1. Long-Term Disaster Recovery Top 10 Action Items
Association of Bay Area Governments
April 2010 (

2. What is Long-Term Recovery?
Process of restoring a community to a stable and functional state
Process begins immediately after a disaster and can continue for years.
Recovery requires coordination across ALL government departments (not just OES).
Long-term recovery is about restoring neighborhoods and helping residents and the community return to a pre-disaster state. Planning for a smooth recovery process now will speed recovery after a disaster and instill confidence in residents and business that a successful, speedy recovery will take place.
If businesses leave the area and do not return, residents will follow suit. Similarly, if neighborhoods and housing are not rebuilt quickly, businesses will not have the labor they need to return to normal activity. Loss of tax revenue from departed businesses and destroyed property can have a crippling effect on the provision of services by government and may stall recovery efforts due to lack of funding.
Key departments that will be involved in disaster recovery are Building, Planning, Zoning, Finance, Public Works, City Manager’s Office. 2

3. Regional Long-Term Disaster Recovery Goals
Decrease recovery time to 3-5 years
Minimize displacement of residents and businesses
Speed economic recovery
Improve community resiliency and sustainability
Minimize community disruption
Serve vulnerable populations
Disaster recovery currently lasts about 10 years or more. Even when a region can be considered recovered, lingering problems may still exist for much longer. In Kobe, Japan thousands of residents are still living in temporary housing 15 years after that earthquake. The Bay Bridge replacement has still not been completed 20 years after the Loma Prieta Earthquake. New Orleans is still struggling to rebuild its communities more than five years after Hurricane Katrina.
Pre-planning before the disaster can help to reduce recovery time and ensure that we incorporate a shared vision into the rebuilding of the region. The entire region suffers from a delayed and prolonged recovery.

4. Purpose of This Presentation
We surveyed cities and counties in 2008 to understand the level of recovery planning that has already taken place in the region
In the 90 responses we found a wide variety between jurisdictions and within a jurisdiction by type of activity
This presentation outlines 10 key actions that can be taken today to speed recovery of jurisdictions and the region

5. Post-Disaster Financial Provisions
1. Ensure that the purchasing and contract portion of the Municipal Code allows for emergency purchases.
Simple way to allow the city manager to quickly address urgent issues through access to funds and launch the recovery process quickly
49% can make emergency purchases over $100k
2. Designate a department to oversee FEMA reimbursement process.
91% of jurisdictions have done this
Ensure that the purchasing and contract portion of the Municipal Code remains flexible following a disaster. These types of provisions are a simple way to allow the city manager to quickly address urgent issues through access to funds. This provision is not a “blank check,” but a way to launch recovery processes quickly. As is typical with most cities, the city manager will still be required to justify the purchases to city council at a later date.
Considering the high cost of recovery, it is recommended that the City continue to specify “no dollar limit” to allow for maximum flexibility in making emergency purchases.
The department designated to oversee the reimbursement process must have authority over every person who is documenting field conditions to ensure paperwork is filled out uniformly and consistent with FEMA guidelines. FEMA requires meticulous paperwork of all expenditures for which the local government expects reimbursement. Staff of the department responsible for oversight and management of the FEMA process should be trained in those procedures and should develop documentation procedures well before the disaster strikes.
FEMA’s documentation requirements for processing reimbursements are not static and, therefore, it is important to confirm the latest requirements to ensure they are current.
Department managers and/or the staff member in charge of each department’s finances should receive basic training in disaster documentation procedures.
Documentation procedures are currently specified by SEMS and NIMS.

6. Continuity of Government Services
3. Establish back up procedures to pay employees and vendors if normal finance operations are disrupted (60% have done)
4. Have reliable backups of electronic files that are accessible from alternate sites (73% do this)
5. Plan for relocation of city-owned facilities and employees (44% have done this)
Prioritize reconstruction and repair of city-owned facilities
After Loma Prieta, Oakland paid all of its employees on time by working with their bank to write paper paychecks. Today an emergency supply of paper checks is stored in a safe at the EOC. Back-up plans such as this will ensure that the money continues to flow after a disaster.
Discuss emergency continuity of operations plans with your bank and investment funds
Maintain a backup payroll file from the bank the jurisdiction would use to generate a duplicate transmission of the previous payroll
Keep an inventory of paper checks in a safe, secured location for writing emergency checks in the event of a disaster.
Reliable backups of electronic files will be critical for the recovery effort. In particular, the IT department’s GIS staff will need to work closely with the permit center and the planning department to coordinate and consolidate information on tagging of structure.
Plans should be made for the emergency relocation of government-owned facilities critical to emergency response and recovery, as well as facilities with known deficiencies in hazardous areas.
Have a plan for prioritizing the repair or rebuilding of government-owned facilities. This decision-making process will be based largely on the degree that the facility is considered critical and the extent of the damage suffered by the facility. See the earthquake Recovery and Reconstruction Guidelines (SCEPP/California OES, 1991) for a recommended priority order.

7. Repair and Reconstruction
6. Adopt a repair and reconstruction ordinance that:
IS NOT a disaster-time ordinance.
Applies to both public & private buildings
Must be actually used pre-event (showing enforcement of this type of provisions
Maximize the money you can receive from FEMA to repair damaged local government buildings. Otherwise, FEMA will only pay to restore building to condition it was in before the earthquake.
Sample ordinance available from ABAG
Only 18% have adopted a repair and reconstruction ordinance
FEMA Public Assistance money that cities receive after a disaster will only pay to rebuild or repair a government owned building to its pre-disaster state. FEMA will not pay to upgrade the building to current code or to implement mitigation strategies that would prevent the building from similar damage in the future.
Oakland’s City Hall was severely damaged in the Loma Prieta Earthquake. Oakland decided it wanted to preserve its historic structure, but FEMA did not want to pay for the work that would be necessary to not only repair it- but make it safe in future earthquakes. FEMA eventually agreed to pay for the upgrades, but has since strengthened its requirements for reimbursements. This is the reason a repair and reconstruction ordinance is needed.
Every jurisdiction should adopt a revised repair and reconstruction ordinance to ensure that it receives Public Assistance dollars from FEMA after disasters that will not only repair city-owned buildings to their pre-existing condition, but also will repair them to a standard that reduces the likelihood of future damage in a flexible, cost-effective manner. While FEMA has requested that any reference to the possibility of these ordinances helping cities qualify for more post-disaster public assistance be removed from the model ordinances, that is still obviously one of the intents. The jurisdiction must enforce the ordinance uniformly before disasters occur to maximize eligibility for Public Assistance. This means that the ordinance must be applied to all damaged buildings, regardless of source of the damage (i.e. quake, flooding, fire, a bus going through the building, etc.) and regardless of whether it is a publicly- or privately-owned building. 

8. Document Pre-Existing Conditions
7. Keep clear records of condition for ALL your facilities.
Required for FEMA reimbursement
Develop a process for regularly updating this information every 2-5 years
Tips
Compile existing documentation and inventories into a single database
Prioritize facilities that are most vulnerable and valuable
Store the data out of the hazard zone!
Start the process by doing a camcorder walk-through of high priority facilities
Only 36% of jurisdictions have done this
Documentation can be in the form of photographs or videos and should be updated as necessary. Many claims are denied because FEMA Public Assistance will replace to pre-existing conditions. Without documentation, the debates are about pre-existing condition are likely to be protracted without any guarantee that the jurisdiction will receive the funds requested through the claims. If the jurisdiction does not receive the requested amount, it will have wasted precious time, staff, and resources that could have been used elsewhere. Documenting the condition of public facilities eliminates the guesswork, making the claims process for expedient and straightforward.
The following is a checklist that can be used to improved the inventory of facilities owned by the jurisdiction. If documenting the pre-existing conditions of ALL facilities is not possible, the jurisdiction much determine which facilities are most critical for maximum FEMA reimbursement due to expensive finishes and contents, and assume the risk of not documenting the existing condition of the remaining facilities.
Confirm any existing documentation of facilities
Using the existing documentation, supplement or compile a comprehensive list of facilities owned by the jurisdiction
Compile a prioritized list of facilities to be reimbursed by FEMA, taking into account the importance of the facility’s function during the recovery process, the dollar value of the facility and its contents.
Start the inventory process. Staff can document the pre-existing conditions using a camera or camcorder.
Develop a database the links photo files with building address
Store the data in at least two locations: preferably at the Office of Emergency Services and one off-site out of the hazard zone
Regularly update the inventory of facilities to ensure it is current. Every 2-5 years, or upon significant remodel is appropriate.

9. Incentives for Retrofitting: Consistent Retrofit Standards for Single-Family Homes (Plan Set A)
8a. Ensure retrofits are done properly and consistently
Standards simplify permitting and reduces costs
For homes with “cripple” walls less than 4 ft tall
(the wood outside walls of crawl
spaces or basements)
Download plan set and sample
ordinance at quake.abag.ca.gov
“making your home safer”
Ease permit review process – enabling many jurisdictions offering flat permit fee. Pre-engineered plan set for retrofitting single family homes. This is a financial incentive that does not require upfront cash. Cities should also consider retrofit incentives. Retrofitting is a relatively cheap solution for homeowners now compared to the huge cost of rebuilding a home later.
This plan set is a "blueprint" version of a prescriptive ("cookbook") standard for strengthening homes to better withstand earthquake shaking. When approved by the local building official, the plan set may be used to strengthen older homes without the need for costly site-specific plans and design calculations. This plan set provides a low-cost method to help improve an older home's chances of surviving an earthquake.
ABAG concluded that most homeowners are not retrofitting - and those that retrofit are not doing all the work needed to significantly change the likelihood that their homes will be habitable following future earthquakes. One of the problems that homeowners mentioned in an ABAG survey was that they did not know what to do. This plan set is a tool to help homeowners know what needs to be done. They can use the plan set to get bids from contractors, or, if experienced, can do the work themselves.

10. Incentives for Retrofitting: Financial
8b. Offer partial grants or low interest loans for home retrofits
Only 12% of homeowners are insured for earthquake losses and deductibles are high; so only about 5% of losses will be covered by insurance
See quake.abag.ca.gov “housing losses”
Only 14% of jurisdictions are doing this
Reduced housing losses will help keep people in their homes which reduce shelter populations and speeds recovery of the community. Displaced residents may not return, damaged or abandoned homes will be a burden on the jurisdiction to prevent blight. Housing provides the tax base for governments, houses workers for businesses and provides stability for families. The financial savings that can be realized by providing retrofit incentives now are huge as well as the benefit of maintaining the fabric of the community and the architectural feel of neighborhoods.
Many jurisdictions that have Adopted Plan set A offer a flat building permit fees of about $250 for retrofits, regardless of the purchase date of the home. This program is a popular incentive for homeowners to retrofit their homes.
Start with your own employees. Providing no- or low- interest loans to your own employees to retrofit their homes will ensure that your staff is protected in an earthquake. Staff is more likely to have better mental health after an earthquake and be available to come to work if they are not worried about finding housing for their family or significantly repairing their homes. Educate employees about protecting their homes contents in an earthquake. See ABAG’s website for information about how to do this.

11. Soft-Story Housing
9. Retrofit soft-story buildings
These are multi-family buildings with open parking or commercial on the first floor
Over half of housing losses in the Bay Area will be in soft story buildings
quake.abag.ca.gov “housing losses”
Incentive ideas
Retrofit standards
Summary of local actions
Several cities have inventories. Some have passed ordinances requiring owners to act.
Santa Clara County soft story survey has not been made public to date
While retrofitting soft-story buildings is not an easy task given the price tag of approximately $12k per unit, beginnging the process by identifying vulnerable buildings will help a jurisdiction understand the magnitude of the problem. ABAG has worked with Oakland and Sebastopol to develop their soft-story inventories. Oakland is now requiring owners on the list to verify the soft-story condition of their buildings by hiring a contractor, inspector or engineer to perform a ~$500 evaluation. The City is now considering a retrofit ordinance for those properties that are still on the list after the initial evaluation. Oakland is also looking for creative ways to incentivize building owners to retrofit their properties, including working closely with the rental housing association. San Francisco is considering repurposing its URM bond money for the retrofitting of soft-story buildings through ballot measure this November.
Collapsed buildings can break gas lines and start fires and residents of multi-family homes will likely be a significant portion of a jurisdiction’s shelter population after a disaster. We saw evidence of this in the Marina District of San Francisco after the Loma Prieta earthquake..
Only 6% of jurisdictions have incentives or mandates for soft-story buildings but 34% of jurisdictions said they did not have any soft-story multifamily housing.
San Francisco
Oakland
Berkeley
Alameda
Santa Clara Co.
Sebastopol
Fremont
San Leandro

12. Downtowns and Jobs
10. Mandate the retrofit of ALL unreinforced masonry buildings in key downtown areas
Ensures safety of occupants and pedestrians
Preserves the character of older downtowns
Include small and large business owners, banks, and business leaders from the beginning
Unreinforced masonry buildings (URMs), comprised of brick or stone, are extremely susceptible to shaking damage. These buildings are the structures that have been responsible for deaths and injuries in many past earthquakes, including the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. In addition, the impact of URM damage on the local economy can be much larger than that on housing. This disproportional impact is because most of the Bay Area’s URMs tend to be in older downtown areas where commercial uses dominate. In the 1989 Loma Prieta event, a major part of the business district in Santa Cruz was decimated due, in large part, to the presence of a significant number of unreinforced masonry buildings.
Jurisdictions with this type of structure should develop comprehensive plans to mitigate the impact of URM failures on their local economies. This plan should include complete adherence to state laws requiring lists of URMs, disclosure of the dangers URM failures, and promotion of URM retrofit programs, whether mandatory or voluntary.
Based on tracking of local inventories of these buildings by the State Seismic Safety Commission, the Bay Area has 6,576 URMs. The cities with the largest number of these structures include San Francisco (1,984), Oakland (1,612), and Berkeley (587). Almost all of the buildings in these three cities have been retrofitted. Those remaining are largely vacant. Additional cities with over 100 such buildings include Emeryville (101) and San Jose (146). San Jose has fewer buildings than might be expected (since it is the largest city in the Bay Area) because many were torn down during redevelopment. San Jose has had an aggressive and successful program for retrofitting the remaining buildings.
Jurisdictions may want to consider agreements with neighboring jurisdictions for setting up alternative job sites after a disaster. Such agreements may keep larger businesses with more resources from leaving the region all together and may help small, more vulnerable businesses stay in business. A high percentage of small businesses do not survive disasters because they don’t have the resources to sustain their staff for long periods of diminished income. Businesses occupied in URM buildings should review the terms of their lease to determine who is responsible for restoring the damaged property after a disaster.
40% have completed retrofits of all unreinforced masonry buildings

13. Communicate Your Efforts to the Community
Prepare a public information campaign
The community wants to know that their government is preparing for a speedy recovery after a disaster
Businesses that have confidence in a community’s ability to recover are more likely to continue to invest in that community after a disaster
A jurisdiction should consider adding a section to their website to communicate the steps that have been taken to prepare for earthquake recovery. The website could include any incentives available to residents for preparing their own home and link to the ABAG website for hazard and mitigation information. Most jurisdictions in the Bay Area are participating in ABAG’s Local Hazard Mitigation Plan and information about each jurisdiction’s action plan and mitigation priorities are available at for the public to see. Consider running newspaper articles are editorials that explain the work that you’ve done and how you are preapred.
Also communicate your efforts to your own employees. They will want to know that the jurisdiction will be able to continue to operate after a disaster and that their jobs are secure.
The community and your own staff may be in a difficult mental state after a disaster. Having a plan for continuing government function will alleviate the need to make some difficult decisions in the post-disaster chaos and will help residents feel confident that their community will return more quickly.

14. Make long-term recovery a high priority in your jurisdiction!
For a complete list of recommended recovery strategies, visit
quake.abag.ca.gov/recovery