses in every community are dealing with spoiled food, empty tables, shelves lined with inventory, and fewer customers. Even people who have the means, hold back on spending money as usual during disasters, so businesses that are in so-called “non-impacted” areas are in danger of closing. The families running those businesses and their employees, and the businesses that they would patronize, will lose everything unless we advocate for them.
Even though LA County has 1.3 million small businesses, they don’t get the support they need on a good day. It’s hard to do business in LA, but the people that do it help create the character of our communities. In this recovery, we need to consciously include them.
FEMA does not provide relief grants to businesses; this money from the Federal Government only comes as a loan through the SBA. We know that many small businesses in LA are still carrying the EIDL loans from COVID, so an additional loan, at any interest rate, can be too burdensome.
3. Ready or not, disaster will strike again.
Mud and debris flows in the recent burn area are almost inevitable. Future fires, a damaging earthquake, and extreme heat and rain events are forecastable. We face ever-increasing risks from atmospheric events, and in Los Angeles, we have a looming seismic event. The tragedy of these fires reminds us that The Big One will be worse in terms of destruction, people impacted, and strain on resources of the community. The USGS estimate is that a 7.8 earthquake on the San Andreas fault in Southern California will produce 50 times the shaking than the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Aftershocks that would follow would be substantially bigger than the Northridge Earthquake, damaging already weakened communities. The initial impacts from this initial quake include over 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries, $200 billion in damage and other losses (in 2008 numbers), and severe, long-lasting disruption. Within this earthquake event, it is estimated that 1,600 fires would ignite, with the central Los Angeles basin experiencing hundreds of large fires.
Unless we invest in the changes to our social and physical infrastructure to make us resilient, we are more vulnerable than we need to be. As my colleague Dr. Lucy Jones often says, “The hazards are inevitable, but the disasters are not.” Our actions now can make the difference between readiness or regret.
4. It’s a long road to real recovery and resilience, so stay connected.
This recovery will take longer than people want, expect, and in some cases, believe they can tolerate. We are in a marathon, not a sprint. You might think of it as a relay: Are you going to run a leg of the race, sponsor a runner, or cheer from the sidelines? Whatever you choose to do – all are needed. In any case, do not look away. This is your community, nay, communities. Whether you are in the business community, connected to a nonprofit organization now, or have a cause close to your heart, the reality is your long-term participation is essential. Going it alone is not a viable option.
Your time and your financial support for the people, pets, businesses, and organizations of Los Angeles ideally includes a long-term commitment. If you’ve donated goods to a local assistance site or funds on a website, you’re on the right track. Consider making a monthly donation to help organizations through the recovery – the ones who you can count on to deliver aid where it’s needed. Pick a reliable group and do a monthly donation for the next 36 months. Here are organizations that I am involved with and can personally vouch for:
Dr. Lucy Jones Center
Westside Food Bank
Pasadena Humane Society
If you want to see LA thrive in the future, the actions you take and the ones you influence in the coming days and weeks can set the course for what unfolds. Initiate conversations with your colleagues, friends, and family about how each of us can meaningfully participate and find our role in the relay race toward recovery. Now is the time when we get past our reaction and, for however brief, our sense of relief. Together, we move forward to recovery and resilience.
John Bwarie is the CEO of Stratiscope. He also serves as the Deputy Director of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society and as a cofounder and leader of Together for LA, a strategic alliance supporting the recovery and resilience of small business in Los Angeles.
