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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI13022794/00001
Notes
- Summary:
- This document discusses the complexities of establishing effective post-disaster shelter programs, particularly in urban areas. It reviews works discussed at the September 2010 conference Improving Learning and Practice in the NGO Shelter Sector. In its Humanitarian Emergency Response Review, the UK Government’s Department for International Development argues that securing proper shelter for those affected by disaster is one of the most difficult aspects of humanitarian intervention. Barriers include complications with land ownership, procuring materials, coordinating efforts, including affected populations in reconstruction, density, and rubble clearance. This document reviews works within a special edition of the journal Environmental Hazards focused on humanitarian shelter response. But what does the term shelter mean? Shelter is defined in this context as temporary housing above the quality of a tent and efforts to move from this stage to permanent housing. Recently “transitional” shelters have become the standard within Emergency Shelter Clusters. Transitional shelters are non-permanent housing designed to last between 3 and 5 years, after which families transition to permanent structures either by upgrading it or using its materials in the construction of more durable homes. Critiques of the transitional shelter strategy argue that they often become permanent as a result of failures to develop sustainable long-term housing solutions. Those analyzing the strategy in Haiti’s recovery from the 2010 earthquake describe it as a waste of limited resources, counter-developmental, and focused on NGO timeframes and marketing objectives rather than affected communities. Other proposals, like the Haitian Government’s new settlements outside the capital, or UN HABITAT’s ‘safe return’ policy, run into their own drawbacks. One is viewed as creating new enclaves of poverty, while the other ignores the special circumstances of renters, squatters, and those without homes to return to. The rest of the document outlines various scholarly works that address these various complexities. The document contends that addressing these issues involves understanding that relief is the enemy of recovery; that in order to maximize the latter, the former must be minimized. One author advocates taking a human rights approach to shelter, whereby it is more than simply a response to emergency, instead involving the integration of shelter responses into long-term development. This means ensuring that shelter responses address vulnerabilities, build local capacities, engage civil society, and reform governance structures. ( English,English )
- Subject:
- Transitional Shelters
- Citation/Reference:
- Burnell, J., Sanderson, D. (2011). Whose reality counts? shelter after disaster. Environmental Hazards 10: 3-4, 189-192.
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