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Nik Theodore, UIC professor and head of urban planning and policy, director of the Center for Urban Economic Development and fellow at the Great Cities Institute, is quoted in an online story from NBC News on the booming business of disaster recovery due to increasing weather and climate events.
It can be a grueling and dangerous job. In the first weeks after a natural disaster, government agencies are often stretched or have broken down leading to confusion, even chaos, on the ground, said Nik Theodore, a professor in the University of Illinois Chicago’s Department of Urban Planning and Policy. While some companies bus in their own crews, many contractors use social media to find workers or pick up day laborers, often in front of hardware stores, he said. Such ad hoc strategies can lead to wage theft and makes it difficult for workers to recover pay.
“The disaster recovery zone becomes the Wild West, where a lot of rules go out the window,” he said.
