ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the need to understand that effective recovery from disasters, sheltering and housing is best regarded as a seamless process rather than as a set of isolated options or the delivery of tangible products. The result is that some are interested in emergency shelter options and others concern themselves with transitional shelter options, but few, perhaps for very good reasons. For example, only a handful of international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) play any role in the creation of permanent dwellings whereas they are highly active in providing provisional or transitional shelters. Well-designed shelter that is made with sensitivity to these issues can facilitate recovery, especially if it encourages social cohesion and the sort of participatory processes inherent in good governance. The main reason was that people became used to the temporary shelters and started to treat them as if they were permanent dwellings.
