Long-Term Recovery Group details:
Clackamas County’s wildfire long-term recovery (going beyond the relief and initial cleanup to actual rebuilding of homes and lives) may last months to years. Disasters are an opportunity for communities to grow back stronger. Often damages sustained in disaster can be prevented from reoccurring by implementing a long-term recovery strategy grounded in risk reduction analysis and mitigation.
A Long-Term Recovery Group (LTRG) is a cooperative body that is made up of representatives from faith based, non-profit, governmental, business, and other organizations working to ensure that individuals and families recover from disasters. It is essential that the LTRG coordinates, collaborates, communicates, and cooperates with all partners in order to maximize the utilization of available resources; avoid duplication of benefits and/or services to individuals and families; generate financial, material, and personnel resources; and enhance community confidence.
The objective of the LTRG is to provide additional assistance in the post-recovery process for victims of disasters by bringing together various levels of assistance and resources to persons and families in need.
The mission of the LTRG is to address the unmet disaster caused or aggravated needs within local communities by using collaborative efforts between the public, private, interfaith, and voluntary individuals and agencies.
Membership of the LTRG should include both local and outside the community members that can contribute information, resources, knowledge, or financial support to the recovery process.
One of the important functions in this LTRG is Construction Management. This function would assess projects and provide materials list, skills needed, and supervision to complete repair and reconstruction needed in the community. Examples of this function’s roles and responsibilities could include:
- Determine needs and priorities based on the damages sustained
- Estimate home repair costs
- Work with city/county personnel to ensure all codes and ordinances are followed and all permits are secured prior to work being completed
- Plan projects and oversee construction
- Coordinate with the volunteer management group regarding the use of volunteers for construction and clean-up projects
Responding to the unmet needs as a result of the wildfires in Clackamas County will be a long-term recovery effort, so the hope is that people who want to be a part of the LTRG will want to participate in the group for the long-haul, but an initial six-month commitment could be a start. This level of commitment could give the group time to form and begin the process of how they will respond, as a group, to meet community needs. After that initial commitment individuals could find a replacement if they need, or if they prefer, stay on longer.
Based on past LTRG efforts in other areas, the LTRG could be in existence for six months to three years, with a general time commitment of five to 10 hours per week. This level of commitment is flexible and may vary, depending on what the needs are in Clackamas County.
If you are interested, please contact:
Jamie Poole
Outreach and Technology Coordinator
Clackamas County Disaster Management | 2200 Kaen Road, Oregon City, OR 97045
503-278-9150 (cell) | Jpoole@clackamas.us | www.clackamas.us/dm