Disaster recovery in America is broken.

I've spent much of my career in emergency management, at the local level in the City of Providence, at the state level in Rhode Island, and at the federal level as the FEMA Administrator, and I can tell you this with confidence: while we’ve made enormous strides in disaster response, recovery remains the hardest, slowest, and most frustrating part of the entire emergency management cycle. For disaster survivors, it’s often the part that breaks them.

After the fire crews leave and the floodwaters recede, families are left to navigate a complex web of insurance policies, government paperwork, tax implications, bureaucratic hurdles, and unclear next steps.  For the great majority of disaster survivors, navigating this new and complex world is crushing to their spirit and to their overall recovery.  There is no roadmap, it’s trial by fire, one step forward, two steps back—and they’re expected to rebuild their lives on their own.

This is the “second disaster.” It’s not a failure of compassion; it’s a failure of systems. It’s time we fixed it.

That’s why I joined Bright Harbor.

The scale of the problem is only growing.

We are living through a period of accelerating disaster risk. The numbers tell a sobering story: since 2020, we’ve averaged over 20 billion-dollar disasters per year, more than double the pace of just a decade ago. Wildfires, floods, hurricanes, derechos—each year brings new records, and each record-setting event leaves behind a wave of traumatized survivors trying to piece their lives back together.

In just my first week at Bright Harbor, multiple regions experienced “once-in-a-generation” floods. As these disasters become commonplace, that phrase is becoming meaningless. Worse, our systems aren’t designed to meet that demand.

Local governments are overwhelmed. Nonprofits are exhausted. And survivors? Survivors are stuck. Last year, in an op-ed for CNN, I wrote about the rise of disaster fatigue, not just among responders, but across the entire system. It’s real, and dangerous. Every time recovery breaks down, trust erodes. The social fabric frays.

The recovery system wasn’t built for this volume or complexity.

Recovery shouldn’t feel like a scavenger hunt. But that’s what we’ve created: dozens of disconnected programs, siloed systems, and technical language that assumes survivors have time, stability, and an internet connection. Many don’t.

In Homeland Security Today, I wrote about how we’re trying to “slay the recovery beast” without acknowledging the root issue: there is no national recovery operating system. Each disaster starts from scratch. Each survivor is expected to navigate a bureaucratic maze on their own. Case management systems are built for funders, not people. The result is predictable. Assistance arrives too late, or not at all.

Why Bright Harbor.

This is the first organization I’ve seen that’s building for what recovery should be, not just what it has always been. Our mission isn’t just to help people bounce back, but to make sure no one falls through the cracks in the first place. We do it with speed, empathy, and structure.

Bright Harbor isn’t another app or hotline. It’s a full-stack recovery service that meets survivors where they are and helps them move forward. That starts with one-on-one recovery planning, identifying financial options through FEMA, insurance, SBA, or tax relief, providing critical decision support, connecting survivors with trusted vendors, and offering AI-powered tools that surface funding opportunities and cut through the red tape. And when survivors hit a wall, we help them find another way forward. We don’t replace government. We make government work better for survivors. 

The future of recovery is personalized, tech-enabled, and survivor-first.

The recovery process should not depend on luck, literacy, or who you know. Every survivor should be able to answer one question: what do I do next?

That’s the future Bright Harbor is building. There's no greater calling than helping people on what may be the worst day of their lives, and I’m honored to be part of a team committed to doing just that.

If you’re a public official, a community leader, or just someone who’s tired of watching families struggle in the aftermath of disaster, I’d love to talk. Visit brightharbor.com or reach out directly. We’re ready to help survivors move forward, and we’re building the infrastructure to make that possible, at scale.

Disasters aren’t slowing down. It’s time for recovery to catch up.

—

Pete Gaynor

President, Bright Harbor

Former FEMA Administrator