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A major natural disaster occurs, on average, 10 times a year,
with minor disasters striking as frequently as once a week. These
include floods, tidal waves, tornadoes, ice storms, fires,
landslides, hurricanes, and earthquakes, and the damage can
range
from a few uprooted trees to the near-obliteration of entire
communities. In the aftermath, architects immediately contemplate
how best to participate in the rebuilding— indeed, this was
never more true than following hurricanes Katrina and Rita, when
the outpouring of interest and willingness to contribute were
overwhelming.
More than 600 AIA members nationwide volunteered, registering on
the AIA Web site and offering to step forward and assist wherever
needed.
The question was (and is): How can the AIA and its members best be
of use?
Three Stages of Disaster Assistance
Disaster assistance typically occurs in three stages:
Emergency: The first response,
it relies on quick action and involves providing emergency shelter,
medical assistance, food, and other such services. This stage can
last two to three weeks.
Relief: Short-term housing,
health services, and employment counseling are provided. Formal
assessment of damage begins with examinations of buildings,
including analysis of historic properties and other structures.
This stage may last up to six months.
Recovery: This stage is
characterized by rebuilding, with an emphasis on long-term
comprehensive planning to enhance the physical fabric of the
community. Regulatory changes may be necessary to mitigate the
effect of future disasters. This period may last three years or
more.
Until 2005, it was believed that the AIA and its members were
skilled to respond only to stages two and three, when the focus
shifts from emergency response to making homes livable and
workplaces functional; licensed building experts—architects,
engineers, builders, and others—are often called to assist in
evaluating post-disaster conditions and later to help in restoring
a community. This approach has been in place for more than 30
years, since the advent of the AIA Disaster Assistance
program.
This year, however, the AIA realized that an emergency-phase
response was needed to provide for the security, safety, and
rebuilding of AIA members’ lives and practices.
This new emergency role included a focus on fundraising while
people still felt an emotional connection to the devastation. It
included the immediate gathering of information on both
members and the communities they serve. It included quickly
communicating the status and needs of the architectural community
to the membership so assistance could be coordinated nationwide.
And it meant investigating the often shifting status of FEMA
operations and initiating contact with the ESF-14 long-range
recovery program.
In short, while architects are not directly needed to provide
emergency assistance—and the AIA will continue to request that
members and components resist the urge to travel to affected areas,
and focus instead on coordinating locally—clearly there is a
role to be filled.
Disaster assistance programs
In 1972 the AIA formally recognized the important
role that architects can play in disaster response; in Washington
D. C., members and staff began developing strategies to assist
components to respond quickly to requests for aid. Since then,
several state and local components, including Texas, California,
Florida, Kansas, and New York, have developed programs to provide
assistance to communities struck by disasters, and more come on
line each year.
Currently, the National Disaster Assistance Program at the AIA
Center for Communities by Design is working to update the AIA
program and foster a more productive relationship with
the larger disaster-response community. The program encourages
architects to use their skills to help communities recover from
disasters, but also seeks to position the architect as a civic
leader whose capabilities are vital to the development of more
livable communities.
Organizing a disaster assistance program
In areas vulnerable to disasters, AIA architects should develop a
response strategy in advance of an occurrence. As we have seen,
destruction
can happen almost immediately, and a prepared architectural
community will mean a faster, more effective response.
The most effective AIA programs have been organized at the state
level, in part because:
• Most government agencies coordinating disaster assistance
and long-term reconstruction are at the state level, and AIA
components can most easily plug into this network.
• A state component is better able to examine to discern
regional patterns and trends and tailor programs before disaster
strikes.
• The local AIA component can most effectively
marshal professional resources from nearby
unaffected areas.
AIA local components should establish rosters of potential
volunteer members; thus, each component needs to understand the
capabilities and willingness of its members statewide. A directory
of all human resources in the region or state promotes such an
understanding and should include not only architects but also the
allied professional organizations and trades that will need to be
marshaled. If there is an overriding lesson that’s been
learned from the Gulf Coast experience, it is that communication
and coordination are vital—especially as affected areas may be
without power, telephone, or public services for at least a
week.
To avoid duplication of rescue efforts, a coalition must be
formed by representatives from local agencies dealing with
construction, code enforcement, general contractors, home builders,
insurance industry representatives, other professional
associations, and churches. A list of contacts in each of these
organizations must be maintained and include cell-phone and e-mail
information.
When disaster strikes
After a disaster strikes, architectural expertise must be provided
as quickly as possible to assess the nature and extent of the
damage. The disaster team’s response should be patterned on
the general plan formulated prior to the disaster, with any
necessary emergency changes. State and local members of the AIA
disaster assistance team will be called, depending on need and
expertise.
A centralized headquarters will prove invaluable to communications,
coordination, and training. A conference room at the local AIA
chapter or an architect’s office can serve as the team’s
“war room” and readied with the
appropriate equipment. Again, the collection of cell-phone
numbers and e-mail addresses is priority number one.
Adequate accommodations for out-of-town team members must be
secured and can be problematic. In the Gulf Coast, this remains
challenging even today, given the great many displaced citizens
needing temporary housing. It is therefore critical to rely on
component members who can travel in and out of the affected area
without need for housing.
A response team with one lead contact person should be assembled.
Each member will be assigned a specific job from a list of
responsibilities that includes field evaluation work; connecting
with local, state, and federal officials; “Good
Samaritan” on-site consultations; and press outreach.
The team should consider both short- and longterm activities;
though it may seem premature, the most important responsibility is
planning for long-term recovery, which can be initiated by advising
public authorities of their options. This will help provide
affected citizens with an emotional outlet and a vehicle to restore
hope.
What to do after the crisis
Architects with a reconstruction/redevelopment program can envision
a positive and imaginative recovery opportunity. Since local and
state officials need to make long-term decisions that will affect
and may even significantly alter the built environment, it is
important that they are made aware of the opportunities for change.
Among these are comprehensive neighborhood redesign, urban
redesign, landscape redesign, preservation, appreciation of little
known assets, and utility relocation. The silver lining of a
disaster is the opportunity to remedy underperforming aspects of a
city.
The architectural community should visually and verbally articulate
a positive potential future. Timing is important—and, based on
experience gleaned from recent disasters such as 9/11 and Katrina,
time is becoming increasing short. Using established positive
relationships with allied professions and local community leaders,
the AIA disaster assistance team should be ready to suggest changes
to a city’s comprehensive plan and building codes, and educate
others in the community about the options available.
Leading to One AIA
The AIA continues to develop a nationwide network of volunteers who
are interested in providing disaster assistance, and many AIA
components are establishing new programs or growing existing ones
in both scale and expertise. Collectively, this national
partnership can become a highly effective means of delivering the
skills of the profession to devastated regions. Together
—under the theme of One AIA—the architectural community
can become a clearinghouse for information, a source of the latest
research and manuals on hazard-resistant design and planning, and a
beacon of hope in the most dire of times. By developing a
near-seamless national program, the AIA and its members will become
the leaders
of a new day. The AIA Center for Communities by Design is committed
to developing such a program—a program we hope is never called
upon but know is a necessity.
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