Learning from Other Disaster-Impacted Communities: Economic Impact Continues for Years

"Even after post-disaster rebuilding, old patterns of vulnerability and deprivation can persist. This happens even in rich countries. Ten years after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, United States, child poverty rates in the State of Louisiana remained strikingly high. Such cases highlight the need to rethink the concept of 'building back better' it must encompass not merely infrastructure but also a more inclusive trajectory of economic development.

Economic rebuilding after a disaster never completely recovers what was lost and does not return communities to a “normal” state that existed before. There is often a “new normal”, as societies and economies are forever altered."

Read More: Economic Recovery After Natural Disasters, United Nations Chronicle, Sonali Deraniyagala

Community members rescue children after Katrina. Gulfport, Mississippi, August 29, 2005. Photo credit: AP Photo/John Bazemore