Policy impact and livelihood recovery of retailers in earthquake affected cities
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The document analyzes and compares the post-earthquake public policy responses and their impacts on retailer livelihood recovery in Bam, Iran and Bhuj, India. Interventions are examined at macro, city, and micro levels. At the city level, policies prioritizing speed of reconstruction over integrated land use led to negative impacts. At the micro level, assistance programs mainly benefited landowners and better-off groups, excluding many renters. Livelihood recovery was constrained by housing recovery approaches and uneven distribution of reconstruction resources.
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Policy impact and livelihood recovery of retailers in earthquake affected cities
- 1. The Impacts of Post-disaster Public Policy responses on livelihood recovery of retailers in earthquake-affected cities A comparative study of the reconstruction of Bam and Bhuj Mojgan Taheri Tafti PhD Candidate The University of Melbourne
- 2. Objective of the research To develop an understanding of the implications of post- disaster public policy responses for the long-term recovery of urban retailers in two cities of Bam (Iran)
- 3. Bam & Bhuj- background The 2001 Gujarat The 2003 Bam Earthquake Earthquake Population: 125,000 Population: 92,000 50% destruction in old 80% destruction in old districts districts Death toll: 7,000 Bhuj Death toll: 26,000 Bam Bhuj Bam
- 4. Pre-earthquake condition • The two cities are small market towns, serving as administrative centres as well as distributive centres of goods and services for their urban-region. • Therefore, retail constitutes a large proportion of livelihood activities. In Bam 30 % of jobs was in retail sector. Bhuj Bam Pre- earthquake retail units 3,148 3,800 Damaged retail units 1,900 (60%) damaged 3,200 (85%) destroyed
- 5. Recovery programme in the two cities Bhuj Bam State Government of Central Government of Gujarat Iran Loan from the World Public fund and the Bank and the ADB World Bank loan Different conceptualization of recovery in public policy responses Recovery as a Recovery as the developmental restitution of the process lost physical assets.
- 6. Public policy responses influential in livelihood recovery of retailers • • • • • •
- 7. Policies Targeting Recovery at Individual Level Bhuj Bam Owner-driven Policy Cash grant model for approach the reconstruction Temporary shops of shops Temporary shops A sum lump of 124 1,200 US$ grant Assistanc US$ and 62 US$ to 7,000 US$ grant for e shopkeepers and the reconstruction cabin owners of each unit. Beneficiar Shop and cabin Shop owners Tenant shopkeepers were excluded from both ies owners recovery programmes. In Bam, tenants retailers accounted for 75%
- 8. Public policy at micro level: The policy impacts- Bam • In Bam, the policy later changed to benefit landowners. This change mostly benefited middle income and upper-income groups. • Construction of many of these new shops left unfinished due to the inflation rate and the 9000 increase in construction material and the stagnant 8000 property market. 7000 6000 5000 Pre-earthquake 4000 shops 3000 2000 Earthquake 1000 Shop Permit 0 Completed 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Source: Housing Foundation of Iran. Internal report
- 9. Public policy at micro level: The policy impacts Shopkeepers had to entirely rely on their own assets for achieving recovery. Bhu j Consequently, those with no adequate assets had to shift to labour jobs or their recovery took Assistance did not play a key role in their a long time. livelihood recovery. Assistance played a role in livelihood recovery of shop owners Shop renters had to wait in temporary shops. Bam Change in the beneficiaries of the policy from shop owners to land benefited middle-income and high income landowners
- 10. Intervention at micro scale: The impacts of housing reconstruction policies Bam • An integrate and flexible programme for reconstruction of residential and commercial units. Bhuj • Separate programmes for reconstruction of residential and commercial units. • This resulted in disappearance of buildings with mixed land use: a prevalent
- 11. • • •
- 12. Intervention at city scale: The impacts of Urban Planning - Bam • New urban plan prescription for widening the existing roads resulted in a considerable delay in reconstruction of shops and lengthy business disruption. 9000 8000 7000 6000 Unfinished construction 5000 Pre-earthquake 4000 shops 3000 2000 Earthquake 1000 Shop Permit 0 Completed 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Source: Housing Foundation of Iran. Internal report
- 13. Intervention at city scale: Urban Planning- Bhuj • Main Bazaar to be exempted from the prescription of the development plan of the city • The priority was given to the minimum disruption of the traditional bazaar’s function.
- 14. Intervention at city scale: Urban Planning- Bhuj • Cut off an average of half a meter from each shop. • The project was conducted by local government involvement and finished in 40 days • The bazaar even more vulnerable against a future seismic event.
- 15. Intervention at city scale: (Re)construction of commercial centres -Bam Two projects: The major commercial axis of the city & the Traditional bazaar. • Very slow reconstruction process. • Construction of 800 shops almost entirely with public funding sources. • Most of the new
- 16. Intervention at city scale: (Re)construction of commercial centres -Bhuj The local authority undertook a venture with private developers for construction of a series of commercial buildings on governmental lands. 2,000 new shops were built. Slow process of construction, allegations of corruption. Given the relatively high price of these shops and their location on the new relocation sites outside the city, these shops were mostly bought by non- stricken retailers and non pre-earthquake shopkeepers.
- 17. Intervention at macro scale: Policy provisions at this level had important, yet indirect implications for the livelihood recovery of the stricken retailers. Bhuj Bam Economic recovery at the urban-region level - Incentives for - No policy provision for industrialization : economic recovery of the Ten folded increase in district. industrial units. - Local industrial complex Boosting the city’s of district- regional centre - Renovation role as the was closed. level infrastructure -New district-level -Some district-level infrastructure have been infrastructure have not Impact upon the recovery of retailers rebuilt yet. built. been -New developments -Administrative changes : attracted more city lost its centrality. investments.
- 18. Conclusion: Bhuj Recovery Programme Bam Recovery of the Recovery district Programme - Reconstruction of the district level infrastructure Recover - Economic revival y of of the district: -retailers Income agriculture recovery revival,… Recove -Restitution of the physical Recovery of ry of the -Re- the city assets -Socially and neighbourho establishment - Minimum physically of the role of business od - Speed of the city in its disruption reconstruction urban-region - physical and economic recovery of the
- 19. Thank You
- 20. Conclusion: of the economic recovery of the urban- -The importance region. - The approach of the public policy responses towards Macro- level recovery: -Reconstruction of the lost assets vs. Development and Trade-off between the speed of recovery and improving modernization. the built environment. - Multi-stakeholderofnegotiation in its urban region. Reestablishment the city role planning process is City-level likely to minimize such consequences. - Direct intervention of the public sector in building new commercial units was lengthy entwined with allegations - Public assistance plays a critical role for resumption of of corruption, and mainly benefited the non-affected business activities . Micro level groups. - Defining access to assistance based on tenure leads to inequitable distribution of resources
- 21. Interventions at different levels Bam Bhuj Macro- Economic Reconstruction of Rapid Recovery of damaged Industrialization the Urban- infrastructure Agriculture & Reconstructio Region Repair of Renovation of local handicraft n of damaged urban City-level infrastructure Infrastructure. infrastructure Reconstructio (Re)construction (Re)construction n of trade and of trade and of trade and service services. service centres centres Is not finished yet some of the Touristic spots Individual NA Assistance for touristic spots Assistance for Micro New job livelihood reconstruction of NA reconstruction of opportunities assistance damaged damaged buildings buildings
- 22. Intervention at city scale: Integrated impacts in neighbourhoods- Bhuj • Small businesses were closed
- 23. Intervention at micro scale: The impacts of housing reconstruction policies
- 24. Intervention at city scale: Integrated impacts in neighbourhoods- Bam • Neighbourhoods with higher land price are reconstructed sooner than other areas. In those neighbourhoods of Bam with slower recovery process, retailers who could finish the reconstruction of their shops have not achieved their recovery, in terms of income and business Move? activities.
- 25. I. Intervention at Different Levels
- 26. Existing practices of livelihood recovery • Most literature about post-disaster livelihood recovery in developing countries are concerned with rural settlements. • In practice, post disaster livelihood promotion interventions have been rather limited and little documentation exists of the design and
- 27. Public policy at the city level: The policy impacts Urban planning must led to a minimum business disruption for shopkeepers. Direct intervention of public sector in both cases benefited those shopkeepers at the commercial niches of the city. Direct intervention of the public sector in building new commercial units was lengthy, entwined with allegations of corruption, and mainly benefited the non- shopkeepers or non-affected shopkeepers.
- 29. Intervention at city scale: (Re)construction of commercial centres -Bhuj • Renovation of the traditional vegetable bazaar. After the reconstruction, many pre-earthquake traders could not afford the higher rent price.
- 30. II. Assistance distribution and housing Recovery • The first priority of the recovery programmes was to provide housing. • Assistance distribution to shop owners did not play a key role in their livelihood recovery. • Housing and location as an important factor in access to livelihood opportunities • Housing recovery as an option for livelihood recovery is not sustainable.
- 31. Livelihood recovery trajectories- Bam • Many shopkeepers specially shop renters are still trading in temporary units. • Those who were able to rebuild their shops in the areas with low land price, experiencing reduce in foot traffic. • Those who received the assistance for building a shop were better-off groups (not necessarily pre- earthquake shopkeepers or local people). • Construction of many new commercial buildings have abandoned unfinished.
- 32. Some observations: • Livelihood recovery should be addressed at different levels. • Disruption of trade played an important role in livelihood recovery of households. • Exclusive focus on housing reconstruction have led to further poverty of the poor in urban settlements. • Those benefited from the public sector projects of building commercial units were in most cases not genuine victims or not pre-earthquake shopkeepers. • Distribution of resources based on the losses occurred deprived the most in
- 33. Managerial Economic Trends at Financial ability to national/state level assets adjust to Process of decision- Social new making assets condition The holistic economy Political Programmes policy framework assets relating to the Tenure urban- Neighbourhoo regional role d recovery of the city process Livelihood Demographic recovery changes considerations Livelihood for the urban- Strengthening/ recovery of region weakening the neighbour Resource city’s role at the retailers distribution urban-region level. Reconstructio Economic n of recovery of the infrastructure
- 34. IV. Interventions in commercial units- Bam • The government rebuilt a number of shops within the commercial axis of the city using public funding. • Very slow reconstruction process. • The reconstruction of the traditional bazaar still is not finished yet.
- 35. Bam & Bhuj • Formal sector employees, permanent jobs: Those who were employees of government had the steady source of income Experienced no impact upon their livelihoods Have a steady income during the years after the earthquake Their capability to accumulate or re-accumulate assets especially housing has significantly enhanced, because of : access to formal loan sources the income enabled them to finish the construction of their houses incrementally Based on the content analysis of the interviews almost all the interviewees in these groups increased their housing assets.
- 36. Distribution of resources • No prerequisite for receiving the subsidized loan for building commercial units, except for a trading permit and ownership of a plot of land • Enhanced the capacity of those who had access to assets including land, financial capital and social/political assets for receiving loans. • Those with less assets including rental tenure could not receive a loan for their livelihood recovery. The capability of them to achieve recovery are constraint • In areas with lower-income residents, the commercial areas have not been completely reconstructed, which affected the foot traffic and income of the shopkeepers
Editor's Notes
- Good afternoon. My name is MojganTaheri. I am going to talk about the impacts of public policy responses for the livelihood recovery of retailers in two cities of Bam and Bhuj.
- This presentation is a part of my PhD thesis which attempt to develop an understanding of how public policy response mediated households’ capability to recover from disaster-induced impacts. The study draws upon field research conducted in 2011. Methodsemployed are consisting of archival review, in-depth interviews with the residents, decision makers and key informants, as well as observation and onsite mapping. The selection of the two reconstruction experiences were based on their relative similarity in context and the nature of disaster. The objective of this presentation is to develop an understanding of the implications of post-disaster public policy responses for the long-term recovery of urbanretailers in two cities of Bam (Iran) and Bhuj (India).
- Just a brief basic information about the two cases. Bam is located on south east of Iran and Bhuj is a ciry in Kutch district, Gujarat state, India. You can see the pre-earthquake population, earthquake impacts in terms of human fatalities and the built environment.
- These two cities have been small market towns, serving as administrative centres as well as distributive centres of goods and services for their urban-region. therefore, retail constituted a large proportion of livelihood activities in these cities; in Bam 30 % of jobs (3,050) was in retail sector. You can see the number of pre-earthquake retail units in both cities and the damaged incurred to them in the wake of the earthquake.
- The post-earthquake public policy responses in Bam and Bhuj differed in their holistic approaches towards recovery. The vigorous pursuit of economic growth in Gujarat, significantly influenced the recovery programme’s conceptualization of recovery as a developmental process, where development is perceived as economic growth, industrialization, and modernization. On the other side, the economic slowdown in Iran in addition to the geopolitics of the stricken areas left no room for formulating an ambitious recovery programme for Bam. Therefore, recovery was conceptualized as the restitution of the lost physical assets.
- Examining the two recovery programmes in this presentation is pursued by looking at a range of policy provisions at three different levels:First I will discuss the policies concerned with the recovery at the micro level. We found that two sets of policies were important: housing reconstruction policies and policies which directly targeted the livelihood recovery of retailers.Then at the city level, I will discuss different policies Urban planning policies, interventions in reconstruction of commercial centres and reconstruction of urban infrastructure and amenities.Finally, I will look at the interventions at the regional level and see their impacts upon livelihood recovery of retailers in these two cities.At the macro level, recovery programme policy provisions had important, yet indirect implications for the livelihood recovery of the stricken retailers. The aforementioned divergence in attitudes of public policy responses in the two countries was influential in economic revival of the two affected regions and cities and hence also the livelihood recovery of retailers. In Gujarat and Kutch district, the ‘developmental’ objectives of the recovery programme were pursued by an array of policies including the renovation of the critical regional infrastructure, introducing incentives for rapid industrialization, and revitalization of agriculture and rural economy. In addition to these attempts, a focus on Bhuj as the administrative centre of Kutch district was associated with an unprecedented investment in urban infrastructure and reconstruction of district-level social infrastructure. These changes attracted more investment in tourist facilities, industry and other sectors, which were influential in revitalization of trade and commerce in Bhuj. Many entrepreneurs in the commercial centre of the city reported reaching their previous levels of income and activities.On the other side, the aforementioned conceptualization of recovery as restitution of the damaged physical assets in Bam led to the neglect of the economic revival of the city and the region. The damages incurred to the 2,500 year old Bam citadel, the city’s major touristic spot, long-term closure of an industrial complex next to the city, and inability of the main economic engine of the region, i.e. date production, to return to its ex-ante state led to the economic decline in city and region. In fact, in Bam events unfolded in the reverse direction compare to Bhuj: some of the regional social infrastructure was not rebuilt and at the same time with redefining the administrative boundaries of the city-region of Bam, the city lost its importance and centrality. This, in addition to other factors at the national level, led to a decline in commercial activities in the city. Even those shopkeepers who could retain their working places in the commercial centre of the city reported their business operation to be well below pre-event profitability.
- At micro level, policy provisions for retailers was different in the two cities. The public assistance for retailers in Bhuj consisted of temporary places and a small cash grant. In Bam, public assistance consisted of temporary places for business, payment of a cash grant for starting business activities, and an assistance for reconstruction of damaged shops. The similar theme here was that in both cities the policy excluded tenant retailers from any assistance. This is the problem given that in both cities tenant retailers accounted for a considerable portion of retailers. For instance, in Bam 75% of pre-earthquake shopkeepers were tenants.
- In Bam, later the policy have been changed to recognize landowners instead of shop owners eligible for receiving the grant This encouraged developers and high and middle income groups to start building several shops and accumulating new assets. However, because of a high inflation rate many of them abandoned their construction processes unfinished. So as you can see in this figure shows the number of building permits for retail establishments in 2009 is almost as twice as the pre-earthquake number of shops, while the construction of around 45% of them has not been finished yet. Furthermore, returning to the ex-ante condition in terms of the number of shops six years after the earthquake, as shown in this figure has not necessarily led to the recovery of former shopkeepers. The rent of the newly built shops has not been affordable for some of the pre-earthquake shop renters and some of them are still trading in temporary shops provided by the government.
- So, what were the implications of these policies for retailers.In Bhuj, thenegligible assistance means that affected retailers had to entirely rely on their own assets for achieving recovery. Consequently, those with no adequate assets had to shift to labour jobs or their recovery took a long time.The assistance did not play a role in their livelihood recovery. In Bam, assistance play a role in the reconstruction of damaged shops.
- Another sets of policies at the individual level, as I discussed, was housing reconstruction policies. In Bhuj what happened was that housing assistance was granted exclusively for building residential units. This resulted in disappearance of a prevalent typology of housing with shops on their ground floor from the old fabric of the city. In Bam, on the contrary, the owner-driven reconstruction policies provided more flexibility in construction of building with mixed land-uses.
- Now I am going to talk about policies and interventions at the city level.
- both cities prepared a new urban development plan for the city after the earthquake. In Bam, the new plan prescription was an in-situ reconstruction, keeping the existing boundaries of the city and widening the existing roads. This policy has been implemented and resulted in a considerable delay in reconstruction of shops and lengthy business disruption. In fact as you can in this graph the reconstruction of retail establishments practically started three years after the earthquake. Given the double-digit inflation in the country, this late start led to further delays. Literature shows that length of the business disruption will led to a late livelihood recovery.
- On the other side, in Bhuj, widening the existing roads’ proposal was vehemently objected by major merchants and traders in the main trade centres of the city. So the policy has been implemented in neighbourhoods, but the main commercial centre of the city was exempted from the prescription of the development plan of the city.
- so, a compromise has been made to cut off just half a meter from each shop. The project was conducted by local government involvement and finished in 40 days so the business disruption was minimized for these shopkeepers. This, however, left the bazaar even more vulnerable against a future seismic event.
- The second issue in recovery programmes intervention at the city level was construction or reconstruction of the commercial centres. In Bam, two projects were by the direct intervention of the public sector; one on the major commercial axis of the city and another one in the city traditional bazaar. you can see in this map. The construction of these two projects took a long time . In general, public sector has built more than 800 shops in the commercial centre of the city almost entirely by public funding sources. The rebuilt shops, however, were mainly rented out or sold by their owners to the non-affected migrants who could afford the high rent of the new shops.
- In Bhuj the local authority undertook a venture with private developers for construction of a series of commercial buildings on governmental lands. However, given the relatively high price of these shops and the location of some of them in new relocation sites outside the city, these shops were mostly bought by the better-off for investment purposes. These shopping centres started practically functioning eight to nine years after the earthquake. The process therefore was lengthy again and there were allegation of corruption.In Bhuj, 1000 new shops have been built through public private partnership in governmental land and by the investment of private sector. These shops are not affordable for many pre-earthquake shopkeepers. Also in many cases, the location of these shops in relocation sites was prohibiting. Therefore, many of those who bought a shop in these new centres were not genuine victims or even pre-earthquake shopkeepers. In Bam, the reconstruction of shops in the commercial district of the city has been done or is under-construction by the public sector. Apart from the issue of equality in resource distribution between shop owners in this area and those in other neighbourhoods, many of these shops have been bought by the better-off and migrants.
- At the macro level, Due to a symbiotic relation between these cities and their urban-regions, the economic recovery of the city depend on the economic recovery of the urban-region as well as the re-establishment of the role of the city in its urban-region. In Bhuj economic growth in Kutch district through different programmes on one side and the reestablishment of the city role by building new district level infrastructure on the other led to the revitalization of trade and commerce in the city. Almost all interviewees who get back to their business in the commercial centre of the city reported reaching their previous levels of income and activities.On the other side, in Bam the economic revival of the city and the region was largely neglected in the recovery programme. The city lost its centrality and the district lost one of its economic engines. This led to a decline in commercial activities in the city. Even those shopkeeper interviewees who could retain their working places in the commercial centre of the city reported that they have not yet achieved their pre-earthquake income level.
- To sum up,- Looking at policy provisions at the macro level demonstrated the importance of an integrated policy consideration for recovery at different levels. At the city level, looking at the implication of urban planning policies for reconstruction shows that ambitious interventions normally leads to a significant business disruption and delay in urban recovery as a whole. literature provides extensive evidence that the length of business disruption has detrimental impacts upon livelihood recovery of shopkeepers and business owners . Therefore some trade-off between these objectives needs to be made. Multi-stakeholder negotiation and deliberation in planning process is likely to minimize such consequences. - The other common theme in both cases was that the direct intervention of the public sector in construction or reconstruction of commercial centers and the business niches in the two cities were politically motivated and favoured the business elites. Moreover, these direct interventions in both cases were lengthy and coupled with allegation of corruption. Finally, the main beneficiaries of these projects were not genuine victims or even pre-earthquake shopkeepers.-In regards with the livelihood recovery of retailers at individual level, the nature of assistance and definition of the beneficiaries need more attention in policy formulation. In Bam, the nature of assistance and the definition of the policy beneficiaries, led to the accumulation of new assets for the better-offs. In Bhuj, public policy did not incorporate any considerable assistance for supporting the stricken retailers.The other issue observed in both cases, defining the access to assistance based on tenure deprived the pre-earthquake tenant shopkeepers from any recovery assistance and support. In the absence of access to finance for low-income shopkeepers in both cities, many small retailers lost their businesses. Generally speaking, those who need most support for their livelihood recovery were bypassed by the policy.Current policy recommendations by international development institutions have traditionally rurally-focused origins and do not capture the complexities embedded in recovery process in urban settlements. Addressing challenges such as variety of tenure and livelihood arrangements as well as buildings with mixed land-uses and mixed tenure in these settlements needs more sophisticated policy responses, formulated through participation of all stakeholders, in the face of disastrous events.
- o the presentation compares and contrasts these policies at three different scales: micro scale which targets recovery of individuals, city scale which addresses livelihood and economic recovery at the city level, and finally macro scale which is concerned with economic recovery at the district level. At the micro scale these policies were mainly concerned with the reconstruction of the damaged buildings. As you have noticed interventions including micro-finance were not incorporated in the recovery programme in cities, while we had these sorts of interventions in affected rural areas. at the city level which policies addressed livelihood and economic recovery at this scale; in can include reconstruction of infrastructure which is critical for businesses in resumption of their activities, etc and finally macro scale which is concerned with economic recovery at the district level. These policies had direct and indirect implications for livelihood recovery of shopkeepers in these two cities.This table illustrates what happened during the years following the earthquake at different levels.Due to a symbiotic relation between these cities and their urban-regions, the economic recovery of the city depend on the economic recovery of the urban-region and secondly, as well as the re-establishment of the role of the city in its urban-region. At the urban-region level in Bam despite the attempts of international and local organizations, the agriculture sector, already suffered from a long-term drought, has been experiencing a decline following the earthquake. This has affected Bammi people whose livelihoods were dependent to date-related enterprise including date trade, storage, and packaging.In Bhuj and in Kutch, the industrial incentive schemes resulted in a ten-folded increase in the number of medium and large industrial units in the district. The economic revival of rural settlements, especially in agriculture and handicraft sectors have also been pursued by public sector and local and international NGOs. Different strategies have been employed for revival of this sector including a revolving fund, subsidized loan scheme for self-employed groups and cottage industries. Bhuj was the trade centre for the products of traditional handicrafts especially to tourists and visitors.In Gujarat, newly built or reconstructed higher level social infrastructure for the district has been established in Bhuj. For instance, reconstruction of the ‘district’ hospital, Kutch university, renovated airport all are serving the population of the whole district and reinforced the central role of the city. This re-establishment can be related to the recovery process in the city, including restitution of services that it was offering to its urban-region.In contrast, Bam experienced a decline and weakening in its centrality for its urban-region during the years following the earthquake. First of all, due to the decisions made during the years following the earthquake, the administrative urban-region of Bam has been diminished and some parts of it have been separated. Also many social infrastructure has not been rebuild yet including the city hospital. This changes impacted the number of visitors to the city and hence the trade and market. At the city level a significant portion of the finance related to the component of recovery in urban settlements was directed to renovation of infrastructures of. In Bam, many critical infrastructure have been rebuilt and repaired and some of them are yet to be finished.At this level also reconstruction of trade centres was very important which will be discussed in more detail. At the city level, no initiative have been launched by the public sector or NGOs to provide new livelihood opportunities within the cities. However, in case of Bhuj changes occurred at the district level attracted investments from the private sector, for instance the establishment of two new hotels, new bank branches have contributed to the economic recovery of Bhuj. Also social infrastructure established by NGOs or other institutions provided some job opportunities for the middle income and educated groups. New industrial establishments, however, in most cases attracted the influx of migrants from the neighbour states which added to the slum areas in and around the city. In Bam, due to the narrow conceptualization of recovery as physical reconstruction process, no initiative with the aim of job creation has not been set up. Even worse, As a result of the economic decline in the country, exacerbated by the multinational sanctions, the famous car factory of the city which was not affected by the earthquake and employed 16% of the work force in the city before the earthquake faced a long-term closure. Now, Bam has the highest rate of unemployment in the province. linking micro-realities with meso or macro policy levels is that so many of the key contextual issues affecting poor men’s and women’s access to assets and livelihoods strategiesAt the micro level, public assistance for livelihood recovery of individuals. In both cases assistance was allocated for recovery of business owners. The assistance was a combination of grant and loans. Just one other group of individuals in cities were received public assistance and they were retailers. I will talk about the nature of this assistance and its impact upon livelihood recovery of this group.Two other sets of policies also affected the recovery of shopkeepers; urban plan of the city and housing assistance policies. Both cities adopted a new urban development plan after the disaster.
- Well, what were the impacts of these recovery programme components on the earthquake-affected households in these two cities. In Bhuj, due to the small assistance many shopkeepers with marginal assets were not able to reconstruct their shops and shifted to labour jobs. Among these assets, social assets, financial assets, and human asset in terms of managerial ability of the business owner to seek new strategies As it has been mentioned before many small shops within the old fabric of the city have been disappeared..those who remained within the old fabric lost their costumers due to relocation of considerable population.Due to the economic growth in the urban-region, however, many of those who were able to return to trade , have experienced income recovery or boost.Those who with less job disruption have experienced income recovery or boost.
- Move?
- Analysing the data gathered on households’ recovery in Bam and Bhuj demonstrates that different interacting factors playing out at different spatial-temporal scales have been deeply influential in shaping the recovery paths of different affected households. It shows that the livelihood recovery of households needs to be addressed at different levels.Due to a symbiotic relation between these cities and their urban-regions, the economic recovery of the city depend on the economic recovery of the urban-region and secondly, as well as the re-establishment of the role of the city in its urban-region. At the urban-region level in Bam despite the attempts of international and local organizations, the agriculture sector, already suffered from a long-term drought, has been experiencing a decline following the earthquake. This has affected Bammi people whose livelihoods were dependent to date-related enterprise including date trade, storage, and packaging.In Bhuj and in Kutch, the industrial incentive schemes resulted in a ten-folded increase in the number of medium and large industrial units in the district. The economic revival of rural settlements, especially in agriculture and handicraft sectors have also been pursued by public sector and local and international NGOs. Different strategies have been employed for revival of this sector including a revolving fund, subsidized loan scheme for self-employed groups and cottage industries. Bhuj was the trade centre for the products of traditional handicrafts especially to tourists and visitors.In Gujarat, newly built or reconstructed higher level social infrastructure for the district has been established in Bhuj. For instance, reconstruction of the ‘district’ hospital, Kutch university, renovated airport all are serving the population of the whole district and reinforced the central role of the city. This re-establishment can be related to the recovery process in the city, including restitution of services that it was offering to its urban-region.In contrast, Bam experienced a decline and weakening in its centrality for its urban-region during the years following the earthquake. First of all, due to the decisions made during the years following the earthquake, the administrative urban-region of Bam has been diminished and some parts of it have been separated. Also many social infrastructure has not been rebuild yet including the city hospital. This changes impacted the number of visitors to the city and hence the trade and market. At the city level a significant portion of the finance related to the component of recovery in urban settlements was directed to renovation of infrastructures of. In Bam, many critical infrastructure have been rebuilt and repaired and some of them are yet to be finished.At this level also reconstruction of trade centres was very important which will be discussed in more detail. At the city level, no initiative have been launched by the public sector or NGOs to provide new livelihood opportunities within the cities. However, in case of Bhuj changes occurred at the district level attracted investments from the private sector, for instance the establishment of two new hotels, new bank branches have contributed to the economic recovery of Bhuj. Also social infrastructure established by NGOs or other institutions provided some job opportunities for the middle income and educated groups. New industrial establishments, however, in most cases attracted the influx of migrants from the neighbour states which added to the slum areas in and around the city. In Bam, due to the narrow conceptualization of recovery as physical reconstruction process, no initiative with the aim of job creation has not been set up. Even worse, As a result of the economic decline in the country, exacerbated by the multinational sanctions, the famous car factory of the city which was not affected by the earthquake and employed 16% of the work force in the city before the earthquake faced a long-term closure. Now, Bam has the highest rate of unemployment in the province.
- literature provides little guidance on which policies are most effective in livelihood recovery in cities affected by disasters. In 2010, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its guidance note on livelihood recovery mentions that “In practice, post disaster livelihood promotion interventions have been rather limited and little documentation exists of the design and impacts of these efforts” (2010: 34). Moreover, current academic research on post-disaster livelihood recovery in the context of developing countries are mainly concerned with rural settlements .In cities, however, post disaster livelihood recovery is of more importance as income is a means for accessing basic resources including food, water and shelter. This study, therefore, seeks to contribute to the existing knowledge on long-term livelihood recovery in disaster affected cities in developing countries. (not good)
- in general, there is a trade-off between using the opportunity provided by the earthquake for improving the urban built environment and the time of the recovery process. The length of the business disruption would impede the recovery of retailers. So in urban planning after the earthquake realistic timeframes are very important factor. The other common theme in both cases was that the direct intervention of the public sector in construction or reconstruction of commercial centers and the business niches in the two cities were politically motivated and favoured the business elites. Moreover, these direct interventions in both cases were lengthy and coupled with allegtion of corruption. Finally, the main beneficiaries of these projects were not genuine victims or even pre-earthquake shopkeepers.
- Also the local authority directly intervened in the reconstruction and repair of the thriving market street of the city.
- The second impact of the recovery programme on the livelihood recovery of people was related to distribution of resources and policies related to housing recovery.First of all, the limited assistance allocated to shop owners in Bhuj did not play a role in their livelihood recovery. In Bam also, although the amount of assistance was as bigger as 20 times of that in Bhuj, it did not play a role in livelihood recovery of many shopkeepers as 75% of them were tenant and therefore, were deprived from receiving assistance.The first priority of the recovery programmes in resource distribution in both cases was housing which could not be spent for other purposes.More importantly , in Bhuj housing recovery programme led to relocation of low income households which affected their access to livelihood opportunities and daily costs.
- In Bam, due to the aforementioned problems as well as a rampant inflation in the country many shopkeepers were not able to rebuild their shops and are still trading in temporary units.Those who were able to rebuild their shops in the areas with low land price, experiencing reduce in foot traffic, as their neighbours were not able to finish reconstruction of their shops.The assistance for shop construction has been mainly absorbed by the better-off or migrant ( and not necessarily pre-earthquake shopkeepers).Construction of many new commercial buildings have abandoned unfinished.
- Like other disasters “capital-intensive livelihoods before the disaster received larger grants”.
- Political capital is defined broadly… as the ability to use power in support of political or economicpositions and so enhance livelihoods; it refers to both the legitimate distribution of rights and power as well as the illicit operation of power