If a UN report on climate change is right, natural disasters like Sandy and Katrina are likely to happen again. Here are four ways one community -- Red Hook, Brooklyn -- recovered quickly.
1.) Organize local small businesses: Small businesses joined forces to form http://restoreredhook.org/ (ReStore Redhook) which organized a collaborative fundraising initiative to help with the costs of recovery.
2.) Reopen anchor stores quickly: Fairway is a supermarket that draws people from outside the local area. Its reopening attracted people to Red Hook and generated traffic for other local shops as well.
3.) Take advantage of crowdfunding: This is a new way of raising money online that leverages social media connections. To be successful, you need to build your network before you need it.
4.) Be prepared: Move critical data to the cloud, have a contingency plan, and review insurance coverage before disaster strikes.