Recovery Objectives and Goals

Recovery objectives and goals for CNMI’s operational resiliency planning are outlined as follows:

Recover from recent typhoon events with resilient and sustainable policies, practices, and programs.
Review and synthesize relevant plans and unmet needs to re-establish an aligned priority list in the content of the immediate needs of the disaster response and ongoing needs of a resilient CNMI.
Ensure that long-term support planning includes addressing unmet needs of individuals and families in the later stages of overall recovery.
Coordinate long-term assistance and resources for individuals affected by disaster who do not have adequate personal resources for basic needs as a result of disaster.
Develop a recovery strategy that includes access to spiritual, emotional, physical and financial resources to those affected by disaster regardless of race, creed, color, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship status, disability or religious preference.

Promote and support the FEMA Permanent Housing Construction program as a Commonwealth-wide commitment to resilient housing, implementing Smart, Safe Growth policies.
Establish new resilient housing through strengthening repairs, improving code guidance, and implementing pilot housing projects to establish new thresholds of sustainability for buildings and villages in CNMI.
Build sustainable communities with resilient housing stock and accessible services.
Ensure that workforce development planning and foreign labor recruitment account for resilient housing construction.

Reestablish access to capital and promote economic growth to rebuild households, businesses, and local government capabilities.
Diversify the economy through the creation of new industries, the promotion of local entrepreneurship, and the attraction of reputable foreign and US mainland investments.
Integrate recovery programs with sustainable economic activities to benefit residents, businesses, and visitors.
Streamline social safety net programs to reduce and eliminate poverty.
Ensure sufficient access to job opportunities within the recovering economy and prioritize access to residents that are unemployed or underemployed as a result of the disaster.

Design and replace infrastructure to be resilient to future events.
Develop sustainable infrastructure that enables rapid response and recovery to future disaster events.
Prioritize resiliency of critical utilities such as accesses to non-potable water for residents and power for homes, businesses, and public services.

Provide health and social services to mitigate against long term disaster impacts
Ensure limited interruption to classroom instruction for K-12 students.
Support academic counseling for college students recovering from disaster.
Encourage disaster-affected students through additional academic support and tutoring in order to stabilize graduation and retention rates.

Monitor and improve groundwater quality and access integration of water resources into all mitigation and recovery planning to ensure Ridge to Reef consideration of potential impacts on this life sustaining resource.

Identify vulnerabilities and opportunities to reduce risks to natural and cultural resources to wind, flooding, and storm surge events.

Examine social and economic vulnerability to future events and establish mitigation methods for recovery objective areas for the Commonwealth.
Examine lessons learned and develop plans in response to proven points of failure and missing services during critical periods of response and recovery.
Improve response capabilities at the village level to ensure access to hardened, self-contained shelters, storage of essential supplies, and communications backup systems.

Involve the whole community of stakeholders and residents in long-term planning.
Maintain transparency between all stakeholders.
Humanize recovery policies, priorities, and goals.