chapter 4 - DRK

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Strictly under embargo until Wednesday 22 September at 00:01 GMT (02:01 Geneva time)54CHAPTER 3Evenif urban poor groups have some assets undamaged by the disaster, these can bequickly eroded by having to pay for consumption needs and through loss of livelihoodsor sources of income, so all the inequalities and difficulties that the urban poor facedbefore the disaster remain to constrain the post-disaster response. Having a home in aninformal settlement usually means lacking land tenure and any official documentationof ‘ownership’ of the land and house. It also often means living in a settlement with noinfrastructure, such as piped water supplies, sewers, drains and paved roads, because localgovernments refuse to provide these to ‘illegal’ settlements. It is this lack of infrastructurethat greatly increases the impact of the disaster event. Most informal settlements havelittle or no public provision for healthcare or emergency services, which further limitsneeded responses to disasters. After a disaster, the lack of tenure and documentation,combined with an absence of links to local government, compounds the constraints onresponse. Disaster relief and support for rebuilding often depend on proof of residenceand identity cards, which also explains why many do not move to safer sites when warnedabout an approaching storm or flood as they fear they will not be allowed to return home.The Asian Coalition for Housing Rights has noted that, unless disaster aid quickly learnsto work with the untitled, the unregistered, the unlisted and the undocumented, it cansupport and even reinforce the inequalities that existed prior to the disaster.Local governments may allow people whose homes were destroyed to settle in temporarycamps but would never sanction these as places where they can stay and rebuildpermanent homes. They often do not permit them to return to their former settlementbut they are also unwilling to provide them with alternative land sites (or if they do,these are peripheral sites with little or no infrastructure, far from their previous homes,social networks and places where they work). There may be good reasons for not wantingthem to return to their former sites because these are so much at risk (from floodsor cyclones, for instance) and post-disaster reconstruction could provide an opportunityto allow those affected to get safer sites on which to rebuild. However, they almostnever get appropriate new sites and they are hardly ever consulted about the appropriatenessof new locations. Fine words about ‘rebuilding a new, safe city’ and ‘decentralizing’to avoid the previous high concentration of informal settlements usually becomedistant camps and reconstruction sites where no one wants to live.Alfredo Stein, commenting on the reconstruction plan in Haiti to move people awayfrom the capital and drawing on his work in post-Hurricane Mitch reconstruction,said, “You are going to be constructing ghettos that are far away from where peoplewill need to restore their economic lives.” The estate agent’s mantra ‘location, location,location’ is actually even more relevant for low-income groups. Stein, an experton urban planning based at the Global Urban Research Centre at the University ofManchester, notes that planners must assume that people will return to their homesitesand work closely with them to rebuild. If their former site is destroyed or toodangerous for them to rebuild on, then they must be included in real discussions aboutwhat would be appropriate relocation sites given government capacity to act rapidly
Strictly under embargo until Wednesday 22 September at 00:01 GMT (02:01 Geneva time)on this. However, it is complicated to get them new land sites that they can afford andthat meet their needs as regards livelihoods. Host communities, for instance, may notwant them in their neighbourhoods, or the legal and institutional obstacles may beinsuperable.Despite these difficulties, there is now a rich experience of community-driven responsesto disasters in urban areas upon which this <strong>chapter</strong> draws as it examines the experiencesof community groups following a disaster. The complexity of needs and constraintscreated by the institutional framework in urban areas means that successful engagementwith the state is critical in securing a pro-poor response, and this <strong>chapter</strong> explainshow this can be achieved.Experiences with community-driven responsesto disastersDrawing on the experience of many communities and local non-governmental organizations(NGOs) after disasters, one of the most important responses is to supportthe people affected to meet, network and often share their grief and, in their owntime, begin to participate in creating solutions. This means involving local peoplefrom the start in any discussion of rebuilding and in managing the shift from relief toreconstruction. If people are living in temporary camps, they should also be engagedin camp organization and management. Well-organized, representative, communityorganizations are also valuable allies for agencies supporting reconstruction as they canprovide much of the information base for rebuilding, contribute to the rebuilding andsupervise local builders and contractors (all of which are time consuming and difficultfor staff from donor agencies or international NGOs).Post-disaster responses have to strengthen and support the survivors’ own organizationsand keep women at the centre. This is often difficult, however, as more aggressiveand well-connected groups frequently dominate priorities and actions. People areaffected in different ways and may have different priorities, and they see other affectedgroups as competitors in seeking funds from external organizations.Visits and exchanges between community organizations have proved important inmany instances to allow survivor groups to learn from other community-driven experiencesand also to show what they are doing or planning. In Banda Aceh, Indonesia,after the 2004 tsunami, a network of community organizations of survivors wasneeded to cope with what was called the second tsunami – the surge of unplanned,unregulated, uncoordinated international aid that poured into the city, often bypassingcommunity structures. With international aid under pressure to spend and to build,many buildings were put up, but when construction was finished and aid agencieswithdrew, communities were left with no source of income, no social cohesion andlittle support for the future.World Disasters Report 2010 – Focus on urban risk55
Page 1 and 2:
Strictly under embargo untilWednesd
Page 4 and 5:
A global humanitarian organizationT
Page 6 and 7:
Strictly under embargo until Wednes
Page 8: Strictly under embargo until Wednes
Page 17 and 18: Strictly under embargo until Wednes
Page 108 and 109:
Page 110 and 111:
Page 112 and 113:
Page 114 and 115:
Page 116 and 117:
Page 118 and 119:
114CHAPTER 6Strictly under embargo
Page 120 and 121:
Page 122 and 123:
Page 124 and 125:
Page 126 and 127:
Page 128 and 129:
Page 130 and 131:
Page 132 and 133:
Page 134 and 135:
Page 136 and 137:
Page 138 and 139:
Page 140 and 141:
Page 142 and 143:
138CHAPTER 7Strictly under embargo
Page 144 and 145:
Page 146 and 147:
Page 148 and 149:
Page 150 and 151:
Page 152 and 153:
Page 154 and 155:
Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
Page 168 and 169:
Page 170 and 171:
Page 172 and 173:
Page 174 and 175:
Page 176 and 177:
Page 178 and 179:
Page 180 and 181:
Page 182 and 183:
Page 184 and 185:
Page 186 and 187:
Page 188 and 189:
Page 190 and 191:
Page 192 and 193:
Page 194 and 195:
190ANNEX 2Strictly under embargo un
Page 196 and 197:
Page 198 and 199:
Page 200 and 201:
Page 202 and 203:
Page 204 and 205:
Page 206 and 207:
Page 208 and 209:
Page 210 and 211:
Page 212 and 213:
Page 214 and 215:
Page 216 and 217:
Page 218 and 219:
214INDEXStrictly under embargo unti
Page 220:
The International Federationof Red
show all

chapter 4 - DRK

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?