FEMA Higher Education Program: 2024 Monthly Community Webinars

When: Third Friday of each month, 2:00–3:00 p.m. EST
Where: Via Zoom
Description: The recovery from the 2022 regional flooding in Montana’s Yellowstone Country began immediately after the acute response concluded. It is recognized that communities which experience successful disaster recovery are more resilient when confronting future disasters (Demiroz & Hu, 2014) – yet there is no consensus of what constitutes efficient and effective whole-community recovery among scholars or practitioners (Rubin, 2009). Furthermore, prior research on disaster recovery processes suggest recovery is not experienced uniformly across all groups within a community (Tierney & Oliver-Smith, 2012). Ultimately, much of community recovery activity emphasizes the navigation of federal aid processes and programs. Paradoxically, rural communities like those in Montana’s Yellowstone Country tend to be more susceptible to natural disasters like floods, droughts, and wildfires (Manuele & Haggerty, 2022), yet have smaller governmental structures, less diversified economies, and fewer financial reserves to handle disaster recovery and resiliency than their larger, urban counterparts (Waugh, 2013; Kapucu et al., 2013). Using a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach, this study explores the differential experiences of disaster recovery across Montana’s Yellowstone region. By understanding gaps in post-disaster recovery, this project offers solutions to advance wholistic, equitable, and resilient preparedness and resiliency efforts in the future.

More Information: FEMA Higher Education Program | Community Webinars

FEMA released the National Resilience Guidance (NRG) and a webinar series that will provide an overview of the NRG and the supplemental resilience resources available. Registration required.

Webinar 1: Sept. 24 at 1 p.m. ET.
Webinar 2: Sept. 26 at 3 p.m. ET.
Webinar 3: Oct. 1 at 1 p.m. ET.
Webinar 4: Oct. 9 at 3 p.m. ET.

The National Resilience Guidance emphasizes that strengthening resilience requires a collective approach. A resilient nation is created and sustained through thriving communities with secure and adaptable social, economic, environmental, housing, infrastructure, and institutional systems.

This four-day functional exercise will bring state, local and tribal, public, private and non-profit partners together throughout Oregon to practice our collective capabilities to response within a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake scenario. Exercises play a vital role in national preparedness by enabling whole community stakeholders to test and validate plans and capabilities, and identify both capability gaps and areas for improvement. A well-designed exercise provides a low-risk environment to test capabilities, familiarize personnel with roles and responsibilities, and foster meaningful interaction and communication across organizations.

Exercises bring together and strengthen the whole community in its efforts to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to and recover from all hazards. Overall, exercises are cost-effective and useful tools that help the nation practice and refine our collective capacity to achieve the core capabilities in the National Preparedness Goal.

“We were ready for fire, but not flood”: Exploring Whole-Community Recovery and Resiliency in the Rural Intermountain West