Pre-disaster Recovery Planning Guide for State Governments

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designed this planning guide to help States and territories prepare for recovery by developing pre-disaster recovery plans that follow a process to engage members of the whole community, develop recovery capabilities across State government and nongovernmental partners, and ultimately create an organizational framework for comprehensive State recovery efforts.

A pre-disaster recovery plan, and the inclusive process used to develop it, establishes resilience through State-level leadership and structure, forms communication channels, and builds whole-community partnerships to support recovery efforts.A State recovery plan sets the stage for necessary strategic, operational, and tactical post-disaster planning, actions, and processes. A plan also facilitates capacity building by preparing State-level agencies and recovery stakeholders to anticipate the needs of post-disaster recovery management and planning challenges prior to the disaster. It can also accelerate the delivery of resources, including funding and technical assistance, to disaster-impacted communities. A recovery plan prepares State agencies to more easily adapt to new post-disaster roles needed to manage new or modified sources of State and Federal recovery resources.