Establishing a post-disaster housing recovery strategy
should be neither too early nor too late. Too early means recovery actors
develop the plan based on their organization competencies, proven to work well
in the previous mission. On the other hand, if it is too late, there will be
consequences such as a lack of sufficient resources, missed opportunities to
collaborate with other actors and the imminent threat of inflation. We need to
realize that every disaster is unique due to the magnitude of the loss and
damage, the impact on people, and the socio-economic condition in the affected
area.
During the earthquake assessment of damaged buildings,
recovery actors should obtain sufficient information for developing the
strategy. Some essential aspects we need to cover, for instance, homeowners'
preferences on repairing or rebuilding their houses, their livelihood, and the
local market, which can support the recovery process. The government plan for
housing recovery is also crucial, but it also takes time for them to issue it.
Homeowners need time to recover from grieves and shock. Some
of them even take refuge in the neighboring province. Hence, they do not know
how to repair or rebuild if their livelihood is also affected. Local markets
that provide builders and construction materials will need more support to
fulfill the demand. The consequences are lower quality materials and services
that homeowners will use, leading to a vulnerable structure. Local capacities
are always the issue and need time to balance the supply and demand.
Another information needed is who other recovery actors have
similar interests in the affected area. Their presence might have a positive or
negative impact on the recovery program. The negative impact would be
competition needing more resources in the area. Therefore, collaboration among
actors should be pursued if working on a similar site can not be avoided. There
are plenty of opportunities for cooperation, such as strengthening the supply
chain to ensure suitable quality materials can be adequately available.
Improving builders' capacities to ensure build back better. Then, advocacy to
the local government and business entities to strengthen economic activities to
support the housing recovery.
What then? No need for prompt planning for intervention? By
no means! The team should be deployed for damage assessment and recovery
strategy formulation as early as possible. It takes time to identify the cause
of damage due to natural hazards such as earthquakes. Is it because of improper
construction materials, building practices, or both? Finding other recovery
actors or service providers that can partner in implementing the housing
recovery also takes time. Because those potential partners also need time to
plan and discuss with their headquarters and donors for new fruitful
initiatives. For instance, from personal experience, it was a solid two months
when I developed a housing recovery strategy to support 3,000 households
following the 2015 Nepal earthquake. Two months after the quake, I was deployed
for the damage assessment, including the beneficiaries and partner organization
assessment. Comparing the S-curve developed during the strategy formulation to
the actual S-curve showed that the strategy was proven suitable. Read more at https://bit.ly/3oEsLSL .
Another urgency for being on time is to ensure the most
vulnerable will stay caught up. If an ordinary household can build houses in 3
months, the most vulnerable might need a year. Moreover, the most vulnerable
families should be prioritized to kick start the recovery for education and
capacity development of local resources.
Hence, the timing for not being in a rush or too late on
developing strategy is defined by ensuring all aspects written above are
covered. It should be soon after the disaster event, but it needs time for thorough
planning. Not only our planning but also give time for other organizations and
resources in the field to develop their plan and capacities.
Arwin Soelaksono
Photo: Morocco's High Atlas Mountains. Image credit: IG
@emiliemadiphotographer at https://www.instagram.com/p/CxaM68-MTSK/?igshid=NmQ4MjZlMjE5YQ%3D%3D&img_index=1
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