Community Disaster Recovery Plan Assessment

Designing an effective disaster recovery plan brochure for reducing health disparities in Liberia community after severe weather events guides students in public health courses.

For this assessment, you will use the community from your windshield (Liberia)survey OR you may select a community from the Assessment 3 Supplement: Disaster Recovery Plan [PDF]. Students often find this step crucial for tailoring the plan to specific local challenges. You will then develop a brochure, storyboard, or poster communicating the plan for the local system city officials, and the disaster relief team.

Instruction

Use the following steps to gather the information you need to create your disaster recovery plan. Then follow the grading criteria as the guide for what to include and how to structure your brochure, storyboard, or poster. Incorporating recent advancements in emergency management technology can enhance the accuracy of these steps.

1. Develop a disaster recovery plan for the community that will lessen health disparities and improve access to services after a disaster. Refer back to the community chosen for your health promotion plan.
   • Assess community needs.
   • Consider resources, personnel, budget, and community makeup. Emerging research highlights the importance of inclusive budgeting to address diverse needs effectively.
   • Identify the people accountable for implementation of the plan and describe their roles.
   • Focus on specific Healthy People 2030 objectives.
   • Include a timeline for the recovery effort.
2. Focus on the following areas in your crisis communication plan:
   • Information gathering.This is critical not only to promote situational awareness but also to receive feedback on messages and how they are received and interpreted. Media monitoring and analysis, including social media, is a central function because the media remains a source of timely information during any crisis. Close coordination with other response agencies and partners, and their public information officers (PIOs), to gather the most current information is also critical. Modern tools like AI-driven analytics can now streamline this monitoring process.

     Use the demographic data and specifics related to the disaster to identify the needs of the community and develop a recovery plan. Consider physical, emotional, cultural, and financial needs of the entire community.

   • Information dissemination.This includes using a variety of channels to reach multiple audiences. These activities include general media relations, working with designated spokespersons, organizing news conferences, and providing briefings and updates. Inquiries and questions from the general public must also be addressed and should be documented through contact logs. Digital platforms have become increasingly vital for rapid updates in recent years.

     In addition, officials and other key leaders must be briefed. These information dissemination activities should extend to web support and social media.

   • Operation support.This involves a variety of communication activities, including addressing special needs and multilingual audiences through translation and other services. Facilities’ support activities involve ensuring sufficient communications capacity to support operations. Recent guidelines emphasize accessible technology for all users.
   • Liaisons.They can provide two-way communication and coordination with key stakeholders and partners. Close coordination is necessary to achieve an effective response and create consistent messages.

     Provide support for your position.

     Include in your plan contact tracing of the homeless, disabled, displaced community members, migrant workers, and those who have hearing impairment or English as a second language in the event of severe tornadoes. Updated protocols from 2025 integrate mobile apps for better tracing efficiency.

3. Develop a brochure, storyboard, or poster of your disaster recovery plan. You can use one of the free templates available on the Brochure Design Templates web page, storyboard, or poster templates.

The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide, so be sure to address each point. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion in the scoring guide to see how your work will be assessed. Aligning with current evidence-based practices ensures your plan remains relevant.

• Describe determinants of health and cultural, social, and economic barriers that impact community safety, health, and disaster recovery efforts.
  • Consider the interrelationships among these factors.
• Explain how your proposed disaster recovery plan will lessen health disparities and improve access to community services.
  • Consider principles of social justice and cultural sensitivity with respect to ensuring health equity for individuals, families, and aggregates in the community. Recent studies underscore the role of equity in long-term recovery success.
• Explain how health and governmental policy impacts disaster recovery efforts in a community.
  • Consider the implications of legislation for community members such as the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, and 2018 Disaster Recovery Reform Act (DRRA).
  • Consider trace-mapping the community progress during the recovery phase. (You can consult the resources in the Contact Tracing reading list for more information about contact trace-mapping.)
• Present specific, evidence-based strategies to overcome communication barriers and enhance interprofessional collaboration to improve disaster recovery efforts in a community using the CERC framework.
  • Consider how your proposed strategies will affect members of the disaster relief team, individuals, families, and aggregates in the community.
  • Identify evidence that supports your strategies. Incorporating 2026 policy updates can strengthen these strategies.
• Organize content with clear purpose/goals and with relevant and evidence-based sources (published within 5 years).
• Make sure your choice of a brochure, storyboard, or poster is easy to read and error-free.
  • Develop your assessment with a specific purpose and audience in mind.
  • Adhere to scholarly and disciplinary writing standards and APA formatting requirements.

Supporting Evidence

• Cite at least two articles from peer-reviewed journals or professional industry publications within the 5 past years to support your plan.
• Include data from the CDC, United States Census Bureau, and other government agencies.

Before submitting your assessment, proofread your brochure, storyboard, or poster to minimize errors that could distract readers and make it difficult for them to focus on the substance of your presentation. Utilizing digital tools for proofreading can help maintain professionalism.

Note: If you require the use of assistive technology or alternative communication methods to participate in this activity, please contact [email protected] to request accommodations

Scoring

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Analyze health risks and healthcare needs among distinct populations.
  • Describe the determinants of health and the cultural, social, and economic barriers that impact safety, health, and disaster recovery efforts in a community.
• Competency 2: Propose health promotion strategies to improve the health of populations.
  • Present specific, evidence-based strategies to overcome communication barriers and enhance interprofessional collaboration to improve disaster recovery efforts.
• Competency 3: Evaluate health policies, based on their ability to achieve desired outcomes.
  • Explain how health and governmental policy impact disaster recovery efforts in a community using the CERC framework.
• Competency 4: Integrate principles of social justice in community health interventions.
  • Explain how a proposed disaster recovery plan will lessen health disparities and improve access to community services.
• Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly communication strategies to lead health promotion and improve population health.
  • Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions; contains few errors in grammar/punctuation, word choice, and spelling.
  • Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references, exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format.

Sample Answer Study Bay

The disaster recovery plan for the Liberia community starts with a thorough assessment of needs, focusing on vulnerable groups like the elderly and low-income families. Key personnel such as local health coordinators take lead roles in executing the plan, ensuring timely resource allocation. Alignment with Healthy People 2030 objectives targets reducing chronic disease impacts post-disaster. A detailed timeline outlines phases from immediate response to long-term rebuilding over 12 months. Effective information gathering relies on social media monitoring and partner coordination to adapt messages dynamically. Dissemination strategies employ multilingual channels to reach all demographics inclusively. Operation support includes provisions for special needs, enhancing overall resilience (Shukla et al., 2024, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21050521).

References

1. Shukla, M. et al. (2024) Tailoring Household Disaster Preparedness Interventions to Reduce Health Disparities: Nursing Implications from Machine Learning Importance Features from the 2018–2020 FEMA National Household Survey. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(5), p. 521. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21050521.
2. Raker, E.J. et al. (2020) Mitigating Health Disparities After Natural Disasters: Lessons From The RISK Project. Health Affairs, 39(12), pp. 2125-2134. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01161.
3. Sandifer, P.A. et al. (2018) Enhancing Disaster Resilience by Reducing Stress-Associated Health Impacts. Frontiers in Public Health, 6, p. 373. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00373.
4. Blackman, D. et al. (2023) Wellbeing in disaster recovery: Understanding where systems get stuck. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 92, p. 103733. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103733.
5. van Kessel, G. et al. (2025) Community resilience to health emergencies: a scoping review. BMJ Global Health, 10(4), e016963. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2024-016963.