Gavin Smith is the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Natural Hazards and Disasters (UNC Hazards Center) and the Department of Homeland Security's Center of Excellence—Disasters, Coastal Infrastructure and Emergency Management (DIEM). He is also a Research Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and teaches courses in Disaster Recovery, Hazard Mitigation and Special Topics.
The failure to plan for disaster recovery results in a process of rebuilding that often presages the next disaster. It also limits the collective maximization of governmental, nonprofit, and private resources, including those resources that are available at the community level. As individuals, groups, communities, and organizations routinely struggle to recover from disasters, they are beset by a duplication of efforts, poor interorganizational coordination, the development and implementation of policies that are not shaped by local needs, and the spread of misinformation.