Up from the ruins, slowly
Joyce Klein Rosenthal, an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Design and an instructor in the School’s Risk and Resilience Master in Design concentration, spoke to the Gazette about lessons from past disasters and possible first steps toward rebuilding following the devastation of last Monday’s massive tornado in Moore, Okla. GAZETTE: After a natural disaster like the tornado that hit Moore, how soon should officials start planning for rebuilding? ROSENTHAL: It’s hard to pin down, it can be weeks or months, but you have this recovery period where people lost homes and are finding a place to live or are just trying to get in touch with loved ones and let everybody know they’re OK. After Katrina, there were some urban planners who came in a week or two afterward, saying, “OK, let’s talk about rebuilding,” and it was really too early. When you do come into this recovery phase, though, there are...