Communities’ Perspectives on Housing Reconstruction in Gujarat following the Earthquake of 2001

Abstract

This chapter focuses on citizens’ perspectives on housing reconstruction after the severe earthquake that hit Gujarat, India, in January 2001. It presents communities’ perspectives on several different reconstruction strategies that were pursued by different agencies involved in housing reconstruction after the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat. Nongovernmental organization (NGOs) and private corporations were given the possibility to go ahead with the adoption of full villages within the framework of a public–private partnership program. Most NGOs that were involved in housing reconstruction in Gujarat claimed that they followed a participatory approach. Gujarat’s reconstruction program has been internationally recognized as one of the most successful. Under the contractor-driven approach, the task of housing reconstruction is given to a professional construction company whereby housing design, construction materials, and expertise are often imported from outside the target community. The contractor-driven reconstruction approach ex nihilo varies from the approach to the extent that the full village is relocated and reconstructed on a new site.