Resilient community, essential factor for sustainable housing recovery

A resilient community is the key to housing self-recovery post-disaster, but there is no assurance they would rebuild robust structures without external assistance. Hundreds of thousands of houses were damaged when the #earthquake hit some of the villages in Nepal (2015) and in Yogyakarta and Klaten, both in Indonesia (2006). There were similarities in why massive destruction would happen, which were poorly built structures. The unprecedented magnitude of the earthquakes was the test of their construction qualities. Hence, the recovery process should be seen as an opportunity to transform the local capacities. New practices that the community might adopt with new norms should be infused. But this could happen if an enabling ecosystem is in place to strengthen the collaboration of communities, local markets, government, and recovery actors. 

Focusing on the community's capacity to self-rebuild is essential. All external reconstruction assistance is only temporary and would have no sustainability if the community could not be transformed. This also happens in resilient communities. The resilient community eagerly prepared to repair or rebuild their damaged houses soon after the disaster. Once they have money or construction materials, they will do it. The problem persists; no change in construction practices will lead to vulnerable houses being built. Hence, the support should not only be funding but also technical assistance through training and mentoring should be provided. The more resilient the community, the faster and more sustainable the new practices for adaptation. Since the reconstruction process will not be seen as individual efforts but as the community recovery, they will help each other until all houses can be built. 

The solid community can also pressure local hardware stores to sell only appropriate construction materials. As a business practice, local hardware stores will provide building materials to anticipate growing demand. They seek profit from volume; hence, they sell all that people might need, such as steel rebars, cement, bricks, and roofing materials. Since they want to provide a broad spectrum of customers, they sell various construction materials, including those of poor quality. Moreover, they also sell hazardous materials such as those containing asbestos for roofing. Hence, the demand for poor and unhealthy materials can be reduced if the community is solid. Together, they might object to the material being used in their area. On the other hand, the demand for appropriate materials can be increased, and the community can haggle for bigger discounts. 

However, not all communities are solid and resilient. They might behave negatively toward the process and give little interest in having a robust structure as required by the code. They would sacrifice safety for a bigger house that looks good in appearance and costs less. In this kind of community, recovery actors should deploy trained community mobilizers. These community mobilizers should convey messages on the urgency of building safer houses. It would take considerable time to change their mindset. Construction training for local builders and homeowners and mentoring should be delivered during recovery. Once the interest in robust and safer houses is inherent in their norms, they will stay in good construction practices, even if the recovery actors' support is gone. 

Arwin Soelaksono