GCRI · Disaster Resilience and Recovery
Recovery and reconstruction
Recovery restores housing, livelihoods, services and infrastructure after a disaster; reconstruction rebuilds what was destroyed. Done well, it reduces future risk. Done in haste, it rebuilds the same vulnerabilities, displaces people and widens inequality. This page sets out how recovery unfolds, how needs are assessed and progress tracked, and what evidence serves the governments and agencies that lead it.
Recovery and reconstruction in seven parts.
- 01The questionRecovery and reconstruction: how the risk develops
- 02Across the domainsRecovery restores domains in an order set by their dependencies
- 03IndicatorsWhat is measured, and how well
- 04SourcesWhere the evidence comes from
- 05DecisionsWho decides, and what the evidence serves
- 06Core questionsWhat experts ask
- 07Mechanisms and driversSpeed, safety and fairness pull against each other
Recovery and reconstruction: how the risk develops.
Safer rebuilding and recovery choices. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Recovery is slower than response
Attention and funding peak in the first weeks, while recovery takes years. Funding gaps open as needs persist and other emergencies compete.
Losses fall unequally
Renters, informal workers, women, older and disabled people and those without documents often receive less recovery assistance, and may be unable to return. Recovery can deepen existing inequality.
Rebuilding risk or reducing it
Reconstruction can relocate, strengthen and redesign, or it can restore the previous buildings in the same places. Building back better needs standards, funding and time that pressure to rebuild quickly erodes.
Institutions carry recovery
A recovery agency, clear land and property rules and functioning local government determine whether funds turn into homes and services. Weak institutions slow recovery more than lack of money.
Hazards now in the Philippines.
Population density, flood water, active fires and true-colour imagery over the Philippines, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 4
Hazards now, for this page
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
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Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Hazards now, framed on the Philippines.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · U.S. Geological Survey · NASA HLS S30Sources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Live: U.S. Geological Survey Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Observed (EO): NASA HLS S30 (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information 2026; not a flood warning.
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (20 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
- Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
- Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
Recovery restores domains in an order set by their dependencies.
- EnergyCouplingPower usually returns first and conditions everything else.What to watchRestoration curves
- WaterCouplingSafe water and sanitation decide when people can return.What to watchService restoration dates
- BiodiversityCouplingReconstruction can restore protective ecosystems or destroy them.What to watchEcosystem measures in recovery plans
Recovery evidence is designed for the Country Systems Risk and Resilience series. Post-Disaster Needs Assessments (2013 guidelines) and the Disaster Recovery Framework guide set the practice; build back better is Sendai priority four.
- Recovery timelines by service.
- Post-disaster needs assessments a government has published.
Recovery and needs tracker.
The screen a team would use to follow this subject: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
Recovery and needs tracker
Recovery and reconstruction · Affected area North · Day 86 after event
Damage and loss by sector
local units, millions, estimated
| Housing | 202 | 41 | 132 | 33 |
| Transport | 95 | 55 | 240 | 45 |
| Water and sanitation | 58 | 13 | 88 | 76 |
| Agriculture | 36 | 40 | 84 | 37 |
| Health | 17 | 23 | 27 | 69 |
Build back better
- Standard
- raised floor levels, hazard map zoning
- Safeguard
- no relocation without consent
- Owner
- Municipality
- Label
- ESTIMATED
Sendai targets, national
progress vs baseline, illustrative
What is measured, and how well.
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damaged housing units reconstructed | percent of assessed units | quarterly | Recovery programme records | REPORTED |
| Recovery needs funded | percent of assessed needs | quarterly | Recovery financing tracking | REPORTED |
| Households returned to pre-disaster housing | percent of displaced households | per survey round | Displacement tracking and surveys | ESTIMATED |
| Critical services restored | percent of facilities functioning | monthly | Service functionality assessments | OBSERVED |
| Reconstruction meeting hazard-resistant standards | percent of inspected units | per inspection round | Building inspection records | OBSERVED |
| Time to restore livelihoods | months to pre-disaster income | per survey round | Household panel surveys | ESTIMATED |
Model recovery and reconstruction as a system. Run the cascade.
Assembled from the Nexus Standards area profile Compound and cascading hazard standards: the hazards it names, the systems and sectors that carry the loss, the controls that dampen it and the data that observe it. Choose the components, pick an initiating hazard and step through the cascade. The Map view places the run on an example geography with open data. Every coupling weight is a stated assumption you can change. A teaching model, not a forecast, an assessment or a certification. To model a place of your own choosing, open the full System Builder.
Hazards
- Natech event
- Chemical spill or leak (set off downstream)
- Emergency-response overload (set off downstream)
- Toxic gas release (set off downstream)
- Industrial fire (set off downstream)
Systems and couplings
Controls
NS-0Constitution and principlesNS-3Risk record UNIs (grammar, legacy crosswalk, allocation authority)NS-9Contextual UNIs (deployments, instances, programme instances)NS-11Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)NRS-H61Hazard family: Cascading failure (NHS-1 sys.cascade)NRS-H62Hazard family: Compound and multi-hazard events (NHS-1 sys.compound)NRS-H60Hazard family: Supply-chain and flow disruption (NHS-1 sys.supply-chain)NRS-H94Hazard family: Systemic cyber events (NHS-1 cyber.systemic-cyber)NRS-H107Hazard family: Digital infrastructure concentration and monoculture (NHS-1 tech.digital-concentration)NRS-H7Hazard family: Large-scale circulation anomalies (NHS-1 atmo.climate-mode)
Observation
- Copernicus EMS rapid mapping activations (listed for reference)
- OpenStreetMap planet and replication (listed for reference)
- ERA5 reanalysis (Copernicus Climate Data Store) (listed for reference)
- Direct economic loss attributed to disasters in relation to global GDP
- Number of disruptions to basic services attributed to disasters
Example geography
- Bangladesh: 134 hexagonal cells
- Night lights tonight, outages (VIIRS Day/Night Band), NASA GIBS
- Carbon monoxide, smoke transport (AIRS), NASA GIBS
- Vegetation disturbance alerts, 30 m (OPERA DIST-ALERT), NASA GIBS
Where the evidence comes from.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| Post-Disaster Needs Assessment reports | Damage, loss and recovery needs by sector for major disasters | Public, terms per publishing government and partners |
| GFDRR Disaster Recovery Framework guide and country recovery frameworks | Recovery planning and implementation practice | Public, World Bank terms (CC BY 3.0 IGO for many publications) |
| IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix | Displaced populations, needs and returns | Public, IOM terms (to check) |
| Copernicus Emergency Management Service damage grading maps | Satellite-based building damage assessment | Free, Copernicus terms |
| ReliefWeb | Situation reports and recovery updates from many agencies | Public, terms per contributing organisation |
How recovery and reconstruction is modelled, measured and tested.
The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.
Uncertainty bands
How far the outlook for recovery and reconstruction could spread, shown as ranges rather than a single line.
- Central estimate
- median of the ensemble
- Ranges
- likely and very likely, in IPCC calibrated language
- Ensemble
- members, scenarios and initial conditions stated
- Read with
- the sensitivity of the result to each input
Who decides, and what the evidence serves.
Disaster Resilience and Recovery prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| Governments and recovery agencies | How to sequence and finance recovery across sectors | Needs assessments; progress frameworks; funding gaps |
| Housing and planning authorities | Whether to rebuild in place, strengthen or relocate | Hazard evidence; reconstruction standard reviews |
| Development banks and donors | Which recovery programmes to finance and on what conditions | Progress and equity evidence |
Outputs this topic produces
- Recovery progress frameworks with indicators labelled by evidence
- Equity reviews of who receives recovery assistance
- Reconstruction standard reviews for hazard resistance
- Recovery case studies documenting what worked and what did not
What experts ask.
Recovery researchers follow places and households over years.
- How quickly do housing, services, livelihoods and the local economy recover, and for whom?
- When does rebuilding in place make sense, and when is relocation justified and accepted?
- How do recovery programmes avoid excluding renters, informal residents and those without documents?
- How can reconstruction incorporate safer standards without delaying people's return?
- How do recovery choices affect exposure to the next hazard?
Speed, safety and fairness pull against each other.
Recovery faces a set of tensions. People and businesses want to return quickly, which favours rebuilding as before. Safer standards, land-use changes or relocation take time, money and consent. Recovery assistance often follows property ownership and formal records, which can leave renters and informal residents behind and widen inequality. Infrastructure is often restored to its previous design because that is fastest, even when the event showed it to be vulnerable.
Research shows that recovery depends heavily on social networks, local institutions and access to finance, not only on physical reconstruction. Places with strong local organisation and trusted local government tend to recover faster. Recovery that restores livelihoods and services alongside buildings, and that involves affected people in decisions, tends to be more durable.
How the evidence is built, and where it stops.
- 01
Longitudinal case studies
Following households and places over years. Studies are costly and attrition is high.
- 02
Recovery indicators
Tracking housing, business, service and population recovery, partly through geospatial and satellite data. Indicators can miss who has not returned.
- 03
Engineering assessment
Damage and design evaluation with structural and earthquake engineering. Codes on paper differ from construction practice.
- 04
Programme evaluation
Assessing reach and outcomes of recovery assistance. Data on excluded groups is often missing.
How it is studied, and what the methods cannot say.
- 01Structural and earthquake engineeringPost-disaster safety evaluation · Retrofit prioritisation · Reconstruction standardsApplied here
- 02Geospatial information systemsExposure mapping · Rapid damage assessment · Common operational dataApplied here
- 03Social and behavioural scienceWarning response surveys · Participatory risk assessment · Social vulnerability analysisApplied here
- 04Decision analysis under uncertaintyCost-benefit of risk reduction · Acting on forecasts · Recovery prioritisationApplied here
- 05Optimisation and operations researchPrepositioning relief supplies · Evacuation and shelter planning · Restoration sequencingApplied here
Where this page's references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Where this page leads across the Consortium.
Questions and answers.
What does build back better mean?
What is a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment?
Why does recovery take so long?
What does building back better mean in practice?
Is relocation ever the right answer?
Does the platform publish personal case data?
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