Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

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Towards safer and more secure cities
Participation of
beneficiaries
in shelter
reconstruction
enhances the
appropriateness
of housing
identity and property ownership can help. In areas with high
land values (such as inner-city and coastal locations), there is
pressure for redevelopment and a risk that customary
landownership and use will not be recognized in redevelopment.
Oversight of reconstruction planning and the legal
empowerment of those affected by disaster can help to
maintain a more level playing field in discussions of postdisaster
planning. It is especially important that the rights of
the poor, women and orphans are recognized in this process.
Closing the gap between emergency shelter, shelter
in recovery and longer-term development is important.
Human shelter should be recognized as a foundational
aspect of building resilient communities. Working with
people at risk to achieve sustainable shelter in both pre- and
post-disaster contexts requires action to strengthen institutions,
including those that govern entitlements to
landownership. It is also important that sustainable shelter is
maintained within the context of local economic development
and poverty reduction over the long term.
A recent review of shelter reconstruction identifies
much scope for positive reform and innovation. 53 The review
argues for flexibility and the participation of all stakeholders,
particularly beneficiary communities, if housing reconstruction
is to fulfil its potential as a mechanism for enhancing
social and economic development. To do this, agencies
should try to avoid standard one-size-fits-all approaches to
housing. Flexibility in design should allow structures to be
adapted to meet a variety of cultural needs and expectations.
Participation of beneficiaries in shelter reconstruction
enhances the appropriateness of housing. For example,
involving women in house design can correct misconceptions
about family life and thus prevent inappropriate
interventions, such as the design of nuclear houses for
extended families. Active participation can also help to
Box 12.14 Natural disaster training to build trust in
Bosnia Herzegovina
The political separation of Bosnia and Herzegovina into two subdivisions is not reflected in the
physical landscape. Both flooding and earthquake risk can impact upon both sides of the border.
The Assistance to Casualties 2004 exercise has turned this challenge into an opportunity for
collaboration. The exercise simulated an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Mercalli scale
(approximately 4 on the Richter scale) in the Doboj/Grac˘anica area, a village close to the
boundary line that separates Bosnia and Herzegovina’s two political subdivisions.
The drill involved fire fighting, de-mining, bridge building and aerial observation, and was
organized and executed under the supervision of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The training exercise was aimed at demonstrating the country’s capability to cooperate
and carry out a military-led emergency relief operation. It was the first of its kind involving
military units from both entities and more than 400 staff, including civil protection agencies.
One of the goals was to provide a system of protection and rescue through
coordinated alerting, observation, evaluation and decision-making. Fire fighters from both
regions were called in to deal with a blaze in a brick factory. This was followed by a search and
rescue operation to recover casualties from the Usora River and mine fields in the area and the
construction of a bridge across the River Bosna. Special rescue units were flown in by helicopter
to bring the ‘victims’ to the nearest hospital in Doboj municipality. The successful
coordination of services from both administrations demonstrated the capacity for joint disaster
response efforts and is one step in building resilience in this frontier territory.
Source: OSCE, 2004
improve local skills and industry, re-establish social networks
and relationships, and promote psychological recovery.
Disaster survivors almost always would prefer to be engaged
in reconstruction than be made passive recipients of aid in
refugee camps.
The most provocative question raised by a number of
authors commenting on the Indian Ocean Tsunami is why
relief agencies should contemplate doing housing reconstruction
at all. 54 Why not meet the need for shelter through
temporary provision and leave more permanent solutions to
the developmental sector, private businesses or the government,
once the immediate, acute disaster phase has passed?
UN-Habitat’s Sustainable Relief and Reconstruction proposal
recognizes that the transition from relief to reconstruction is
not always clear on the ground. This is especially so following
large events with widespread losses, such as the 2004
Indian Ocean Tsunami, the 2005 South Asian earthquake,
and Hurricanes Katrina or Mitch in 2005 and 1998, respectively.
Different places and communities will be at different
stages of recovery; so some degree of overlap is unavoidable.
The roots of reconstruction lie in relief, so that long-term
reconstruction and economic recovery should begin while
post-emergency actions are being undertaken. This enables
strategic investments to be made during emergency and
relief stages.
Disaster response training
Human-made and natural hazards and the resultant disasters
often cross administrative boundaries. Planning for effective
and timely response not only benefits from collaboration
between adjacent political and administrative units, but
offers an opportunity to build trust and cooperation. This is
particularly the case in adjacent countries recovering from
political or military tensions, or in countries rebuilding
national identity following civil conflict. Box 12.14 describes
a collaborative natural disaster training exercise that
included emergency response and military units from the
government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Republika Srpska.
Insurance and urban reconstruction
Chapter 8 discussed the challenges of international financing
for disaster management and noted the increased
willingness of donors to take the challenges of reconstruction
seriously. Putting financial mechanisms in place before a
disaster strikes can enable a more speedy and independent
recovery. Innovations in financial aspects of risk management
have been most active around the potential for
insurance and risk off-setting through hedge funds at the
national and international levels, and through the potential
offered by micro-insurance at the household and individual
levels. Both are reviewed here.
The uptake of risk transfer understandably remains
low in developing countries as insurance demand generally
rises with per capita income (up to a certain level). In developed
countries, insurance cover for loss from disasters may
be restricted, as illustrated in the aftermath of the Kobe