Disaster Reconstruction Research Articles

Determining the critical factors for realising successful post-disaster reconstruction projects in the Caribbean

Business as usual project management practice may not be applicable in the recovery of the built environment following a disaster. Unfortunately, little research has been undertaken to understand the nature of post-disaster recovery projects and the requirements for their success in the Caribbean. The Caribbean islands' exposure and susceptibility to natural hazards make it essential to understand what constitutes successful post-disaster reconstruction. By drawing on end-users’ perspectives in four Caribbean islands (Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent) through a quantitative survey and factor analysis, this paper identifies critical factors that determine successful outcomes with post-disaster Caribbean recovery projects. The factor analysis results from the survey responses on 24 empirical success factors suggests four composite Caribbean specific critical success factors, namely, 1) effective management of project knowledge, 2) environment and ecosystem stewardship, 3) stakeholder engagements at multiple levels, and 4) efficient management of financial, social and human resources. The findings from this research can assist with minimising the recurring post-disaster reconstruction projects, project financing donors and managers with an understanding of the issues that matter most to the region success, and realising the end-users’ (the beneficiaries) expectations. Mainstreaming these factors into project planning and execution, and adopting resilience-oriented project management practices, augers well for managing Caribbean disaster reconstruction projects for greater success.

Natural disasters and corporate tax burden: Evidence from chinese energy sector

Given the importance of energy company in disaster reconstruction and economic stability, we focus on the intrinsic link between natural disasters and energy corporate tax burden. This study examines the impact of natural disasters on the energy corporate tax burden using panel data for listed energy companies in China from 2003 to 2021. We robustly find that the higher the number of natural disasters in an energy company's region, the lower the corporate tax burden. The mechanism analysis suggests that the government, motivated by concerns that energy companies are in business distress and facing financing difficulties, is the mechanism by which natural disasters lead to lower energy corporate tax burdens. In addition, the above effects are more pronounced among energy companies that are larger, have a higher market share, and are subject to stronger government intervention. We provide theoretical basis and data support for post-disaster reconstruction and economic stability.

Village plan for disaster mitigation (case study: Reconstruction of Gampong Pande post-earthquake and tsunami disaster)

Gampong Pande on the north coast of Banda Aceh city which was destroyed after the 2004 earthquake and tsunami has been reconstructed with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with a comprehensive approach. One of the important steps taken for future disaster mitigation is to develop a village plan. The village plan was prepared with the aim of rebuilding the village and its inhabitants with a “build back better” approach. The community participation approach is carried out while respecting local culture but trying to introduce ecological aspects as part of disaster mitigation as well as economic resources. Village plans are also prepared based on efforts to minimize changes the existing land ownership patterns to avoid social conflicts, so that massive and careful social and land ownership data collection is carried out. To increase safety efforts during the earthquake and tsunami disaster, proper access is made for all land and houses to the ideal evacuation route. In addition to rebuilding houses to standards that are in accordance with the building code, the village plan is also presenting the development of better environmental infrastructure and facilities as part of efforts to rebuild community livelihoods after the disaster. Environmental quality improvement is also carried out by utilizing local coastal plants for ecological disaster as well as for community economic improvement.

Vulnerable Community in Earthquake Disaster Reconstruction Process in Sindhupalchok

Reconstruction and resilience programs led by the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) have not specifically addressed the Dalit community’s issues of vulnerability and cultural heterogeneity. The NRA formed and implemented different policies and guidelines for all victims irrespective of their caste/ethnic, cultural, economic, and political status. Monolithic reconstruction and resilience policy failed to address the vulnerability and socio-cultural resilience of the Dalits. The state social engineering failed because the socio-cultural and political vulnerability of the Dalits was ignored both in policy and practice. The policy and practice of earthquake reconstruction replicated the traditional slogan of Nepali: ‘We all are Nepali and all Nepali are equal’. Moreover, it established a rule of thumb to address other disaster victims equally. What are Dalits’ knowledge and experiences of disaster reconstruction? What are the constraints and opportunities for the resilience of the Dalits? What are the resilience practices of the Dalits? Based on the field-based study, interviews, and observations, the paper explored the exclusion of Dalits participation both in policy formulation and implementation. The detailed fieldwork in 2018 explored the technological domination of the government and non-government agencies while implementing the resilience of Dalit community. The Dalits were at the bottom of the socio-cultural hierarchy, including power, prestige, and property. The major flaw of the reconstruction and resilience was ignorance of the diversity of victims and ignorance of people’s knowledge of cultural resilience. The policies did not support their marginality and vulnerability.

Spatial spillover effects of natural hazards on energy technology innovation-empirical evidence from provincial panel data.

Energy technology innovation is the necessary way and fundamental means to lead, promote, and support the revolution of energy production and consumption. While natural hazards, as an unavoidable external risk in the long-term development of human society, may affect the regional energy innovation level. In this study, we use the SDM bifixed model to investigate the direct, indirect, and aggregate effects of natural hazards on energy technology innovation for data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020. Results indicate that (1) Natural hazards not only have a significant negative impact on local energy technology innovation, but also inhibit energy technology innovation in neighboring regions, with significant spatial spillover effects. (2) Natural hazards have a more pronounced effect in western cities. (3) Natural hazards can enhance energy technology innovation through increasing environmental regulation and reducing FDI. Our study offers suggestions for strengthening post-natural disaster reconstruction and sub-regional resilience to disaster shocks, improving environmental regulation laws and regulations, and attracting more foreign direct investment.

Conservation of coastal vegetation against reconstruction of earthquake disaster in Maita beach, Iwate prefecture

Conservation of coastal vegetation against reconstruction of earthquake disaster in Maita beach, Iwate prefecture

Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Nature-Based Solutions for Hurricane Risk Reduction Policies in the Mexican Caribbean

Nature-based solutions (NbSs) have long recognized the value of coastal and marine ecosystem management and associated ecosystem services as useful tools for climate change mitigation (e.g., blue carbon) and adaptation (e.g., coastal protection against flooding and storm surges). However, NbSs remain poorly acknowledged and mostly absent from coastal planning for disaster risk reduction policies in the Caribbean, as well as from ex-post disaster reconstruction funds. With the increasing frequency and intensity of hurricanes in the region, NbSs are now more needed than ever. Taking Mexico as a representative case study for the wider Caribbean, we here seek to identify and analyze the barriers and opportunities perceived by relevant stakeholders for mainstreaming coastal-marine NbSs into coastal management and disaster risk reduction policies (e.g., mangroves as green infrastructure) to protect coastal societies and national economies against hurricanes. We conduct semi-structured, in-depth interviews with twenty stakeholders covering academic, governmental, tourism, NGO, coastal planning, and financial domains. Among the twenty-three identified barriers, governance, institutional, financial, and human-capacity aspects are the most dominant perceptions behind the current lack of NbS implementation. Future action for the policy integration of NbSs requires widespread political will and better quantification of both the provision of ecosystem services and their economic benefits under conventional markets.

Process optimization for post disaster reconstruction project based on industrial design structure matrix (DSM)

Post-disaster reconstruction projects face tighter time constraints and are in a more complex environment, making the implementation process of conventional projects unable to meet new requirements. This study decomposes the construction process and then determines the feed-forward and feedback relationship between activities in the post-disaster reconstruction environment. An information relationship diagram is established, and the relationship is transformed into a design structure matrix (DSM). Through DSM manipulation, a partitioned DSM is formed to express the activity process that is more suitable for reconstruction. This research shows that the activities sequence and content need to be changed to adapt to the reconstruction scenario, and some activities may even be canceled. Some suggestions can help construct the project faster, including closer cooperation between design and construction. The bidding scope includes design and construction and the use of more integrated project delivery methods. Finally, a reconstruction case in China illustrates the operability of analyzing and adjusting the implementation process through this framework.

Tokyo’s Black Markets as an Alternative Urban Space: Occupation, Violence, and Disaster Reconstruction

Black markets emerged at every corner in cities across Japan immediately after World War II. They spread rapidly due to the collapse in the distribution and rationing system. The government’s weakened control resulted in tolerance of the markets and occasionally covert government collaboration with black marketeers. In addition, existence of easily accessible open spaces in cities, such as areas that had been cleared of buildings by forced evacuation prior to air raids or that had been left in ruins by the raids, provided the space for black marketeers to build their street stalls. The black markets supported postwar reconstruction. They also had decisive influence on the emergence of new urban structures in postwar Japan. This essay examines the persistence of earlier characteristics of urban space along with the new elements in postwar Japan’s black markets. The new international character of the postwar black markets was evident in the prominence of repatriates from Japan’s former colonies, along with Chinese and Korean residents in Japan. The black market was thus a symbolic point of convergence between the prewar Empire of Japan and the new postwar Japan.

The Resilience of FDI to Natural Disasters Through Industrial Linkages

When do multinationals show resilience during natural disasters? To answer this, we develop a simple model in which foreign multinationals and local firms in the host country are interacted through input-output linkages. When natural disasters seriously hit local firms and thus increase the cost of sourcing local intermediate inputs, most multinationals may leave the host country. However, they are likely to stay if they are tightly linked with local suppliers and face low trade costs of importing foreign intermediates. We further provide a number of extensions of the basic model to incorporate, for example, multinationals with heterogeneous productivity and disaster reconstruction.

Cultural Appropriateness on Disaster Reconstruction and Resilience Programs at Kunchok, Sindhupalchok

Cultural Appropriateness on Disaster Reconstruction and Resilience Programs at Kunchok, Sindhupalchok

A framework for NGO-led post-disaster reconstruction programs in the indigenous community: A case study of the 2009 Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan

Non-governmental organization-led post-disaster reconstruction programs have been providing ample financial and human resources for disaster reconstruction. However, despite lengthy discussions about NGO-led post-disaster reconstruction programs, there is a lack of research on the different decision-making practices of various NGOs in the indigenous context. This study is based on extensive field research conducted in two communities affected by the 2009 Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan, where the distinct roles of three large-scale NGOs are investigated. Additionally, NGO–government and NGO–community relationships during the implementation of post-disaster reconstruction programs are closely examined. The result show that for the NGO–government relationship, NGOs fill the gaps left by the government. However, NGOs with great experiences in post-disaster reconstruction might dominate the decision-making process. Regarding the NGO–community relationship, flexible solutions proposed by NGOs might help to solve the challenges of post-disaster reconstruction programs implemented in the communities. However, the implementing methods varied tremendously based on the NGOs' underpinning ideology and mutual trust with the communities. Similarly, the research also states that though communities generally trusted the NGOs' ability to conduct the post-disaster reconstruction programs, the NGOs’ ideology on post-disaster reconstruction programs and relationship with communities were crucial to the communities. Eventually, a framework for NGO-led indigenous-based post-disaster reconstruction programs, introducing four stages, is proposed. These stages include: (i) preparedness, (ii) initiation, (iii) planning and construction, and (iv) monitoring and livelihood restoration.

Providing a framework for post-disaster resilience factors in buildings and infrastructure from end-users’ perspectives: case study in Caribbean island states

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to elicit the expectations for resilient post-disaster rebuilds from Caribbean project end-users. In anticipation of future climatological, meteorological, hydrological or geophysical disasters disaster, key stakeholders can articulate and incorporate strategies for resilience development, thus leading to improved end-users’ satisfaction and confidence. Design/methodology/approach This paper engages the results of a systematic literature review that identified 24 empirical resilience factors for post-disaster reconstruction projects. These factors informed a semi-structured questionnaire to elicit the perspectives of Caribbean end-users on a seven-point Likert scale. The quantitative analysis of both factor ranking and principal component analysis was performed to identify correlations and provides further interpretations on the desires of the end-users for resilient rebuilds. Findings The results presented in this paper highlight the collective perspectives on the Caribbean end-users on what they perceived to be aiding more resilient reconstruction projects. They identified reconstruction designs mindful of future hazards, policies that aid climate change mitigation, active assessment of key structures, readily available funding sources and ensuring stakeholder’s unbiased interest as the top-most empirical factors. Factor analysis suggested collaborations with inclusive training and multi-stakeholder engagement, critical infrastructure indexing and effective governance as the critical resilience development factors. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is first of its kind to explore the perspective of the Caribbean people regarding disaster reconstruction projects. It addresses developmental avenues for measurement indicators towards resilience monitoring and improvement. Additionally, the perspectives can provide construction industry professionals with tools for improved operational resilience objective-setting guidance, for Caribbean construction.

Creative Revitalization in Rural Japan

Different disasters throughout history have prompted Japan to develop diverse approaches to recovery, revitalization, and local resilience. The current global COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. In this paper, we argue the need to study the impacts of COVID-19 on outside major cities such as Tokyo as such areas were already experiencing socioeconomic decline. Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture is a city that has also been undergoing extensive post-disaster reconstruction after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE), notably through various bottom-up approaches, often initiated by volunteers and migrants bringing new, creative ideas to community revitalization. These efforts continue to shape the social life of its residents during COVID-19, making Ishinomaki an important case study in both disaster reconstruction and rural revitalization. This paper examines examples in which creativity played a key role in revitalization, recovery, and community resilience in Ishinomaki over the last decade to shed light on current creative revitalization initiatives at the grassroots level, initiated and carried out by citizens. Drawing on an ethnographic approach conducted remotely in the form of semi-structured interviews, the paper presents the personal narratives of a diverse range of residents and social networks committed to rebuilding the soft infrastructure that is often overlooked compared to hard infrastructure. The paper proposes suggestions for the future based on lessons learned from the past decade, and hopes to illuminate how Japan’s rural areas are adapting to a new normal in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Post-disaster reconstruction in the rural-urban fringe following the Great East Japan Earthquake

Although many studies have been conducted since the Great East Japan earthquake, most have focused only on recovery processes in particular affected areas. However, southern Miyagi Prefecture belongs to the rural-urban fringe of the Sendai Metropolitan Area; hence, disaster reconstruction in this area is closely related to the urban system and long-term land development. Based on these ideas, this paper explores the interaction between wider social trends and the disaster reconstruction process. The results indicate that disaster reconstruction in this area was an extension and acceleration of existing social trends such as “selection and concentration” and “intensification of agricultural competitiveness” as a whole. However, there is a unique agricultural land-use system and related community organization rooted in the peculiar history and environmental conditions of this area. Existing disaster reconstruction policies do not pay sufficient attention to such historical contexts, which has caused several conflicts and problems. Disaster studies should pay careful attention to such tensions between wider political trends and local historical contexts while focusing on land-use changes.

Application of building information modeling and damage detection technology in disaster recovery and reconstruction

In the post-disaster recovery and reconstruction phase, building assessment is a very important first step in the process of repairing damaged buildings. In practices, the building assessment still needs building visual inspection and manual analysis which requires a lot of energy and time. Various emerging technologies in the construction sector that can be used to solve problems, for example: Building Information Modeling (BIM), image processing, artificial intelligence. The study aims to review the application of BIM and damage detection technology in postdisaster buildings assessment process. Furthermore, the study focuses more specifically on review of the technology application related to BIM and artificial intelligence for damage detection on crack or concrete spalling in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction. The framework of the automatic integration of damage detection technology and BIM was developed as a way to generate retrofitting designs automatically based on field inspection and building information in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction.

Remembering, Propaganda, Hope and Forgetting: The Rhetoric and Politics of the Wenchuan Earthquake Memorial

ABSTRACT After the catastrophic Wenchuan Earthquake occurred in Sichuan, China in May 2008, a memorial was built to commemorate the disaster. This essay aims to study how the Wenchuan Earthquake Memorial, as a rhetorical space, creates a national image of tenacious rebirth through the rhetorical reconstruction of the trauma. Analysis shows that the memorial selectively remembers the disaster, publicizes the collectivist spirit and the Communist Party’s leadership for their role in disaster relief and reconstruction of the disaster areas, conveys the rhetoric of hope for the people in the disaster areas and the nation, but ignores the controversies surrounding the quality of school buildings and student victims through silence and alternative presentation. As a political carrier and a tool for educating visitors, the memorial has become a politicized space and transformed from a natural historical site to a political memory space, thus realizing the penetration of politics into people’s daily life.

Benevolent discipline: governing affect in post-Yolanda disaster reconstruction in the Philippines

This paper analyses how affect and emotions are activated and embodied by the state in post-disaster rebuilding. It focuses on the reconstruction of Tacloban City, Philippines, which was devastated by typhoon Yolanda in 2013. I introduce the concept of benevolent discipline to characterise a mode of governing that is animated by the state’s narratives and performances of ‘benevolence’ as a way of regulating the conduct of constituents towards its aspirations for recovery. I show how the discourse of safety – used to justify the relocation of informal settlers from the city’s danger zones – coalesces with disciplinary techniques targeting the affective life of the urban poor to produce ‘governable’ subjects for the reconstructed city. I show that the state’s altruistic performances in this regard and the mobilisation of affect and emotions constitute mechanisms of power that serve to dispossess and marginalise displaced communities. I argue that affect and emotions play a critical role in the everyday experiences of recovery. A focus on affective dimensions of post-disaster governance helps expose the potentialities of power previously obscured in studies of disaster reconstruction.

Flash Flood Disaster Reconstruction for Estimating the Available Warning Time, the Case in Sempor River on 21st of February 2020, Mt. Merapi Slope, Yogyakarta Special Region

Flash floods are hazardous events characterized by short response times. The occurrences of flash flood disasters have increased significantly in the last few years, producing a remarkable casualty number globally. On February 21st, 2020, a flash flood occurred in the Sempor River of the Mount Merapi slope, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, causing a significant death of high school students. This study aims to reconstruct the river’s hydrologic and hydraulic conditions and identify the available warning time based on the flash flood event. This study extracted the catchment configuration from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) using the GIS technique. A simulation of flood hydrograph at a control point used the HEC-HMS model, the SCS Curve Number Loss method, and the SCS Unit Hydrograph. The simulated flood hydrograph was inputted into the one-dimensional unsteady flow model of HEC-RAS to simulate water depth and flow velocity. The calibration process adjusts both models’ parameters by comparing the simulated peak discharge with the surveyed data. The modelling results provide warning time components. The results of this study can support the decision-making in flash flood risk mitigation for the local communities.

Environmental-Community Psychology in the Disaster Research: The Importance of Social-Spatial Connections

The psychosocial literature in the context of socio-natural disasters mainly focuses on the psychological consequences of the affected people, while ignoring the psychosocial environmental factors. Here, we emphasize the relevance of community environmental psychology to analyze the subjective aspects of the relationship with the place and the community relations of the localities affected by disasters. Therefore, we propose a conceptual framework of the categories of community psychology and environmental psychology, which are related to the study of the social spatial connection in what we call socio-natural disasters. This view is illustrated by the results of a study using a hybrid approach that describes how people living in communities affected by earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions in four locations in Chile. In a non-probabilistic convenience sample (n = 628), the responses to the scale of location attachment, location identity, residence satisfaction, community awareness and citizen participation were analyzed, as well as the narration of 17 focus groups (n = 117) on the meaning of public space construction. The conclusion is that the combination of environmental and community psychology expands the understanding of the elements of power and territorial disputes, and highlights the psychosocial defects in post disaster reconstruction solutions.