ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces readers to the importance of managing debris carefully and effectively. Debris removal expedites response operations by clearing roads and then helps to launch recovery efforts. Debris management planning should be done in advance, as disasters can produce fifteen times the waste that a community accumulates in a single year. Managing the debris properly ensures that workers and residents remain safe, both from direct exposure to hazardous debris to long-term contamination that can harm water, ground, and air qualities. Debris also has a human element, as it contains people’s resources and heirlooms, business records and tools, and more.
