Humanitarian engineering: what, why, where, who?Humanitarian Engineering: The Messy Reality of Doing GoodEngineering Service Delivery in Humanitarian Contexts

Abstract

The chapter defines humanitarian engineering and comments on the links between emergency relief, sustainable and international development. More knowledge is needed to increase our understanding of the myriad of drivers of humanitarian challenges. Global awareness needs to be combined with information about the exposure and vulnerability of communities to identify those at most risk. The chapter makes reference to relevant United Nations (UN) dialogues with links to where humanitarian engineering is applicable, why, and who are the main actors. The chapter introduces relevant aspects of local service delivery environments: the actors, agents and stakeholders; the regulatory environment, including applicable standards and codes; the role of central and local governments; and the processes within a typical project cycle. Drawing upon two recent disasters in Haiti, the earthquake of 2010 and Hurricane Matthew of 2016, the chapter explores the role of civil engineers in post-disaster reconstruction contexts and the ways in which those roles and attendant responsibilities may shift from traditional approaches, depending on the project context.