Functional Recovery Performance Targets Workshop Report

Published

September 30, 2025

Author(s)

Lucy Arendt, Katherine Johnson, Siamak Sattar, Michael Valley, Divya Chandrasekhar, Laurie Johnson, Ryan Kersting

Abstract

Held in October 2024, the Workshop on Functional Recovery Performance Targets was hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and managed by the Applied Technology Council (ATC-169). The workshop convened 48 interdisciplinary experts to provide input on the Functional Recovery Goal Matrix (FRGM), a proposed framework to guide building design provisions that support timely post-earthquake functional recovery. Developed by the Functional Recovery Task Committee under the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) Provisions Update Committee, the FRGM links community services and functions to specific target recovery times, with the goal of minimizing disruption and accelerating recovery. Prompted by a 2018 Congressional mandate and building on prior work by NIST and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the workshop expanded stakeholder engagement beyond structural engineers to include experts in emergency management, housing, economics, urban planning, and lifeline infrastructure. The goal was to enhance incorporation of broader social and economic perspectives critical to real-world recovery outcomes. Structured around five breakout sessions, participants examined criteria for prioritization, evaluated existing recovery categories and target recovery times, reassigned functions and services to revised categories, assessed the FRGM's generalizability across community types, and identified future research needs. Key prioritization criteria included ensuring access to housing, healthcare, and lifeline services; reducing population displacement; and serving the entire community, including at-risk populations. A key outcome of the workshop was the development of a matrix with revised recommendations—the FRGM-W—which expands recovery categories from five to seven and refined target recovery times to include more granular timeframes (e.g., 0 hours, 24 hours, 72 hours, 1 month, 3 months). Participants reached broad agreement on prioritizing housing, healthcare, emergency services, and lifeline infrastructure for the earlier recovery timeframes. The workshop underscored challenges in applying target recovery times to specific services due to interdependencies, implementation constraints, and limited data. Nonetheless, participants emphasized that incorporating functional recovery into design standards is essential to reducing downtime, supporting vulnerable populations, and accelerating community recovery. The findings from this workshop will inform ongoing efforts by NIST, FEMA, and the broader NEHRP community to embed functional recovery objectives into building codes and standards, enhancing earthquake resilience and recovery nationwide.

Citation

Special Publication (NIST SP) - 1341

Report Number

1341

NIST Pub Series

Special Publication (NIST SP)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.1341

Local Download

Keywords

Functional Recovery (FR), Goal Matrix, Functional Recovery Target Recovery Times, Earthquake Hazard Mitigation, Post-Earthquake Reoccupancy, Housing, Lifeline Infrastructure, Community Resilience, NEHRP Provisions, Built Environment, Structural Engineering, Public Policy & Urban Planning.

Citation

Arendt, L. , Johnson, K. , Sattar, S. , Valley, M. , Chandrasekhar, D. , Johnson, L. and Kersting, R. (2025), Functional Recovery Performance Targets Workshop Report, Special Publication (NIST SP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.1341, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960196 (Accessed October 1, 2025)