State and local leaders should have a recovery plan in place even if they have not faced a disaster, Madhu Beriwal, a former flood management and hurricane evacuation specialist for the state of Louisiana, tells Governing magazine in a new Q&A.
Beriwal is the CEO and founder of IEM, a private consulting firm that helps states and localities plan for potential disasters. The company also helps devastated communities recover and rebuild.
With major natural disasters growing more frequent, communities are more prepared, Beriwal says. But she strongly urges governments to do more scenario-based planning, where they focus on what they’ll do in a particular situation.
“The base level of planning is just not sufficient. They should take the top three to five scenarios that are likely to develop in a community and do detailed plans that engage a lot of stakeholders, so everybody knows what their role would be,” Beriwal says.
Governing spoke with Beriwal following hurricanes Harvey and Irma, but before Hurricane Maria.
