Resourcing challenges for post-disaster housing reconstruction: A comparative analysis
Yan Chang, Suzanne Wilkinson, Regan Potangaroa, Erica Seville
Building Research and Information 38(3): 247-264, 2010
Abstract
Post-disaster reconstruction, if not well planned and implemented, can create further vulnerabilities in a disaster-affected community. According to Schilderman (2004, p. 415), whilst the number of hazard events does not appear to be increasing greatly, their impact on people is increasing. The underlying implications of disasters for longer-term reconstruction are not fully understood by policy-makers and recovery practitioners. After a large-scale disaster, housing reconstruction projects are susceptible to numerous resourcing bottlenecks inherent in post-disaster circumstances, such as resource shortages (Steinberg, 2007), price escalation (Nazara and Resosudarmo, 2007), and supply chain disruption (Zuo et al., 2009), which significantly impede the reconstruction process in disaster-affected countries. As Jayasuriya et al. (2005) observed in Sri Lanka, the impacts of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami intensified resource shortage, fuelled inflation, constrained government’s fiscal capacity, and adversely affected housing reconstruction.