As I write this, the Mississippi Valley is experiencing unprecedented floods that will likely exceed the major one in 1927. Since then, the Mississippi has flooded many times of course. Sometimes these are minor, other times less so. Sometimes, like now, they appear to be catastrophic.

Since we live in a world of scarce resources, communities cannot prepare for every disaster they might face through efforts to mitigate—building yet higher dikes in the case of the Mississippi, which many think is bad policy. When the disaster is big enough, the mitigation efforts, wall/dikes in New Orleans, earthen dikes along the Mississippi, reinforced structures elsewhere, will fail and the disaster consequences may be all the greater when they do.

It is at this point that a community’s real resilience is tested. Even if they cannot employ techniques/policies that mitigate against disaster, they can still plan their recovery. We are witnessing some of this resilience thinking in many communities along the Mississippi. Homeowners are not just evacuating, they are moving their furniture and belongings as well in anticipation of flood levels yet to come.

 That said, much rebuilding must take place after the flood recedes. This is easy to see. But how many communities have developed resilient practices around that? How many have precertified building contractors who will come in to help rebuild? The alternative is a backlog of filings and unnecessary delays in getting back to normal? One easy way to precertify is simply to recognize licensed contractors that come from communities with essentially the same building codes. As well, how many communities have thought about their permitting process, including staffing, and have anticipated being figurative flooded with permits to review? The alternative is to have yet another time-delaying process imposed on homeowners and builders.

Recovery from the floods will take a long time. How many communities have thought about critical staff that will experience dramatically increased workloads? They will be working long hours and under a great deal of stress. Have the communities planned for this since we know it will happen. Are they prepared to provide assistance for critical employee’s families—help with living arrangements, schooling and other life necessities?

Utilities will need to be restored. Electric companies are excellent examples of resilient thinking in that many have reciprocal agreements with other companies. Equipped workers will come from far and wide to help restore systems. But how many community water systems or gas systems have similar agreements?

The flooding comes at a bad time—toward the end of the school year. Have communities thought about perhaps extending schools into the summer so parents can attend to rebuilding? Or, perhaps having day-camp programs for those who need them?

Disasters always surprise us in that things happen that were not anticipated. However, many things can be predicted, and resilient thinking attends to these to make recovery as smooth and quick as possible.

The Conference Planning Committee would like to thank the Home Builders Association of the Mississippi Coast for their scholarship donations within the continuing education component of the Conference.  Registration deadline is March 12, 2010; information regarding the Conference Education Sessions can be found at  http://www.resilientus.com/rhbc-education-sessions.html.

At a recent meeting in Atlanta, an expert panel consisting of representatives from government, academia, insurance, non-profit organizations, and designers, came together to address aspects of what a resilient building certification program should entail. The meeting was hosted by the Resilient Home Program, a partnership between Clemson University, North Carolina State University (NC State), Savannah River National Laboratory and the US Army Corp of Engineers – Construction Engineering Research Lab and funded by the Southeast Region Research Initiative (SERRI).

The meeting was part of the ongoing efforts of the Resilient Home Program, which was established to determine the way in which home owners prepare for, and recover from, natural disasters; to find ways to make new and existing homes more resilient; to educate the public on home resiliency; and to encourage homeowners to take steps to make their homes more resilient.

The program spent twelve months completing a gap analysis on homeowners’ preparation and recovery from natural disasters. The analysis involved surveying the stakeholder groups- including builders, homeowners, engineers, government officials, insurers, researchers, architects and organizations involved in disaster response and planning – to better understand their needs.

The gap analysis brought to light four major areas that need to be addressed immediately, according to stakeholders. These areas include the effects of catastrophic mold and materials resistant to it, incentives for building homes more resiliently, the benefits of retrofitting for disaster and additional outreach aimed at target audiences.

Anyone wishing to participate in discussions about a resilient home certification program should contact the program through its Web site at http://home.resilientus.org.

Key to getting back to work is having some place to live. A resilient community plans and prepares to get its people back into their homes as quickly as possible. People who get back into their own homes even under less than optimal conditions are much more ready to participate in the process of restarting the community.

A CARRI affiliate, The Resilient Home Program, is a coalition of the willing working to improve the life of homeowners following natural disasters. Combining the resources of the Savannah River National Laboratory, North Carolina State University, the US Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory and Clemson University, the Resilient Home team is examining the complete spectrum of ways to get people back into their homes quickly following a disaster. These include: response – stabilizing the home and rendering it a safe interim shelter; rebuilding – rebuilding with available resources in a more durable manner than before the disaster; prevention – protecting the home from the short- and long-term effects of a disaster; and assessment – determining the extent of damage that occurred to the home in a quick and cost effective manner.

Getting people back into their homes is important. You can find more about the Resilient Home Program through a link on the CARRI web site, http://www.resilientus.org/.