How Does Disaster Relief Differ from Disaster Recovery?

Disaster relief and recovery are necessary parts of providing succor to people who have experienced any form of disaster. While disaster relief provides shelter, water, and food in a bid to ameliorate the adverse conditions that disaster victims are subjected to, disaster recovery is aimed at restoring disaster victims to the state that they were before the disaster.

So, disaster relief focuses on momentarily alleviating the suffering of people who have experienced a disaster. It usually involves providing financial assistance or even providing counseling services to help them combat the immediate psychological effects of disasters.

Most disaster relief operations often involve setting up temporary camps or shelters, conducting evacuation exercises, and providing first aid. Institutions like the police, fire services, the military, and the Red Cross are instrumental in disaster relief.

Disaster recovery, on the other hand, entails ensuring that victims of disasters get to regain their livelihoods and are restored to their default health. For instance, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has established a disaster recovery framework that seeks to reduce economic losses and mitigate damage to infrastructure. The framework also reduces the mortality of disasters.