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Disaster survivors need long term community regeneration, not just aid

In late September and early October, Asia and the Pacific were struck by a nearly simultaneous string of natural disasters. These events have killed thousands and affected over 4 million residents across Asia and the Pacific. All of our hats should be off to the disaster response organisations which have provided survivors with hundreds of thousands of tents, clothing, blankets, as well as tonnes of food aid, medicine, and first aid supplies. These organisations have already saved countless lives and continue to save lives in disaster zones worldwide every day.

But while these groups tackle the immense challenges of meeting survivors’ immediate need, there is another area of recovery to address - long term regeneration in disaster affected communities.

At European Disaster Volunteers (EDV), we believe that in addition to the immediate aid supplied by these extraordinary organisations, disaster survivors need long term assistance to rebuild their homes, communities, and lives. What’s more, survivors need to be given the tools to direct their own recovery so that reconstruction does not become something “done to” survivors.

This probably sounds like common sense, but long term recovery is sometimes overlooked. The immediate and more visually striking effects of a disaster, such as destroyed buildings, downed bridges, and displaced persons camps tend to get the lion’s share of the attention, and often become the focus of fundraising campaigns and international attention.

Our tendency to focus on these aspects of disaster is reinforced by the prevalence of what we call 'disaster pornography' – graphic photos of, and stories about, the immediate effects of disaster – followed by very little coverage or on-going interest in the later stages of recovery.

Needless to say, these immediate issues do need to be addressed before long term recovery can move forward, but that doesn’t mean they’re the whole story. What doesn’t photograph well are survivors’ lingering feelings of helplessness, the long term damage to livelihoods, and the undermining of community capacity.

These injuries are less visible than the immediate after-effects of disaster, but no less damaging, and they can continue to do harm long after the rubble has been cleared.

On an even more basic level, when we think only about immediate, post-disaster needs, there is a subtle shift in how we approach the individuals living in disaster zones. When we focus short-term, we tend to place disaster survivors as victims who need to be given things rather than survivors capable of doing for themselves if given the tools. In effect, we tend to see them as helpless.

As any community regeneration worker the world over knows, nothing can be accomplished without empowering communities and individuals, so this kind of mindset toward survivors can be damaging - to say the very least.

I’m certainly not minimizing the visible damage of a disaster or saying that we shouldn’t hand out what’s needed to survive after a natural disaster. Of course we need to address physical damage and make sure survivors have what they need to stay alive and healthy, but we also have to address the long term scars left by disaster.

To accomplish both goals we have to move beyond the hand-out stage as quickly as possible and mobilise disaster affected communities to participate in their own recovery. We must enter disaster zones thinking about long term recovery and regeneration rather than just disaster response, even when communities are still housed in temporary shelters.

Just as domestic community regeneration professionals must understand the needs of an underprivileged community in the UK before they can begin constructive work, we have to work with disaster survivors to develop post-disaster regeneration programmes that empower communities to meet their own needs long after we leave.

At EDV, we plan to take our long term approach to disaster recovery to Asia in early 2010 and have recently launched our Asia-Pacific Disaster Recovery Fund. You can also read a summary of EDV’s deployment strategy.

If you’re interested in learning more, donating, or simply having a chat, we’d love to hear from you. Please email media@europeandisastervolunteers.org or visit our website EDVolunteers.org. (*Note, we’re currently redesigning, so our current website is very basic. Keep checking back!)