Collaboration for more comprehensive housing assistance

In supporting the housing recovery post-disaster, extensive funding is often associated with many rebuilt houses. This perception applies to any housing recovery setting. Whether the government or donor-driven leads it or supports to self-recovery approaches, numbers reflect achievements and budgets. It can be seen on the government recovery website, which mentions the names of the aid agencies, the working areas, and the number of houses built. But, just relying on house numbers can be misleading.  Aside from houses, other significant assistance, such as providing access to public infrastructure such as clinics and schools, and primarily to their livelihood, are often vague.

The provision of those mentioned above should be seen as a prerequisite for comprehensive recovery assistance. For instance, the absence of economic improvement will make them unable to extend their house or even repair it if something is broken. In a relocation area, the conditions can be worse; they might leave the housing that governments or recovery actors provided and go elsewhere to places where all infrastructures are available. For instance, following a tsunami or landslide, the government might issue a policy to relocate people in the affected area to safer places. The process of relocation itself might take years to complete. Often, only houses are provided without adequate infrastructure. And on many occasions, livelihood cannot be changed. For instance, relocating fisherman to safer areas that are too far from sea and fish markets will cost them on their daily transportation. Hence, a comprehensive solution should be designed before moving people to a relocation area.

The challenges for on-site recovery and relocation are similar if access is unavailable. Hence, recovery actors’ assistance should not be quantified only by the number of houses built but also by the area that provides a chance to improve living. The problem is that the cost of such recovery will be very expensive for a single recovery actor to shoulder. The need for collaboration with the non-housing agencies will be the solution. For instance, people might be overlooked when including agencies with expertise in land titling to solve ownership issues. Planning to set up a cooperative and new local entrepreneurship initiatives is sometimes discussed during rebuilding progress. On the other hand, those non-housing actors are also challenged to justify their assistance in a humanitarian intervention; mainly, their support is in the development phases.

Comprehensive recovery should be advocated as a preparedness measure; otherwise, establishing collaboration would be too late. The government should lead this initiative and develop a partnership model among recovery actors and non-humanitarian sectors. The opportunity for collaboration should be an advocacy that should be endorsed, resulting in standby mode if disaster events happen.

Arwin Soelaksono

Photo: https://japanesedoodleblog.blogspot.com/2022/03/about-day-of-march-11th-11-years.html 

Promising recovery time-frame

Setting expectations for housing rebuild post-disaster is crucial and should be conveyed to the affected people in the earliest aftermath. However, the government and aid agencies sometimes give their promises under pressure from the public, political parties, and donors. The immense pressure to quickly rebuild happens globally and not only in a particular country. This principle applies to any housing recovery, even in a humanitarian setting; the process cannot deny the nature of construction. It always takes time until the market, which consists of manpower, proper quality of construction material, and financial institutions are in place. To be added to the market is the fully functional infrastructure for supply chain and government systems. Haste recovery will only lead to poor-quality construction, which will eventually stop the process and bring more disappointment to affected people. Moreover, there is a risk that some people might not be included since, due to their circumstances, they are out of the list.

Government and recovery agents should pursue inclusive, build-back-better, and sustainable recovery but should be able to convey that the process needs time. Learn from other recovery; for instance, the recovery from Hurricane Ike in Texas, USA, might take up to 7 years, and more than 10 years for Haiti post-2010 earthquake. Following the 2011 earthquake in Japan, the government planned a 10-year recovery timeframe. During the housing recovery post-tsunami 2004 in Indonesia, the Chief of the Reconstruction program reminded the agencies to have a clear plan for the reconstruction, which can be communicated to the government and their beneficiaries. Conveying only the messages will not be adequate to calm public protest. Hence, recovery pathways should be seen by everyone.

Putting ourselves in the shoes of affected people will shape our priorities on recovery pathways based on their best interests. Hence, wherever possible, supporting their self-recovery would be the best option for sustainability. For those who have land, strengthening their capacities for rebuilding or retrofit, including opening access to financial support, will focus their energy on returning to normal life. This can be achieved through consultations, training, and other activities to engage their involvement. At the same time, governments develop their policy, systems, and infrastructure to enable recovery. These lessons came from governments and recovery agencies who worked in Japan post-2011 earthquake, Nepal in 2015, and Yogyakarta, Indonesia 2006 earthquake.

The biggest issue is those who don’t have land, who live in poverty and other vulnerable conditions, have to live longer in temporary accommodation. There should be additional support for them. It would be unfair if they receive a similar amount or value as others. Improvement in access to public facilities and financial support should be prioritized to secure their job and well-being.

Arwin Soelaksono

Photo: Doga Ayberk Demir/Shutterstock/The Conversation.  https://theconversation.com/turkey-earthquakes-one-year-on-the-devastation-has-exposed-deep-societal-scars-and-women-are-bearing-the-brunt-221819