Rethinking Disaster Recovery

Disasters destroy thousands of buildings each year and generate massive quantities of debris. The rush to rebuild often causes further environmental and social harm. 

A new report, coauthored by Northwestern University faculty including Professors Emeritus Stephen Carr and William Miller, Professor Jennifer Dunn, and Adjunct Professor Andreas Waechter, urges immediate reforms in post-disaster reconstruction to reduce environmental damage, strengthen resilience, and support global climate goals. Drawing on two decades of case studies and technical insights, the report calls for urgent changes in governance and material sourcing to prevent further environmental degradation and increased community vulnerability.

The environmental consequences of the race to rebuild

Natural hazards and conflict-related crises are destroying structures on a shocking scale. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan alone affected 1.2 million structures in Southeast Asia, and in 2023, the Turkiye-Syria earthquake generated 100 million cubic meters of rubble, the largest volume ever recorded. 

In the aftermath of a disaster, communities and governments face immense pressure to restore housing, livelihoods, and critical infrastructure rapidly. The sudden spike in demand for construction materials drives scarcity, causes extreme price escalation, and encourages the unsustainable extraction of sand, timber, clay, aggregate, and other resources.

Researchers from Northwestern University’s Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy collaborated with experts from World Wildlife Fund (WWF), RMIT University, and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) to identify strategies for minimizing environmental damage from post-disaster rebuilding. They published their recommendations in the report Global Call to Action: Sustainable Building Materials Management in Post-Disaster Situations.

“Post-disaster surges can create some of the most intense and environmentally damaging material pressures seen anywhere in the world,” said Missaka Hettiarachchi, WWF senior fellow and report co-author. “Without sustainable systems in place, reconstruction can unintentionally deepen vulnerability to future disasters.”

The report highlights three recurring material challenges that consistently worsen environmental and social conditions after disasters.

• Severe material shortages and price hikes—often ranging from 30 percent to 40 percent—incentivize unregulated extraction.
• Unsustainable mining and production, including river-sand over-extraction, clay mining, and deforestation, accelerate erosion, degrade waterways, and endanger biodiversity.
• Improper debris management leads to toxic dust, contaminated waterways, hazardous waste exposure, and long-term ecosystem damage.
• Post-disaster recovery pressures exacerbate an already strained global construction materials sector. Worldwide demand for non-metallic minerals has tripled since 1990, and concrete and cement could contribute up to 12 percent of global CO2 emissions by 2060. Disaster-driven reconstruction further inflates these figures, jeopardizing national climate commitments and accelerating ecological harm.

Policy and governance gaps

Despite the availability of life-cycle assessment tools, debris-reuse technologies, and sustainability guidelines, the report finds a disconnect between the construction and disaster management sectors. Existing construction policies rarely account for disaster-driven supply chain disruptions, and reconstruction strategies insufficiently integrate environmental safeguards or climate mitigation targets.

“There is tremendous technical capability today,” said Miller, professor emeritus of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern Engineering and a report co-author. “But without updated policies, coordinated governance, and preparedness in the construction sector, sustainable solutions will not reach the communities that need them most.” 

The reuse of post-disaster debris for reconstruction would address the dual challenges of debris management and demand for building materials.

“Debris reuse has gained traction in recent years, and research breakthroughs are being made for transforming disaster debris into new building materials,” said Carr, professor emeritus of materials science and engineering and of chemical and biological engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering. “However, policy support and additional R&D funding are needed for widespread adoption of debris reuse in post-disaster reconstruction.

A global call to action

To bridge the disconnect between the construction and disaster management sectors, the report outlines a series of urgent policy recommendations for international and national governments, construction regulators, and humanitarian agencies, including:

• Integrate sustainable materials management into disaster-recovery policy. Future iterations of the UN Sendai Framework and national disaster strategies should formally recognize the sustainability of building materials as central to better rebuilding.
• Elevate sustainable material use as a key performance indicator for reconstruction. The international Shelter, Land and Site Coordination Cluster (SLSC) and state partners should prioritize sustainable sourcing, debris reuse, and strengthening local supply chains in all recovery programs.
• Develop construction-sector preparedness guidelines. Global industry alliances, such as FIDIC and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, should issue guidelines on material contingency planning, supply-chain resilience, debris reuse, and sustainability requirements during reconstruction.
• Establish a global hub for post-disaster management of building materials. A new collaborative platform should monitor material sourcing, update global guidelines, coordinate research, and expand awareness across governments, practitioners, and industry leaders.

Advancing climate-aligned, resilient reconstruction

The report concludes by emphasizing that post-disaster reconstruction represents an opportunity to rebuild physical infrastructure to advance national climate commitments, scale circular construction practices, and strengthen community resilience.

“As disasters intensify and conflicts escalate, reconstruction will become one of the world’s largest drivers of material use,” said Anita van Breda, WWF’s senior director for environment and disaster management. “With the right policies in place, we can transform that challenge into a catalyst for more environmentally and socially responsible and resilient development worldwide.” 

Dunn is a professor of chemical and biological engineering, and Waechter is an adjunct professor of industrial engineering and management sciences.