Everyone feels that housing recovery post-disaster is always awfully slow. Hence, governments, social societies, and affected people are considering accelerating the process. But people need to remember the nature of the genuine recovery and construction process.
There are two options for accelerating the rebuilding process, i.e., from external and internal. Both impact the process but have different results and long-term benefits. External push can speed up the reconstruction but have problems both in sustainability and inclusivity. Two examples of external push i.e., using contractor companies and imposing deadlines. This article was written based on reflections on the experience of the housing recovery in Indonesia and Nepal.
In some housing recovery, the government may give construction work to construction companies. Those companies with experience in the construction of real estate houses could work faster than the houses the homeowners built. But there is a limitation. Contractor companies are primarily interested in modular structures, and the houses, such as apartments and compound housing, are not scattered. For construction companies, building private houses with various designs and various building materials in scattered locations will add operation costs. Also, it reduces the profit obtained from discounts if they use the same building materials for the whole house. In these landed houses, turnkey projects mean homeowners who have not participated in the construction process will have problems when they want to upgrade or work on maintenance. Hence, sustainability has become one of the issues.
Government or aid agencies might impose deadlines for the reconstruction program in which exceptional conditions or assistance might be ended at a specific time. Understandably, post-disaster reconstruction phases will be finished. But expecting that imposing the deadline will accelerate the process will only be partially effective. Only those with adequate capacities to rebuild can catch up with deadlines. Those with internal challenges such as poverty, areas with poor infrastructures, and people unreached by government and aid organizations will be left behind.
For instance, the Nepal government imposed a deadline on housing recovery following the 2015 earthquake. Homeowners who could not finish the construction work at a particular milestone will not be eligible for the subsequent cash assistance. For some people, the milestone deadlines triggered their best effort to finish their houses. Since the recovery was owner-driven, not all homeowners can complete their houses to meet the deadlines. The most vulnerable people and those living in areas with difficult access to construction materials and technical support missed the deadline.
Therefore, applying external push speeds up the recovery process, but it will not be a genuine rebuild since it does not solve the root of the cause of vulnerability. Hence, the effort should mainly strengthen the market systems and actors. These initiatives are to create an internal push to the recovery process.
At the peak of recovery, there will be inflation due to the scarcity of construction materials and the shortage of skilled laborers. Even if it is inevitable, the severe condition that can hamper the reconstruction process can still be anticipated. The supply chain should be managed so the construction material is not limited to a specific material. During the peak of Aceh’s post-tsunami recovery (2006), the price of red brick tripled. The construction was almost stopped since almost everyone could not afford to buy them. Therefore, architects and engineers should provide various housing designs with various building materials. Moreover, there should also be a massive campaign to reuse the salvaged material to reduce the need to purchase new materials. From the government side, the policy of easing taxes related to construction materials should be applied. Furthermore, the government should ensure all infrastructures can support transporting construction materials to whole affected areas. Strengthening the market system should also cover reliable financial service providers (FSP). There should be a strategy and policy to support the most vulnerable people to access banks or other FSPs.
The market actors' capacities, architects, engineers, builders, and even homeowners should be strengthened. Post-disaster rebuild is not business as usual. The work volume is larger than the regular construction work and should also change the practices. Hence, there should be training on construction and oversight during the process. Advocacy to homeowners to build their knowledge and ability to construct their houses by themself if they own a landed house. If they live in a multi-story apartment, they know which apartment was built by following the code.
All of these should be carried out as earliest as possible. It will take months and even a year or two before the effect can be realized. The market system and market actors can be continuously strengthened then the homeowners and other market actors can benefit from working toward the deadline.
Arwin Soelaksono
Photo: Women participating in building a house at Thulogaun, Nepal. From the personal archive.
