The Resilience Cycle
By now many of us have been exposed to the disaster cycle. This cycle takes us from the disastrous event itself to the immediate search and rescue and early relief work, into a sustained response through the first days and weeks. The cycle then moves into the recovery phase, both short- and long-term, over weeks and months. Then comes the assessment phase and the planning, preparation and prevention work that follows over the course of months and often years until another event arises.
In truth of course it's not so linear as that. When a disaster strikes, the situation is confusing and chaotic, and we simply jump in and do what needs to be done. As the dust settles or the floodwaters retreat or case counts diminish, we have time for more methodical action. Things are complex and still messy, but we're addressing things we can understand - housing, food, medical care. Once we're further into the recovery we can start to assess and apply learning to what did and did not work and how the response can be better next time. If we have the time and resources, we may also address underlying issues, structural problems and our community’s level of resilience.
But more often than not we get distracted by other priorities, our memories fade, and we forget what we went through. We forget how bad it was. We forget what we learned. And we forget to make the changes and really prepare so that we can weather the proverbial storm next time and bounce back faster, and perhaps even better.
If we forget, we can't build resilience. That's why our team at LegacyWorks Group helped the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade articulate the path to turning the Disaster Cycle into the Resilience Cycle in the aftermath of Montecito's double disasters, the December 2018 Thomas Fire and the 1/9 2019 Debris Flow. Six community members jumped in to launch the Bucket Brigade in our community's greatest time of need right after the debris flow. Their approach was informed by a long history of similar efforts that the founders and their friends had been through and the learnings that came from those events. The efforts were hugely successful, rallying thousands of volunteers and hundreds of thousands of dollars in relief funding. They made a huge difference to many impacted families and to the community overall.
Once things had settled back into something like normalcy, the question for the Bucket Brigade was what's next? Do we suspend operations and put the organization on ice until we need it again? Or is there a critical role for us to play in the community between disasters?
1. THE DISASTER CYCLE - OUR CURRENT REALITY
Immediate response is a flurry of activity and investment of resources, but these efforts diminish over time and we tend to forget the severity and cost of previous disasters.
2. THE GAPS - WHERE SYSTEMS FAIL
Each time we see the same needs and gaps in services, and each time, we get a little better at addressing them. The process of preparing, responding, recovering and rebuilding together is the best way to weave a genuine community safety net.
3. BUILDING CAPACITY FOR RESILIENCE
Resilience is built upon 1) Community Organizing and Uplift, 2) Cooperative Prevention and Preparation, and 3) Coordinated Community Response to Disasters and Crises
The answer to that last question was a resounding yes. The Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade is hard at work helping the community build resilience so that we can indeed bounce back faster and better, no matter what comes next. The Bucket Brigade is making it possible for recovery efforts themselves to elevate our collective capacity to mobilize, respond and lead in the face of crises, whether acute or chronic, and to drive the fundamental change the community needs.
How do they do it? By mobilizing local scale initiatives that help neighborhoods build leadership capacity, identify critical community needs and implement projects that meet those needs. Each project helps each neighborhood up their game, and larger scale projects bring multiple neighborhoods, community groups and agencies together to tackle things that are otherwise out of their own reach. This then builds collective capacity for a mutual aid system amongst neighborhood groups, nonprofits, funders, volunteers, and local agencies whereby we are all better prepared to help each other out when the time inevitably comes again.
The most recent activation of the Bucket Brigade is around COVID-19, responding full speed to the urgent need for masks in the community. They have mobilized dozens of volunteers to sew masks for public safety agencies, health care organizations, social service and mental health agencies, frontline workers in grocery stores, farm fields and other critical arenas.
As the saying goes, never let a disaster go to waste. Doing so requires being ready to mobilize to meet key community needs before, during and after whatever comes next. We welcome your insights about the Resilience Cycle and ways we might work together to build resilience and community capacity together. Please email us at inquire@legacyworksgroup.com.
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