Successful recovery following a disaster depends upon transcending the disciplinary divides of architecture, engineering, and planning and emphasizing the importance of community perspectives in the post-disaster reconstruction process. Effective results in community recovery mandate that we holistically examine the complex interrelationship betwee

Great natural disasters are rare, but their aftermath can change the fortunes of a city or region forever. This book and its companion Policy Focus Report identify lessons from different parts of the world to help communities and government leaders better organize for recovery after future disasters. The authors consider the processes and outcomes of community recovery and reconstruction following major disasters in six countries: China, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Japan, and the United States. Post-disaster reconstruction offers opportunities to improve construction and design standards, renew infrastructure, create new land use arrangements, reinvent economies, and improve governance. If done well, reconstruction can help break the cycle of disaster-related impacts and losses, and improve the resilience of a city or region.

On Sunday 26 December 2004, a tsunami of up to 30 metres high hit the northern tip of Sumatera in Indonesia, causing immediate destruction and the deaths of at least 130,000 in Indonesia alone. The scale of the devastation and ensuing human suffering prompted the biggest response endeavour to any natural disaster in history.Post-Disaster Reconstruction will be the first major book that analyses the different perspectives and experiences of the enormous post-tsunami reconstruction effort. It looks specifically at the reconstruction efforts in Aceh, one of the regions most heavily-hit by the tsunami and a province that has until recently suffered nearly three decades of armed conflict. Positioning the reconstruction efforts within Aceh's multi-layered historical, cultural, socio-political and religious contexts, the authors explore diverse experiences and assessments of the reconstruction. It considers the importance of the political and religious settings of the reconstruction, the roles of communities and local non-government organisations and the challenges faced by Indonesian and international agencies. From the in-depth examination of this important case study of disaster reconstruction - significant not only because of the huge scale of the natural disaster and response but also the post-conflict issues - the editors draw together the lessons learned for the future of Aceh and make general recommendations for post-disaster and post-conflict reconstruction-making.

The factor that makes some communities rebound quickly from disasters while others fall apart: “A fascinating book on an important topic.”—E.L. Hirsch, in Choice Each year, natural disasters threaten the strength and stability of communities worldwide. Yet responses to the challenges of recovery vary greatly and in ways that aren’t explained by the magnitude of the catastrophe or the amount of aid provided by national governments or the international community. The difference between resilience and disrepair, as Daniel P. Aldrich shows, lies in the depth of communities’ social capital. Building Resilience highlights the critical role of social capital in the ability of a community to withstand disaster and rebuild both the infrastructure and the ties that are at the foundation of any community. Aldrich examines the post-disaster responses of four distinct communities—Tokyo following the 1923 earthquake, Kobe after the 1995 earthquake, Tamil Nadu after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, and New Orleans post-Katrina—and finds that those with robust social networks were better able to coordinate recovery. In addition to quickly disseminating information and financial and physical assistance, communities with an abundance of social capital were able to minimize the migration of people and valuable resources out of the area. With governments increasingly overstretched and natural disasters likely to increase in frequency and intensity, a thorough understanding of what contributes to efficient reconstruction is more important than ever. Building Resilience underscores a critical component of an effective response.

Through a synthesis of a broader inter-disciplinary literature in the field of disaster studies, organisation theory and management, and an in-depth case study this book provides an analytical framework for organising post-disaster reconstruction programmes which aim to reduce future disaster risks and achieve other objectives. It explores the role of organisational design and management on approaching and achieving the objectives of the reconstruction programme in Iran after the 2003 Bam earthquake. The housing reconstruction programme in Bam was a complex case, offering various learning opportunities to understand organising reconstruction processes especially in urban areas. The case study research explores how the urban housing reconstruction programme system was formed purposefully towards the delivery of the stated objectives and created an innovative housing process throughout the urban area. It identifies consistencies and inconsistencies among the influential organisational attributes of the programme delivery system formation. The system evolved through corrective adjustments (either formally or informally) during its implementation to reflect unfolding consequences of inconsistencies in initial formation and emerging contextual issues in the field.

Community Engagement in Post-Disaster Recovery reflects a wide array of practical experiences in working with disaster-affected communities internationally. It demonstrates that widely held assumptions about the benefits of community consultation and engagement in disaster recovery work need to be examined more critically because poorly conceived and hastily implemented community engagement strategies have sometimes exacerbated divisions within affected communities and/or resulted in ineffective use of aid funding. It is equally demonstrated that well-crafted, creative and thoughtful programming is possible. The wide collection of case studies of practical experience from around the world is presented to help establish ways of working with communities experiencing great challenges. The book offers practical suggestions on how to give more substance to the rhetoric of community consultation and engagement in these areas of work. It suggests the need to work with a dynamic understanding of community formation that is particularly relevant when people experience unforeseen challenges and traumatic experiences. This title interrogates the concept of community through an extensive review of the literature and explores the ways of working with communities in transition and particularly in their recovery phases through an array of case studies in a range of socioeconomic and political contexts. Focused on the concept of community in post-disaster recovery solutions—an aspect which has received little critical interrogation in the literature—this book will be a valuable resource to students and scholars in disaster management as well as humanitarian agencies.

In the devastation that follows a major disaster, there is a need for multiple sectors to unite and devote new resources to support the rebuilding of infrastructure, the provision of health and social services, the restoration of care delivery systems, and other critical recovery needs. In some cases, billions of dollars from public, private and charitable sources are invested to help communities recover. National rhetoric often characterizes these efforts as a "return to normal." But for many American communities, pre-disaster conditions are far from optimal. Large segments of the U.S. population suffer from preventable health problems, experience inequitable access to services, and rely on overburdened health systems. A return to pre-event conditions in such cases may be short-sighted given the high costs - both economic and social - of poor health. Instead, it is important to understand that the disaster recovery process offers a series of unique and valuable opportunities to improve on the status quo. Capitalizing on these opportunities can advance the long-term health, resilience, and sustainability of communities - thereby better preparing them for future challenges. Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters identifies and recommends recovery practices and novel programs most likely to impact overall community public health and contribute to resiliency for future incidents. This book makes the case that disaster recovery should be guided by a healthy community vision, where health considerations are integrated into all aspects of recovery planning before and after a disaster, and funding streams are leveraged in a coordinated manner and applied to health improvement priorities in order to meet human recovery needs and create healthy built and natural environments. The conceptual framework presented in Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters lays the groundwork to achieve this goal and provides operational guidance for multiple sectors involved in community planning and disaster recovery. Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters calls for actions at multiple levels to facilitate recovery strategies that optimize community health. With a shared healthy community vision, strategic planning that prioritizes health, and coordinated implementation, disaster recovery can result in a communities that are healthier, more livable places for current and future generations to grow and thrive - communities that are better prepared for future adversities.

Social workers are increasingly engaged in supporting individuals and communities in long-term disaster recovery. Rebuilding Lives Post-Disaster brings together an international team of social work researchers who have investigated the experiences, perspectives, challenges, and complexities in disaster recovery. It features country case studies drawing from field research undertaken in disaster-affected communities in Canada, the United States, Australia, India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, and China. In so doing, the volume provides a comprehensive perspective on the realities of disaster recovery and explores key concepts such as resilience, community-based disaster risk reduction, and social and gendered construction of vulnerability and capabilities. Undergraduate and graduate students and professionals in the fields of social work, community development, international social work, emergency management, and related fields will find the text to be a helpful resource.

To mitigate, develop, and improve the lives of those vulnerable to intense natural disasters, climate change, and food insecurity, many agencies are funding and implementing diverse activities from reconstruction to rehabilitation, and this book presents the lessons and impacts from a collection of these projects. It describes concepts, strategies, processes, and tools in such a way that they can be easily replicated and shared with a wider audience. This study explains that mid- to long-term interventions, strategies, and practical approaches in particular are being designed and adopted to build the resilience of the poor. It describes valuable practical experiences and lessons from the field, capturing a range of interventions from implementing agencies involved in post-disaster rehabilitation. It is comprised of 79 papers grouped into four sections: coastal threats and challenges in South Asia; disaster risk reduction and the combining of resilience, mitigation, and adaptation; pathways for building the capacity of vulnerable communities to withstand and rebuild from natural disasters; and real-life postdisaster rehabilitation and resilience-building projects that have led to positive change at the community level. This is an exceptional resource for anyone concerned with disaster management and rehabilitation work, including students, researchers, policymakers, and members of nongovernmental organizations.

This book explores practices and approaches on pre-disaster prevention and post-disaster reconstruction for vulnerable countries and areas enhancing earthquake disaster resilience. Destructive earthquakes have frequently occurred in urban or rural areas around the world, causing severe damage on human societies. Pre-earthquake prevention and post-earthquake reconstruction effect the disaster resilience building and long-term development of the affected communities and areas. In recent years, researchers from around the world have made a lot of efforts to study on the theme ‘earthquake disaster prevention and reconstruction’. The chapters in this edited volume contribute to the literature of earthquake disaster research from scientific, social and institutional aspects. These interdisciplinary studies mainly focus on human and policy dimensions of earthquake disaster, such as earthquake risk mitigation, social-physical resilience building, resilience capability assessment, healthcare surge capacity, house reconstruction, the roles of schools, households, civil societies and public participation in earthquake disaster prevention and reconstruction. The authors come from several counties, including China, Bangladesh, Iran, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Indonesia, covering the cases from those countries prone to earthquakes. These nine distinctive chapters have been elaborately selected and integrated from the international, ranked, peer-reviewed journal, Environmental Hazards.