2013 Southern Alberta Flood
Disaster Recovery Program
Twyla Hale
Director, Disaster Recovery Program Operations
Contents
• Overview
– Disaster Recovery Program Intent
– June 2013 Flood
– Challenges
• 2013 Disaster Recovery Program
–
–
–
–
Individual File Overview
Issues and Solutions
Phases of Disaster Mental Health
Lessons Learned
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2013 Southern Alberta Flood
Disaster Recovery Program
Overview
3
DRP Intent
• Provide funding to GOA departments, municipalities, First
Nations, small businesses, and individuals to
– pay for extraordinary costs of responding to a disaster;
– provide basic essentials of life to individuals;
– restore damaged infrastructure and homes to pre-disaster functional
condition; and
– support viability of small businesses, agricultural operations,
condominium associations, homeowners, institutions, landlords, and
tenants.
• The DRP is NOT insurance or a “full value” replacement
program.
• The DRP is a GRANT program that covers uninsurable
losses to a basic level of function.
– DRPs accept applications from agricultural operations, condominium
associations, homeowners, institutions, landlords, small businesses,
and tenants.
4
June 2013 Flood
• In the days leading up to June 19, 2013, Alberta experienced
heavy rainfall that triggered the worst flooding in Alberta's history.
– Areas along the Bow, Elbow, Highwood, Red Deer, Sheep, Little Bow,
and South Saskatchewan rivers and their tributaries were particularly
affected.
– As water levels rose, a total of 32 states of local emergency were
declared, 28 emergency operations centres were activated, and
numerous communities were placed under evacuation orders.
• The 2013 Southern Alberta Flood Disaster Recovery Program is
the largest DRP in the history of the province.
– The program received 10,592 applications.
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Challenges
• Scale and scope of the event.
– Prior DRPs mostly covered municipal infrastructure.
– Most individuals’ losses were insurable; the resultant DRP coverage
was minimal.
• Balancing the expectation to manage what is cost-shareable
with the Federal Government and get Albertans back in their
homes.
– Rental assistance may be provided for up to six months, yet some
Albertans still remain out of their homes.
• As a grant program, the DRP was not designed to attend to
the psychosocial needs of some applicants.
• Will our standard process—ApplicationAppealMinisterial
Review—work in this new world?
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2013 Southern Alberta Flood
Disaster Recovery Program
2013 DRP
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8
Provincial Recovery Framework
Response
Intermediate
Recovery
Stabilization
Long Term Recovery
AEMA/POC
Flood Recovery Task Force
Recovery Coordination Group
Business as
Usual
Local
Community
(lead)
Local
Community
(lead)
Local
Community
(lead)
Local
Community
Enable
Support
Enable
Coordinate
Support
Support
Preemergency
Support
Emergency Support
Transition and
Intermediate Recovery
Support
Long-Term Recovery /
Enhanced Ministry Support
Routine
Ongoing
Support
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Recovery Principles
•
Leadership and local autonomy
•
Collaboration and coordination
•
Partnerships and inclusiveness
•
Communication
•
Timeliness and flexibility
•
Fairness across flood-affected communities
•
Resilience
•
Building Alberta together
•
Psychological and emotional wellness
•
Individual and family empowerment
•
Safety
•
Capture lessons learned
•
Plan for transition to normal services
•
Accountability
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Recovery Elements
ENVIRONMENT
PEOPLE
• Biodiversity, ecosystems & natural
resources
• Amenities
• Waste & pollution management
• Mitigation
•
•
•
•
Safety
Health
Social well-being
Mitigation
Local Community
and
Stakeholders
RECONSTRUCTION
ECONOMY
• Residential & commercial buildings
• Utilities
• Infrastructure, communications, and
transport planning
• Mitigation
•
•
•
•
•
Individual
Small Enterprise
Medium Enterprise
Large Enterprise
Tourism
• Mitigation
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Individual File Overview
• The vast majority of DRP files are Homeowner files.
• The DRP received 10,592 applications.
• 8,313 applications have been closed.
– 4,638 of the closed applications have been fully paid.
• 2,279 applications remain open.
– Why do these files remain open?
• Applicants disengage from the program (exhaustion, stress, or confusion with
program).
• Applicants disagree with DRP eligibility or funding decisions regarding their files.
• The DRP is waiting to receive additional supporting documents (receipts, etc.)
from applicants.
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Issues and Solutions
• Expectation Management: applicants are not satisfied with
the level of funding and expect to receive the full
replacement value.
• Communications:
– Increase outreach in key communities.
• Appeal times:
– Triple the number of appeals officers.
• Transparency:
– Adopt a caseworker approach for the most complex files.
– Continue to share decision guidelines, mini-manual, etc.
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Phases of Disaster Mental Health
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Lessons Learned
• Partner with community resources early.
• Provide training to community resources on the Disaster
Recovery Program to manage applicant expectations.
• Employ a widely diverse staff, not just financial experts.
• Emphasize community resources, valuable assets to the
applicant that
– navigate the DRP and Appeal process,
– advocate for the applicant (with approval),
– help applicants find alternate assistance methods (NGOs, volunteer
groups), and
– assist applicants with recovery beyond financial assistance.
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DRP Administration 2014
Strategic Planning & Design
Stacey Gellatly
Director, Strategic Planning & Design
Crisis & Opportunity
Exhaustion.
Pace.
Funding.
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Disaster Recovery Program:
Redesign Phases
1. Nurture the Past : Providing continuity to
applicants
2. React to the Present: Interim GoA-internal DRP
Administration Team
3. Design the Future: Identify vision, create
innovative delivery model, and develop a new
system plan.
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Key Principles : 2014 Administration
• Case Management : One point of contact for
applicants. Coordination happens behind the scenes
• Supporting the Whole Person: Helping Albertans
get connected to other programs when needs are
outside of DRP scope
• Citizen-centered Delivery: New delivery methods
are developed from the point of view of the Albertan,
their experiences, and how they access supports
• Fiscal Responsibility: Financial accountability and
continued adherence to legislation, regulations, and
guidelines
• Innovation: Developing new ways to deliver better
services to Albertans through continuous
improvement and innovation
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Who you’ll meet along the way
Many Recovery Staff are involved in the
processing of a DRP application, and you’ll get
to know a few of them.
• The Registration Centre staff will help
applicants complete the applications and
answer any questions.
• The Evaluator will assess the damage and
submit a report to AEMA.
• The Case Manager is the key contact on
application status under the new model.
• The Appeals Coordinator will help if you do
not agree with the decision (Recovery
Appeals.)
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Improving Service into the Future
Policies: Learning from our experiences and reviewing
our policies to ensure that they are responsive to
Albertans and uphold the mandate and priorities of the
Government of Alberta.
Procedures: Creating ongoing efficiencies and
improvements through steam-lined, enhanced, or
modified procedures.
Platforms: Making the most of technology to improve
client experience, be more accountable, and make
good decisions quickly.
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Thank you
Additional questions can be directed to:
Twyla Hale, Director, Disaster Recovery
or
Stacey Gellatly, Director, Strategic Planning & Design
AEMA
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