Municipalities on the front lines of Puerto Rico's recovery : assessing damage, needs, and opportunities for recovery after Hurricane Maria / Blas Nunez-Neto, Andrew Lauland, Jair Aguirre, Gabriela Castro, Italo A. Gutierrez, Marielena Lara, Etienne Rosas, Beverly A. Weidmer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nuñez-Neto, Blas, author.

Lauland, Andrew, author.

Aguirre, Jair, author.

Castro, Gabriela, author.

Gutierrez, Italo, author.

Lara, Marielena, author.

Rosas, Etienne, author.

Weidmer, Beverly A., author.

Contributor:

Rand Corporation. Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center.

Rand Corporation.

United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Series:

Research report (Rand Corporation) ; RR-2604-DHS.

[Research report] ; RR-2604-DHS

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Municipal government--Puerto Rico.

Municipal government.

Hurricane damage--Puerto Rico.

Hurricane damage.

Hurricane Irma, 2017.

Hurricane Maria, 2017.

Puerto Rico.

Physical Description:

xxviii, 187 pages : color illustrations, color maps ; 26 cm.

Place of Publication:

[Santa Monica, California] : HSOAC, Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center, 2020.

Summary:

To fulfill Congress's requirement for an economic and disaster-recovery plan for Puerto Rico following Hurricanes Irma and Maria, a team from the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center conducted an analysis for the government of Puerto Rico and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The team assessed the hurricanes' effect on Puerto Rico's municipalities and the municipalities' ability to govern, deliver services, and recover from the damage they incurred. To address information gaps in Puerto Rico, the team surveyed officials from all 78 municipal governments, conducted 12 regional roundtables with municipal officials, collected and analyzed available municipal-level data, and consulted with subject-matter experts. The team's analysis shows that municipal governments faced the hurricanes while dealing with severe fiscal constraints caused by declining income-something that complicated response and recovery efforts. FEMA data revealed that the most-heavily affected municipalities were clustered in the southeast coast of the main island, where Maria made landfall, and the central mountainous region, where the rugged terrain exacerbated the hurricane's effects. The team created a framework to evaluate the rate at which different municipalities are recovering, which revealed that the most-heavily damaged municipalities are generally also the ones recovering most slowly. Finally, working with the government of Puerto Rico and FEMA, the team developed a set of courses of action (COAs) for recovery aimed at improving municipalities' capacity to govern and deliver key services. These COAs focus on improving municipal fiscal conditions, implementing regional approaches to service delivery and planning, rebuilding urban centers, increasing transparency, and enhancing municipal capacity.

Contents:

Introduction and Background

Sources and Methods

Municipal Voices on the Hurricanes' Impacts

Governance in Puerto Rico

Municipal Finances

Municipal Services

Assessing Municipal Recovery

Recovery Courses of Action

Conclusion

Appendix A: Recovery Courses of Action

Appendix B: Municipal Fiscal Challenges and Initiatives

Appendix C: Municipal Recovery Indicator Data

Appendix D: Services, by Category.

Notes:

"HSOAC, Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 183-187).

See also RAND/RR-2595-DHS, RAND/RR-2597-DHS, RAND/RR-2598-DHS, RAND/RR-2599-DHS, RAND/RR-2600-DHS, RAND/RR-2602-DHS, RAND/RR-2603-DHS, RAND/RR-2605-DHS, RAND/RR-2606-DHS, RAND/RR-2607-DHS, RAND/RR-2608-DHS, RAND/RR-2856-DHS, RAND/RR-2858-DHS, RAND/RR-2859-DHS, RAND/RR-2861-DHS, RAND/RR-3040-DHS, RAND/RR-3041-DHS, RAND/RR-3042-DHS.

ISBN:

1977403360

9781977403360

OCLC:

1202435349