Examples from the Philippines and elsewhere of disaster recovery processes. How does the transitional period connect the early emergency with the reconstruction phase?

1. The Transitional Phase
in Disaster Recovery
David Alexander
University College London

2. Recovery
and
reconstruction
Mitigation
and
resilience
Preparation
and
mobilisation
Emergency
intervention
Quiescence
Crisis
The
disaster
cycle
The
trans-
itional
phase

3. Philippines
March 2014

4. House occupied
by a family
Dangling piece
of concrete
Vulnerability
Collapsed
sports arena

5. Transition to what?
We conducted 160 interviews with
survivors (a 97% response rate).

6. "Good morning - may we
ask you some questions?"

7. "Was your house damaged by the
cyclone? ... It was destroyed."

8. "Did you build this shelter yourself? ...
You did. Did you receive any help? ...No."

9. "Did anyone tell you how to
build a safe shelter? ... No."

10. "Did you buy the materials?
... You found them."

11. "How many people in your family? ...
11 before the cyclone, 6 afterwards."

12. "Did you receive a warning? ... Yes.
Did you evacuate? ... Women and
children, not men. They drowned."

13. "Your employment situation? ...
Husband was a rickshaw driver before
the cyclone, you are unemployed now."

14. "Did you receive help from
the Government? ... 15 kilos
of rice. Is that all? ... Yes."

15. "From NGOs? ... 12,000 pesos
from Tzu-Chi Foundation."

16. "What did you use it for?
... Building materials."

17. "Were they more expensive
than usual? ... Yes, 30%"

18. "What do you know about the
reconstruction? ... Nothing."

19. Some conclusions on Tacloban
• men were more likely to die, women
bore greatest burden in recovery
• cash distribution saved the day for
survivors but contributed to inflation
• transitional shelter was poorly
constructed and not hazard-proof
• links between emergency, transitional
phase and reconstruction were very poor
• opportunities to lift people out of
poverty and destitution not taken.

20. Simple, existing knowledge was not widely
utilised to make life safer for survivors.

21. The transitional phase between emergency
and reconstruction remains controversial.

22. Beached ships
Sea
Village

23. Tacloban,
Philippines

24. Kesennuma,
Japan

25. • sea walls an impediment
as much as protection
• lack of local involvement in planning
• remote, top-down strategies
Problems on the Sanriku coast
• lack of sensitivity to gender issues
• warning and evacuation need specific
local plans, not top-down ones.

26. Massive destruction requires transitional
housing, services and infrastructure
to ensure the area does not suffer
abandonment and
does recover.

27. • civil protection managed
transitional phase
• political considerations made the
transition phase extremely expensive
• functionality not restored
to city or its region
• slow, heterogeneous recovery.
L’Aquila, central Italy, April 2009, M6.3

28. • initial response was both good and bad
• no clear ideas about the long term
are present in the public domain
• the survivors: lack of trust in
authority; sense of abandonment
• the authorities: various
abuses and much negligence
• the situation: the fire
revealed a massive riskscape.
Grenfell Tower, London, 14 June 2017

29. Things there weren't:-
• sprinklers
• non-flammable cladding
• fire barriers
• functioning alarms
• better escape routes
• emergency vehicle access
• helicopter water bombing
• extra-long ladders
• fire-resistant gas distribution
• safe electrical wiring
• functioning building regulations
• adequate inspection and approval regimes
• functioning local emergency plans
• communication
• inclusiveness.

30. • the risk landscape is revealed:
what will happen now?
• public outrage vs political unconcern
• safety and morality versus
deregulation and negligence
• governments do not bother to
legislate to protect the poor
• Grenfell Tower is foretold in
the people’s history of Britain.
Great tensions in the transitional phase:-

31. Conclusions

32. Routledge, 2015

33. ORGANISED RECONSTRUCTION
with permanent reurbanisation of the site
RECONSTRUCTION PLANS, HEARINGS, APPEALS
REDEVELOPMENT NEW DEVELOPMENT
ORGANISED FIRST-AID
TENTS MOBILE TRAILERS HOTELS SPONSORED OUT- MIGRATION
INFORMAL SHELTER PUBLIC BUILDINGS
SPONTANEOUS SOLUTIONS
BUSES AND AUTOMOBILES
ORGANISED RESETTLEMENT
with temporary urbanisation of the site
PREFAB CONTAINER HOMES PREFAB CHALET-STYLE HOUSING UNITS
EVACUATION
PRECAUTIONARY
pending survey
PERMANENT
pending resettlement
SEMI-PERMANENT
pending repair
DESTRUCTION OF HOUSING

34. RECOVERY
PRE-IMPACT
EVACUATION
RESTORE
REBUILD
IN SITU
RELOCATE
PRECAUTIONARY
EVACUATION
PENDING
STRUCTURAL
SURVEY
DAMAGED
STRUCTURES
IMPACT
(EVACUATE)
REPAIRABLE
BUT NOT
USABLE
DEMOLISH
AND
REBUILD
DEMOLISH
AND NOT
REBUILD
REPAIRABLE
AND USABLE
(REOCCUPY)

36. Historical
Economic
Political
Cultural
Social
The contexts
of shelter
Cultural

37. • good sharing of information
• a clear, simple, robust plan of action
• a well-defined end envisaged for
the transitional phase - with dates
• serviceable transitional
housing and facilities
• it does not have to be an overt pact.
A successful transitional phase requires a
pact between government and survivors:

38. Recovery
after disaster
Physical recovery
Buildings, infrastructure, transport, agriculture, etc.
Reducing post-
traumatic stress
Re-establishing
production and
economic activities
The recovery triangle
Political,
cultural and
environmental
context.

39. EVENT
(impact)
Participation
Governance
Unclear
objectives
Clear
objectives
SOLID
RECOVERY
PERMANENT
PRECARIOUSNESS
Repeated
impacts

40. Earth-
quake
Political
response
National
Regional
Local
Permanent
reconstruction
Bad
(functional
problems)
Good
(functionality
maintained)
Elections
Amelioration
Political impact
on reconstruction
Suff-
ering
Reco-
veryTransitional
housing and
settlement
Public image
of politicians
A reconstruction model

41. Varying context:
• political
• economic
• social
STAGNATION RECONSTRUCTION
EMERGENCY
RESPONSE
SHORT-TERM
RECOVERY
MEDIUM-TERM
RECOVERY
LONG-TERM
RECOVERY
IMPACT
P E S
P E S
P E S
CULTURAL
CONTEXT

42. Root causes: the politics of engineering

43. david.alexander@ucl.ac.uk
www.slideshare.net/dealexander
emergency-planning.blogspot.com
Ishinomaki, Japan