Disaster recovery literature suggests that local governments are primarily responsible for the disaster recovery process within their communities. This literature also implies that part of this local government responsibility includes coordinating the different parts of the distributed function. Yet, it remains unknown how this responsibility for recovery—including coordination—is distributed within and across local government. This study explored the role of county‐elected officials in disaster recovery in an attempt to understand what role these elected officials currently play in the recovery process—particularly as related to the coordination of recovery efforts. Data were collected through 20 in‐depth, telephonic interviews with county‐elected officials in 12 states. Grounded theory was used to conceptualize the overall research design and analyze the data. The data showed that the role of the county‐elected officials could best be characterized as an extension of their routine role within the county government with no coordination function evident. Possible explanations of this finding related to role are offered and the implications of this finding for disaster recovery policy, practice, and scholarship are discussed.

While endeavors are underway within the emergency management discipline to develop a unique body of foundational knowledge, widespread acknowledgement and agreement within the emergency management scholarly community of the existence of theoretical foundations and the consistent incorporation of these elements into emergency management research and teaching are still lacking. This article offers an outline of a US-based undergraduate course in mitigation theory and practice that is based on a synthesis of the academic literature related to disaster mitigation as a means to advance the discourse on foundational knowledge and curriculum development. The course outline proposes a set of concepts, theories, propositions, and empirical data that would arguably be fundamental for students in gaining a comprehensive understanding of mitigation in the United States and suggests how that information can be organized and presented in a meaningful way.

For decades emergency management has presented itself as an emerging profession devoted to coordinating activities related to mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. However, there has been little research to assess the extent to which it is, in fact, engaged in the coordination of activities in all of these areas. This study addresses this research gap by reporting the results of interviews with 54 county level emergency managers from eleven states regarding their role in disaster recovery. The results suggest that recovery is subordinate to other functional areas (e.g., preparedness, response, mitigation) within the work lives of the county emergency managers who participated in this research.

Knowledge of whether or not religious congregations are indeed involved in disaster response and-if involved-in what tasks and activities they are engaged is important for the planning and management of disaster response. Although limited in generalizability of findings based on methodologies used, a review of the academic literature demonstrates a fairly clear role for religious congregations in disaster recovery activities but does not delineate a distinct role for congregations in response functions. However, anecdotal evidence and limited empirical evidence exists that suggests that religious congregations might and could play a role in pre-impact response activities, including warning, precautionary action, and evacuation, as well as in post impact response activities associated with providing for the welfare of survivors. The research literature also provides predictors of congregational involvement, as well as a number of barriers and limitations to involvement. This involvement-or lack thereof-has implications for both the discipline and practice of emergency management.