TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — A research team from FSU is working to apply lessons learned from Hurricane Michael to future disasters.
They are revealing what they've learned during a "policy pub" in Tallahassee's Backwoods Bistro Tuesday. They're talking about the outpouring of generosity after Hurricane Michael.
Following some research trips to the coast and areas hit hardest by the category five storm, FSU's College of Social Sciences and Public Policy is revealing just how intricate the web of generosity was following the storm.
Professor David Berlan discussed how the broader community generously donated time, money and other resources to help rebuild. He told ABC 27 how emotional of an experience the research project was.
"It was inspiring," Berlan said. "Everybody had at least a couple of stories about how somebody pitched in to help somebody else in ways that were somewhat surprising."
He also told ABC 27 the wildfires in California that erupted soon after the hurricane affected the national generosity toward Hurricane Michael recovery.
They're hoping to take the lessons learned from this storm and apply them to future recovery efforts.
"One of the things people don't realize is, local governments can use the donations and volunteer labor that help other communities to sometimes get matching funds from FEMA. It's hard to capture those as the disaster is happening," said Berlan, an assistant professor of public administration at FSU. "If we can find a tool to help them do that, that's one thing we're trying to work on this semester into the summer."
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