Transformation of slum into a well-organized housing compound

Transforming a slum into a well-organized housing area is visually satisfying, but in practice, it is a complex and time-consuming task. Achieving this requires collaboration among various stakeholders. This occurred in Tanjung Kait, Indonesia, located 50 km west of Jakarta. In that impoverished fishermen's settlement, more than 100 families reside without legal ownership. Therefore, the initial challenge is to resolve legal issues, as residents have lived on the land for three generations without legal rights. The effort to upgrade

hashtag#housing and hashtag#settlements is supported by various national and local governments, donors, NGOs, researchers, and financial institutions. These diverse actors complicate the project due to their varying interests, priorities, approaches, and budget schedules. Consequently, this results in delays due to misaligned objectives and timelines.

To cultivate an environment conducive to collaboration, it is essential for the community to demonstrate unity. Accordingly, the community should be empowered to participate in the planning of housing types, safe environments, and public infrastructure deemed suitable by them. The plan incorporates a participatory approach (PASSA) to identify potential future risks from hazards and to designate safe zones for construction. The hashtag#PASSA process systematically ensures that all historical risks and hazards are thoroughly documented. Families who have experienced multiple hazard events are invited to propose safe zones for residence. Subsequently, the local government benefits from PASSA by transforming these proposals into a comprehensive site plan for housing and associated public infrastructure.

As seen in the video, houses have been fully constructed, and residents are now happily settled in the newly developed community. This achievement was made possible through the support of multi-level government agencies and donors who collaborated with Habitat for Humanity Indonesia in the construction of 110 houses. The success of this project was underpinned by robust project management and coordination, which stemmed from a comprehensive understanding of the context, mutually agreed-upon milestones, and a shared sense of responsibility.

Therefore, we are grateful to our donors for their generous support for funding this development; they are Prudential Indonesia (Prudential Indonesia (PT Prudential Life Assurance), PT Lautan Luas Tbk, Selavip Foundation, Global Fund Mission (GMF) Habitat for Humanity International, and Turner & Townsend. Also, we are thankful for the generous in-kind support for construction and building materials from PT Solusi Bangun Indonesia Tbk, BMI Group Indonesia (PT MONIER), PT Avia Avian Tbk. (Avian Brands), PT Primagraha Keramindo (Arwana Ceramics), PT. Surya TOTO Indonesia Tbk, and PT APLUS PACIFIC

Arwin Soelaksono

Habitat for Humanity Indonesia

Shelter kits support as a highly strategic decision in post-disaster

Focusing early support on moderately and lightly damaged homes can be a highly strategic decision, yet it is often overlooked in practice. In many disaster recovery programs, assessments and narratives concentrate on totally or heavily damaged housing and visible destruction. The pressure mainly comes from the media and political interests. If you watch TV or read in various media channels, you can see people in tents, temporary shelters, collapsed houses, and broken infrastructure. This overload of information drives our focus to this particular situation. Although it is essential to give close attention to homeowners whose houses are destroyed, those whose houses can be repaired also need attention. They also need help.

Houses that are moderately or lightly damaged usually require only limited repairs to become safe and habitable again, making this approach faster and more economical than concentrating resources on complete rebuilds. It is faster to bring people back from their temporary refuge; moreover, if they are given basic repairs, cleaning, and utility support, the need for temporary shelters will be dramatically reduced. 

Now, let us consider temporary shelters: in many parts of the world, collective shelters are common, with a single structure housing numerous families. These shelters often have only a partition separating each unit or family. According to research by The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in 2017, overcrowding, lack of privacy, and mixed sleeping arrangements in schools, halls, and tents increase the risk of harassment, assault, and exploitation, particularly at night. Studies from Indonesia and the Philippines after floods, typhoons, and earthquakes link harassment in temporary shelters to the absence of partitions and dedicated spaces for women and girls.

There are two options. Increase the space in temporary shelters by building as many shelters as families need or by reducing overcrowding. The first option will be very expensive because the infrastructure and its supporting systems must be built. It is also a waste of money, since the temporary shelters are temporary, which adds to the recovery pathways to permanent recovery. This happens because those whose houses were totally damaged are crowding into the refugee sites, along with those whose houses only need repairs. It is understandable that those whose houses are full of mud, which sometimes goes up to 50 cm, cannot live inside their houses. Therefore, it is an opportunity to help these people return home while reducing overcrowding in the refugee sites. 

For families whose homes have light or moderate damage, providing tools aligns with the "cleanup and restoration" phase. This should be done as early as possible, provided the market has resumed, the area is accessible and safe from future disasters, and full reconstruction has not yet begun. In flood-affected areas, such as Sumatra, where floods occurred in November 2025, tools like shovels, hoes, hammers, and saws are essential for this early stage. 

There is evidence that providing shelter kits not only accelerates recovery but also serves as a form of psychosocial intervention. There is a strong link between damaged, dirty, unusable homes and psychological distress, including anxiety, worry, and helplessness. Early support to restore basic household functioning, including cleaning and simple repairs, contributes to mental health recovery. A 2019 qualitative study of residential flooding in Canada reports that residents expended “a lot of physical energy” trying to protect and then clean their homes, describing the period as “very difficult and stressful,” marked by exhaustion, lack of sleep, and ongoing worry over losses and repairs. The report notes that cleanup was an urgent, stress‑intensive race that left many already “physically and mentally exhausted.” Therefore, providing these shelter kits accelerates the return to a functioning, dignified home, which is consistently associated with better mental health outcomes.

Aside from the benefits for individuals, distributing shelter kits will benefit their community. In a close-knit community, others can help, reflecting the spirit of solidarity. It will accelerate recovery not only for homes but also for other infrastructure beyond housing, such as livelihoods, as the market resumes, and for their health and education needs. 

Therefore, Habitat for Humanity Indonesia plans to distribute 1,000 shelter kit packages starting in mid-January 2026 to families in Sibolga City and Tapanuli Tengah District, both in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. The floods that occurred last November affected 3 provinces, damaging almost 167,000 houses. With shelter kits, affected families can complete cleanup and begin house repairs. The intention is to help them continue their lives and restore their hope for full recovery in the coming months.

Arwin Soelaksono

Photo: Kevin Herbian 

 

Measuring success of housing recovery

Measuring success solely by the number of houses rebuilt can obscure the fact that people’s needs are more complex. In a post-disaster situation, the number of houses constructed is often seen as an achievement that the government or recovery agencies can be proud of. These agencies face pressure to report figures influenced by political considerations. The primary measure of accountability tends to be how quickly the recovery budget is spent, as reflected in the number of houses built. Frequently, news reports highlight the number of houses constructed, emphasizing the accomplishments of the government and housing agencies.

Actually, house construction should serve as a starting point for homeowners to improve their living conditions and increase income. Focusing only on building the house, other essential services like clean water, electricity, sanitation, and roads connecting clinics, schools, and livelihood areas are often overlooked. Recovery efforts require that all these elements are in place to ensure people have proper housing and better access to these services.

We, therefore, need to consider how we define the success of recovery. There are at least two ways to approach it. Success can be seen as meeting homeowners' needs and ensuring long-term sustainability. Neither of these indicators can be observed immediately during the government recovery phase. It might take 2 to 5 years after the recovery program ends. However, we can establish pathways toward genuine recovery.

Efforts to address the needs of affected individuals are evident in the response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. There were a series of community consultations. Housing recovery advisors see this as a crucial step, emphasizing the importance of listening carefully to the needs and intentions of those impacted. Moving from emergency or temporary housing to reconstructed or repaired homes requires strong connections among residents. These connections can help accelerate recovery and ensure all codes and regulations are followed. Such initiatives can be fostered by building community cohesion during ongoing consultations and by encouraging resident involvement in recovery planning.

Community consultation is crucial not only after disasters but also in development projects. Habitat for Humanity Indonesia applies this approach at the beginning of slum upgrading in Tanjung Kait, Indonesia. It involves a series of consultations with various stakeholders: homeowners, local government, public works, government housing agencies, builders, building material vendors, and others. Through these efforts, 110 households received support to secure land legally and to build houses with proper public infrastructure. These homeowners will not only live in durable houses but also benefit from better access to health and livelihood resources.

The second approach to achieving success is ensuring sustainability. Therefore, the housing market ecosystem should be developed within the recovery pathways. Among these initiatives, the presence of skilled builders or contractors, wholesalers, and financial institutions is important. In reality, developing the ecosystem is often overlooked. People realize this when the houses are already built, and the recovery momentum has ended. It is a considerable loss.

Arwin Soelaksono

Photo: IStock CreativaImages

Shifting from recovery to resilience

Resilience in housing is more crucial than its recovery following a disaster. This contrasts the traditional mindset, which believes that post-disaster recovery is a massive shelter or housing work since significant funding is available. The more houses collapse following an earthquake, the more funding flows to the recovery efforts. This traditional perspective has solid evidence if we refer to housing recoveries following the Asian Tsunami (2004), the Haiti earthquake (2010), and the Nepal earthquake (2015). More news coverage on the affected people brought philanthropists and humanitarian workers together to collect funds and rebuild. 

In reality, working in recovery settings has its challenges. The heavily impacted market and public infrastructure make the recovery efforts considerably slow. Adding to this problem, national or local governments need to establish recovery policies or guidance to ensure a broad recovery, not only housing. There is a long process from recovery strategy development to its socialization and, later on, implementation. Even though all of these are in place, the flow might not be smooth. The market that provides construction materials and labor is not sufficient. The local businesses, which are expected to catalyze the reconstruction process, are still recovering their business. People also struggle to get loans since they lose their assets due to the disaster.

Resilience is working in a different approach. From a resilience perspective, the houses and public infrastructure might experience damage, but it is not fatal. Resilience means improving structural capacities and minimizing vulnerability. For instance, an earthquake, known as a natural hazard, is still a hazard that does not turn into a disaster since houses and public infrastructures are still safe and standing. No casualties and the local business is still running. Therefore, it is essential to invest in resilience. UNDRR report says investing in more resilient infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries yields USD 4 in benefit for each USD 1 invested.

But why are most people more interested in housing recovery rather than improving its resilience? Post-disaster recovery is driven by urgency, and there are business expectations for a large number of projects. While working for resilience is more about working with the community, continuous education for local builders and homeowners is key. These initiatives actually bring everyone to abide by the building code. In developing countries, there are some challenges, such as no legal sanction for anyone who does not follow the code when constructing their own houses. Hence, persuading people to seismically strengthen their houses isn't easy, even for their safety.

In the last decade, the focus has shifted from recovery to resilience. Therefore, shelter/housing and settlement practitioners launched a campaign on seismic retrofitting. This effort needs support from the government and business entities to make it more massive. It is a long marathon to convince people to change their priorities, such as having a safe house, which is much more important than having a beautiful house.

Arwin Soelaksono

Photo: Twitter @FXMC1957

#Tsunami20 | The essential role of women in disaster response

Minimizing corruption risks in housing recovery post-disaster

Shelter assistance and housing recovery post-disaster always face a high risk of corruption. From the disaster itself, higher levels of corruption resulted in an even larger number of deaths from disasters caused by natural hazards, especially in developing countries. (Cevik, 2023). The severity of disasters is a consequence of corruption, but the opportunities for corruption also increase in post-disaster situations. (Calossi, 2012). As shelter and housing are urgently needed following a disaster, urgency breeds corruption opportunities. (Sorensen, 2018). In this situation, governments, aid agencies, and affected people are prone to fall into various spectrums of corruption.

Hence, shelter and housing assistance should be adequately provided, even in urgent situations. Initiatives to curb the risk of corruption still exist amid challenging circumstances. To begin with, transparency through the broad engagement and participation of societies. Before shelter assistance is given to the community, the terms of modality, goods, and services must be communicated to all stakeholders. This ensures a shared responsibility to ensure fairness and quality of assistance. Everyone will know the amount of support, type of assistance, and its limitations. The assistance will have no hidden items since every aspect, including costs and goods grade, is mentioned publicly. For instance, if support uses cash assistance, everyone will know how much money is donated. If support is given using vouchers to purchase construction materials, there will be fair competition amongst local hardware stores.

Another crucial aspect is capacity building for local government, NGOs, construction actors, and homeowners. They should know that shelter assistance and housing recovery support can be provided using various construction materials and methodologies. During recovery efforts, big construction or supplier companies are often attracted to join. However, by developing their capacities, we can ensure that no one can dictate to them to use a particular material or method as endorsed by parties that try to sell goods and services for big profit. Abiding by the building code is also part of developing capacities to ensure there will be building back safer, no matter the construction material or methodologies they choose. Hence, government and aid agencies should deploy their engineers, architects, and skilled builders to conduct training and quality monitoring.

Lastly, there should be a safe complaint mechanism. Delivering substandard quality goods and services is expected to happen. The risk is higher if aid agencies or housing actors deliver large-scale assistance. The voices of unsatisfied beneficiaries may be unheard due to the big celebration of handover ceremonies. There should be experts to follow up on complaints and judge the issue reasonably to ensure the recovery efforts are on track.

All of these factors can put the corruption risks at a minimum.

Arwin Soelaksono

Photo: Faruk Tokluoğlu - https://www.pexels.com/photo/shocked-woman-in-fur-standing-among-ruins-16105715/

Flexible housing recovery program to ensure robustness and sustainability

 

Every post-disaster housing recovery process is susceptible to disruption. Rather than striving for a disruption-proof recovery program, it is more realistic to prepare for various approaches. Construction techniques, methods, and partners can be altered; the only constant is the mission to assist affected individuals in rebuilding safer homes. Given the inevitability of disruption, the key to smooth implementation lies in flexibility. The success of flexible recovery programs hinges on the recovery actor's knowledge, experiences, and networks. 

Those with field experience may be aware of problems that may cause disruption. The issues that usually exist are construction material and builders scarcity, leading to severe local inflation. Moreover, following a disaster event, there would be public infrastructure damages such as collapsed bridges, roadblocks due to landslides, or disrupted public services such as malfunctioning banking systems. Also, sometimes, we must wait for the issuance of the government policy on recovery. More problems may pop up during the process, which needs to be anticipated and prepared for. 

Prior to the program's initiation, it is crucial to adopt a proactive stance and prepare for the worst-case scenario. This includes developing additional programs to run parallel to the housing recovery program, such as strategies to mitigate inflation due to resource scarcity. One viable option is to provide construction materials and skilled builders through a livelihood program. Training local builders and house owners so that they can rebuild by themselves is one of the most effective ways to ensure human resources availability. Implementing a livelihood program that produces and supplies construction material locally, such as making concrete blocks or compressed stabilized earth blocks, can anticipate brick scarcity during the massive reconstruction period.

Additionally, recycling facilities can produce structural elements from salvaged material. These initiatives should be managed by partners and run by a livelihood program. Therefore, it is crucial to involve non-housing agencies as recovery partners as early as possible.

As the local government will spearhead and bear the responsibility for the recovery, it is essential to advocate for their involvement from the outset. Recovery agents are not equipped to address all issues, such as revitalizing public infrastructures, land and property disputes, and, most importantly, supporting the most vulnerable. Every disaster will expose underlying issues within the community. For instance, land boundaries become unclear due to landslides or liquefaction. Hence, there is a need to resolve all land ownership.

Hence, before the program starts, we should have various approaches, modalities, #construction techniques, and partners to ensure robust housing recovery and sustainability. The local communities should be able to continue even after the recovery program ends.

Arwin Soelaksono

Photo credit: Republika. https://news.republika.co.id/berita/rlr5um377/gempa-di-cianjur-dapat-terjadi-lagi-tiap-20-tahun-sekali#google_vignette

Learning from Taiwan Building Resilience

Taiwan has made remarkable achievements in construction quality as proven by the recent earthquake. Though the Mw 7.4 (MMI VIII) earthquake took 13 lives, it saved more lives if it is compared to other incidents. For instance, in Cianjur, Indonesia (2022) Mw 5.6 (MMI VIII) earthquake, the total death toll was 635. Stronger earthquake but fewer casualties.  Both Taiwan and Indonesia, are near the 'Ring of Fire' and are prone to earthquakes. From an engineering perspective, at least there are three initiatives we can learn from Taiwan in protecting their people from collapsing buildings under earthquake load. Those are a strict imposition of building codes, continuous construction market improvement, and innovation.

All requirements in the Building Codes are mandatory to obtain building approval. Furthermore, some requirements mandate some deposit of funds into the government account. There will be consequences if the builders or developers fail to fulfill the requirements as stated in the code. The deposited fund will be confestigated. Therefore, any attempt to save costs should not sacrifice the safety factors by delivering sub-standard construction material or workmanship. This regulation becomes effective since there is effective monitoring and a range of sanctions.

To survive in the construction market, builders and construction industries have not only adhered to the code but also successfully improved efficiency. Through years of improvement, Taiwan’s construction industry was found to have higher labor efficiency than mainland China. Along with the labor, their management and technical capacities are increasing.

If the market continuously improves, it will lead to more innovative construction methodologies and technologies. To reduce the impact, we must deliver robust structures and install elements that may dampen or absorb earthquake load. These elements may be pendulums or base isolation. As installed at the Taipei 101 skyscraper, if the building sways, the pendulum can suppress motion by applying forces in opposite directions.

How can this be applied to housing industries in developing countries? It can be applied, but it should not jump to the innovation. It should follow the natural law. Enforcing the code may lead to improvement in the construction market. This means the whole ecosystem must abide by the code, i.e., homeowners, builders, construction material vendors, and government. There should be country-wide education and training for builders. Sending engineers and skilled builders to rural areas to train local builders. Continuous campaign on build-back-safer and seismic retrofitting. Provision of loans for house repair and retrofitting. Along with the market improvement, there will be fair competition to find better ways to increase safety and reduce costs through innovation. At this point, academia should give their input that the innovation is fulfilling the scientific aspects.

Arwin Soelaksono

Minimizing debris for more sustainable recovery

Minimizing post-disaster debris intended to fulfill the zero-waste principle is achievable if at least 3 parties, i.e., housing recovery actors, environmental agencies, and local government, could collaborate on developing a preparedness plan. Planning to manage debris after a disaster would be too late and could hamper the recovery process and endanger the environment. Massive quantities of debris suddenly overwhelm the local government and the affected people. For instance, Aceh had 10 million cubic meters of debris following the 2004 tsunami. Also, there were 14 million tons of debris waste was generated from the fourteen most affected districts in Nepal following the 2015 earthquake. It took months to clear them. It is also costly; for instance, the cost of handling the disaster debris following Hurricane Katrina exceeded USD 4 billion.

Without a solid integrated plan, all stakeholders tend to work to deliver programs that they feel comfortable about it. Shelter agencies will provide temporary shelters or support to rebuild houses once the government has a clear plan for housing recovery. Then, the progress will be halted at some point due to debris, including hazardous ones, needing to be removed by government-appointed agencies. It might take months due to the debris containing human remains and hazardous wastes such as asbestos, concrete rubble, wood, and many more. All of those may result in delays, will affect costs and lead to inflation, and uncontrolled ruble dumping leads to health problems and environmental issues. 

Hence, shelter/housing agencies, environmental agencies, and local government should develop a plan as a preparedness measure. Shelter/housing agencies should develop plans to maximize the reuse of salvaged material and plan for repair or retrofitting rather than build a new construction. This approach may retain the building material within the area. This will reduce the amount of transportation needed to dump the waste and bring material from neighboring areas. 

The environmental agencies should assist in building the capacity of local entrepreneurs to reuse, reduce, and recycle (3R). Without proper support, people would not have any idea how to manage the pile of rubble and change it into useful materials for reconstruction. Moreover, these activities bring more local income and retain the area's money circulation. If the initiative can be successful, it might bring a multiplier effect beyond economic activities such as providing access to public services such as better education and health facilities. 

The government should endorse those initiatives. The endorsement should be stated in the government policy and budget. Hence, instead of rushing to provide temporary shelter or supporting new house reconstruction, recovery should be planned by incorporating environmental principles to ensure sustainable recovery.

Arwin Soelaksono

Video: Post-liquefaction area in Palu, Indonesia. 2018.

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

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

Learn from 2024 Japan Earthquake

What could governments and aid agencies learn from the recent Japan Earthquake? With a magnitude of Mw 7.5, the earthquake took over 100 lives[i], and 1,370 houses were damaged[ii]. Those numbers may increase as evacuation and assessment are ongoing. Compared with other earthquakes, the casualties and damage are more minor, for instance, on an earthquake with a similar magnitude, Hebei, China, 1976. 242,719 people lost their lives, and 85 percent of the buildings in Tangshan collapsed or were rendered unusable[iii]. Izmit, Türkiye, 1999, 17,127 people died, and 127,251 buildings were damaged, with at least 60,434 others collapsed[iv]. Lastly, in West Sumatera, Indonesia 2009, took 1,115 lives and 181,665 buildings were damaged on various levels[v].

Following the West Sumatra earthquake, the slogan "earthquake don't kill people, but poorly built houses do" was introduced. Still, sadly, the slogan has a slight effect on the changing of attitude and construction practices. Meanwhile, Japanese engineers and their government consistently build safer cities by improving and enforcing building codes, innovating to reduce earthquake impact, and working on meticulous detail on the connection of construction elements. The video shows the buildings withstand cyclic earthquake load, proving their work was successful. However, don’t just copy their technology, which can make the structure flexible and reduce the impact of earthquakes using the damper. It is not as simple as that. We should learn the whole concept and apply every detail to achieve structure ductility, which prevents catastrophic failure.

Reflecting on how the Japanese did on a safer built environment, we should ask what our priorities are in house provision: affordable houses or safer ones.

Therefore, at least 3 things governments and aid agencies could collaborate on. Consistently improving building code, enforcing and campaigning that people would abide by, to begin with. Aid agencies that provide shelter and housing assistance following the disaster should encourage homeowners to prioritize safety over other aspects. This can be implemented through messaging and training of builders and homeowners. The challenging part is ensuring that the training can change the poor construction practices to new ones that abide by the code. It needs consistent coaching and monitoring.

Second, opening the channel for financing. Those who don’t have sound finances will impede retrofitting or rebuilding seismic resistance houses. For instance, banks still see retrofitting funds as not feasible since retrofitting costs should be around 30% compared to the cost of a new building house. Meanwhile, the effort cost for marketing and repayment are the same. The loan also needed to purchase proper quality building materials instead of cheap but poor ones.

Lastly, income improvement in the area should be made to complete the ecosystem[vi] . Non-housing agencies should contribute; otherwise, the abovementioned efforts cannot be achieved without economic improvement.

Arwin Soelaksono

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[i] https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-earthquake-death-toll-tops-100-with-hundreds-still-missing-media-2024-01-06/

[ii] https://www.kompas.id/baca/english/2024/01/07/en-puluhan-wni-kehilangan-tempat-tinggal-gara-gara-gempa-jepang

[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Tangshan_earthquake

[iv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_%C4%B0zmit_earthquake

[v] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_earthquakes

[vi] https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/abs/2023/84/e3sconf_aiwest-dr2023_03001/e3sconf_aiwest-dr2023_03001.html