ABSTRACT
For over twenty years international agencies have stated that disasters are an opportunity to ‘build back better’ and to enhance community resilience. This underlying principle was already implicit in the United Nations Disaster Relief Organization (UNDRO) guidelines for shelter after disaster,32 was reiterated by Sphere,28 for example, and became the reconstruction slogan after the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Pakistan earthquake of 2004.7,33
Numerous manuals, international policy frameworks and guidelines indicate a growing consensus regarding the importance of community participation, of linking reconstruction to long-term development and livelihood restoration, of encouraging local building technologies, of avoiding relocation, of paying attention to local contexts, of gender-sensitive planning, of cooperation with local governments, of capacity building, of cultural sensitivity and so forth.
