ABSTRACT
Disasters can inspire the most heroic of efforts and offer a window of opportunity for people to transform society. This is especially true of disasters that directly and dramatically affect the built environment, which is when urban policies themselves are brought into question. Here, previously inappropriate land use decisions, the poor enforcement of building codes, ineffective public planning methods, and media attention to such stories can push decision makers into taking rectificatory action. Also, it is here that community-based organisations (CBOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), if given the political space, can mobilise grass-roots support to demand changes that will truly address the needs of the worst affected.
