Well, I can imagine the rebuilding process being quite the undertaking that'll take months. People would need to be inspired to roll lumberjacks, stone cutters, diggers, furniture makers, roof builders, and what not. It can open up plenty of opportunities, if the players are allowed to actually aid in the rebuilding. (And not by saying 'I gathered x material, but more like 'I gathered x material, placed it on Y spot, and improved the area by 0.5% - Which will then lead to minor updating of the area.)
It may be a bit of a pain to keep track off, but slowly and surely people will see their own RP work paying off as the area keeps upgrading and improving. If you only get to state "I'm a lumberjack and cut wood for the cause!".. That will grow boring quickly. With the above system, you would be literally aiding in the rebuilding and afterwards you can say. "Yeah, I build that roof!" Or "Yeah! I build those chairs, that building, and that counter!" and actually got something to feel somewhat proud off. The hours you spend into it, would get paid by the visual effects and stuff. (I mean, I would personally love to build a town in this way.)
And yarr, I can understand areas to collect dust after a while, but I admit I've never saw an event being held at anchorage. (I don't think I ever visited in fact.). Maybe it's a lack on the players interest side, maybe a lack with advertising from GM side, I'm honestly not sure.
Surely there is some way to keep an area active for longer then a week, if the players are actually able to do actual stuff there. Maybe make it the only place with an IC economy? Get stuff ICly, Get paid ICly, be able to craft ICly, and make a winnings ICly in the area.
Edit: Also, the gather of materials could be done with tons of mini events. GMs could oversee how much lumber/stone/fish/whatever of a resource people would gather, and look up a rough chart to see how much they need for one item or for a percentage of one item.
Let's say a roof takes 100 lumber. (Yeah, just a random number.)
Each lumberjack can gather 5 lumber before having to drop it off at the camp.
Five people sign up as lumberjack for this event, and they set out.
During the event, people can get possibly attacked by bears, squirrels, find rot in their trees, or possibly stumble upon an ancient tree or axe that gives bonus wood!
In they end, they all gathered 5 lumber each, resulting in 25 lumber.
That would give the roof 25% completion. Resulting in a GM, roughly adding 25% of the entire roof to the building.
Just very simple events, in which people RP out their log cutting and struggles. I think it'll be quite fun for a while.