Extreme Management in Disaster Recovery

Abstract Major disasters require a different form of management because of the extreme conditions under which this type of management intervention takes place. This applies, not only to the immediate aftermath of the disaster event, but in the subsequent reconstruction period following the emergency humanitarian relief. This period is sometimes overlooked when addressing the urgency of meeting the humanitarian needs but nevertheless can have as much impact on human suffering as the event itself. Often this gap between the relief and the reconstruction can last for years while the donations provided by both governments and relief organisations can lie idle in banks demanding to be spent. Partly this is caused by the systems devised by governments to disburse sums and partly by the nature of the problem and the limited tools available. In fact, defining the problem in a way which will allow conventional methods to address the problem is a major issue in itself. To aid the planners and reconstruction teams, new innovative methods of structuring and solving the problem need to be devised. This paper addresses this issue and calls on the knowledge of the author in investigating the ‘gap’ between event and reconstruction and his experience in reviewing the situation after the 2004 tsunami in the country of Sri Lanka. It suggests possible tools which can be used in a crisis situation in terms of management protocols, high level technical support (particularly with regard to information technology and communication) and economic vehicles which may release funds earlier in the process. These are still experimental but nevertheless they attempt to improve the performance of planning, design and construction personnel in resolving the delays in getting construction underway. The author also suggests that these techniques, developed and used under extreme conditions, may provide methods which may be adaptable to improve the performance of all such teams under normal conditions.