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In the wake of Hurricane Ian's catastrophic landfall in September 2022 as a Category 4 storm, the devastation spread from western Cuba to central Florida, generating an overwhelming volume of debris and underscoring the urgent need for robust debris management strategies. In response, our SUMMEER team, through the RAPID project, embarked on collecting comprehensive data on the hurricane's impacts, illegal dumping, and the ensuing debris management efforts in severely affected areas, including North Port, Venice, and Arcadia. Utilizing advanced technologies such as UAVs, 3-D LiDAR scanners, and multispectral and thermal cameras, the RAPID project primarily focused on quantifying uncollected and illegally dumped debris along publicly owned roadways. Conducted over three distinct periods—November 16-18, December 5-7, and January 9-11—the field assessment aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the evolving conditions in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. These specific timeframes enabled us to document not only the immediate aftermath but also the changes over time, thereby facilitating a thorough analysis of the disaster's impact and the effectiveness of the debris management efforts undertaken. This project's comprehensive approach has enabled a detailed analysis of the volume and trajectory of debris, highlighting the dynamics of debris collection and disposal processes. By creating a detailed empirical database, including aerial maps, 3D LiDAR maps, and multispectral and thermal images, this project provides essential data that supports effective cleanup and recovery operations, thereby contributing to more efficient future disaster preparedness and response strategies. 

A first foundational assessment is provided for disaster debris reconnaissance that includes identifying tools and techniques for reconnaissance activities, identifying challenges in field reconnaissance, and identifying and developing preliminary guidelines and standards based on advancements from a workshop held in 2022. In this workshop, reconnaissance activities were analyzed in twofold: in relation to post-disaster debris and waste materials and in relation to waste management infrastructure. A four-phase timeline was included to capture the full lifecycle of management activities ranging from collection to temporary storage to final management route: pre-disaster or pre-reconnaissance, post-disaster response (days/weeks), short-term recovery (weeks/months), and long-term recovery (months/years). For successful reconnaissance, objectives of field activities and data collection needs; data types and metrics; and measurement and determination methods need to be identified. A reconnaissance framework, represented using a 3x2x2x4 matrix, is proposed to incorporate data attributes (tools, challenges, guides), reconnaissance attributes (debris, infrastructure; factors, actions), and time attributes (pre-event, response, short-term, long-term). This framework supports field reconnaissance missions and protocols that are longitudinally based and focused on post-disaster waste material and infrastructure metrics that advance sustainable materials management practices. To properly frame and develop effective reconnaissance activities, actions for all data attributes (tools, challenges, guides) are proposed to integrate sustainability and resilience considerations. While existing metrics, tools, methods, standards, and protocols can be adapted for sustainable post-disaster materials management reconnaissance, development of new approaches are needed for addressing unique aspects of disaster debris management.