UAF photo by Eric Engman.
A boat travels past fish camps on the shore of Kangirlvar Bay near the Nelson Island village of Toksook Bay in June 2026.

By Stacey Currie

Disaster recovery is rarely just about bricks, mortar and lumber.

When the remnants of Typhoon Halong tore through western Alaska in October 2025, powerful winds and devastating storm surges took more than roofs and fishing gear; they threatened a way of life.

Months later, residents found themselves engaged in a deeper kind of rebuilding. They were restoring not only their physical structures but also the vital cultural traditions that bring their community together.

To support those efforts, a volunteer team of students, faculty and staff from across the University of Alaska system traveled in June 2026 to Umkumiut, a remote subsistence fish camp near Toksook Bay.

Duke Ombati, a recent graduate of UAF’s security and disaster management program, supported the safety planning and joined the cleanup efforts. He said entering the tight-knit community required a thoughtful approach, one that focused on partnership rather than taking over.

Organized by UAF’s Student Leadership and Involvement office in partnership with the UAF College of Business and Security Management, the weeklong effort brought together volunteers from UAF, UAA and broader university system programs.

While they spent days sorting debris, salvaging building materials and clearing storm damage, participants quickly realized the experience was less about the manual labor and more about the relationships built along the shoreline.

“It wasn’t that somebody came and sorted through debris,” said Shelbie Umphenour, director of the CBSM Student Success Center. “It was that people cared enough to come.”

As UAF Student Leadership and Involvement prepared to relaunch its Alternative Spring Break program in the spring of 2026, Typhoon Halong’s devastating impact shifted the team’s focus. Katrina DeKrey, the office’s program coordinator, said organizers began asking how UAF could support communities recovering within Alaska.

DeKrey reached out to John Pennington, director of CBSM’s security and disaster management program and former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Region 10, which includes Alaska. Pennington’s background in emergency management and longstanding relationships with tribal organizations helped establish the path forward. Partnering with the Calista Corp., organizers identified Umkumiut as a place where volunteers could make a difference.

Listening before taking action

Following months of preparation, the group arrived in Toksook Bay. Soon after reaching the village, they learned that a resident had recently passed away. Rather than jumping straight into the planned schedule for the first work day, the group joined the community as they came together to honor the elder through traditions and cultural celebrations.

In the days that followed, the volunteers prioritized listening, observing and connecting with community members before removing a single piece of debris. Residents shared stories about the night of the storm and what recovery meant in their own words. Those conversations guided the physical work that followed.

When work began at the camp, the scale of destruction was clear. Boats displaced by the storm surges remained scattered across the tundra. Fishing gear, household items and building materials still lay where floodwaters had carried them months earlier.

Throughout the week, volunteers sorted debris, recovered usable lumber, organized damaged belongings and helped restore areas used for subsistence activities.

As a student in CBSM’s security and disaster management program, Ombati had studied hazard assessments and disaster recovery on paper. In Umkumiut, those lessons became tangible as he worked to support safety coordination and recovery planning, while also relying on community knowledge to understand conditions such as tides, terrain hazards and landscape accessibility.

Redefining recovery

Community members welcomed the volunteers into daily life by sharing meals, teaching them how to prepare fish and inviting them to join local traditions.

For Pennington, who holds degrees in both emergency management and Indigenous studies, these human connections represent the core of disaster education. He believes future emergency managers must understand that successful disaster recovery looks different in every community, particularly in Alaska, where culture and subsistence are deeply connected to daily life.

“I teach our students that in places like the Gulf Coast of the United States, the first sign of normalcy after a hurricane is when children return to school,” he said. “In many Alaska Native communities, though, that same sense of recovery is tied to subsistence activities taking place in the summer.”

That perspective is one Pennington hopes students carry into their careers, reinforcing his view that recovery is defined by the rhythms and priorities of each community. He said CBSM is uniquely positioned to teach that understanding through its security and disaster management programs, where culture and social context are considered central to how disasters are understood and managed.

Looking ahead

University organizers hope the experience is only the beginning. DeKrey said UAF Student Leadership and Involvement plans to continue exploring opportunities for Alaska-based service trips that connect students with communities across the state while providing hands-on learning experiences outside the classroom.

For everyone involved, the trip demonstrated that disaster recovery cannot be measured solely by the amount of debris removed or structures repaired.

Stacey Currie is a communications specialist with the UAF College of Business and Security Management.