Build back better: A framework for sustainable recovery assessment

Abstract

Build Back Better (BBB) is a strategy published as part of the Sendai Framework which has been widely adopted to achieve long-term, effective and sustainable disaster recovery. Assessment of disaster recovery is crucial for improving understanding of the difficulties and insufficiencies experienced during the reconstruction process and to better support disaster risk reduction policies and investment. However, with the focus being on optimizing the economic and physical environment, citizens’ preferences remain unexamined in existing literature. Therefore, this study aims to create a sustainable recovery framework which takes into account the needs of citizens. Based on systems theory, the proposed framework evaluates the sustainable recovery level of families and communities from three dimensions, namely: Element, Structure, and Function. The Best Worst Method (BWM) was used, involving two rounds of interviews with 11 experts, to determine evaluation indexes for each dimension. The Element dimension consists of five sustainable livelihood capitals. The Structure dimension includes community social capital, leadership, and social governance. The Function dimension includes disaster preparedness, disaster response, immediate recovery, and disaster learning. The proposed framework was used to investigate the degree of sustainable recovery in four towns in Wenchuan County, Mainland China. Through interviews and large-scale surveys, the internal mechanisms that influence the level of sustainable recovery in different communities were identified. Practical recommendations are provided to improve disaster recovery management in developing regions. The proposed framework can assist in the development of recovery standards and evaluations at different levels in China and other parts of the world.