The main focus of this discussion is to clearly identify shelter as an integrated and centrally placed need of the depriving disaster hit communities in the whole disaster cycle beyond technical assistance.
"Development starts with a safe and secure household, don’t neglect it"!
The concept of sheltering the disaster affected communities being a process of transition from a state of no shelter to permanent rehabilitation in a disaster cycle is well understood by the humanitarians in practice. The process of sheltering is not just technical assistance of reconstruction, talking about the move towards sustainability there are certain key drivers of a sustainable growth that I am trying to identify and focus here.
In any Natural Disaster the affect is both on the human communities and the built natural environment, where both the human communities and the natural environment are expected to heal each other by understanding each other’s needs and extending the best possible approach.
It is important to identify the active and passive drivers of the impact and its extent due to disaster to both communities and environment.
In many remote communities living closely with nature and surviving repeated disasters it is studied that both environment and society has degraded extensively over the last few decades with increased frequency of disasters and less gaps between the consecutive disasters for self environment restoration. Case studies from many such communities have shown that due to environment degradation the self recovery capacity of the communities have gone down typically.
Earlier the communities use to recovery comparatively much quicker than today because of the easy access to indigenous building material. In the case of today with the degraded environment the communities have to depend upon external assistance for building the shelter homes. But the environment today has very limited warriors. Contextualizing Habitat shall primarily focus on a broader framework of restoring environment to build back better shelters, clearly not violating the laws of biodiversity.
In any Natural Disaster the affect is both on the human communities and the built natural environment, where both the human communities and the natural environment are expected to heal each other by understanding each other’s needs and extending the best possible approach.
It is important to identify the active and passive drivers of the impact and its extent due to disaster to both communities and environment.
In many remote communities living closely with nature and surviving repeated disasters it is studied that both environment and society has degraded extensively over the last few decades with increased frequency of disasters and less gaps between the consecutive disasters for self environment restoration. Case studies from many such communities have shown that due to environment degradation the self recovery capacity of the communities have gone down typically.
Earlier the communities use to recovery comparatively much quicker than today because of the easy access to indigenous building material. In the case of today with the degraded environment the communities have to depend upon external assistance for building the shelter homes. But the environment today has very limited warriors. Contextualizing Habitat shall primarily focus on a broader framework of restoring environment to build back better shelters, clearly not violating the laws of biodiversity.
Shelter and Environmental restoration
Key elements of environment restoration programme for building back better.
1. Identifying the biomass that provides building material and the biomass that buffers the impact during disaster on community settlement.
2. Calculating the impact on the environment since last sustainable status and gap
3. Planting indigenous building material and buffers ( biosheid restoration) to meet the future need
4. Estimating the time span for restoration.
5. Finding a transitional reconstruction solution considering best practice and appropriate building types/ recycling material-energy.
6. Building environment awareness in communities.
7. Exiting in restoring mode to development.
4. Estimating the time span for restoration.
5. Finding a transitional reconstruction solution considering best practice and appropriate building types/ recycling material-energy.
6. Building environment awareness in communities.
7. Exiting in restoring mode to development.
The other identified drivers of sustainable sheltering programme in a disaster cycle are:
- Best Practice in Reconstruction and knowledge tranfer
- Integragion of socio economy and cultural components
- Integration of crosscutting components
- Safe and dignified shelters as strong basis of a public health intervention
most of the donors today see shelter as an independent component of providing technical assistance only and are hesitant to support the programme, but an appropriate and integrated shelter intervention shall help reform the development process towards sustainability....
No comments:
Post a Comment