Disaster recovery is often defined as the reestablishing of patterns of everyday life for disaster-affected households, and potentially improving their resiliency to future disaster events. Yet our knowledge of household-level recovery decision-making and its implications for disaster management is sorely limited This deficit is reflected in the continued failure of disaster policy and planning to provide equitable and timely aid to affected households and prevent negative externalities such as forced relocation. A better understanding of the complexity and dynamism of household recovery decision-making can help address these failures, a need that is particularly relevant given the recent rise in the number and frequency of catastrophic events worldwide.
