Guide to Digital Case Management for Disaster Welfare Grants

Best Practice Guide

Why exacerbate the existing challenges of disaster recovery

Recovering from a major disaster is difficult. And so, governments now dole out some form of financial assistance to persons or entities affected by disasters in their jurisdictions, whether those victims are low-income homeowners, tenants, small business owners, or otherwise.

The resulting recovery assistance schemes are run by federal, state, and/or local agencies. Financial outlays are made available to successful claimants via conditional grants. Third-party providers might also receive payments from these agencies for services rendered, as might nongovernmental organisations (NGOs).

Before payment goes out, though, applications must be processed. Given the nature of these schemes, processing will typically happen in the immediate wake of a disaster.

Indeed, these moments of extraordinary upheaval are becoming more frequent, as most regions see an acute rise in major disasters and trends pointing to more not fewer disasters in the foreseeable future. The Ecological Threat Register 2020, for instance, tracks a tenfold increase in the number of natural disasters since the 1960s.

The Asia-Pacific region, in particular, stands out with nearly 3,000 disasters over the last 30 years, while Australia, averaging around five major disasters a year for three decades, remains disproportionately vulnerable given its relatively low population density.

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