The role of self-help groups in post-tsunami rehabilitation

Abstract

This article provides an analysis of the importance of self-help groups for women in post-tsunami rehabilitation efforts in Tamil Nadu, India. The finding is one of eight key themes identified in a larger study of the long-term social, economic and gender implications of post-tsunami rehabilitation work. While self-help groups were reported as having provided women with a measure of new social and economic opportunities, status and power, little evidence existed for a substantial reduction of poverty levels or a change in the prevailing patriarchal attitudes. The authors suggest that multiple long-term sustainable approaches to post-disaster reconstruction are needed to provide fundamental social and economic change for women.

Rehabilitation of vulnerable groups in emergencies and disasters: A systematic review

“…Details of each study and their special features were reported regarding authors, year, study type, vulnerable group, sample size, type of rehabilitation, setting and duration of rehabilitation, disaster type, and main concepts. The studies were mainly conducted in Asian countries and United States, including India, [15,19,20,[25][26][27]31] China, [18,22,23,34,36,37] Pakistan, [16,28,30] Iran, [13,17,21] Indonesia, [29,32] Sri Lanka [35] and United States. [14,24,33] The results of the studies showed that 56% of the studies are about rehabilitation programs for women, 32% is for children, 24% is for elderly, and 16% is for disabled people.…”

“…[14,24,33] The results of the studies showed that 56% of the studies are about rehabilitation programs for women, 32% is for children, 24% is for elderly, and 16% is for disabled people. Each study included more than one [29] (2008) + --+ + -+ + + -6/10 Rathore et al [30] (2008) + --+ + --+ + + 6/10 Bazeghi et al [17] (2010) + ---+ --+ -+ 4/10 Ni et al [34] (2013) + + + ----+ + -5/10 Xiao et al [23] (2011) + -+ ---+ + --4/10 Li et al [22] (2012) + + -----+ + -4/10 Tan et al [25] ( [14] (2011) + + -----+ --3/10 Bazeghi et al [17] (2010) + ---+ --+ -+ 4/10 Mansoor et al [16] (2013) + + --+ -+ + + + 7/10 Larson et al [15] (2015) + + -+ + --+ -+ 6/10 Huang et al [18] [11,12] Abbreviations: yes (+), no (-); World J Emerg Med, Vol 8, No 4, 2017 vulnerable group. The mean of the period of physical, psychological, social, and economic rehabilitation programs was about 7.3 months varying from 1 week to 50 months, which were based on the type of the disaster and the countries where the disaster occurred.…”

“…Reciprocally the use of social sources of the damaged area may be increased. [14,15,18,21,25,28,34] Studies also emphasized the activity of vulnerable groups especially women in the economic rehabilitation activities in order to meet financial needs by starting small businesses. Supporting the social activity of women leads to ability to direct and organize many active and potent individuals.…”

“…The most important obstacle for the cooperation of the women in economic rehabilitation activities is the focus of international and local organizations on men as the head of the family and the provider of the financial needs of the family. [15,17,29] Studies also showed that one of the most important approaches in implementation of the rehabilitation processes is the use of local media especially television and radio to provide vital information about rehabilitation procedures such as training courses for the vulnerable groups. Audiovisual tools play an important role in gathering social sources to provide rehabilitation services.…”

Disasters in Social, Cultural and Political Context

“…Hazard refers to the actual physical process involved, while vulnerability is the compounded effect of the exposure and susceptibility of people and their assets to the impact of the hazard, as well as their capacity to anticipate, cope, and recover (Wisner et al, 2003). The most socially excluded and economically insecure in any society or community are least able to access or control resources needed before, during, and in the aftermath of a disaster (Larson et al, 2013). The term 'vulnerability' is used to understand how one's status, or social location can influence different impacts of natural hazards.…”