From Rubble to Recovery, One Brick at a Time: The BRICK 2026 event

In her keynote address, Anna Akhalkatsi, Division Director for EU Countries at the World Bank, reflected on the theme of the event—'From rubble to recovery, one brick at a time’ pointing that it is more than just a metaphor. It underscores that ‘’disaster recovery is not a single action, but a series of deliberate, incremental steps’’. Knowledge shared across borders, tested in different contexts, and applied with care, is a form of disaster resilience-building in itself. 

Designed around the concept of BRICK – Building Resilience through Institutions, Communities and Knowledge: ‘From rubble to recovery, one brick at a time’, the event offered a platform for peer-to-peer learning to strengthen countries’ disaster preparedness and response capacities, draw out lessons for current and future recovery efforts, and showcase knowledge developed through various TAFF-supported activities. 

The event brought together over 100 civil protection, disaster risk management experts, and government officials, from Albania, Montenegro, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Romania, Türkiye, the Philippines, and Japan. 

Strengthening disaster preparedness and response, as well as securing the necessary financing, are prerequisites for effective disaster recovery, as underlined by Dr. Raed Arafat, State Secretary and Head of Department of Emergency Situations in the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Efforts to reduce the overall economic, human, and environmental impact of a disaster are crucial to avoiding long term consequences, and supporting manageable  recovery efforts.

Further strengthening these messages, Dr. Renato U. Solidum Jr., Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology in the Philippines, shared how the Philippines has strengthened its recovery capacity based on past experience, concluding that: ‘’to break the cycle of repeated devastation, we must anticipate, plan ahead, and act proactively.’’

The event discussions and presentations covered a range of topics, including disaster recovery frameworks, post-disaster needs assessments, housing reconstruction, early warning systems, disaster risk financing and multi-stakeholder engagement, as well as inclusive emergency preparedness and response. Discussions and presentations were complemented by site visits showcasing reconstruction of fire stations and schools in Romania with World Bank financing.

A common thread that ran through the whole event was that disaster recovery may be a government-led process, but it is multi-stakeholder driven. Effective recovery must be built by putting in place the right “bricks”: strong institutions, reliable data and inclusive systems.
Recovery is not merely a reconstruction process, but rather an opportunity to reduce future risk, strengthen institutions, and build back better. One brick at a time.