Local Innovation Works

Digital Leaders Active In Disaster

Digital Leaders Active in Disaster is a project aiming to organize local leaders who will facilitate collection and management of community-controlled data from survivors in the event of a future disaster.

Winter 2024 Update

This “community-controlled” project run by local digital leaders has been superseded (as of early 2024) by our efforts to influence work on disaster registry at the state level. You can find our thinking on that on our Post-disaster Digital Leadership page.

This content remains useful for anyone who would rather control their data at the local level. It is important to keep this option in mind as we watch to see how well the state is able to meet the needs of local communities with the solution they are currently rolling out.

This page offers a quick overview of the challenges we’ve identified and opportunities for you to support the important work of building solutions before another natural disaster strikes.

DLAD Vision

In the days immediately after a disaster a person affected easily finds a trusted community member who collects key data that allows the community to identify that person as truly impacted by the disaster, communicate with them about resources available and any outstanding needs, and then track their recovery over time so everyone in our community who needs help is counted and supported throughout their path to recovery.

The Challenge

Without an accurate, locally-owned census of disaster affected people, our community cannot advocate for sufficient resources to meet our needs and there is no way to ensure those resources flow to people in an efficient and equitable way.  Many community members do not fit into the categories of people served by FEMA and other disaster-related programs and are therefore often not supported.

Lessons from the 2020 Labor Day Fires 

  • After the Almeda fire, recovery leaders were frustrated that only the burn scar was visible, meaning our only contact information for survivors was based on county tax lot data or was collected separately by CBOs from survivor interviews. Tracking displaced survivors was extremely challenging because there was no comprehensive list of survivors or any way to know where they relocated. This meant that resource allocation, requests, and program adjustments had to be made reactively based on anecdotal data from a very committed, but stretched core of recovery leaders who worked mightily towards efficiency and equity without any collective measure of true need or progress.
  • A disproportionate number of migrant community members were fire-affected but many were unwilling to enter into a database owned by a government entity because of documentation and trust concerns.  Many were not reachable after the disaster and were underserved.
  • Navigating FEMA and other relief agency systems is complex. During future crises our technology systems should be smart and easy to use so local people can care for one another and community organizations can support people’s recovery more easily. 
  • Traditional disaster systems like FEMA and insurance companies are structured to take care of homeowners, not renters and the houseless.  Tracking and supporting the recovery of these community members benefits us all. 
  • Survivor surveying was redundant and traumatic. Survivors were often interviewed a dozen or more times about a traumatic experience and repeatedly asked to complete hefty intake forms with standard data.

The 2020 fires coincided with the federal government pouring trillions of dollars into the economy, so financial resources were available to many in Southern Oregon.  Next time, our community may need to advocate, with precise data, for every recovery dollar we receive.

Goal of DLAD Project

Our community builds and governs the first, most complete set of data on who is  disaster-affected, where they live, and their current contact information.  A central repository of survivor records that includes which services and funds were requested and accessed from FEMA, the Red Cross, and local CBO would focus, accelerate, and simplify the work of recovery organizations. This data allows transparency of overlaps and gaps in services so survivors can be supported in the most efficient and equitable way. It enables the community to advocate proactively for what disaster-affected people actually need. 

What the Project Will Build

The DLAD project will deliver the following solutions crucial to reaching our goal:

  • Technical Leadership Team who will manage the design and development of the data collection, governance, and analysis processes during start up and ongoingly before and during disaster events so the community has a ready resource of skilled, connected technical leaders to react to circumstances as they arise. Learn more about the Tech Team
  • Analysis Team who validate and update the data so they can run basic and custom analyses for our recovery partners. Their role is to support recovery while protecting the privacy of people who are trying to recover. Learn more about the Analysis Team
  • Application stack to collect, store, and analyze recovery census and status See the prototype
  • Community Trust Leadership Team who deliver services and build trust in the community every day and whose organizations can support the collection of a complete census of people affected by any future disaster. Learn more about the Community Trust Team
  • Development Team who will support the development of the DLAD organization, its legal status, partnerships, legal and financial health. Learn more about the Development Team

Learn much more about DLAD’s genesis and next steps.

Learn More

Quick Links