About RecoverTexas.org

CIRA, the County Information Resources Agency, in cooperation with the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) has developed RecoverTexas.org and an e-mail list service dedicated to helping local governments continue functioning during a crisis and recover afterward. What began as a conversation about helping counties communicate to county employees after a disaster has blossomed into a tool to help facilitate the transfer of critical information between state and local emergency response officials and the public. This project is intended to facilitate return to work and operational status for the county by providing critical information to the essential workforce of the county, provide a central resource linking all emergency related information resources (local, state, federal), and alert other counties within the state to emergency situations for which they may be able to offer assistance.

At the core of the project is this central website for county disaster recovery information. This site includes links to existing county, state and federal emergency information websites but will also allow counties to keep staff and citizens up to date as the local environment changes. Local evacuation and return status can be posted, as well as county employee specific items, such as emergency prescription information, recovery assistance documents and who to contact. It will serve as a central place for people to look to in time of a disaster.

On this website counties will be able to post the specific type of assistance they may need in recovering from a disaster and create a central point of information for recovery workers. A listserve is also included as a means of communication with emergency personnel throughout the state. The listserve includes members from cities, counties, the state and federal government.  RecoverTexas.org is a 'work in progress' and welcomes input from participating counties as to needed content and other suggestions.  Future plans include redundancy of the hosting service will provide 24-7 access to the information. Plans also include a link to a central repository for maps and other forms and documents needed in the recovery process. For those who have robust emergency management websites within their county, it may serve as a secondary back-up site in the event that the disaster causes their sites to go down. If for some reason a county does not have a county emergency management site, they may directly put the information on this site through a secure log-in to only their part of the website. Only Internet access will be needed to update the site.  

One of the major obstacles to continuity of local government during and after a crippling disaster is the flow and access of communication between the levels of government. By creating a conduit, the TAC/CIRA Emergency Management website hopes to help fill some of the gaps in that flow of critical information. 

As stated before, this website will continually be a 'work in progress'. If your county has a specific need, or there is a topic you believe will benefit other counties please contact Gayle Latham by e-mail or by phone at (800)-456-5974.