Long-Range Reconstruction

The Long-Range Reconstruction Period may stretch over many months after a disaster, until all physical property, social and economic processes return to a stable and acceptable pre-disaster level. The visible activities are demolition of partially devastated structures and complete major reconstruction. Victims return to repaired/rebuilt structures from temporary housing and preventative mitigation measures are formulated and implemented.

State and Federal Disaster Assistance Operations

Following a Florida Governor's disaster declaration, a Presidential disaster declaration may be requested. If granted, the State and Federal Emergency Management agencies are colocated into one facility, the Disaster Application Center. The Presidential Declaration will trigger federal disaster assistance programs including individual assistance (for employees) and low-interest loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration.

If you may apply for a disaster loan, it is very important that you have the necessary paper work necessary for the applications. That list is included in Checklist 28 in the Guidebook or on the checklists page of this site, The "Go Box".

Traumatic Stress: Crisis Counseling

The better prepared the employee is, the less of an impact a critical incident will have on an individual and the more stable the workplace will be following an incident. Understanding the basics of traumatic stress and how it affects people can help an organization recover quickly and with limited chaos.

Humans have a fairly predictable and consistent response to trauma. These responses occur in stages over time. Within each stage there are signs and symptoms that are considered normal reactions to abnormal events. This is a very important concept for the employer because no one is immune, including the boss. Different people will have different reactions depending on previous life experiences, coping skills, home life stability, amount of personal losses and other factors. The normal signs and symptoms are often misinterpreted. Sometimes these normal reactions are seen as non-coping of the traumatized person and the tendency is to send them home, which may not be the wisest thing to do.

Ideally when developing a plan for disaster management, pre-incident education for at least the management team is highly recommended. If the management team understands what to expect in the way of signs and symptoms and how to optimally deal with people who have been traumatized, the return to normal operations may be accelerated. A three to eight hour annual inservice will be time well spent.

Some organizations rely on Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). Traumatic Stress is a highly specialized field and requires a skill set that is developed only after specialized training and field experience in dealing with survivors of trauma. When searching for mental health assistance following a traumatic event, it is recommended to turn to the specialist in the field of Traumatology and Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM). The emerging field of Traumatology is a rapidly growing, relatively new concept in the mental health arena.

A team approach in Traumatology will consist of a diverse group of trained individuals, mental health, emergency work and faith-based backgrounds. A diverse group of experienced team members can provide the workplace with the greatest coverage of services to best meet the needs of all employees, especially those that might shy away from mental health professionals. When preventing long term affects from trauma, the key is get in immediately and provide a safe, supportive environment to deal with the after-effects of the event. The workforce can be educated on traumatic stress reactions and the means of coping. For more information go onlineto www.ICISF.org.

Some organizations develop internal critical incident teams to deal with the small to medium incidents that occur in the workplace from time to time under mental health guidance. The internal teams have a great advantage. They know and understand the internal workings of the business and are familiar with the corporate culture.