ABSTRACT
In the wake of the recent rash of unprecedented, high visibility, natural, and human-generated catastrophes, interest in the topics of long-term recovery and community resilience has elevated significantly among government agencies, emergency management practitioners, scholars, and researchers. Viability means the community has a developmental trajectory projected to result in continued self-sufficiency and key institutions are coping with and adapting to changed circumstances. Each successive major disaster event reminds that government-centric response and recovery doctrine and practices are lacking, to say the least. The President may provide federal assistance in the absence of a specific request from state officials. Among the guidance concepts advanced by the National Disaster Recovery Framework are the engagement of pre-disaster recovery planning and private–public partnerships. In October 2007, Federal Emergency Management Agency established a Private Sector Division within its Office of External Affairs to help formalize the agency’s approach to private sector engagement.
