Seeing a disaster as an opportunity – harnessing the energy of disaster survivors for change

Abstract

Disasters have tragic consequences, and people with the least resources at hand to rebuild their lives are often the worst affected. The traditional response to disasters is to provide immediate relief, without considering how the process of rebuilding lives and communities can be a positive opportunity for change. This opportunity can be facilitated in two ways: first, by having a clear understanding of how disaster survivors are not victims but agents for change; and second, by providing the tools and techniques to facilitate the change process. Case studies from Asia demonstrate how disaster-affected communities have rebuilt not only their homes but also their livelihoods, and have been empowered as a result.

The Central Medical Store Fire Disaster: A Test for Institutional Compliance in Disaster Prevention in Ghana

“…There are other natural disasters such as earthquakes, storms, floods, famines, and diseases (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies [IFRC], 2001;Pelling, 2010;Wisner, Blaikie, Cannon, & Davies, 2004) that have also equally disrupted the smooth functioning of society. Beyond these natural disasters, other human-initiated disasters-wars, invasions, massacres, riots, and terrorism (Archer & Somsook, 2011;UN-HABITAT, 2008)-have had a devastating toll on humanity. What is important here is that these disasters connote negative feelings and images.…”

Community Resilience and Placemaking through Translocal Networking. Learning from Thailand and the Philippines

“…Secondly, community-led processes with a focus on translocal network-building need to build on capacities and investments in terms of time to mobilise and establish relationships. However, this often overburdens already vulnerable communities and stands in stark contrast to the rapid response agenda favoured by many donors in post-disaster situations (Archer and Boonyabancha, 2011). In addition to community resilience and placemaking, translocal activities need to be considered as a complementary strategy capable of creating synergies, to the responsibilities and efforts of other actors for achieving a state of overall resilience in City Space Architecture / UN-Habitat cities, and be further acknowledged in global policy related to public space.…”

“…These collective actions are embedded in transnational networks such as SDI or the ACHR. A cornerstone of this recovery philosophy is the framing of communities as "agents for change" and not relief-dependent victims; in addition to embedding the understanding that rebuilding ought to be centred around residents' livelihoods and not merely around the rebuilding of physical shelters (Archer and Boonyabancha, 2011). The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit around 3300 settlements along the coast of South and Southeast Asia, killing 350.000 people and leaving another 2.5 million homeless.…”

“…In conventional disaster relief processes, households compete individually against one another for scarce resources. In the Philippines, the Homeless People's Federation (HPFP) engaged existing saving groups or initiated new saving programs to secure the down payments of loans and to top up donor finances (Archer and Boonyabancha, 2011). This is not only of importance with regards to disasters, indeed almost half of the urban population resides in informal settlements which have scarce access to basic infrastructure and are characterised by insecure tenure.…”

Urban Green Infrastructure Framework for Housing Climate Resilience

“…Resilience in this paper can be described as the ability of housing to absorb impacts of climate hazards and bounce back to normalcy in a timely and efficient manner without critical alterations of its basic functions [8,9]. The development and reconstruction housing be mean to improve resilience regarding social, economic and environmental functions [8,10]. Despite related agencies and stakeholders have widely employed disaster risk reduction (DRR) for climate impacts, problematic issues are acknowledged in terms of sustainability scheme to achieve the effect in the housing sector for mitigating and adaptation the climate impacts.…”