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 Theme
Opportunities and Challenges in Risk Resilient Recovery
In the post-disaster context, following the initial shock of the disaster, returning lives and livelihoods to normalcy becomes a primary concern of the affected communities and nations. Traditionally, this has been known as recovery phase, where ‘normalcy’ referred to
a situation prior to the disaster event. Recent definitions of recovery takes this process further, with a view to restoring or improving the pre-disaster living conditions of the stricken community, while encouraging and facilitating necessary adjustments to reduce disaster risk
(UNISDR: living with risk, 2002).
Often, in the case of large-scale disasters, there are tremendous pressures of time for return to ‘business-as-usual’. This poses extraordinary challenges to professionals working in the field, namely development planners, builders, financiers, disaster risk managers and community representatives.
Unfortunately, more often than not the choice made is to rebuild quickly, albeit to a lower standard, in order to cater to large numbers of people for the same cost.
Quoting a dialogue between a development planner and a disaster manager,
Haiti, December 2000, “We are rich enough to build it twice, but we not rich enough to build it
right” , clearly emphasizes the need for risk resilient recovery processes so that the shelter and infrastructure thus creates are safe for use in a future
disasters.
Opportunities and Challenges in Recovery
Post-disaster recovery presents great opportunities for introducing vulnerability reduction and hazard mitigation measures, which can create more risk resilient communities and nations. It has been observed that several countries have utilized the momentum generated by post-disaster situations for reforming their institutional setup for addressing disaster risk management. An example of this is the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority in Gujarat, India, established after the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake and more recently Task Force for Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN) in Sri Lanka. It is important to identify and understand the key beneficiaries of the recovery effort, their needs, capacities and available resources, as well as the economic and financial impacts of the same on the local and national economy.
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Human factors in Recovery and & Rehabilitation (R&R). This is a key factor in R&R, given the complex and varying human needs and vulnerabilities depending on socio-economic context.
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Problem areas in R&R. One of the key concerns or challenges in Recovery and Rehabilitation is the timeframe for implementation. There are invariably delays in formulating the policies for R&R due to the varying nature of each disaster, and complex human needs. Additional confusion is created by myths that are generated post-disaster due to limited public and media awareness.
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Transfer of responsibility from Response to R&R. Smooth transition between the post-disaster stages from response to recovery is required. While response phase is likely to be primarily driven by the government, in the recovery phase the government should assume the role of a facilitator and gradually capacitate the community and NGOs to undertake action.
Recovery and Rehabilitation Policy
Local level and National Disaster Management Plans, which currently address primarily the issue of preparedness for emergency response, need to integrate recovery concerns for guiding formulation of a Recovery and Rehabilitation policy (R&R). They should include baseline data on physical, social, economic and environmental context, so that immediately post-disaster an assessment of relative impact may be made, which will guide the identification of additional financial, material and human resources required for
catalyzing recovery. Post-disaster recovery needs must also be integrated into the response-planning framework. An analysis of impacts of past disasters over the long term is also essential in guiding the planning process for recovery in terms of identifying priority sectors for economic intervention, which have traditionally been more vulnerable.
The national DM Plans must therefore provide enough information for guiding the Recovery and Rehabilitation policy after a disaster that is responsive to the community needs and local context. The recovery process must extend across all affected sectors, such as shelter, infrastructure, economy and social development. Policies in relation to R&R need to recognize the prime responsibility of governments to facilitate, at the national and local level, to direct and allocate resources to disaster rehabilitation and recovery. The policy needs to:
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State the main measures involved in recovery and rehabilitation,
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Include a shared long-term vision for the affected community,
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Clarify responsibilities for the implementation of the
policy and R&R Program for individual departments, agencies, and the affected population,
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Encourage and enhance the possibility of locally based efforts at R&R,
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Build local capacity for sustainable economic, social, and physical development long after the
disaster,
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Undertake to involve all relevant stakeholders in the process, namely communities, private and public sector, NGOs, media, etc.
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Prioritize community recovery needs and services,
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Provide guidance on possible options for integrating mitigation and preparedness measures into recovery and rehabilitation,
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Incorporate a detailed plan of action, including an exit strategy for gradually reducing intervention in recovery.
ADPC Initiatives in Recovery
ADPC’s interventions in recovery program support are aimed at advocating the need for integrating disaster risk reduction measures in the design and implementation of recovery programs to enhance resilience of the affected communities in future disaster. In this regard, ADPC, as a regional resource centre continues to provide technical assistance to the governmental recovery institutions, UN agencies, NGOs, private sector and donor organizations. Since
immediately after the disaster in December 2004, ADPC has been involved in assessments and providing support to Recovery processes in several of the affected countries, working with Governments, planning and recovery agencies, taskforces and authorities, and with UN Agencies, bilateral donors, the World Bank and ADB.
ADPC has been involved in conducting assessment of Damage and Recovery needs in several of the affected countries. Specifically:
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In Maldives
and in Indonesia, ADPC members worked with UNDP towards determining Recovery needs in the area of Disaster Risk Management, as part of the wider joint IFI UN System assessment;
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In Sri Lanka, ADPC conducted an independent assessment of Recovery needs (with emphasis on Reconstruction) in collaboration with National Building Research Organization in January;
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Through UNDP, we provided support for the design of a joint IFI-UN System-Government of Sri Lanka workshop for the 2 nd phase of district level planning for recovery in Sri Lanka and presented key considerations in recovery planning & design;
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In Thailand, ADPC has been working closely with the government to meet the region’s needs of establishing and strengthening its Early Warning System using an end-to-end multi-hazard
approach, and in planning of the country's recovery.
ADPC has also initiated a World Bank funded study, on Regional Analysis of Socio-Economic Impacts of the Tsunami, using the ECLAC
methodology for estimation of socio-economic and environmental impacts. This
is expected to provide useful insights into financial risk transfer mechanisms for recovery.
Post-disaster recovery is a critical stage in the disaster management cycle, where mitigation and risk reduction, if effectively integrated, can lead to building safer and sustainable
communities. This will make them resilient in the to face of future disasters and also leading them towards unobstructed economic growth and sustainable development.
Mr Aloysius Rego is Director and Team Leader, Disaster Management Systems
Team and can be contacted at ajrego@adpc.net
and Mrs. Supriya Mehta is Program Manager and can be contacted at supriya@adpc.net
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