Northeast Mississippi Disaster Recovery Council Launches

Northeast Mississippi has a new tool for the next time disaster strikes. The CREATE Foundation and the Tennessee Valley Authority have launched the Northeast Mississippi Disaster Recovery Council, a regional network meant to connect local leaders in places like Alcorn and Prentiss counties with the state, federal and nonprofit resources they need to recover faster. The effort grew directly out of the lessons of Ice Storm Fern, which crippled much of the region in January.

Leaders announced the council Wednesday at a press conference at the Community Development Foundation in downtown Tupelo. It was held on the third day of a training program for community leaders and partners focused on disaster recovery.

How the disaster recovery council will work

CREATE and TVA each committed $100,000 to establish and support the project. According to CREATE President Mike Clayborne, the regional council will not replace local efforts. Instead, it will:

• Bring local long-term recovery councils and committees together on a regular basis
• Help communities that do not yet have a recovery structure set one up, or strengthen the one they have
• Share information, training and technical support across the region
• Build working relationships with regional, state and federal partners before the next emergency

The local councils will remain community-led. “Folks in the local community know a lot more about where those needs are than anybody sitting in Tupelo or Jackson or Washington,” Clayborne said.

CREATE serves a 17-county area in Northeast Mississippi, and organizers said roughly half of those counties did not have a local recovery council before this initiative. Partners include Mississippi Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, the American Red Cross and Lutheran Disaster Response.

Lessons from Ice Storm Fern in Alcorn County

CREATE Foundation Chairman Randy Long of Corinth said the idea is rooted in what happened on the ground after the January ice storm, when residents woke up to widespread damage and started helping one another before outside help could arrive.

“These disasters start locally and end locally,” Long said.

Long said donations poured in locally and regionally after the storm, including a major initial gift through CREATE, and the challenge quickly became getting that money to the groups doing the work. Much of that work ran through CREATE affiliates such as CARE in Alcorn County and PROPEL in Prentiss County. He said a long-term regional council can help coordinate that kind of response and keep local agencies active and involved.

TVA and local partners

Amy Tate, TVA’s vice president of government and community relations, said the utility is proud to support the regional effort and believes strong relationships among the communities it serves are key to building better futures.

Meteorologist Matt Laubhan of Mississippi Live Weather stressed that communication between leaders, the media and residents is critical during a disaster, both to tell people where to get help and how they can help others. He said preparing ahead of time will leave the region in a better position the next time severe weather hits.

Clayborne described the funding as a starting point. “This is just the start,” he said, adding that the work will need more resources over time.

Related coverage: Corinth to receive $1.4 million in FEMA funding for storm debris removal and PROPEL Community Fund awards scholarship.

Source: Daily Corinthian; Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal