Management of the Territory Restoration Process Following a Disaster: The Case of the South Moravian Region in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The article presents a methodology for the management of repairs to property damaged by a disaster. The article describes the procedure for the development of an organizational layout, along with planning and managing activities leading to the restoration of damaged property. Last but not least, the article deals with financial planning. The methodology presented was applied to a case study that was conducted in the village of Hrušky, South Moravian region, the Czech Republic, which was hit by a tornado in 2021. More than three years have passed since this tragedy, and repairs to the village’s property are still planned to continue until the middle of 2025. Qualitative approaches to data collection and evaluation were used for data collection, especially in-depth interviews related to the given issue. The mayor of the village, the village management, and representatives of construction companies were involved in the in-depth interviews. Another important source of data was the project documentation and the municipality’s accounting records. The main outputs include a list of construction works, which served as a basis for the financial damages; the municipality’s participation in state subsidy programs for the financing of the restoration; and, last but not least, a list of works that was used to create the project documentation for the reconstruction of individual buildings. Other outputs of the work include a structural plan, which has been developed for the purposes of planning and managing activities leading to the restoration of the damaged area, and a financial plan, which contains information on expenses and funding sources. The key contribution of the paper is a methodical procedure for the identification, the design, and the execution of crucial activities connected with the restoration of the territory after a disaster. The methodological procedure is designed considering the experience associated with a specific disaster, namely, a tornado in the southeastern part of the Czech Republic, which served as the basis for this case study.