Pre-Disaster Recovery Plan Workshop Series

The Centralina Regional Resilience Collaborative put on a series of eight workshops between 2023 – 2024. The goal was to enhance the preparedness and resilience of the participants and their communities before the next disaster occurrence. The recordings, meeting materials and exercises from these workshops are listed below.

The workshops inform the development of a local Pre-Disaster Recovery Plan (PDRP) and are available to assist jurisdictions develop and customize their own PDRP. A PDRP is a plan that prepares a community for the recovery process after a disaster. It helps the community identify the recovery needs, goals and strategies before a disaster happens. It also helps the community to coordinate the resources, partners, and actions for an effective and resilient recovery. 

Workshop Resources

Pre-Disaster Recovery Plan Template

The template serves as a customizable document that assists Centralina jurisdictions in developing a pre-disaster recovery plan to address regional resilience and support community and business economic recovery from future disaster events and economic shocks.

Pre-Disaster Recovery Plan Development Guide

This document helps jurisdictions customize the Pre-Disaster Recovery Plan Template and serves as a “how-to” manual that accompanies the plan template.

Local Leader Disaster Recovery Guide

In the initial days of a disaster, recovery efforts start immediately with emergency managers focusing on ensuring people’s safety. The planning process for a successful recovery should be led by county/city managers or their designated staff. This guide offers essential guidance for county managers and elected officials on key planning considerations. It serves as a touchstone for the recovery planning team, engaging local government, elected officials, recovery support committees and community stakeholders in developing a local recovery plan.

Base Plan for Counties

Description coming soon.

Partner Questions Worksheet

Description coming soon.

PDRP Stakeholder Worksheet

Description coming soon.

Workshop Recordings: How to Implement the Resources

Workshop 1

PDRP program kick-off meeting provides and overview of the process for building the bridge between emergency management and local government staff and officials.

Workshop 2

How to launch a local initiative amongst staff and community partners for the development of a PDRP and formation of stakeholder working groups that serve as the PDRP annexes and recognize the FEMA lifelines.

Workshop 3

PDRP Annex A: Community Planning and Development Committee

Workshop 4

PDRP Annex B: Economic Committee

Workshop 5

PDRP Annex C: Health and Social Services Committee

Workshop 6

PDRP Annex D: Housing Committee

Workshop 7

PDRP Annex E: Infrastructure Committee

Workshop 8

PDRP Annex F: Natural and Cultural Resources Committee

The Regional Resilience Roadmap provides guidance and resources for developing and implementing recovery plans that address the needs and priorities of the community after a disaster. The Roadmap Self-Assessment Document (Excel sheet) aids jurisdictions in tracking assessment progress and the Roadmap to Resilient Recovery is an overview document that lays the groundwork for how emergency managers local government staff and officials and the community may track and monitor their performance on the progress that has been identified as being of local importance on the Regional Resilience Roadmap.

Annual State of the Regional Resilience Collaborative Luncheon

Acknowledging the critical role regionalism plays in bolstering local resilience and recovery, Centralina’s Regional Resilience Collaborative (RRC) aims to connect leaders and partners in the region to unite on innovative solutions. In June, Centralina, Innovative Emergency Management, North Carolina Emergency Management and our Emergency Management leaders across the region came together for the Annual State of the RRC luncheon. The luncheon, hosted by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management at their Emergency Operations Center, served as a collaborative opportunity to solve local emergency management issues. Read more about this event on our Insights blog.

Foundational Workshops

If you would like to learn more about the foundational work that informs the Regional Resilience Roadmap and Local Pre-Disaster Recovery Plan development, you can view the following previous workshop materials.

Workshop I: Regional Recovery Summit

The Summit featured discussions with representatives from state and local government and nonprofit organizations. Disaster recovery experts shared their experiences, addressing the many challenges of rebuilding sustainable and equitable communities following large-scale disasters. The workshop was centered around four recovery topics:

  1.  Whole Community Collaboration – utilizing trusted resources, knowing who to contact and working with community organizations. 
  2.  Infrastructure Recovery – mapping out recovery and who to engage. 
  3.  Disaster Housing and Land Use/ Development – best practices and experiences from other areas of North Carolina that have experienced recent catastrophic disasters.  
  4.  Economic and Small Business Recovery – how local government can support resilient economies and bounce forward. 

Several key themes emerged from the discussions. Attendees agreed that planning and building relationships in advance is crucial, and that equity is directly linked to recovery efforts. To be successful, recovery must involve community partners, the public and local businesses, in addition to government and federal partners. Communication was identified as a critical factor, and attendees emphasized the importance of looking to other communities for examples of successful recovery efforts.

Workshop ll: Recovery Planning

The goal of this event was to collaborate with the emergency management leads and the planning teams of the nine counties in the Centralina region to create a comprehensive operational and all-hazards recovery plan. The materials included key recovery concepts, planning tools and recommended next steps for plan implementation. Additionally, Centralina unveiled a plan development template and coordinating guide to enhance our region’s recovery planning by bolstering a coordinated approach. It is important to note that emergency management owns the recovery plan and county/city management owns the recovery process. 

Workshop III: Recovery as an Opportunity

This workshop centered on guiding local leaders in leveraging disaster recovery efforts to advance equity and strengthen economic resilience. Centralina presented a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) interface that can aid local governments in pre-disaster planning and post-disaster decision-making that prioritizes equity and resilience. The workshop featured insights from various stakeholders, including local government leaders, elected officials, emergency managers, social service providers, urban planners, economic development entities, nonprofit organizations and community-based organizations in the central North Carolina region. Additionally, the workshop explored the Regional Resilience Collaborative’s next steps and funding opportunities.