External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction: Impacts on Local Communities [1st ed.] 9789811549472, 9789811549489

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Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements

Imon Chowdhooree Shams Mansoor Ghani   Editors

External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction Impacts on Local Communities

Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements Series Editor Bharat Dahiya, College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand Editorial Board Andrew Kirby, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA Erhard Friedberg, Sciences Po-Paris, France Rana P. B. Singh, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India Kongjian Yu, Peking University, Beijing, China Mohamed El Sioufi, Monash University, Australia Tim Campbell, Woodrow Wilson Center, USA Yoshitsugu Hayashi, Chubu University, Kasugai, Japan Xuemei Bai, Australian National University, Australia Dagmar Haase, Humboldt University, Germany

Indexed by SCOPUS This Series focuses on the entire spectrum of human settlements—from rural to urban, in different regions of the world, with questions such as: What factors cause and guide the process of change in human settlements from rural to urban in character, from hamlets and villages to towns, cities and megacities? Is this process different across time and space, how and why? Is there a future for rural life? Is it possible or not to have industrial development in rural settlements, and how? Why does ‘urban shrinkage’ occur? Are the rural areas urbanizing or is that urban areas are undergoing ‘ruralisation’ (in form of underserviced slums)? What are the challenges faced by ‘mega urban regions’, and how they can be/are being addressed? What drives economic dynamism in human settlements? Is the urban-based economic growth paradigm the only answer to the quest for sustainable development, or is there an urgent need to balance between economic growth on one hand and ecosystem restoration and conservation on the other—for the future sustainability of human habitats? How and what new technology is helping to achieve sustainable development in human settlements? What sort of changes in the current planning, management and governance of human settlements are needed to face the changing environment including the climate and increasing disaster risks? What is the uniqueness of the new ‘socio-cultural spaces’ that emerge in human settlements, and how they change over time? As rural settlements become urban, are the new ‘urban spaces’ resulting in the loss of rural life and ‘socio-cultural spaces’? What is leading the preservation of rural ‘socio-cultural spaces’ within the urbanizing world, and how? What is the emerging nature of the rural-urban interface, and what factors influence it? What are the emerging perspectives that help understand the human-environment-culture complex through the study of human settlements and the related ecosystems, and how do they transform our understanding of cultural landscapes and ‘waterscapes’ in the 21st Century? What else is and/or likely to be new vis-à-vis human settlements—now and in the future? The Series, therefore, welcomes contributions with fresh cognitive perspectives to understand the new and emerging realities of the 21st Century human settlements. Such perspectives will include a multidisciplinary analysis, constituting of the demographic, spatio-economic, environmental, technological, and planning, management and governance lenses. If you are interested in submitting a proposal for this series, please contact the Series Editor, or the Publishing Editor: Bharat Dahiya ([email protected]) or Loyola D’Silva ([email protected])

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13196

Imon Chowdhooree Shams Mansoor Ghani •

Editors

External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction Impacts on Local Communities

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Editors Imon Chowdhooree Department of Architecture BRAC University Dhaka, Bangladesh

Shams Mansoor Ghani Department of Architecture BRAC University Dhaka, Bangladesh

ISSN 2198-2546 ISSN 2198-2554 (electronic) Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements ISBN 978-981-15-4947-2 ISBN 978-981-15-4948-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Foreword

External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction: Impacts on Local Communities, edited by Imon Chowdhooree and Shams Mansoor Ghani, is a welcome addition to the literature on sustainable development in general and that on the impacts of external interventions on local communities vis-à-vis disaster risk reduction in particular. The core idea of this edited volume, and the main thread that ties all its chapters, is that the involvement of external agencies, as multifarious stakeholders, is important to achieving sustainable development targets through risk reduction and adaptation at the local level. Governments, donor agencies, academic and research institutions, civil society organisations (including non-governmental organisations) or any other stakeholders often appear as external bodies to assist local communities through implementing their projects that tend to be aligned with the various global development agendas. Time and again, such external interventions are allied with local development and planning strategies that focus on achieving economic growth, poverty reduction, urban development and environmental sustainability. This kind of interventions, however, may follow the ‘top-down process’ wherein the beneficiary communities may or may not get enough opportunities to actively participate in their own development. Alternatively, there are cases where community participation, along with their traditional practices and indigenous knowledge, is properly utilized. Depending on the nature and process of overseas development assistance—that may be available at regional, national, programmatic or project levels, the outcomes or consequences of external interventions may widely vary from project to project and from context to context. The reactions of local communities towards these interventions may also vary. The beneficiary communities who experience the external development interventions can portray the true pictures of the projects through their conscious evaluation. Studies or evaluations of external development projects often fall short of capturing their real impacts on local communities. This tends to happen as such evaluations are either conducted remotely—sometimes merely based on desktop

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research—or fail to take into account community experiences with external development projects. Having said that, there have been some limited discussions on community perceptions about development. The editors are confident that this book will play an important role to fill this research gap in the current literature.

The Context Disaster risk reduction is an essential strategy that requires the practice of a systematic process of capacity development by incorporating both structural and non-structural mitigation measures, and targeting affected communities’ vulnerabilities to natural hazards, impacts of changed climatic variabilities and humanitarian crisis. With its main focus on disaster risk reduction, the various chapters present cases of disaster responses, recovery, relocation, reconstruction, rehabilitation, climate change adaptation and urban area development. In doing so, it supports the five global agendas that were adopted during 2015–2016: (i) the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 that lays down the global roadmap for developing safe and resilient communities (see UNDRR 2015); (ii) the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development is a global framework which seeks to align financing flows and policies vis-à-vis economic, social and environmental priorities (see United Nations 2015a); (iii) the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development outlines 17 Sustainable Development Goals to target and tackle poverty and other deprivations by improving health and education, reducing inequality, spurring economic growth and promoting environmental sustainability (see United Nations 2015b); (iv) the Paris Agreement aims at decreasing global warming by strengthening the ability of countries to deal with and adapt to the impacts of climate change inter alia by fostering climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development (see UNFCCC 2015); and (v) the New Urban Agenda advocates well planned and managed urbanisation as a powerful tool for sustainable urban and territorial development (see United Nations 2017; Dahiya and Das 2020; Das and Dahiya 2020).

Thematic Foci This edited volume contributes to a wide spectrum of thematic foci including disaster response and recovery, relocation, reconstruction and rehabilitation, resilient urban area development, climate change adaptation, roles of non-governmental organisations, public–private partnerships and multi-stakeholder partnerships, planning paradigms and models and policy analysis for disaster management and disaster risk reduction. The introductory chapter by Imon Chowdhooree elaborates the concept of ‘political ecology’ (see Simsik 2007; Robbins 2004; Paulson et al. 2003) as a

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theoretical concept that helps in understanding the social and environmental dimensions vis-a-vis enhancing community resilience. Disaster response, recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation as responses to any disaster event get priority in the field of disaster management with the aim to develop the affected communities, enhance their resilience and reduce future risks. The cases from Sri Lanka (Chapters “Lessons Learned from Interventions of External Organizations in Disaster Management: A Case Study of Floods in Kalutara, Sri Lanka” and “Sustainable Development Through Post-Disaster Reconstruction: A Unique Example in Sri Lanka”), Bangladesh (Chapters “Traditional Practices, Communities’ Aspirations, and Reconstructed End Products: Analyzing the Post-Sidr Reconstruction in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh” and “Small Changes with Big Impacts: Mitigating Fire Risks Through Small Interventions in Informal Settlements of Dhaka City, Bangladesh”), and Pakistan (Chapter “Public and Private Sector Interventions in Post-disaster Resettlement: A Case Study of Model Villages in Pakistan”) cover these thematic areas by analysing the consequences of the actions and community reactions towards those actions. Informal settlements or slums in urban areas deserve special attention with regard to targeting the marginalized urban populations, mitigating urban risks and enhancing urban resilience. Cases from Dhaka, Lagos, Nairobi and Port au Prince (Chapters “Small Changes with Big Impacts: Mitigating Fire Risks Through Small Interventions in Informal Settlements of Dhaka City, Bangladesh” and “A Complexity Approach for Reducing Disaster Risks for Marginalized Urban Populations: Comparing DRR Interventions Across Four Cities”) address these issues by investigating the complexity of disaster risk reduction interventions in urban slums. Analysing the planning paradigms and polices along with design and implementation of different approaches are some of the key thematic foci of planning theories. Development practice involves the application of established planning models and methods. The outcomes of such application are often evaluated, appreciated and/or criticized in respective areas. The discussion in Chapters “External Interventions for Enhancing Community Resilience: An Overview of Planning Paradigms”, “Lessons Learned from Interventions of External Organizations in Disaster Management: A Case Study of Floods in Kalutara, Sri Lanka”, “Disaster Risk Reduction in Cities: Towards a New Normal”, “Adaptation and Development for Mitigating Impacts of Climate Change and Climate Extremes in Urban Areas” and “Local Community Engagement for Adaptation to Future Challenges in the Pilot Flood Detention Area of Thailand” particularly focuses on planning paradigms and models as well as evaluating the scope of active participation and contribution of communities. In view of the changing climatic variabilities and extreme weather events that have affected communities around the world, development and adaptation have received focused attention in recent knowledge production on disaster risk reduction. Cases from Thailand (Chapter “Local Community Engagement for Adaptation to Future Challenges in the Pilot Flood Detention Area of Thailand”), Pakistan

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(Chapter “Public and Private Sector Interventions in Post-disaster Resettlement: A Case Study of Model Villages in Pakistan”) and Jamaica (Chapter “To ‘Float’ or ‘Not’: Cases of Amphibious Housing and Their Impacts on Vulnerable Communities of Jamaica”) cover the thematic area of reconstruction and rehabilitation especially for climate change adaptation. Training as an essential part of adaptation is discussed in Chapter “Effectiveness of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) Training Programs: Views and Voices from Barisal Division, a Coastal Region in Bangladesh”, which presents a case from the coastal area of Bangladesh, a country that is perhaps the most affected by climate change and sea level rise. Non-governmental organisations are active in sustainable development programmes and projects especially in least developed and developing countries. Their roles and contributions towards reducing disaster risks, adapting to climatic extremes and assisting local and national governments to achieve development goals are widely discussed in the literature. Participation of public sector, private sector, donors, local communities and other relevant stakeholders is discussed as multi-stakeholder participation and, where applicable, as multi-stakeholder partnerships (see Dahiya and Okitasari 2018; Okitasari et al. 2018). Cases presented from Sri Lanka (Chapters “Lessons Learned from Interventions of External Organizations in Disaster Management: A Case Study of Floods in Kalutara, Sri Lanka” and “Sustainable Development Through Post-Disaster Reconstruction: A Unique Example in Sri Lanka”), Bangladesh (Chapters “Dependency on External Supports: An Addition to Community Vulnerability”, “Traditional Practices, Communities’ Aspirations, and Reconstructed End Products: Analyzing the PostSidr Reconstruction in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh”, “Designing Spaces with Victims of Humanitarian Crisis: Action Research on Spaces for Children at Rohingya Camps in Bangladesh” and “Small Changes with Big Impacts: Mitigating Fire Risks Through Small Interventions in Informal Settlements of Dhaka City, Bangladesh”), Nigeria (Chapter “A Complexity Approach for Reducing Disaster Risks for Marginalized Urban Populations: Comparing DRR Interventions Across Four Cities”), Thailand (Chapter “Local Community Engagement for Adaptation to Future Challenges in the Pilot Flood Detention Area of Thailand”), Pakistan (Chapter “Public and Private Sector Interventions in Post-disaster Resettlement: A Case Study of Model Villages in Pakistan”) and Jamaica (Chapter “To ‘Float’ or ‘Not’: Cases of Amphibious Housing and Their Impacts on Vulnerable Communities of Jamaica”) analyse the roles of various stakeholders along with identifying the positive as well as negative impacts. The involvement of research or educational institutions as external stakeholders is also discussed in Chapters “Designing Spaces with Victims of Humanitarian Crisis: Action Research on Spaces for Children at Rohingya Camps in Bangladesh” and “Effectiveness of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) Training Programs: Views and Voices from Barisal Division, a Coastal Region in Bangladesh” that present cases from Bangladesh in different contexts.

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Takeaways The book has a number of takeaways. First, the consequences of any intervention for disaster risk reduction can be either positive or negative and these are generated due to the approach or paradigm or model that is followed in the planning process. Second, the expert-driven planning approach often relies on the hard-empirical data of how, when, where and what scale hazards are likely to occur and creates over-expectations as well as dependency on external supports, hindering a community’s in-built resilience. Third, non-governmental organisations are often considered as a key stakeholder and an alternative development partner (other than the government); however, their involvement for an extended period of time may entrap the community into a cycle of support dependency and thus exacerbate their vulnerabilities. Fourth, traditional wisdom, local cultural practices and indigenous knowledge are often ignored by the development partners and decision makers within the structure of top-down expert-driven approach; quite often, this kind of practice flaws the decision-making process, which consequently fails to involve local communities and make any significant improvement. Fifth, there are multiple risks of ignoring local community’s aspirations and perceptions. Empowering the local community to be in the leading role requires creating space and scope within the current power structure in order to accommodate community’s decisions and feedback. Sixth, the core agenda of enhancing community resilience faces the politics of top-down versus bottom-up approaches, professionals’ knowledge versus traditional knowledge and structural versus non-structural mitigation measures. Moreover, the politics related to socio-economic issues and the ever-changing environmental context demand the practice of a rational mix of multiple paradigms, exploring available options, learning about challenges and opportunities with each new event in order to incrementally enhance resilience. Seventh, building resilience in regard to changing climatic conditions as well as extreme weather events requires a new perspective of looking at ‘adaptation as development’ (Ayers and Dodman 2010). Compared to the ‘stand-alone’ or ‘adaptation plus development’ approaches—where adaptation is considered as ‘additional’ to baseline development needs, the ‘adaptation as development’ approach is argued to be more effective in addressing the vulnerabilities of the various marginalized groups in the changing socio-political and ecological contexts. Eighth, urban areas present complex challenges related to disaster risk reduction. Given the complexity of social, economic, environmental and living conditions in urban areas, a diversity of institutions provides infrastructure and basic services. The living conditions of the various groups of people are often different and so are their vulnerabilities as well as needs for disaster risk reduction measures. All these factors compound the process of decision making for disaster risk reduction. Therefore, innovative approaches involving multi-stakeholder partnerships and participation, advocacy and broad reforms across the urban environment targeted at mitigating risks are essential for successful disaster risk reduction in cities and towns. Finally, in the case of resettlement and rehabilitation, the concept ‘build back better’ is helpful in making positive impacts in the lives and livelihoods of local community.

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The long-term commitment to ‘build back better’ needs to be supported by a wide range of inputs including community infrastructure and facilities, livelihood development and local capacity building. In sum, this rich collection of essays adds fresh perspectives and knowledge on how to better guide strategies for reducing future risks in diverse contexts and to update the current systems of planning, management and governance of human settlements. The editors and authors have done commendable work in presenting the well-researched cases that will benefit local, national and international stakeholders involved in disaster risk reduction and adaptation interventions around the world. Bharat Dahiya Director Research Center for Integrated Sustainable Development College of Interdisciplinary Studies Thammasat University Bangkok, Thailand

References Ayers J, Dodman D (2010) Climate change adaptation and development I: the state of the debate. Prog Dev Stud 10(2):161–168. https://doi.org/10.1177/146499340901000205 Dahiya B, Das A (2020) New urban agenda in Asia-Pacific: governance for sustainable and inclusive cities. In: Dahiya B, Das A (eds) New urban agenda in Asia-Pacific. Advances in 21st century human settlements. Springer, Singapore, pp 3–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-136709-0_1 Dahiya B, Okitasari M (2018) Partnering for sustainable development: guidelines for multi-stakeholder partnerships to implement the 2030 agenda in Asia and the Pacific. United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, Tokyo. Available at: http://collections.unu.edu/view/UNU:6459. Accessed 20 Apr 2020 Das A, Dahiya B (2020) Towards inclusive urban governance and planning: emerging trends and future trajectories. In: Dahiya B, Das A (eds) New urban agenda in Asia-Pacific. Advances in 21st century human settlements. Springer, Singapore, pp 353–384. https://doi.org/10.1007/ 978-981-13-6709-0_13 Okitasari M, Dahiya B, Takemoto K (2018) Building successful multi-stakeholder partnerships to implement the 2030 agenda in Asia-Pacific. In: Vilalta JM (ed) Approaches to SDG 17 partnerships for the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Global University Network for Innovation, Barcelona, pp 37–44. Available at: http://collections.unu.edu/view/UNU:6602. Accessed 20 Apr 2020 Paulson S, Gezon LL, Watts M (2003) Locating the political in political ecology: an introduction. Hum Organ 62(3):205–217. https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.62.3.e5xcjnd6y8v09n6b Robbins P (2004) Critical introductions to geography: political ecology. Blackwell, Oxford Simsik MJ (2007) Political ecology. In: Robbins P (ed) Encyclopaedia of environment and society. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks. http://doi.org/10.4135/9781412953924.n934

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UNDRR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) (2015) Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction 2015–2030. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Geneva. Retrieved from https://www.preventionweb.net/files/43291_sendaiframeworkfordrren.pdf. Accessed 20 Apr 2020 UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) (2015) Paris agreement. FCCC/CP/2015/L.9/Rev1. Available at: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09r01. pdf. Accessed 20 Apr 2020 United Nations (2015a) Addis ababa action agenda of the third international conference on financing for development. A/RES/69/313. Available at: https://www.un.org/esa/ffd/wpcontent/uploads/2015/08/AAAA_Outcome.pdf. Accessed 20 Apr 2020 United Nations (2015b) Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. A/RES/70/1. Available at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld/ publication. Accessed 20 Apr 2020 United Nations (2017) New urban agenda. United Nations, New York, NY. Available at: http:// habitat3.org/wp-content/uploads/NUA-English.pdf. Accessed 20 Apr 2020

Preface

Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction along with mitigating climate change impacts allows various external bodies to provide assistance and supports, according to the operational scopes, to marginalized and/or affected communities. These external bodies can be governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), donor agencies, academic and research institutes, civil societies, armed forces or any other group which is not composed of members from beneficiary communities and run by a formal procedure. Communities are identified here as compositions of built, natural, social and economic environments that influence one another in complex ways; typically, they are entitled within geographic boundaries, as settlements and face challenges and share benefits collectively. Along with the impacts of natural and human-induced hazards, communities’ vulnerabilities are shaped by social, economic, cultural and political conditions. In the twenty-first century, human settlements and related ecosystems are frequently intervened by external bodies, generating cognitive perspectives, based on new and/or emerging risks. The external bodies usually play their respective roles in pre- and post-disaster conditions with the broader objective of enhancing community resilience and reducing risks of future disasters. The consequences or end results of external interventions vary in different conditions, and these need to be evaluated for the future sustainability of human settlements. Practices, eliciting good responses, should be rewarded for promoting certain behaviors that are acceptable. These acceptable behaviors can be entitled as resilience that allows to ‘be’ and ‘do’, to ‘function’ and to ‘achieve’ desirable outcomes. This book aims to present case studies’ based analysis of the consequences of external interventions, wherein such consequences will be critically evaluated from community perspectives. Communities, from rural to urban, in different regions of the world, living with conditions of experiencing disasters and changes in climatic variables, obviously perceive risks and can evaluate the impacts of interventions on them. Community perspectives, including their perceptions, concerns, awareness, realizations, reactions and expectations are shaped and modified due to impacts of external interventions. Case-based analysis of impacts on communities will provide a ‘means of learning’ from the experience of others, and thus xiii

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expanding professionals’ experiential knowledge base. Through structured and critical analysis of case studies, professionals can enhance their understanding of different aspects of disaster mitigation and climate change adaptation practices in varied settings. The content of these book is divided into three parts: Enhancing Community Resilience; Addressing Urban Risks; and Adapting with Climate Change Impacts. We are thankful to the eminent authors who were able to write chapters based on their personal as well as organizations’ research despite their busy schedule. All statements and opinions made in the chapters are those of the authors and editors, and these will not be counted as official statements of any organization. We are also thankful to the reviewers who were kind enough to manage time to review the manuscripts assigned to them. This book generates new knowledge to guide the disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation of innovative changes in the current planning, management and governance of human settlements for facing future challenges of changing environment in the twenty-first century. The students, young researchers and professionals as well as organizations will find this book useful and relevant to their works. Dhaka, Bangladesh

Imon Chowdhooree, Ph.D. Shams Mansoor Ghani

List of Reviewers

1. David Sanderson, Ph.D., Inaugural Judith Neilson Chair, Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Australia 2. Fuad Hasan Mallick, Ph.D., Dean and Professor, School of Architecture and Design, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh 3. Gideon Jacobus Wentink, Junior Subject Specialist, African Centre for Disaster Studies, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa 4. Graham Marsh, Ph.D., Visiting Research Fellow in Disaster Management, School of Energy, Construction and Environment, Coventry University, UK 5. Huraera Jabeen, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh 6. Iftekhar Ahmed, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle, Australia 7. Iftekhar Ahmed, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh 8. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning (URP), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan 9. Jason von Meding, Ph.D., HDR Director and Senior Lecturer, Disaster Risk Reduction (Construction Management Discipline), School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle, Australia 10. Quazi Azizul Mowla, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Architecture, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh 11. Les Dawes, Ph.D., Professor, Civil and Environmental, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Australia 12. Md. Humayun Kabir, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Geography and Environment, Dhaka University, Bangladesh 13. Mohammad Faruk, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh 14. Mohammad Habib Reza, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

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15. Mohammed Mahbubur Rahman, Ph.D., President and CEO, SEARCH Inc., Calgary, Canada 16. Rajib Shaw, Ph.D., Professor, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Japan 17. Saiful Momen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Management, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh 18. Sajid Bin Doza, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Head, Department of Architecture, State University of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh 19. Sharif Shams Imon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao, China 20. Zainab Faruqui Ali, Professor and Chairperson, Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Contents

Enhancing Community Resilience External Interventions for Enhancing Community Resilience: An Overview of Planning Paradigms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Imon Chowdhooree Lessons Learned from Interventions of External Organizations in Disaster Management: A Case Study of Floods in Kalutara, Sri Lanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W. K. D. Rathnayake and Chandana Siriwardana

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Dependency on External Supports: An Addition to Community Vulnerability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Imon Chowdhooree, Les Dawes, and Mellini Sloan

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Sustainable Development Through Post-Disaster Reconstruction: A Unique Example in Sri Lanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Iftekhar Ahmed

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Traditional Practices, Communities’ Aspirations, and Reconstructed End Products: Analyzing the Post-Sidr Reconstruction in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shams Mansoor Ghani

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Designing Spaces with Victims of Humanitarian Crisis: Action Research on Spaces for Children at Rohingya Camps in Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Emerald Upoma Baidya, Farah Mahboob, Fatiha Polin, and Imon Chowdhooree

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Contents

Addressing Urban Risks Disaster Risk Reduction in Cities: Towards a New Normal . . . . . . . . . . 123 Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, Jonathan S. Blake, and Karishma Patel Small Changes with Big Impacts: Mitigating Fire Risks Through Small Interventions in Informal Settlements of Dhaka City, Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Afroza Ahmed and Sadia Subrina Rethinking Roles of Local Non-governmental Organizations (LNGO) in Managing Disaster Risks in Historic Neighborhoods: Experiences from the City of Lagos, Nigeria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Olufemi Samson Adetunji, Oluwatosin Samuel Owolabi, and Samson Olaoluwa Faboye A Complexity Approach for Reducing Disaster Risks for Marginalized Urban Populations: Comparing DRR Interventions Across Four Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Aaron Clark-Ginsberg Adapting with Climate Change Impacts Adaptation and Development for Mitigating Impacts of Climate Change and Climate Extremes in Urban Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Huraera Jabeen Local Community Engagement for Adaptation to Future Challenges in the Pilot Flood Detention Area of Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Phaothai Sin-ampol, Tawee Chaipimonplin, and Supawadee Songka Public and Private Sector Interventions in Post-disaster Resettlement: A Case Study of Model Villages in Pakistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Ali Jamshed, Irfan Ahmad Rana, and Usman Maqsood Mirza Effectiveness of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) Training Programs: Views and Voices from Barisal Division, a Coastal Region in Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Sharmin Nahar Nipa, Jarin Tasneem Oyshi, and Istiak Ibne Rouf To ‘Float’ or ‘Not’: Cases of Amphibious Housing and Their Impacts on Vulnerable Communities of Jamaica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Iftekhar Ahmed

About the Editors

Dr. Imon Chowdhooree Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. [email protected]; imonch@bracu. ac.bd Dr. Chowdhooree has been employed as an Assistant Professor in the Postgraduate Programs in Disaster Management and in the Department of Architecture of BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. As an academic with interests in disaster risk reduction and architecture, he teaches courses on disaster preparedness, emergency response and recovery, humanitarian assistance, building for disaster and building technologies. In 2018, he has received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Queensland University of Technology, Australia, for the thesis entitled ‘Impacts of Structural Mitigation Measures on Perceptions of Community Flood Resilience: Experiences from Haor Communities of Bangladesh’. He acquired the degree of Master of Urban and Regional Planning and as well as his professional degree in Architecture from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. He also received the Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2010. From the same university, he finished the graduate certificate program in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. He was recognized as a Young Scientist involved in disaster management research by Irrigated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) in 2017. He has worked as an intern at the head office of UNISDR in New York and as a visiting faculty in the Department of Architecture of University of Evora, Portugal. He has also served as a sessional academic staff in the Science and Engineering Faculty of Queensland University of Technology, Australia. His research work is focused on community resilience and its association with built environment, development policies and sustainable lifestyle. He is active in community-based research, sustainable design and planning and serves as a reviewer in multiple international journals and conferences. He also provides advices for disaster mitigation and urban development projects in the national level as means of transferring knowledge from the academia to practice. He is the author of many conference and journal articles and has been a member for urban planning projects in Palau and Vietnam.

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About the Editors

Mr. Shams Mansoor Ghani Senior Lecturer, Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. [email protected] Mr. Ghani is employed as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Architecture and the Postgraduate Programms in Disaster Management, BRAC University and at present is working as a member of its Postgraduate Programmes in Disaster Management board. He completed his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology specializing on urban mixed-use developments. He has served as architectural consultant for numerous building and interior design projects all over Bangladesh. He was also part of post-cyclone reconstruction projects for rural communities. Before joining BRAC University, he served as a faculty at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Dhaka. His master's research, done at BRAC University, was on post-disaster reconstruction. His research interests include culturally appropriate interventions, risk reduction and development, sustainable urbanism and housing, housing and context, heritage and cultural landscapes at risk, etc.

Enhancing Community Resilience

External Interventions for Enhancing Community Resilience: An Overview of Planning Paradigms Imon Chowdhooree

Abstract In any disaster context development may appear as adaptation through adopting mitigation measures for enhancing community resilience. Though the popular discourse of development always includes economic growth, in the context of resilience, this ‘development’ merges with the process of adaptation. But the planning process of conducting this ‘development’ as well as ‘adaptation’ requires more concerns while the process is intervened by external bodies, like governmental, nongovernmental and donor organizations. This chapter provides an overview of planning paradigms for enhancing community resilience in a given political and ecological context, based on existing literature. The ‘adaptation’ and ‘resilience’ literature primarily express concerns for enhancing resilience through infrastructure-based engineered solutions and alterations of natural surroundings mostly in the top-down manner. The involvements of externals as well as professionals usually follow the rational planning paradigm that asks experts to select the ‘best’ solution, identifying and defining the problem, fixing goals and objectives, preparing lists of all possible options to solve the problem, evaluating possible consequences of every option. For ensuring the involvement of local communities, the professional-oriented top-down rational planning approach can be replaced by its opposite: bottom-up planning approach which is time consuming, expensive and simple rhetoric and quite impossible to apply in cases where external bodies are involved for development. The post positivist planning paradigm may support the ideas of active and incremental participation of community members within the structure of rational top-down approach through the lens of political ecology which has been developed as an interdisciplinary approach to investigate complex human environment interactions, especially those related to economic development of the third world. Keywords Development · Adaptation · External intervention · Planning paradigm · Political ecology · Resilience

I. Chowdhooree (B) Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_1

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1 Introduction Enhancing community resilience is a prime objective for contemporary disaster risk management planning (Schelfaut et al. 2011; Klein et al. 2003; Geis 2000) that requires a systematic process of capacity building through incorporating both structural and non-structural mitigation measures (Bosher et al. 2007) so that a community can return to its usual state without external assistance, following an incident. The process is also termed as adaptation which is considered as the adjustment in ecological, social and economic systems in response to actual climatic stimuli and their adverse impacts on communities (Arizona State University 2007). It involves adjustments in socio-economic political context to reduce chances of facing damages due to uncertainties of climatic events (in some cases human-induced events), which have chances to turn into disasters. Reducing the risk of probable disaster has become a major global development agenda (Rashid and Khan 2013), where development strategies and activities are intended to align with the concept of disaster risk management, enabling communities to cope with uncertainties and challenges within a given political and ecological context. It meets the target of enhancing community resilience which is considered as the prime objective of contemporary disaster risk reduction planning (Schelfaut et al. 2011; Klein et al. 2003; Geis 2000). The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: 2015–2030 enforces to strengthen disaster resilience (UNISDR 2015). Strengthening disaster resilience is necessary to eliminate the risk factors, which define community vulnerabilities, but scholars have different opinions about defining the properties of resilience and ways of developing or enhancing community resilience to deal with any kind of disaster incident. Governmental, non-governmental and donor organizations usually appear as external bodies, aiming to conduct some interventions for development where their development policies may target to develop adaptive capacities (or community resilience) among the vulnerable communities of less-developed countries (Cannon and Muller-Mahn 2010). Though the popular discourse of development always includes economic growth and external interventions, conducted by governmental, non-governmental and donor organizations often prefers to address immediate needs for poverty reduction, such as health, water and food security, and hesitate to invest in disaster risk reduction where immediate development outcomes are not clear (Rashid and Khan 2013). The cost of disaster in terms of instant economic and life-losses as well as investments for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction, is significant and the concept of disaster risk reduction through adaptation establish the association between ‘development’ and ‘adaptation’ in a given political and ecological context. The trend of partnership among governmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations and donors is widely practiced to address unsolvable challenges of marginalized communities (Brinkerhoff 2003). This kind of external involvements for developments often focuses on standard practices, applying a top-down, technocratic rational paradigm. The rational paradigm asks the experts or planners to identify and define a problem, to fix goals, and objectives, to prepare a list of all possible

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ways to solve the problem, to find all possible consequences for each policy alternative with a probability of occurrence, to compare consequences and finally to select the ‘best’ solution (Berke and Beatley 1992). Understanding all risks adequately, predicting all events reliably and evaluating responses objectively using accurate assessments of costs and benefits is hard to achieve (Heazle et al. 2013). Moreover, the rational paradigm generates dependency on prescribed measures, as well as actions taken by authorities (or external bodies). Enhancing community resilience demands local community participating in the bottom-up process and owning the power of decision making to incorporate their views, ideas and concerns according to their perceptions. The bottom-up process of participatory planning as an important means to expand democracy and improve the quality of decision-making (Monno and Khakee 2012) can engage local communities, where communities take responsibility for their own welfare and develop a capacity to contribute to individual as well as community development (Oakley and Marsden 1987). In the case of disaster risk reduction, development planning requires enhancement of community resilience under conditions of high uncertainty, unequal power dynamics, limitations of rational and participatory planning paradigms and prospects of adaptation, community participation, empowerment and partnership between external bodies and local communities. This chapter provides an overview of planning paradigms for enhancing community resilience in a given political and ecological context, based on existing literature. It reviews literature on ‘community resilience’, ‘adaptation’, ‘political ecology’, ‘development’ and ‘planning paradigms’, where various types of planning paradigms are evaluated to discover their nature of application in the development field.

2 Understanding Views of Community Resilience and Adaptation Resilience is considered as a distinct policy objective (Barret and Constas 2014) and requires a theoretical explanation for better understanding of this concept. In general, resilience is identified as an ability or capacity for recovering from and/or adapting to disturbance, stress or adversity. In physics, it is referred to as the ability to get back to the original state, other disciplines conceptualize it as adaptability, which allows for many possible desirable states (Gunderson 2000), rather than as stability. Ganor and Ben-Lavy (2003) more specifically identify ‘community resilience’ as a combination of two kinds of abilities; one is the individual ability and other is the communal ability to deal with a state of long-term stress. Whereas for an individual human being, resilience is identified as ‘the capacity of the person to deal with adversities, community resilience is the capacity of that community to take collective actions for successful adaptation, positive functioning, or competence to deal with high-risk status, chronic stress, or following prolonged or severe trauma (Pfefferbaum et al. 2005; Egeland et al. 1993). The concept of community resilience, especially in the

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case of disaster mitigation or adaptation to hazards, is explored and explained by various authors (Borrero et al. 2013; Schelfaut et al. 2011; Norris et al. 2008; Coles and Buckle 2004; Godschalk 2003; Masten and Reed 2002; Geis 2000). Multiple scholars, including Chowdhooree and Islam (2018), Schelfaut and colleagues (2011), Coles and Buckle (2004) and Godschalk (2003) define natural hazards or disasters as problems or adverse conditions for which we need to enhance resilience so that a community can deal with the situation in a better way in future. The concept of ‘disaster’ is associated with the term ‘hazard’. A hazard is a potential natural or manmade source which may cause damages and harms in many ways (Burton et al. 1993; Cutter 2001). Hazards (mostly natural hazards) are probabilistic events that, while expected, are cannot be manipulated. A hazard can turn into a disaster while the affected community cannot survive or get back its original condition without external assistance. While disaster cannot be possible without hazard, without vulnerability, hazard is also nil (Blaikie1994), where vulnerability can be identified as limitations in the characteristics and capabilities of a community, system or asset that make it susceptible to suffer due to hazards (Chowdhooree and Islam 2018; UNISDR 2009). These are combinations of socio-economic as well as physical limitations that puts people at risk of hazards (Wisner et al. 2004; Bankoff et al. 2004; Cannon 2008). Vulnerability literature often relies mostly on the ‘realism’ of the natural science, ignoring the social constructivist view (Füssel and Klein 2006; O’Brien et al. 2007, Cardona 2012) that asks to analyze society through lenses shaped by history, politics and culture, along with relying on natural reality (Jasanoff 1999; Ribot 1995; Watts and Bohle 1993). Rashid and Khan (2013) posit two analytical models for explaining vulnerability, where one associates root causes of hazards with unsafe conditions of victim communities in a progression of vulnerability and other evaluates resources and capabilities of households to investigate why some are more vulnerable than others. Concerns for understanding vulnerabilities through evaluating social and communities’ physical conditions lead scholars to define properties of community resilience and to investigate ways of developing or enhancing community resilience to deal with any kind of disaster incident. Norris et al. (2008) explain ‘resilience’ as the disaster readiness and, to achieve this resilience, a community will reduce exposures to risks (threats of hazards) and resource inequities, engage local people in mitigation, create organizational linkages, and increase and protect social support based on an overall plan. These specifically identified factors as a forward-looking concept, may help to explore policy options for dealing with uncertainties and changes (Berkes 2007). These factors help to facilitate communications between and across different disciplines (Brand and Jax 2007) and hence contribute to stimulate discussions between different communities (e.g. between climate change and natural hazard affected communities) (Klein et al. 2003). This policy leads to prepare plans that require flexibility, decision-making skills of locals and trusted sources of information to deal with unknown situations. These qualities of a community facilitate to innovate and to deal with unknown situations. This innovation includes social ingenuity with old institutions and social arrangements reform into a new one, along with technical

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ingenuity of new technology (Homer-Dixon 2000). Innovations usually occur on many scales. Smaller scale innovations as small refinements occur relatively continuously (Dale et al. 2010). This trend of innovation can be fostered with repeated experiences of disasters and the process of adopting innovations can be identified as adaptation. Tanner and Mitchell (2008) classify the whole process of adaptation in two categories—responsive adaptation and anticipatory adaptation. The responsive adaptation is spontaneous and basically what people always do in everyday practice, and the anticipatory adaptation takes on the challenges of involving a high degree of risk, because conditions to which an adaptation is sought are more or less unknown (Cannon and Muller-Mahn 2010; Tanner and Mitchell 2008). Usually, in a disaster context, these anticipated adaptations are ‘more or less unknown’, as the conditions to which an anticipated adaptation is applied are uncertain (Cannon and MullerMahn 2010). On the other hand, responsive adaptation, as the spontaneous everyday practice of any community, may reveal community perceptions as the expression of its priorities for dealing with potential or regularly experienced disasters. Either anticipated or responsive adaptation brings changes to the life of a community and its surrounding environment. In this way, the ‘adaptation’ and ‘resilience’ literature primarily express concerns for reducing vulnerabilities through infrastructure-based engineered solutions and managing of changes in surroundings.

3 Understanding the Political and Ecological Context The phrase ‘political ecology’ combines the concerns of ecology and a broadly defined political economy. Together these encompasses the constantly shifting dialectic between societies and land-based resources, and also within classes and groups within society itself. (Blaikie and Brookfield 1987, p. 17)

Political ecology as an interdisciplinary concept, seeks to understand human societies and their relationship to nature. Considering environmental issues as increasingly prominent in local struggles, national debates and international policies and programs, political ecologists pay more attention to conventional local and global politics, as well as to more broadly defined relations of power and differences in the interactions between human groups and their bio-physical environments. The term ‘political ecology’ has been widely used in the context of human geography and human ecology since long but with no real systematic definition (Simsik 2007) until Wolf’s (1972) work. In 1970s a variety of different intellectuals—journalist Alexander Cockburn, anthropologist Eric Wolf and environmental scientist Grahame Beakhust conceptualized the idea to explain the relations between political economy and nature in the context of an increasing environmental concerns (Keil and Faucett 1998; Watts 1983). It generated questions about the roles of politics in environmental scholarship. However, the term can be traced back to have been used in 1935 by Thone (1935).

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Political ecology has been developed as an interdisciplinary approach to investigate complex human environment interactions, especially those related to economic development of the third world. It applies the basic toolkit of political economy that questions about the social relations of production and about access and control over resources, to understand forms of environmental disturbance and degradation and to develop models for environmental rehabilitation, conservation, and environmentally sustainable alternatives (Paulson et al. 2003). A primary objective of political ecology has been to understand the underlying causes of human and environmental crises and identify ways to ameliorate or eliminate them (Simsik 2007). The concept of environment includes not only bio-physical phenomena, but also human knowledge and practice. Concerns for marginal social groups and issues of social justice (Martinez-Alier 2002) lead the basic amalgamation of political economy and cultural ecology through research, analysis and practice across disciplines including anthropology, biology, geography and political sciences (Paulson et al. 2003). Robbins (2004) identifies important differences in emphasis after carefully reviewing the term ‘political ecology’ since its known early use till the most recent. Despite the differences, Robbins (2004) underscores a set of common elements in political ecology, one of which is that it works from a common set of assumptions and that it employs a reasonable consistent mode of explanation. Political ecology research has demonstrated or attempted to demonstrate four general theses as elaborated in the Table 1 (Robbins 2004). Early studies of political ecologies, focused on the “land manager” considering its relationship with nature in a “historical, political and economic context” (Blaikie and Brookfield 1987, p. 239). Gradually, a variety of political ecology approaches Table 1 Political ecology’s attempts to explain issues Thesis

What is explained

Degradation and marginalization

Environmental change: why and Land degradation, long how? blamed on marginal people, is put in its larger political and economic context

Environmental conflict

Environmental access: who and Environmental conflicts are why shown to be part of larger gendered, classed, and raced struggles and vice versa

Conservation and control

Conservation failures and political/economic exclusion: why and how?

Usually viewed as benign, efforts at environmental conservation are shown to have pernicious effects, and sometimes fail as a result

Environmental identity and social movement

Social upheaval: who, where, and how

Political and social struggles are shown to be linked to basic issues of livelihood and environmental protection

Source Robbins (2004), p. 14

Relevance

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were evolved around a shared set of concepts. Local political ecology, for recognizing the context, sharply focus towards local decision-making (Warren et al. 2001). Ecological anthropology, as a stream of political ecology, proposed by anthropologist Steward (1972), that introduced new possibilities for comparative analysis of the relationships between human and environment, through explaining cultural similarities considering similar environments, subsistent patterns and economic arrangement. Ecosystems-cybernetics, closely linked to cultural ecology, stems from important connections between community ecology and new explorations of cybernetics and system theories, which derived from the theory of machines and from artificial intelligence developed particularly during second world war (Bateson 1972; Odum 1971). Another approach led scholars to realize that disaster prevention, preparations for it, and response to it were highly political. During the post war development phase, sociologists and geographers conducted survey research, cognitive studies and behavioral investigations to understand why individual misperceived, ignored or responded in diverse ways to environmental threats—tornadoes, earthquakes, floods and other kinds of natural hazards. (Watts 2002). Much of these works, drew on organic analogies of adaptation and response, but it was also sensitive to cultural perceptions and to questions of organizational capacity and access and availability of information. Since 1990s, issues like, ethnic identities, gender roles and relations, involvement of institutions, governance apparatuses, political involvement, and other social factors have been started to consider within the scope of political ecology for developing knowledge and analyzing decisions and actions (Paulson et al. 2003). Being an interdisciplinary academic field, political ecology is a powerful tool that can link social changes with environment and development. Especially one of its approaches responses to disaster as a highly political issue. It shows how disasters are neither natural nor neutral (Huber et al. 2017). Emphasizing the social part of a disaster, it demands a discourse on the co-production of society and nature that needs to look closer at how disparities of power and knowledge shape this socio-natural nexus (Nixon 2014). It allows to understand why individual misperceived, ignored or responded in diverse ways to environmental threats—tornadoes, earthquakes, floods and other kinds of natural hazards (Watts 2002).

4 Understanding Planning Paradigms in the Disaster Context Disaster can be identified as the failure of mainstream ‘development’ (Rashid and Khan 2013), where genuine development is considered as much more than a matter of economic progress only (Slim 1995). The ‘development’ as ‘external actors’ initiative triggers the process of adaptation for achieving resilience (Cannon and Muller-Mahn 2010), as the ultimate target. Development, in this view, is the process of adaptation that expands human freedoms, and the assessment of development has to be informed

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by this consideration. Sen (1984) not only expected to acquire freedom from poverty, rather it was expected to ‘be’ and ‘do’, to ‘function’, to achieve desirable outcomes. Addressing the risk of disasters in any national development planning agenda has become a global commitment. The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005–2015 (UNISDR 2005), adopted by 168 nations and international organizations, highlighted the mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction (Khailani and Perera 2013). Similarly, the Sendai Framework of Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, aims to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risk through the implementation of integrated and inclusive economic, structural, legal, social, health, cultural, educational, environmental, technological, political and institutional measures that prevent and reduce hazard exposure and vulnerability to disaster, increase preparedness for response and recovery, and thus strengthen resilience (UNISDR 2015, p. 12).

This means considering all possibilities of disasters in every development policy, planning and project, so that the chances of disasters can be reduced and at the same time, community resilience can be enhanced. The systematic and practiced approaches of planning consider all types of disaster as uncertain events and planning for natural disasters is broadly defined as ‘planning under uncertainty’ (Christensen 1985) or ‘planning for uncertainty’ (Kartez and Lindell 1987). This concept is still valid for planning for disaster risk reduction, where planning offers a chance to overcome, or at least reduce uncertainty, by matching planning processes to problem characteristics. It is not enough to assess ‘what planners do’, it requires an articulation of a rich political and inter-subjective analysis of planners’ deliberative practices. Until 1970, planning was used to follow the rational paradigm that asks experts or planners to select the ‘best’ solution, identifying and defining the problem, fixing goals and objectives, preparing lists of all possible options to solve the problem, evaluating possible consequences of every option (Berke and Beatley 1992). Kartez and Lindell (1987) define it as a good planning process to find out the best ‘choice’ for addressing any uncertain event like a disaster, considering community experiences as information for future planning. Improved disaster preparation results from both experiences with disasters and from commitment to a good planning process (Kartez and Lindell 1987). However, for managing disasters as uncertain events, Mileti (1999) proposes a five-step strategy: assessing hazard vulnerabilities; examining possible adjustments; determining the human perception and estimating hazards; analyzing the decision-making process; and identifying the best adjustments, along with evaluating their effectiveness. This strategy is organized conceptually around the fourstage-cycle of disaster risk management: Prevent, Prepare, Response and Recover (PPRR). It is notable that Mileti (1999), suggests determining the human perception as a step for planning for development activities to manage disaster risks. The rational paradigm, also referred as the rational comprehensive model of planning, is criticized on the ground of thought process and reasoning of application (e.g., Heazle et al. 2013; Birkmann and Teichman 2010; Hostovsky 2006; Campbell and Fainstein 2003; Sandercock 1997; Baum 1996; Innes 1996; Alexander 1992; Forester 1989; Faludi 1973, Altshuler 1965a, b). For example, Altshuler (1965a, b)

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argues that comprehensive planning is not practically feasible, nor politically viable and comprehensive planners pose limited role, power and knowledge to prepare an effective comprehensive plan. Sandercock (1997) identifies that the rational comprehensive model of planning appears with the heroic nature of giving correct decisions in every aspect but fails to ask who is in control and with what consequences. Her concerns are that planners appear as ‘the knower’ with their best solutions for the public (Sandercock 1997). The rational paradigm is not only heroic in nature, but also it requires such a level of knowledge, analysis and organizational coordination that it is impossibly complex (Campbell and Fainstein 2003). It requires more knowledge than any individual can grasp. Hostovsky (2006) argues that only theoretically the rational paradigm may provide the ‘best’ solution for any planning problem, considering the widest variety of variables, but practically it is overly complex, redundant, time-consuming, and expensive. A community has the perception that includes information, ideas and interests for addressing any community problem. Without organizing people, the paradigm only encourages planners to organize information logically, as if the world consists of information only, without human beings. As a result, rationalist planners may recommend interventions that do not fit to the social conditions and harm people who might be helped (Baum 1996). Compatibly, Heazle et al. (2013) claim that a rational approach in disaster risk management expects accurate and sufficient information to successfully ‘prevent’ the disaster and ‘prepare’ for disaster, yet information is often missing or cannot be provided with the degree of certainty. Moreover, the ‘predict and act’ process of rational paradigm creates heavy dependency on hard empirical data of how, when, where and on what scale natural disasters are likely to occur and engineering solutions for them, and as a result it limits the scope for practicing adaptive institutional learning and nurturing other flexible alternatives (Heazle et al. 2013). Correspondingly, Birkmann and Teichman (2010) dispute that high expectations of resolving or reducing uncertainty issues to a low order, removes incentives to explore alternative approaches that seek to manage rather than reduce uncertainties. At the end of 1970s and during the 1980s, as the result of shifts towards marketled development, along with the rise of neo-liberal ideas, professional-oriented topdown rational planning approach was replaced by its opposite: bottom-up planning approach (Duménil and Lévy 2004; Campbell and Marshall 2000), suggesting to engage local community groups in which the planner was the servant of the public (Hall 2014). In this era, planning is expected to provide justice to everyone (Forester 2011; Leo and Forester 2017) in a given condition, where social, political, cultural and economic differences matter in terms of power-relationships. It is commonly identified as participatory planning (Monno and Khakee 2012; Hostovsky 2006) as an important means to expand democracy and improve the quality of decision making (Monno and Khakee 2012) to value community perceptions and their concerns. With the perspectives of agonistic-democracy and social mobilization, the radical/insurgent model of participating advocates to empower the marginalized groups so that the participatory process can work with conflict in productive ways (Aylett 2010).

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Scholars appreciate the concept of participatory planning for community development in any sector including disaster risk management. Holcombe et al. (2004) distinguish ‘development’ as an expanding choice and for empowering the community through building their capacities, it is required to be driven by the demand of those for whom development is the goal. It means development should be planned according to the demand (or priorities) of community in a participatory way. In a slightly different way, Thomas (1999) suggests that development should be managed with the intention to develop the capacities of any community to do future tasks and to learn from experiences. With a similar goal for local development, Forsyth (2013) promotes the idea of Community-Based Adaptation (CBA), where ideally, a local community, deliberating different sources of knowledge for more successful outcomes, becomes able to determine its goals of development and identify suitable means of adaptation. The success of CBA is difficult to achieve as the marginalized people cannot communicate in all required arenas; to overcome this problem, Forsyth (2013) advises the use of participatory techniques for getting more successful outcomes. In the same way, Alkire et al. (2001) recommend Community-driven Development (CDD) that suggests to empower the community with necessary knowledge and resources so that it can take control over the decision-making process. Norris et al. (2008) prioritize the enhancement of community resilience based on an overall plan that incorporates decision-making skills of locals to deal with an unknown situation. Involvement of beneficiaries and wider communities in the process of development leads to more sustainable outcomes (Cannon 2008). They can feel ownership of the development process and can carry out the process later (Lawther 2009). This develops community capacities as members’ ability to take collective, deliberate and meaningful actions to solve problems through interpreting environment, intervening in the environment and moving forward (Pfefferbaum et al. 2005). Ghimire and colleagues (2010) do not support the trend of portraying poor people as victims, believing that with the right support, they can take responsibilities to find out solutions. Science may help them to understand themselves as part of the problems and as part of the solution (Ghimire et al. 2010). Participation of community members in the planning process, especially in the decision-making process, is the key concept of a bottom-up approach of participatory planning and it promises to reflect the community perception about community resilience in any disaster risk management planning activity. There are criticisms about the participatory planning paradigm. Rose (1996) and Hostovsky (2006) identify the participatory planning practice as time consuming, expensive and simple rhetoric as this depoliticizing new way of oppression is able to reproduce dominant hierarchies of power, embedded in a wide variety of neoliberal political agendas (Kesby 2005; Rose 1996). These criticisms constrain the idea of applying the participatory planning approach for disaster risk management. Along with the radical/insurgent model of the participatory planning paradigm, there are other forms of participatory paradigms, which intend to overcome their criticism, such as communicative or collaborative planning, that engages different stakeholders to engage in dialogue to discover goals and objectives in a collaborative way (Healey 2008, 1992), which often turns into a token of participation. The advocacy movement

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of the 1970s resulted several approaches that allows effective participation of disadvantaged groups (Monno and Khakee 2012). The advocacy and equity model and the social learning and communicative action model were evolved to have lessons direct from the beneficiary groups. The equity planning model encourages planners to reconcile the conflicting goals of economic development, social justice, and environmental protection (Sandercock 1997). Friedman (1987) argues that various ways of engaging beneficiary groups (community members/disadvantaged groups/marginalized groups) in the planning tradition intends to have social learning to overcome the constrains between theory and practice or knowing and acting. He also supports the idea of social mobilization as an ideology of the dispossession of power, with the goal to empower those who have been systematically disempowered. Empowerment is the final stage of participation; inclusion of community in development process ultimately empowers them. Correspondingly, Holcombe et al. (2004) think that development should be done with goals of empowerment and capacity building, whereas power of decision making is a capacity. This power of decision making, originally belonging to planners or experts (in a top-down planning approach), needs to be transferred (Moniruzzaman 2011) to the community people. But in the context of externals’ interventions for development the involvement of external actors like, planners or experts is unavoidable. Because of the static condition in power-relationship, Miraftab (2009) finds that, participatory planning often fails to empower and emancipate the marginalized. On the other hand, the rational paradigm is still not completely abandoned because of the presence of professionals, their formal education system, the presence of institutions and their ways of practice as external interventions (Baum 1996; Dalton 1986). The rational model is portrayed as the tacit model of social relationships of hierarchy and it offers a ready, unconscious defense against the diversity and messiness of the real world (Baum 1996). Even in the case of involvement of non-governmental organizations (NGO) which is usually considered as the source of alternative developments, follows a linear model of rational planning (Thomas 2008). NGOs are often promoted as ‘magic bullets’, with aid agencies and the governments of the industrialized West asserting that NGOs are able to address the problems of the Third World (Vivian 1994). Where communities and local governmental organizations lack capacity to solve their problems independently, NGOs may be able to assist, particularly as they may have access to expert knowledge and experience in complex settings (Brinkerhoff 2003). However, this external support tends to impose constraints on recipient communities, and NGOs may be resistant to innovation in their practices because of the perseverance of the traditional aid paradigm and thereby provide a ‘security blanket’ for current practice (Edward 2008). This applies to current components of aid reform, including the modified version of Millennium Challenge Accounts, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, and International Finance Facilities, as well as historic initiatives. ‘Democratic development paradigm’ as an alternative, followed by NGOs, promotes the participation (from representation to empowerment) of marginalized groups in such a way that can make these groups able to influence policy for making it beneficial to their conditions, leading over time to poverty reduction and finally to sustainable human development (Thomas 2008). In several cases NGOs operate their

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projects of intervention in the Third World countries (Bebbington et al. 2008) who have colonial pasts in Africa, Latin America, Oceania and Asia, prioritizing the fields of democracy, rights, empowerment, participation, poverty and livelihoods (Craig and Porter 2006). Similarly, consensus building, as a method of group deliberation, ensures an environment where all are heard, and all concerns are taken seriously for making decisions that approximate the public interest (Innes 1996 and 1995). Collaborative rationally (Innes 2016), as another interpretation of communicative rationally (Dryzek 1990; Innes 1995), is growing as a practice to ensure collaborations among agencies, between government officials and community members, among members of different interests and to seek ways to satisfy the significant concerns of each member, based on both expert knowledge and community knowledge (Innes 2016). Leo and Forester (2017) define it as a ‘practice-focused’ method where experts and citizens shares their knowledge, practicing a mutual respect to each other. The dichotomy of ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ planning is blurred here because of mutual dependency and empowered positions of all stakeholders. This deliberative practice promises to overcome the precariousness and vulnerabilities of trust and relationship building, through anticipating and responding to every stakeholder’s interpretations, biases, ideologies, and presumptions (Leo and Forester 2017). But it requires a balanced power-relationship among stakeholders and does not provide enough practical ideas to practice these concepts (consensus building, collaborative planning, communicative rationally) where stakeholders are not having equal power to make significant changes in decision and at some level where it is not possible to include the actual beneficiaries to take any decision.

5 Conclusion Enhancing community resilience is necessary to eliminate the vulnerability of risk factors, but scholars have different opinions about defining the properties of community resilience and ways of developing or enhancing community resilience to deal with any kind of disaster incident. Community resilience is not only combinations of tangible properties, but also includes intangible properties, like knowledge, skills and experiences as well as socio-political, socio-cultural, and psychological aspects. Along with getting the new dimension in their perceptions about community resilience, a community also gets an idea about how this change in the environment affects its resilience. The consequences (either positive or negative) of development interventions are associated with approaches or paradigms, followed in the planning process. The rational planning paradigm with a realist view considers the hazard as something that may happen in the future and detailed information about this future event can be availed easily. The structured planning curriculum, formed with both higher education and professional development forums, follows the top-down, knowledgebased rational model with a determination of managing the whole scenario with suitable structural (engineered infrastructures) and nonstructural (land-use and zoning

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regulations, early warning system etc.) measures of mitigation. Because of the limitation of hard empirical data of how, when, where and on what scale hazards are likely to occur, and over-expectation about the performance level of engineered infrastructures and ignorance about their negative impacts on nature, this approach may indulge the population and thus expose them to great risks. Moreover, the high expectations of reducing hazard impacts or eliminating the chance of hazard make the local people dependent on the authority or external bodies and more vulnerable, with fewer self-defense mechanisms. The participatory planning paradigm attempts to include the local people into the planning process, as the local people have practical experiences of dealing with previous flood events and they are the ultimate beneficiaries of the planning outcome. Ernstson et al. (2010), Wamsler (2004) and Godschalk (2003) have pointed out the importance of a community participatory approach in planning and the utilization of community perceptions for enhancing inherent resilience towards adversities. The scholars have various observations about the level of inclusion or community participation, especially with transferring power from the professionals to the local (Moniruzzaman 2011). Ideally, this framework aims to empower the marginalized groups, so that they can make decisions according to their priorities about their own future and move on. But, in practice, it is hard for the institute and professionals to operate in such a way where actual decision-making power transfers to locals and when we are talking about transferring, it means the power originally belongs to the professionals or external bodies. In some cases, the external bodies may provide a niche for the local people to convey some opinions, or professionals may provide some alternatives (along with their knowledge-based pros and cons) and local people may get chance to select one. How the local people make decisions for their own welfare is also a major concerned issue. The professionals go through a structured academic process, follow prescribed guidelines, get ideas from empirical data and compare events to make any decision. If these professionals work as facilitators to facilitate the locals to make their decisions, there might be a chance of manipulation and influence. Moreover, local people fail to consider the issues beyond their local interest and may face difficulties to perceive the bigger picture of planning for national growth or reducing negative environmental impacts. Although the idea of ‘bottom up’ denies the rational paradigm, its persistence puzzles the planners (Rocha 1997; Hoch 1994; Dalton 1986). To express the core of the dilemma, Baum (1996) says: Planners continue to endorse at least the spirit of the rational analytic model, not only because it supports claims of professional status, but also because it emphasizes the fundamental principles of guiding actions by knowledge. p. 133

Community resilience is linked to improve adaptive capacities of a community or a process that is linked to dynamic changes over time, associated with community learning and the willingness of communities to take responsibilities and the control of their development pathways (Wilson 2010). Re-conceptualizing the community perception shifts the pedagogical debate towards the rich engagement multiple planning practices through an appropriate analytical lens. Here, the core

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agenda of enhancing community resilience needs to face the politics of top-down versus bottom-up approach, professionals’ knowledge versus traditional knowledge, and structural versus non-structural mitigation measures, along with environmental issues. The strong presence of socio-economic politics and concerns for environments supports the post-positivist concept of ‘political ecology’. The post-positivist planning paradigms, like incrementalism, give up the quest for complete knowledge as the basis of planning and will accept planners’ as well as beneficiaries’ inability to know all about complex political and ecological issues. It demands to practice a rational mix of multiple paradigms; Heazle and colleagues (2013) propose to deal with disaster risk management in such a way that will Explicitly recognize uncertainties; (ii) Address questions about what we realistically can or do know about current and future hazards; and (iii) Explore the available options for progressively enhancing resilience over the short to medium term. An adaptive approach, therefore, should seek to learn about priorities and vulnerabilities progressively with each new event in order to incrementally enhance resilience. p. 169

The planning approach is yet to mature in the disciplinary growth of disaster management. The field is usually handled by UN agencies, INGOs, local NGOs in partnership with the governmental wing. The ‘political ecology’ as a theoretical concept significantly allows to understand the social dimension along with environmental ones in case of enhancing community resilience. Community perceptions of resilience and vulnerability are linked to condition of their surrounding environment and socio-economic conditions and colored by their awareness of both positive and negative consequences of externally supported mitigation measures. Achieving resilience requires communities to experience developments as adaptation which will ultimately be able to reduce vulnerability. Such development will enhance resilience through providing freedom, reducing sources of ‘unfreedom’, being those conditions, which hinder aspects of desired lives. Prioritizing freedom should therefore be prioritized in any development program as not only the end but also the means of achieving resilience.

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Dr. Chowdhooree has been employed as an Assistant Professor in the Post Graduate Programs in Disaster Management and in the Department of Architecture of BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. As an academic with interests in disaster risk reduction and architecture, he teaches courses on disaster preparedness, emergency response and recovery, humanitarian assistance, building for disaster and building technologies. In 2018 he has received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Queensland University of Technology, Australia. He acquired the degree of Master of Urban and Regional Planning, as well as, his professional degree in Architecture from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. He also received the Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2010. From the same university he finished the graduate certificate program in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. He was recognized as a Young Scientist involved in disaster management research by Irrigated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) in 2017.

Lessons Learned from Interventions of External Organizations in Disaster Management: A Case Study of Floods in Kalutara, Sri Lanka W. K. D. Rathnayake and Chandana Siriwardana

Abstract In 2016, 2017 and 2018, Sri Lanka witnessed extreme rains that triggered flooding in many districts. The number of victims of 2018 flood was around 150,000 which shows a significant decrease compared to the events of 2016 and 2017 where the affected population were 340,000 and 700,000 respectively. Several external organizations provided their supports via funding, relief and rehabilitation mechanisms during these consecutive disasters. It needs to evaluate current Disaster Management Mechanisms, practiced in Sri Lanka, to investigate the involvement of external organizations, as well as how well these organizations perform within the existing mechanism. This research conducted a survey in Kalutara, a flood-prone area in the Western province of Sri Lanka. Further, it explored the behaviour of local communities, using Hofstede insights, humanitarian involvement in disaster management framework, involvement of external organizations, and then evaluated the effectiveness of external organizations’ involvements in different disaster management stages. This chapter finds that Sri Lanka does well in the emergency response stage within the disaster management process, due to the involvement of external organizations, even though their scopes of getting involved at the decision-making level is not significant. Keywords Emergency response · Flood · Sri Lanka · External organizations · Hofstede insights

1 Introduction Sri Lanka, a tropical island situated between latitudes 5° and 10° N, and longitudes 79° and 82° E in the Indian Ocean has a weather that is very sensitive to changes in the Bay of Bengal. The climate of Sri Lanka is dominated by topographical W. K. D. Rathnayake · C. Siriwardana (B) Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka e-mail: [email protected] W. K. D. Rathnayake e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_2

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features, as well as the Southwest (May—September) and Northeast (December— February) monsoons. Other than those two monsoons, Sri Lanka experiences first inter (March—April) and second inter (October—November) monsoon seasons. The overall monsoonal wind patterns, as well as their changes depend on the behavior pattern of the Bay of Bengal (Department of Meteorology—Sri Lanka 2016). Most of Sri Lankan natural hazards are hydro-meteorological hazards, such as, floods, high winds, landslides, etc.; among which flood is the most predominant. Since 1965, due to floods, 224,760 houses have been damaged, whereas 128,705 houses have been damaged due to high winds and, 105,293 houses due to tsunami and 14,761 houses due to landslides. Extenuation actions have been taken in recent times by pertinent authorities to reduce flood risks (De Silva and Jayathilaka 2014). The main reason of having floods in three consecutive years—2016, 2017 and 2018 is the heavy rainfall in May. Besides natural disasters like floods, Sri Lanka has been suffered from a civil war which lasted for about thirty years. This long history of communal disturbance and social unrest has influenced community relationships. It is important to understand the nature of cultural behavior of Sri Lanka to understand the involvement of different organizations (International SOS 2019). Human–Human (H–H) interactions, as well as Human–Institution (H–I) interactions generate positive, as well as negative impacts on the disaster management process, depending on the context. Sometimes organizations are formed within the affected community and sometimes organizations are formed by the external bodies to assist affected communities. These two types of organizations generate two different contexts of interactions. This research identifies external elements as institutions, people or organizations that work as parts of the system only while the community is in a disturbed condition, like, facing a flood. This research aims to deal with external organizations which are non-governmental in nature and get involved in the disaster management system. A number research have been conducted in the areas of social networking (Shehara et al. 2019), evacuation planning (Jayasiri 2018), coastal hazard mitigation (Jayasiri 2018), and community resilience measurement approach (Perera et al. 2018), to understand involvements of various organizations in the disaster management process, evaluating the effectiveness of the process and identifying gaps within the process. With similar notions, based on the flood 2018 at Kaluatara, Sri Lanka, the current research intends to answer following research questions: • Is the process capable to be benefitted by external organizations? • How well do these external organizations perform within the disaster management process?

2 Background The background of this research is formed with four issues and a thorough literature review is conducted to understand the issues

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1. Assessing social and cultural dimensions of Sri Lanka that identify key facts which influence the community relationships, regarding the formation and operation of external organizations in Sri Lanka. Hofstede insights (Hofstede et al. 2010; Hofstede 2001) on cultural dimensions are used to identify and compare the situation of Sri Lanka. 2. Exploring Humanitarian involvements in disaster management. 3. Understanding Sri Lankan disaster management framework and policies 4. Exploring mechanisms of external organizations for responding towards disasters The above-mentioned issues are comprehensively discussed in the following sections. 1. Hofstede insights on social and cultural dimensions—Country Comparison Hofstede insights (Hofstede et al. 2010; Hofstede 2001) are employed to understand the cultural behaviour of Sri Lanka. Hofstede insights are comprised of six dimensions: Power distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty avoidance, Long term orientation, and Indulgence. There is currently no value for measuring the Indulgence of Sri Lanka. Hence other five values of Sri Lanka are illustrated and analysed by comparing against three other nations: India, Japan, and Indonesia (Regional countries with frequent hazard profiles) (Fig. 1). Sri Lanka has a higher power distance (80) which indicates a structured hierarchical society which has distinct social norms for each social stratum. Hence, usually the power is centralized, and it is expected to dictate the lower levels in all aspects. During the case study, it is observed how the communities usually perceive the managing recovery phase of disasters (like, floods) as a responsibility of the government, where they expect that the government will aid to build back and recover in the long term. Collectivist social behaviour of the community is indicated by a low score of 35, in the individualism dimension. It indicates that everyone takes care of each other within

Fig. 1 Hofstede Insights compare values of Sri Lankan culture in five dimensions with those values of Indonesia, India and Japan. (Geert Hofstede et al. 2010; Geert Hofstede 2001)

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a community. The masculine culture is focused on values such as money, success and competition for dominance and power, whereas a feminine society is focused on being (Hofstede 2001). The very low score of masculinity indicates the society as a feminine society that is supportive, caring and leadership oriented. With a score of 45, Sri Lanka does not indicate a strong preference in the uncertainty avoidance dimension which means, the drive for long term planning and implementation is low. These dimensions indicate the strong connection between people and community and identify the society as a highly hierarchical collectivist society. 2. Humanitarian involvements in disaster management Since 1950s, the frequency of either natural or man-made hazards has been increased exponentially and the capability position issue has become the desired tactic for coordinating with emergency humanitarian logistical complications. Chawis and colleagues (2017) propose a precise and experiential process to overcome this challenge. It surveys the capability location problem that is connected to emergency humanitarian logistics, built on both data displaying types and problem types and inspect the pre and post-disaster situations with admiration to facility location, such as the location of delivery centres, warehouses, shelters, debris elimination sites and health centres. Here an algorithm is developed to improve humanitarian logistical supports. The survey examines four key problems: deterministic capacity location difficulties, dynamic capacity location difficulties, stochastic capacity location difficulties, and robust capacity location difficulties. For each difficulty, facility location type, data demonstrating type, disaster type, conclusions, purposes, constraints, and solution methods are evaluated and real-world applications and case studies are offered. Cavdur and colleagues (2016) measure the problem of brief disaster response facility portion for the temporary or short-term disaster relief process, propose a solution and demonstrate it with an earthquake case study in Turkey. A two-stage stochastic platform is established for solving the problem of minimizing the total distance travelled, the unmet claim and the total number of facilities (bearing in mind the potential problems to contact the facilities), where facility allotment and provision conclusions are performed in the first and second stages, correspondingly (Cavdur et al. 2016). An earthquake case study established by the Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (typically mentioned as AFAD in Turkey) was used to test their prototype. They castoff five different situations, each demonstrating a dissimilar after-disaster state (i.e. time, traffic conditions etc.), with its specific probability of occurrence, to model the mandate uncertainty for relief supplies. They first solved the deterministic model for each scenario, and then, the equivalent stochastic program. In addition to the demarcated objectives of the model, the quality of each solution was analysed in terms of mediocre walking distance, demand fulfilment rate and average facility consumption. According to (Rajakaruna et al. 2017), logistic skills (the ability to arrange and deliver necessary requirements) are the basic requirement for employment and career development within the Humanitarian Logistics (HL) field. These skill-requirements might be changed in terms of various logistic functions, groups and cultures. At the

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same time, the increased amount of global disasters is adding to challenges that are adversely affecting the HL supply chain. Skills of logisticians are therefore necessary to effectively accomplish the supply chain in a disaster condition (Rajakaruna et al. 2017). In the Sri Lankan context, it is vital to study the area of HL, considering issues like, unplanned relief distribution and organizational coordination gaps that are being met afterwards the disasters. Several researches have been carried out to find out skills of humanitarian logisticians at the global level. However, to date, there has been a narrow discussion on the abilities of humanitarian logisticians in the Sri Lankan humanitarian arena. As Hofstde insights highlight, the collectivistic society of Sri Lankans usually assist their fellow community members in case of any emergency. Therefore, every time a disaster hits, during the emergency management phase, community members naturally depend on each other to overcome their difficulties. On the other hand, they expect the government to intervene during the disaster recovery phase. It is essential to check whether this nature has been acknowledged in the policy and whether enough assistance is provided accordingly or not. 3. Disaster management framework of Sri Lanka There are several policies and legal frameworks that defines and facilitates the disaster management process of Sri Lanka, which has been developed in the following sequence. • Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Fund Act, No. 48 of 1993: used to provide reliefs and rehabilitations to victims. • Disaster Management Act No. 13 of 2005: provides the institutional structure, governs the disaster management structure and defines the National Council for Disaster Management (NCDM) and Disaster Management Centre (DMC). • National Disaster Management Policy: prepared in 2010 according to the Hyogo Framework for Action. • Ministry of Finance and Planning—Budget Circulars No. 152 (I) (II) and (III): issued in 2013 and 2014: to mitigate the duplication of funding. • National Disaster Management Plan: prepared for 2013–2015. Provides guidance to the formulation of the disaster management plans in all levels of administration. • National Emergency Operations Plan: provides guidelines for emergency preparedness (2015). • Sri Lanka Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme: the action plan for 2014–2018. • National Adaptation Plan for Climate Change Impacts of Sri Lanka: prepared for 2018–2025 in line with United Nations Framework on Climate Change. • Sri Lanka Disaster Management Plan: prepared in accordance with the Sendai Framework for the years 2018–2030. (Jayasiri 2018; Siriwardana et al. 2018) The National Council for Disaster Management was established as the supreme body for managing disaster situations and was mandated from the 2005 Sri Lanka Disaster Management Act.

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Overall policies and institutional structures indicate the centralized and umbrella behaviour of the disaster management framework (Shehara et al. 2019) (Figs. 2 and 3). But, the voluntary organizations and external organizations, which also work for disaster management, are not accommodated within this governmental process. 4. Involvement of external organizations in disaster management Though the disaster management process formally does not include external organizations, these organizations operate within the process in various ways. “Shramadana”, identified as a cultural behavior, is practiced in Sri Lanka and has significant contributions for the operation of external organizations (Clark 2005). “Shramadana” allows people to voluntarily work with full dedication for any public purpose. Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne started a movement in Sri Lanka, named as “Sarvodaya Shramadana” through establishing “Sarvodaya”, an organization where this practice of “Shramadana” was structured and institutionalized for its effective use. The first camp on “shramadana” was conducted in 1958. At present “Sarvodaya” is the largest nongovernmental, locally funded organization in Sri Lanka, contributing in three sectors: Growth and Development, Well trained workforce and Emergency relief (Perera

Fig. 2 Upstream institutional structure of the disaster management in Sri Lanka (MDM 2019)

DMC

Provincial Councils

District Secretariats

Local AuthoriƟes

Grama Niladaries

Line Departments

Village Task

Fig. 3 DMC onwards disaster management structure in Sri Lanka (MDM 2019)

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1995). Next to this well-established organization, there are organizations which have been started by the youth of Sri Lanka. International Movement for Community Development (IMCD) is one of such social service organizations, which was started with local funds and now is working even in the international arena. Currently 1200 volunteers are working here; it is collaborating with 74,000 donors, including corporate bodies and it has conducted 85 events from which 74,000 recipients were benefitted (International Movement for Community Development 2019). Some corporate business giants, including mass media operators, network providers and apparel manufactures get involved in aid and relief distribution and disaster risk reduction programs, as their corporate social responsibility (Dissanayake et al. 2016; Ariyabandu and Hulangamuwa 2002). “Dialog”, a leading mobile network, has funded several research programs, collaborated with the Disaster Management Center (DMC) and invested to develop a mobile app, named DEWN (Disaster Management Emergency Network) (DEWN 2019). It is the first mobile based disaster alert mechanism of Sri Lanka. The University of Moratuwa is also involved in this project as the research partner (Shehara et al. 2019). Other types of external organizations are international donors, such as Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Monitory fund and World Bank. Additionally, International Red Cross works at the grass root level through providing expert knowledge, finance and aids (Goonatilake 2006).

3 Methodology and Case Study Area This research aims to identify involvement of external organizations within the disaster management processes, considering its legal frameworks, institutional involvement and impactful parameters with respect to floods, via a desk studybased literature review (Fig. 4). A questionnaire survey is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the disaster management framework.

Fig. 4 The research diagram

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Fig. 5 Vulnerable population percentages of Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts of Sri Lanka (“Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka,” 2019)

For the administrative purposes, the land area of Sri Lanka is divided into 9 provinces where each of these provinces consists of few districts and in total there are 25 districts. Based on severity, occurred due to the May flood recently, the Western province was chosen to study. The Western province contains three districts: Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara. Figure 5 illustrates the percentage of victim population of three districts. As the most affected district (38.54%), more specifically Kalutara district was chosen for this study. Figure 6 illustrates the impact in terms of proportions of victims of Kalutara district, based on District Secretariat (DS) divisions (the smallest administrative unit). As indicated in Fig. 6, four DS divisions: Madurwala, Palindanuwara, Dodangoda and Bulathsinhala had higher percentage of victims, which was more than 50%. This research exertion focusses on those four DS divisions as indicated in the Fig. 7. 40 respondents from each DS division participated in the questionnaire survey. The questionnaire survey is conducted based on the evaluation framework stated in Table 1 (Rathnayake et al. 2018). The disaster condition is divided here into three stages: Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) stage, Emergency Response stage and Recovery stage (Piper 2017). Each stage compiles some facts and facts are affected by identified attributes. Each attribute generates a tangible dimension for each fact, mentioned in the table. From overall data, the effectiveness of each fact, as well as the effectiveness of each stage is calculated (Rathnayake et al. 2018).

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Fig. 6 Percentages of affected population from total population in each DS division of Kalutara District: (Kalutara District Secretariat Office 2018)

4 Results External organizations are non-governmental organizations, which get involved in the disaster management system. In the case study area, through the questionnaire survey, it is found that external organizations usually get involved in four areas: providing humanitarian assistance (especially emergency aids), evacuation assistance, early recovery assistance, and search and rescue services. Collected data are evaluated to check the effectiveness of both governmental organizations and external organizations, in case of humanitarian involvement in each phase of disaster. Additionally, two types of conditions are considered: with involvements of external organizations and without involvements of external organizations. Following four sections describe the parameters, used for evaluating four areas where external organizations were involved. 1. Providing humanitarian assistance This value was generated from the responses to questions: “Did any NGO (external organization) or GO aid during floods?” and “Were the assistance you received Not enough/Enough/Too much?” As per the Table 1, two questions evaluate the attributes of “Involvement” and “Effectiveness” of the provision of humanitarian assistance. From the collected responses, the effectiveness was calculated by giving a weightage of 0.5 to both the attributes and combining the satisfaction levels of recipients. The effectiveness of assistance of 93% was calculated using the above-mentioned process. The overall weightages and the results are presented on Rathnayake et al. 2018.

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Fig. 7 Sri Lanka and locations of the Survey—The focused DS divisions

Red Cross and Sarvodaya are two main nongovernmental external organizations which provided humanitarian assistance in terms of providing aids. Mass media operators were also involved within the disaster management system in the case study area. Yet the highlighted and impactful contribution was from the aid’s coordination mechanism from the District Secretariat Office. The coordination mechanism was in place to combine the provision assistance from all involved organizations. This result indicates that the external organizations such as Red Cross, Sarvodaya and small scale community based organizations such as organizations based for small scale loan schemes, funerals have a higher level of interaction at the grass root level, through distributing aids and have a very little to no interaction in decision making level for coordinating the aid-distribution. The governmental organizations play the highest level of interactions in the decision-making level, as well as play roles at the grass root level for distributing aids. These observations are used to develop the conceptual illustration (Fig. 8) on the context of people and institutional behavior. A comprehensive description of the Fig. 8 is provided in the findings section.

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Table 1 Evaluation Framework to access the effectiveness of disaster management framework (Rathnayake et al. 2018) Stage

Fact

Attribute

Question

DRR stage

1. Early warning

Time

How many days ahead were you notified about the flood?

Mode

Were any of the following medias involved? Newspaper/TV/Radio/Social Media

Reliability

Was the news you received credible?

Accuracy

In days, how accurate was the news you received?

Past data

By the time of the flood, did you know the level of flood during the 2017 May flood?

Geological knowledge

By the time of the flood, did you know the safe locations?

Physical structure

By the time of the flood, did you know the evacuation route from the area?

Economic knowledge

By the time of the flood, were you aware about the unstable structures in the area?

Health knowledge

By the time of flood did you had an idea about impact on income method?

Activities

By the time of the flood, did you know about the health-related aspects of the flood?

Physical Development

Were any drills, seminars etc. conducted after the May 2017 flood?

Exposure

Were any development related activities carried out on drainage/water bodies around?

Necessity

Was there an increment in area/people exposed to the flood?

Time

Was it required to evacuate from your house during the flood?

Assistance

If yes, how long did it take to evacuate?

2. Information availability

3. Capacity building

Emergency response stage

4. Evacuation

(continued)

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Table 1 (continued) Stage

Fact

Attribute

Question

5. Search and rescue

Requirement

Was any assistance or guidance given to you during evacuation?

Involvement

Were you able to evacuate by yourself?

Time

If No, did you receive any outside help?

CBOs

How long did it take to get help?

Community leader

Did you have a community driven society to help each other during the flood?

Guidance

Have you experienced a situational leader/s emerge during the flood?

Involvement

At any point during the flood, did you receive instructions on what to do next?

Effectiveness

Did any NGO, GO help you get provisions during the flood?

6. Leadership and coordination

7. Provision of humanitarian assistance

8. Initial damage and needs Checking assessment

Recovery stage

9. Provision of early recovery assistance

10. Temporary accommodation and repair

11. Rebuilding houses and buildings

Provisions you received were, Not enough/Enough/To o much

Effectiveness

Did GN or a representative gather information from you?

Financial

Was there a follow-up on what was acquired?

Knowledge

After the disaster, did you receive any compensation?

Requirement

Was any assistance or guidance given to you on how to recover?

Fulfillment

Did you require any temporary accommodation?

Time

If yes, how long did it take to find one?

Money

How long did it take to rebuild any household damages? (continued)

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Table 1 (continued) Stage

Fact

Attribute

Question

12. Restoration of infrastructural services

Water

Was any monetary/nonmonetary support provided for rebuilding?

Electricity

How long did it take to access drinking water without provisions?

Accessibility

How long did it take to get uninterrupted electricity?

Economic

How long did it take to use the roads again?

Human

How long did it take to get back to your work/job after the flood?

Physical

Were any lives (Human + Animal) lost due to the flood?

13. Re-establishment of sustainable livelihoods

Fig. 8 People and institutional behavior and relations (Field-study 2019)

2. Evacuation External organizations were involved in the evacuation process while the governmental system failed to provide resources or run the system to assist local people to evacuate. As indicated in Table 1, the evacuation process was evaluated using

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three parameters: necessity, assistance and time of evacuation. External organizations employed their volunteers to assist locals to evacuate. From the survey it was identified that 40% of the participants received the early warning and yet 74% of them had the actual need to evacuate from their homes. But only 26% of those were able to evacuate successfully in case of flash flood conditions. 3. Provision of early recovery assistance Financial supports, as well as knowledge supports are necessary for providing early recovery assistance. External organizations usually provide various supports in this regard, like cleaning houses and wells, providing medical and health services, etc. It was found that the involvement of external organizations was high at the grass root level, whereas it was low at the decision-making level. As in the coordination of humanitarian assistance the early recovery assistance coordination was done from the Divisional Secretariat Office. The “Grama Niladhari” (Village Officer) conducted the initiation of work and overall delegation of the funds and distribution happened. The qualitative results from the survey highlighted the above-mentioned facts. 89% respondents expressed their satisfactions about the assistance they received in case of early recovery. According to them, united efforts of external organizations and government organizations made it possible to make the early recovery assistance effective. 4. Search and rescue Like evacuation when the governmental system failed to provide resources for search and rescue activities, external organizations got involved. Search and rescue activities were evaluated employing three parameters: requirement, involvement and time taken. Naval forces assisted in search and rescue activities. Even though Naval forces aren’t empowered from the disaster management governing policies of Sri Lanka (Hence they are an external organization) given that the importance of Naval forces in the safety of the country they have an influence on the top levels of decision making. This is a unique phenomenon observed from the survey. With the above understanding on external organizations’ involvement in “providing humanitarian assistance”, “evacuation”, “provision of early recovery assistance” and “search and rescue” the survey results were then analyzed to identify the effectiveness of government organizations’ involvement. • Effectiveness of involvement of Government Organizations There are three major numerical results from the report form the Kalutara District Secretariat Office about the government’s involvement in the disaster management process. Government officials attached to the District Secretariat Office conducted the post disaster evaluation, where 81% of affected community members were surveyed. 43% of them participated in the follow up survey and 86% of them received compensations, mainly for repairing their houses. (Kalutara District Secretariat Office 2018)

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From the survey conducted qualitatively observed that the governmental process is more inclined to support the latter part of disaster management process. In this scenario the government usually act as a facilitator of the system to neutralize the condition and achieve its undisturbed state. • Effectiveness of humanitarian involvement in each phase The overall effectiveness of each stage management in the case study area was recorded and calculated as follows. As mentioned in the methodology section (Table 1), each stage has facts to record the insights of each stage and attributes of each fact and the questionnaire survey result generates tangible quantitative records of these stages. The weighted values are prearranged and analyzed to generate the following effectiveness figures for each stage. A detailed presentation of the weighted values, attribute percentages and fact percentages were discussed in the Rathnayake et al. 2018. From the achieved fact percentages stage wise percentages calculated and results were as follows. • DRR Stage: 45.5% • Emergency Response stage: 59% • Recovery stage: 51%. The results are further analyzed, where different facts contributing to the overall effectiveness are removed from the data (where the hypothesis was to check the system behavior without the selected factor). When the external organization involvement factor is removed from the data following effectiveness figures for each stage was generated. Exclusion method was used here on every primary data set. From each of the data set any numerical illustration referred from external organizations to attribute was removed. Then the same weightages were used, and same calculation process was used as above. The results were as follows. • DRR Stage: 45.5% • Emergency Response Stage: 27% • Recovery Stage: 42%. Figure 9 illustrates the actual state and the figures, without involvements of external organizations. The overall effectiveness of the emergency response stage drops down from 59 to 27% when the external organization factor is removed from the data, whereas the DRR stage remains same and the recovery stage drops down from 51 to 42% as illustrated in Fig. 9. In the emergency response stage, all primary facts (evacuation, search and rescue, leadership and coordination, provision of humanitarian assistance), except Initial needs and damage assessment had involvements from external organizations. The drop in the numerical value proves the significance of involvements of external organizations in this stage. Without involvements of external organization, this stage would be less effective. The reason behind a drop in the recovery stage entirely depends on the fact of providing early recovery assistance. Only in that aspect the

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Fig. 9 Disaster Stage effectiveness (actual stage vs without involvements of external organizations) (Field-study 2019)

external organization do generate much contribution. In other aspects related to the recovery stage the external organizations’ involvement was minimum. Hence the drop-in value is only 9%.

5 Findings The major two findings are the conceptual illustration of people’s institutional behavior and the effectiveness of external organizations in the disaster management process of Sri Lanka. The conceptual illustration (Fig. 8), prepared based on Hofstede insights on Sri Lanka indicates the context of people, institutional behavior and their relations. Here the X axis indicates the level of interactions, the X–Z area ratio indicates the human institutional power delegation (in the top higher institutional area and lower human area shows minimum power delegation), the Y axis indicates the level of influence/power and the red color cone indicates people, whereas the outer transparent cone indicates the boundary of institutions. The slices (Green, Yellow) indicates organizations, Green—community-based organizations, Yellow— Government and governmental organizations. The width of a slice defines the level of interactions with the people from that level. As discussed in the result section, the illustration stages the nature of behavior, practiced in external and government organizations. Governmental organizations practice a higher level of interactions and influence the system at its higher level, whereas external organizations contribute more at the bottom level. It denotes that a community based voluntarily group like IMCD usually has a higher level of interactions at the grass root level, whereas its interactions at the decision-making level is insignificant. Similarly, the involvement of people and

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communities also gets decreased along the Y axis. This illustration also assists to understand the level of networking and the nature of coordination required among institutions, and between institutions and human (HI and II). From the effectiveness analysis calculation, it is evident that the involvement of external organizations is focused on the emergency response stage. Its success depends on the involvements of external organizations. As Rathnayake and colleagues (2018) stated, Sri Lankan disaster management process is highly effective in its emergency response stage and the credit goes to the external organizations.

6 Conclusions Sri Lanka poses a defined process where the disaster management system depends on its governmental administrative organogram. Organizations such as Red Cross, Sarvodaya, Military tri forces, and the electronic and print media often get involved at the grass-root level through collecting and distributing relief at the emergency response stage. Though the involvement of all kinds of external organizations including volunteering and corporate bodies is common, it is not structurally organized within the system nor the process consciously facilitates their involvement. Their involvements within the system always content the risk of disturbing the organized system and at the same time, their involvements are highly appreciated, especially in the emergency response stage, by the community. As of the current context of disaster management in Sri Lanka the emergency response stage stands out effectively because of the external organizations. It can be concluded that standardizing and including more governing mechanisms to facilitate the involvement of external organizations in Sri Lankan context can make the disaster management process convenient as indicated in the emergency response stage.

References Ariyabandu MM, Hulangamuwa P (2002) Corporate social responsibility and natural disaster reduction in Sri Lanka Cavdur F, Kose-Kucuk M, Sebatli A (2016) Allocation of temporary disaster response facilities under demand uncertainty: an earthquake case study. Int J Disaster Risk Reduction 19:159–166 Chawis B, Mikiharu A, Takumi A (2017) Facility location optimization model for emergency humanitarian logistics Clark J (2005) The gift of hope: Sarvodaya Shramadana’s good work. Capital Nat Social 16:97–105. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455750500108377 De Silva K, Jayathilaka R (2014) Gender in the context of disaster risk reduction; a case study of a flood risk reduction project in the Gampaha District in Sri Lanka. Proc Econ Finance 18:873–881 Department of Meteorology—Sri Lanka (2016) Climate of Sri Lanka [WWW Document]. http:// www.meteo.gov.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94&Itemid=310&lan g=en. Accessed 15 Sept 18

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DEWN—Disaster Management Emergency Network [WWW Document] (2019) http://dewn.dia log.lk/dewnportal. Accessed 14 Aug 19 Dissanayake D, Tilt C, Xydias-Lobo M (2016) Sustainability reporting by publicly listed companies in Sri Lanka. J Clean Prod 129:169–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.04.086 Goonatilake S (2006) Recolonisation: foreign funded NGOs in Sri Lanka. SAGE Publishing India Hofstede G (2001) Culture’s consequences: comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across Nations, 2nd edn. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks CA Hofstede G, Hofstede GJ, Minkov M (2010) Cultures and organizations: software of the mind. (Third Edition). McGraw-Hill IMCD—International Movement for Community Development [WWW Document] (2019) http:// imcds.org/. Accessed 14 Aug 19 International SOS (2019) Security overview international SOS country report Jayasiri GP (2018) Disaster management frameworks in Sri Lanka and its compliance with global standards Kalutara District Secretariat Office (2018) May 2018 Flood report. Kalutara MDM (2019) Organization structure of ministry of disaster mangement [WWW Document]. Minist. Disaster Manag. MDM Sri Lanka. http://www.disastermin.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_ content&view=article&id=85&Itemid=0&lang=en. Accessed 21 June 19 Perera J (1995) In unequal dialogue with donors: the experience of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement. J Int Dev 7:869–878. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3380070606 Perera C, Siriwardana CSA, Randil OPC (2018) Importance of community resilience measurement approaches with the change of climate in the field of disaster resilience and its applicability in the Sri Lankan context. International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment, Kandy, Sri Lanka Piper C (2017) The TorqAid disaster risk management (DRM) diagrammatic framework. Seven Key Diagrams Rajakaruna S, Wijeratne AW, Mann TS, Yan C (2017) Identifying key skill sets in humanitarian logistics: developing a model for Sri Lanka. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 24:58–65 Rathnayake K, Randil C, Siriwardana C (2018) Development of an evaluation framework to assess the efficiency of the disaster management framework of Sri Lanka. Presented at the ICSBE 2018, Kandy Shehara PLAI, Siriwardana CSA, Amaratunage D, Haigh R (2019) Application of social network analysis (SNA) to identify communication network associated with multi-hazard early warning (MHEW) in Sri Lanka. Presented at the MERCON 2019, Sri Lanka Siriwardana CS, Jayasiri GP, Hettiarachchi SSL (2018) Investigation of efficiency and effectiveness of the existing disaster management frameworks in Sri Lanka. Proc Eng 212:1091–1098

Mr. Kusal Rathnayake is a Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka on Civil Engineering. He is currently enrolled in the Master in Civil Engineering program at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Disaster management, risk mitigation and systematic holistic approach are key research areas of Mr. Rathnayake. Dr. Siriwardana is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering, with Project Management specialization from the University of Calgary, Canada. He holds a master’s degree in Civil Engineering, specialized in Coastal Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan with Monbukagakusho Scholarship. He is involved in multiple international projects funded by Erasmas+ (EU), EPSRC (UK) and GCRF (UK). Furthermore, he works with the Ministry of Health of Sri Lankan Government for its “Safe Hospitals” initiative and developed construction guidelines for controlling Dengue fever. He also works with multiple construction companies for improving their construction performance and productivity.

Dependency on External Supports: An Addition to Community Vulnerability Imon Chowdhooree, Les Dawes, and Mellini Sloan

Abstract In developing countries Non-governmental organizations (NGO) often get involved in development activities and provide supports for diminishing vulnerability through improving community capacities. Considering the context of involvement of NGOs, this research through studying two settlements in the Haor region of Bangladesh investigates the community resilience status, more specifically their current expectations from NGOs. Findings indicate that NGOs’ usual projects focus mainly on enhancing food security and eliminating poverty, targeting socio-economic and/or non-structural issues, whereas, communities from flood-prone Haor region prefer to have infrastructure-based development for ensuring permanent protection of their settlement from flood damages. NGOs’ regular projects or programs are small in scale and usually don’t enable communities to act independently now or in the future. Even after receiving external supports for extended periods, communities expect to receive further external supports for further development or improvement which can enhance their flood resilience level. In this way, the ‘incentive-induced development’, as an outcome of organized forms (organizational, technological and financial) of external supports, develops dependency on external supports among these communities. Identifying dependency on external supports is a new addition to community vulnerability. This research contributes to understanding risks and questions the usual practices of providing NGO supports to vulnerable communities.

I. Chowdhooree (B) Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] L. Dawes Civil & Environmental, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia e-mail: [email protected] M. Sloan Urban & Regional Planning, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_3

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Keywords Dependency · External supports · Incentive-induced development · Community vulnerability · Flood · Haor region · NGO

1 Introduction The concept of ‘disaster’ is associated with the term ‘hazard’ and ‘vulnerability’. A hazard turns into a disaster when a vulnerable community is severely affected by it and cannot recover without external assistance (Shaw et al. 2013). Cannon and Muller-Mahn (2010) posit that disasters are socially constructed events: the product of the impact of a natural hazard on people whose vulnerability has been created by social, economic and political conditions. Community resilience and community vulnerability are inversely related (Chowdhooree and Islam 2018). Development of disaster-resilient or disaster-resistant provides the safest possible community that we have the knowledge to design and build in a natural hazard context through minimizing its vulnerability (Chowdhooree and Islam 2018; Geis 2000). Niekerk (2007), argues for an effective disaster risk management that requires the participation of various sectors and disciplines of governance, the private sector, civil society, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, research institutions and institutions of higher learning. NGOs are usually considered as the source of alternative developments. They intend to operate projects of intervention in the Third World countries (Bebbington et al. 2008) who have colonial pasts in Africa, Latin America, Oceania and Asia. In the development context, the growing trend of partnership among government organizations (GO), non-government organizations (NGO) and donors successfully addresses seemingly unsolvable challenges of development (Chowdhooree and Islam 2018; Brinkerhoff 2003). A community is not always in a condition to solve its own problems, especially with the changing nature of disasters. Local governmental organizations of developing countries also usually face difficulties in dealing with disasters in general, due to inadequate knowledge and capabilities (Kusumasari et al. 2010). Their capacity is limited by financial and human resource scarcity (Pelling 2003). In that case, NGOs can fill the gap of public service with their experts’ knowledge and experiences, into particularly politically and socially difficult communities and regions (Chowdhooree and Islam 2018; Brinkerhoff 2003). The involvement of NGOs with their donor funded and government-supported projects for flood risk management also promises to enhance community flood resilience and community participation and empowerment is ideally advised to be incorporated in the whole process of development This ultimately brings a change in the life of a community and its surrounding environment. Considering the context of involvement of NGOs, it is rational to investigate the consequences of providing external supports to a community. Considering flood as the hazard-context, this study explores disparities of power and knowledge to understand the impacts of external supports on community vulnerability of the Haor region in Bangladesh. NGOs with their programs and projects

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have been playing roles in mitigating flood vulnerabilities and influencing community perceptions of resilience and vulnerability in this region since early 1990s. While NGOs have been active for more than two decades, it is valid to investigate the communities’ condition after receiving continuous supports from NGOs over a long period.

2 Context Bangladesh, one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world (DMB 2010), is vulnerable to climate stimuli (including both variability as well as extreme events) because of its low economic strength, inadequate infrastructure, low level of social development, lack of institutional capacity, and a higher dependency on natural resources (MoEF 2005). Two-thirds of the country is less than 5 meters above sea level, making Bangladesh one of the most flood-prone countries in the world (IFAD 2011), where some parts experience flood almost every year, causing considerable damages (Alam 2000). The Haor region in north-eastern Bangladesh, covering more than 24,000 km2 area, approximately 17% of the country’s land area (Alam and Hasan 2010), lies within the floodplains of the river Meghna, along with its several branches and tributaries (MoEF 2005). This tectonic depression contains permanent water bodies (which are also termed as haor), rivers, channels and streams, seasonally cultivable lands (locally known as beel) and artificial islands of settlements. The whole Haor region is a mosaic of wetlands and seasonally inundated lands (MoWR 2010) and annually turns into an almost uninterrupted large but shallow (depth 1.8 m to more than 3 m) waterbody (MoEF 2005). 12% area of the region accommodates over 19 million people (MoWR 2010) in several artificially elevated, isolated, island-like settlements of 10–200 families (anecdote). These settlements are at risk of being washed away or collapsing due to the effects of base-erosion, flash flood, and strong waves of the vast water body during the prolonged monsoon period (Anik and Khan 2012). Protecting the edges of the elevated base-ground of settlements from wave attacks is the main challenge for the households. Traditional structural mitigation measures for protecting edges, containing bamboo poles with layers of bamboo mat, filled with choila grass (Hemarthria compressa), piles of sandbags or bags of water hyacinth (Ichhoornia crassipes), planted or naturally grown vegetation boundary of mango-pine (Barringtonia acutangula) and karaj (Pongamnia pinnata) trees or any combination of these systems (Fig. 1) have been found to be ineffective (Alam and Hasan 2010). Several NGOs (e.g. Care Bangladesh, Concern Worldwide Bangladesh) provide financial and technical support to fortify the settlements with non-traditional structural mitigation measures; e.g. brick wall, concrete block wall (Fig. 2). Increased incidents of extreme weather associated with change in climatic variables (Field et al. 2012), deforestation of upstream areas, changes in cropping patterns (Alam and Hasan 2010) and gradual

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Fig. 1 Examples of traditional structural mitigation measures for protecting settlement edges (Field survey 2016)

Fig. 2 Examples of non-traditional mitigation measures for protecting settlement edges (Field survey 2016)

sinking of this tectonic depression (IFAD 2011) have been increasing Haor communities’ flood vulnerability, modifying the frequency, intensity, duration, and timing of flood events and thereby potentially compromising fortification infrastructures and undermining community flood resilience.

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3 Research Methodology This research employed an explanatory single context, multiple case study approach for studying settlements of the Haor region. Multiple settlements of this region have experiences of both flooding and involvement of external bodies for their development. Considering the objectives of this study and budget and time constraints, two settlements were selected from the sub-district of Itna of Kishoreganj district within the region: Nayahati of Sahila village and Nakusha-Dashkusha of Betegaon village (Fig. 3). As the map shows, two settlements are in close proximity to one another, although being on opposite sides of the river. These two settlements • are representative of the physical environment, geographical location and flood related vulnerabilities of the region; • possess different kinds of structural flood mitigation measures (traditional and non-traditional); • are comparable with each other in terms of land area, physical shape and household numbers; • are experienced with working with similar types of NGOs and similar types of projects and programs.

Fig. 3 GIS map showing the locations of tow case study settlements based on satellite images from October 2014 (Apollo mapping 2014)

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This research identified three NGOs which were active in the study area and conducted the background study through reviewing their available documents (project/program proposal report and project/program evaluation reports). Following document review, representative officials from those NGOs were interviewed to understand the engagement process with community members. The in situ data collection was conducted in 2016, employed a range of participatory tools, which included focus group discussions, transect walks, in-depth semi-structured interviews. As a second phase of data collection, the tool of pair-wise comparison was employed in 2018.

4 Settlement Development Profile 4.1 Nayahati While there is not a formal written history of the settlement, the research team was able to reconstruct a loose narrative from the focus groups. The total land area of 10471 m2 or 2.59 acres accommodates between 190 and 200 families (around 325 persons per acre). The researcher observed multiple types of flood protection measures in place, including both traditional and non-traditional fortifications. Traditional measures included the use of piled sandbags reinforced with bamboo poles and layers of bamboo mat, choila grass (Hemarthria compressa) and or bags of water hyacinth (Ichhoornia crassipes). Community members reported that these measures were generally re-installed every year in anticipation of the start of the flooding season. Loose plantations of planted mango-pine (Barringtonia acutangula) and karaj (Pongamnia pinnata) trees were also used for stabilization of soil to prevent erosion during flood events. Participants acknowledged the insufficiency of the traditional measures and expressed frustration over the financial investment required for the measures, especially as they failed repeatedly over multiple years. Participants expressed an understanding of wave dynamics and their roles in the erosion of their settlement, targeting the southern and eastern sides of their settlement for protection based on observations of wave intensity and direction. Residents indicated that the north side of the settlement has always been protected by the location of nearby settlements and reported significant losses of homes on its southern and eastern sides. Participants indicated that Nayahati has been in its present location for at least 100 years and dated the involvement of NGOs in the settlement to early 1990s. In 2011, CARE Bangladesh assisted to build protection walls of brick and mud-mortar as a non-traditional structural mitigation measure on its east and south edges, after reinstalling the sides which were the most prone to be damaged by unmitigated wave activities. The participants identified it as a significant change for the built environment of their settlement.

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4.2 Nakusha-Dashkusha Nakusha-Dashkusha can be identified as a combination of two islands where the northern part is called Nakusha and the southern part is called Dashkusha. The community identified that these two chunks of land were connected as a continuous island and because of the regular soil erosion, these two became disconnected. The current land area (8913.04 m2 or 2.2025 acres) accommodates between 240 and 250 families (around 477 persons per acre). The participants indicated that the Nakusha part (old settlement), has been in its present location for at least 100 years. However, Dashkusha, the southern part was built as an extension after one or two years of the great flood of 1988. Here also NGOs started to operate their projects and programs since early 1990s. It did not receive any assistance from NGOs to build non-traditional structural measures to protect its vulnerable edges. As a result, they need to rely on traditional measures only.

5 NGO Projects and Programs for the Haor Region Three NGOs (CARE Bangladesh, Concern Bangladesh and People’s Oriented Program Implementation (POPI)) were selected for reviewing their publicly available documents on relevant programs/projects. Three programs/projects of these NGOs were identified which are similar in nature. Under these programs/projects, flood mitigation measures are implemented for protecting haor settlements. These program/projects are: • Food Security for Ultra-Poor-Haor (FSUP-H), • Strengthening Household Abilities for Responding to Development Opportunities (SHOUHARDO) and • Haor Initiatives for Sustainable Alternative Livelihoods (HISAL). Food Security for Ultra Poor-Haor (FSUP-H) project, launched by CARE Bangladesh in 2008, aimed to improve food access and utilization and reduce vulnerability for women and their dependents in ultra-poor households of three north-eastern districts of Bangladesh (Kishoreganj is one of these districts). Within the extended scope of reducing vulnerabilities against women, the FSUP-H project has provided dredged soil to some settlements and built some village protection walls to save the settlements from flood adversities. Building infrastructure, i.e., protection walls, revetment, was never considered as an embedded component of the FSUP-H project. Strengthening Household Abilities for Responding to Development Opportunities (SHOUHARDO) program has been operating since 2004 for improving availability/economic access to food, improving health and nutrition of participants, empowering women and assisting communities and institutes for mitigating or responding to natural disasters. Among its five strategic objectives, the last one was designed to progress in disaster preparedness and climate change adaptation,

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aiming to build longer-term community resilience. For satisfying this objective, this program ran projects of recruiting and training community disaster volunteers and conducted community capacity analysis for guiding adaption plans, which targeted improvement of agricultural technologies, early warning and forecasting systems and to create and maintain disaster resistant infrastructure such as sanitary latrines, embankment, wave protection walls etc. Haor Initiatives for Sustainable Alternative Livelihoods (HISAL) (2006–2011), implemented by Concern Bangladesh aimed to empower households through developing sustainable community organizations, improving livelihood options, building effective and sustainable village protection (structural mitigation measures for protecting settlements) and increasing government resources and services. In all these cases, the programs start not only with a vision and a mission, but also with multiple fixed goals or strategic issues. Though communities are approached and asked to participate in the process of finalizing all operational details, the process follows such a top-down process where definite scopes for communities to contribute to redefine the goals or strategic issues are limited. The reports (TANGO 2015; Whiteside 2012; Caldwell et al. 2011) find that though the non-traditional structural mitigation measures (i.e., building protection wall) bring clear benefit to the local people and locality, building such kind of structures did not get priority in these projects (Whiteside 2012; TANGO 2015).

6 Responses from NGO Employees All interviewees indicated that their organizations value the concerns of local communities and mainly work to enhance food security and improve the socio-economic conditions. Some of their activities directly or indirectly address the issue of floodadversity through assisting to build structural mitigation measures, like service structures (source of safe water and sanitary latrines) and protection structures (e.g., wall, revetment, and plantation) for mitigating flood damages. They agreed that protection structures, which require more organizational and financial involvements, bring clear benefits to local communities in terms of adaptation to flood. Their organizations prefer not to get involved in this kind of project, though most of the communities strongly seek or prefer to build protection structures. Strategically it is perceived that infrastructure-based development has the risk of producing adverse impacts on the environment and on the socio-economic cultural lifestyle of a community. As the infrastructure-based development carries the chance of having negative impacts, NGOs always prefer not to get involved with them. Strategically, all projects ensure community involvement, which allow community members to participate in the planning and implementation process. To ensure that, a committee (e.g., village development committee, project implementation committee, and community-based forum) is always formed with selected or nominated members

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who are approached to identify the settlement’s problems, issues, especially where it needs help, and to prepare a development plan for its settlement. All respondents agreed that most of the community members usually demand for mega-projects, like building non-traditional protection structures, heavy infrastructures to make the whole region flood-free; connecting roads, bridges etc., which are not easy and logical to fulfill. NGO officials need to make the communities aware of their socioeconomic problems which are necessary to focus on. Infrastructure based development is usually discouraged from their perspective because of necessity of high investment (in terms of financial, time and physical efforts) and concerns regarding any possible adverse impacts on environments and communities. The informants conveyed the message that active community participation is ensured in the implementation level, where community members get involved for ensuring the quality of the project and providing feedback.

7 Community Responses During the focus group discussion sessions, community members of both settlements were approached to investigate their understanding about their capacities to deal with flood adversities and experiences of involvements of NGOs. The participants expressed their desire to get rid of the fear or threat of losing their lands/homes due to floods. One of the participants said, We want to live here without thinking of flood. We don’t want our houses to be damaged by a flood. We will find us in the most gifted condition, when we will be able to be completely tension free about the safety of our homestead.

The participants repeatedly expressed their concerns to improve the quality of their settlements with structural mitigation measures to remain safe from flood adversities. The participants of Nayahati expressed their satisfaction with protection walls which were built on two edges of Nayahati settlement under the FSUP-H project of CARE Bangladesh. Before building these walls, the community had to take regular initiatives to protect edges with traditional structural measures. Even in current condition, this community needs to protect the other two edges with traditional structural measures. According to the participants, the protection walls on east and south edges, as an effective structural measure for mitigating flood damages, positively contribute to enhance their community flood resilience. The participants of both settlements conveyed the message that though any local community demands better structures (protection wall or revetment), not every NGO sees it as the first priority. They often try to downplay the importance of having infrastructure-based development, which also demands a large amount of financial involvement. Nayahati has been receiving supports from NGOs since the early 1990s and in 2011 they have received a protection wall, which protects the settlement partially. Community responses state this protection directly and indirectly helps them to enjoy the benefits of the regular supports, they usually receive from NGOs

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through their regular programs. The regular supports usually received from NGOs include receiving a small financial support for running any home-based business, getting training on kitchen garden, building sanitary latrines, providing education and others. As an example, in the current condition with protection walls, they may have sanitary latrines that will last longer and even might be used during the monsoon period; now they have space to rear calves to run small-scale dairy farms; now they will have enough time and mental peace to acquire literacy and so on. It took a really long time to get any support from NGO, which the participants really can value. One of the participants commented, We always told them (NGOs), you do not need to run any project other than building protection walls around our settlement. They (NGOs) repeatedly used to ignore our demand and used to show more interest to run other projects, like, building sanitary latrines, providing training on kitchen gardening, distributing a small amount of money for running small business, distributing calves for running a small-scale dairy firm etc.

The participants think that, financial, technical and organizational capacities play a vital role in decision making. NGOs have these capacities and the community, not having these capacities, allows NGOs to impose their decisions. In community meetings, participants always demand infrastructure-based developments, which are usually ignored by NGOs. But they usually find themselves in a captive condition while getting supports from NGOs. One of the participants commented, We asked to build protection walls in other nearby settlements, with connecting roads…and a bridge over the river so that we can be connected with the villages of the other side of the river. Our children could use those bridges or roads to go to school…CARE did only what they wanted to do. They always tried to convince us. They asked us to be satisfied with whatever we got from them…We are sure that, again, any other NGO will come to run some easy projects.

As participants conveyed, NGOs always come with pre-decided projects and have meetings and training sessions to make the community feel that what they have decided is necessary for the community. The participants appreciate the NGOs’ involvement for socio-economic development, i.e., making women financially strong or solvent, stopping child-marriage, educating women, delivering power to women to make decisions. The participants realized that, because of the activities of NGOs, the position of a woman either in her family or in her community has been upgraded. Besides doing these things, NGOs could contribute more effectively to mitigate flood-adversities if they would prioritize community concerns and ideas. Figure 4 diagrammatically explains the interactions between the community and NGO while an NGO works in a community, based on community responses. Based on participants’ opinions the NGO projects can be classified into two types: Projects, not incorporating community priorities and Projects, incorporating community priorities. The communities prefer to get supports for having infrastructure-based development for ensuring structural protection of their settlement and in most of the cases they don’t find NGOs are convinced to address their priorities. Though NGOs operate their project through establishing community committees and ensuring community

Fig. 4 Community experiences of working with NGOs (Field survey 2016)

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involvement for addressing community problems in an organized way, in rare cases, the process serves its intended purpose. In the next step of collecting community responses, in-depth semi-structured group interview sessions were conducted with community members to identify a specific set of factors, which significantly contribute to enhance flood resilience. In total, 12 factors were identified that contribute to enhance flood resilience. These are: Experience: Participants valued their experiences of living in the Haor region and facing all its adversities. At the same time, the involvement of NGOs with their various kinds of projects, mainly for protecting settlements, also has enriched them with experience. Every experience makes them better prepared for the future and more informed about possible necessities. Awareness: Participants of all settlements identified themselves as very much aware about the time and nature of flooding, as well as its associated wave activities. They all try to get prepared before their settlement gets hit by floods. Participants also described that they had received training from NGOs on what to do during severe floods. By having volunteer teams for forecasting and rescuing, knowing where to take shelter, from where to get safe water and saving it for the crisis season, every community gets prepared to face the challenges. Construction Knowledge and Skills: Participants expressed their dissatisfaction in having limited knowledge and skills for constructing resilient settlements and conveyed their understanding about the importance of appropriate construction knowledge and skills for enhancing community flood resilience. The participants of Nayahati, after having experience in constructing protection walls, found themselves in a better condition regarding knowledge and skill of brick and mud mortar construction, as a technology which was new for them. Favorable Location: If a settlement is far from active river channels and uninterrupted huge haor (permanent water body) basin and surrounded by other settlements, the participants found it as a favorable location for any given settlement. Vegetation: A dense plantation boundary around a settlement helps to absorb the energy of waves. Multiple times, NGOs also provided seedlings of the local plants, mainly mango-pine (Barringtonia acutangula) and karaj (Pongamnia pinnata) to form an effective vegetation boundary around the case study settlements. Interdependibility: Participants found it a positive attribute of the nature of their settlement that everyone’s safety depends on the contribution of others. None can save his/her house or land if his/her neighbor is not doing that. As a result, every household works coherently to protect the edges in every possible and affordable way. Communal Unity: Participants appreciated the importance of having unity within the community for making any big decision and executing it. Self-Financial Capacity: Self-financial capacity means a community’s own financial capability, with which a community can buy a suitable piece of land and build mitigation structures or whatever they want to build. Participants of all settlements desired a condition where their community would be so financially independent that they would not need to wait for external assistance.

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External Finance: All case study settlements have the experience of receiving external finance, especially from NGOs, where that finance is provided for a specific purpose with specific conditions. The protection walls were erected on two edges of Nayahati with the financial support of CARE Bangladesh. External Organizational Support: Besides financial support, the communities also receive organizational and technical support from NGOs. Participants of Nayahati especially appreciated the organizational and technical supports they had received during the construction of protection walls. Participants of both the settlements conveyed the idea that, for a bigger project, like constructing any infrastructure, an external organizational support is very much necessary to plan and implement the whole process. Participants expressed their lack of confidence in planning and implementing any such project without organizational support, even if the money was provided. Local Leadership: Participants indicated that local leaders can play roles for taking decisions on behalf of the whole community and the community feels confident while working under them. Participants recognized their capacity of working in a group under local leadership as a positive quality for handling flood adversities. Appropriate Structure: Wave activity places communities at significant risk and participants indicated their desire to have an appropriate kind of infrastructure on settlement edges, which can effectively ensure protection from flood adversities. Pair-wise comparisons of resilience factors were conducted in two settlements and Tables 1 and 2 show outcomes of two settlements along with aggregated score, percentile score and ranked position of each factor. Community members, based on their lived experiences and awareness, voted for each factor and the ranked position of each factor provides the insights of community perceptions for considering each factor’s contributing level for enhancing resilience. Based on lived experiences of working with NGOs and consequences their projects, community responses varied across the two settlements. Whereas, the participants of Nayahati preferred the factor of ‘appropriate structure’ over all other factors, the participants of Nakusha-Dashkusha chose ‘external finance’ as their first preference and ‘appropriate structure’ as their second preference. This ‘appropriate structure’ was usually referred to as non-traditional structural mitigation measures, constructed with external financial and organizational supports, received from NGOs. Because of having a similar kind of structure since 2011, the participants of Nayahati had experiences of consequences and impacts of that structure, whereas, the participants of Nakusha-Dashkusha are still expecting to have a similar kind of structure, for which (or for any other development) they felt the necessity of having enough financial supports from NGOs. The participants of Nayahati chose ‘favorable location’ as the second contributing factor and combination of ‘favorable location’ with ‘appropriate structure’ actually express their desire for having a resilient built environment. The participants of Nakusha-Dashkusha did not ignore the importance of favorable location, though it was rated the fourth most important contributing factor along with the factor of ‘vegetation’, which is another factor related to the built environment. The factor of ‘external organization support’ rated third in both cases, but the participants of Nayahati gave equal importance to

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Rank

Percentile Score

Aggregated Score

Local Leadership

Awareness

Interdependibility

Vegetation

External Organizational Support

External Finance

Self-Financial Capacity

Experience

Communal Unity

Knowledge & Skill

Favorable Location

Factors for Enhancing Community Resilience Appropriate Structure Favorable Location Knowledge & Skill Communal Unity Experience Self-Financial Capacity External Finance External Organizational Support

Appropriate Structure

Table 1 Pair-wise comparison of factors for enhancing community resilience, conducted in Nayahati settlement, where ‘←’ means factors mentioned in the left column won, ‘↑’ means factors mentioned in the first row won and ‘≈’ means the tie between two factors (Field survey 2018)

Vegetation Interdependibility Awareness Local Leadership

‘self-financial support’ and external finance’, whereas in case of Nakusha-Dashkusha the factor of ‘self-financial capacity’ rated the fifth position. It is probably because of the positive impacts of the appropriate structure, the community members of Nayahati have started to consider their own financial capacity as an important factor for making them more resilient, while not still ignoring the importance of external supports. Whereas, in case of Nakusha-Dashkusha settlement, the combination of first three factors (external finance, appropriate structure and external financial supports) shows a trend of dependency on external supports, the combination of first three factors, chosen by Nayahati community (which include features of built environment and self-financial capacity) shows a slight improvement from the status of dependency on external supports. Sole dependency on external supports can be interpreted as a negative tendency for being resilient. Though the communities did not choose self-financial capacity over external financial support, at least the participants of

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Rank

Percentile Score

Aggregated Score

Local Leadership

Awareness

Interdependibility

Vegetation

External Organizational Support

External Finance

Self-Financial Capacity

Experience

Communal Unity

Knowledge & Skill

Favorable Location

Factors for Enhancing Community Resilience Appropriate Structure Favorable Location Knowledge & Skill

Appropriate Structure

Table 2 Pair-wise comparison of factors for enhancing community resilience, conducted in Nakusha-Dashkusha settlement, where ‘←’ means factors mentioned in the left column won, ‘↑’ means factors mentioned in the first row won and ‘≈’ means the tie between two factors (Field survey 2018)

Communal Unity Experience Self-Financial Capacity External Finance External Organizational Support Vegetation Interdependibility Awareness Local Leadership

Nayahati gave equal priority to both which explains the reality that, to appreciate the financially solvent condition, the communities need external supports for building a resilient built environment so that they can gradually develop their condition.

8 Discussion The reviewed NGO documents revealed the fact that the projects and programs are designed with pre-determined goals and objectives, where the scope of community participation is completely absent. While the haor communities identify saving settlements from possible flood damages as their major concern, the projects are primarily designed to address food insecurity and other socio-economic factors, which are mostly guided by national or international development goals. From NGO documents, as well as from key-informant interviews, it is clear that, for the haor

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region, floods, as well as adversities associated with floods are not addressed as the top priority of these projects and programs. Decisions about selecting settlements as the beneficiary of the projects and programs are also made from the top level. This phase is constrained with the limitation of including the community, which has information, ideas and interests to address its problems. NGOs, with their large group of development professionals, design, manage and implement their various projects which are incentive-induced by nature. The responses from community members and key-informants have clearly revealed that the communities are always convinced or motivated to make the suggested decisions for receiving incentives. The communities are usually advised on how they should define their problems and the community participation ritual in most of the cases undermines participation and disempowers ordinary people. This ‘right decision’ as a ‘suggested decision’ is defined by the NGO or donor according to their pre-determined goals. Arnstein (1969) defined this situation as manipulation, where the real objective is not to enable people to participate in planning or conducting programs, but to enable powerholders to ‘educate’ or ‘cure’ the participants (Arnstein 1969). As a result, the community, in a captive condition, is forced to take suggested decisions and it receives some therapies, masked as community participation, all of which is identified as a dishonest and arrogant approach by Arnstein (1969). But the studied communities appreciated the awareness and training they received from NGOs especially on social and legal issues that have made a significant change in their social values. However, manipulating communities through by-passing their priority demands weakens the intension of real development. In a bigger project, like constructing a protection wall (non-traditional structural mitigation measure), the community gets chances to be an active partner, where half of the work is funded and implemented by the community. Despite having certain limitations, this project of building protection walls in Nayahati settlement has been considered as a successful project by the participants from Nayahati settlement. The project was conducted within the scope of the FSUP-H program, which is focused to improve food access and utilization and reduce vulnerability for women and their dependents in ultra-poor households. From the documents and key-informant interviews, it is clear that flood mitigation, especially infrastructure-based development for flood mitigation is always considered as a distant component of this kind of program, whereas the community members had always considered it as their prime issue. Based on the aims, objectives and nature of projects and their frequencies, all projects can be categorized into two types: • NGOs’ usual projects, which are run often or every year. • NGOs’ unusual projects, which are run occasionally. In the Haor region, NGOs’ usual projects mainly focus on enhancing food security and eliminating poverty from that region and these also regularly address other socioeconomic and/or non-structural issues, i.e. education, sanitation, gender equality, non-structural measures for flood mitigation and expanding scopes for household

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income. NGO programs rarely initiate projects for building structural flood mitigation measures, i.e., protection walls, revetments. But they do these kinds of projects, as least preferable components of their regular programs. These two types of projects, usual and unusual, very distinctively denote the difference between community priorities and NGO priorities. Whereas communities prefer to have infrastructure-based development for ensuring permanent protection of their settlement, NGOs’ programs focus towards food insecurity and elimination of poverty so that after some period, the communities can independently solve their problems. Though NGOs ensure community engagement in the whole process, the process rarely allows community members to actively participate. As Derksen and Verhallen (2008) state, ideally, ‘cooperation’, ‘partnership’ and ‘participation’ are supposed to be practices, but, the external support chain is dominated by the top-down process where the ‘upward accountability’ controls the development initiatives. These development initiatives are dominated by the capitalist approach of providing incentives, which exacerbate vulnerabilities as a “price for progress” and the beneficiaries need to unwillingly pay for it. For the haor communities, protecting their settlements from unmitigated waves is the main challenge and they think, because of not addressing their main challenge, they cannot get the desired benefit from the usual projects, run by NGOs. The process works to a degree, where detailed donor requirements are transmitted to NGOs and NGOs with their local partners, field facilitators and community committee members implement pre-decided usual projects as a part of their agreements with donors. NGOs had been running their projects in Nayahati settlement since the early 1990s. Even after almost two decades, the community needed NGO supports to build their first protection wall, one which might ensure the permanent protection of their settlement. The general impression of the community members indicate that they really do not need any more support from NGOs after that, because, with the assurance of permanent protection of significant portions of the settlement, they can reduce the amount of investment for building temporary protections every year, can work and earn during monsoon periods, have lands to create vegetable gardens and can build necessary service structures (i.e., sanitary latrines). If NGOs’ previous projects are effective to make communities capable enough, then after two decades they could build the protection structures without any external support. But it has not happened in that way. The difference between impacts after running the usual projects for a long time and impacts after one unusual project is very clear in the case of Nayahati settlement. The community of Nakusha-Dashkusha settlement is similarly expecting external supports for building a protection wall, despite engagement of NGOs with their usual projects on food security, eliminating poverty and other NGOs’ preferable issues. Expectations for external supports express communities’ dependency on external supports. The nature of ‘incentive-induced development’, as an outcome of an organized form (organizational, technological and financial) of external support, develops or diminishes dependency on external supports among the marginalized communities. The condition of Nayahati community until 2011 and current conditions of NakushaDashkusha definitely depicts the communities’ dependency on external supports.

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Dependency is the association between settings, actions, or tasks such that one setting, action or task cannot be possible until one or more other settings, actions, or tasks have occurred, begun, or been completed. In the current context, dependency is the condition while the recipients are receiving external supports and for their further development or improvement, they believe that they still need support, because, the previous support failed to make recipients capable enough to improve or develop by themselves without further external supports. The case of Nayahati can explain the fact that, some supports help to create and continue the dependency, while some other kinds of supports promise to make the shift in the trend of dependency. After the great flood of 1988, during the early nineties, several NGOs initiated programs to work in the Haor region. The haor communities found these NGOs as the saviors who might have power and resources to solve their problems. Even in that period, flood and flood-related vulnerabilities due to weak built environment were the communities’ main challenges, which were considered as essential to address by the communities. NGOs, through their programs also make the communities aware of other issues about which they were not aware of, i.e., education, gender inequality and other socio-legal issues. The NGOs’ process of implementing programs and awareness development activities made the community realize how powerless and unaware they are. NGOs through their programs and process of activities gave promises to solve some of their problems and created hope to solve all kinds of problems gradually. Their usual and unusual projects around the vicinity influenced the communities to believe on their power and resources to solve all problems. Communities’ major concerns were always about flood vulnerabilities due to weak built environment and the demand for infrastructure-based development that required higher investment. Most often, the projects run by NGOs are guided not by the demands of the haor communities, but by the organizations’ preferences, national/international goals and donor priorities. In this way, external supports can be categorized into two ways: • External supports, not incorporating community concerns (NGOs’ usual projects). • External supports, incorporating community concerns (NGOs’ unusual projects).

The conceptual diagram Fig. 5 shows the relationship of these two types of external supports with the community’s perceived level of flood resilience. The community’s perceived level of flood resilience is a simplified expression of understanding communities’ overall reactions towards their combined capacities to deal with flood adversities. ‘External supports not incorporating community concerns’ are the usual projects of NGOs that demand sustained intervention, which in a way justifies the usefulness of NGO projects. These projects may slightly improve or not improve the community resilience level and the communities always expect to get external assistance to overcome their current condition and specially to address their main concerns. On the other hand, external supports incorporating community concerns indicates the diminishing needs for further external supports. These external supports as per community concerns might require comparatively higher investment, but it can promise to trigger a continuous enhancement in community resilience and lessen the necessity of future external supports. External supports not incorporating community

Fig. 5 Diagrams show the relationship between community’s perceived level of flood resilience and nature external supports, associated with financial involvements

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concerns exacerbate the level of vulnerability through making the community dependent on external supports, whereas the initial higher investment for external supports as per community concerns reduces or limits the communities from the dependency trend. It leads towards the condition when the communities will not need any further support and they will be able to solve their problems independently. The diminishing need of external supports endorses the real enhancement in resilience level. The dependency theory of economics analyses the unequal and exploitative relationship between different areas and examines inequality in exchange relations (Lacher and Nepal 2010). In the NGO-initiated development context, the dependency of communities on external support is different from that kind of dependency and requires different interpretation. For explaining dependency on external supports, it is necessary to analyze the nature of external supports regarding community concerns and expectations. NGOs let communities to engage in the whole planning process, especially allowing them to express their concerns and demands, based on their knowledge. But because of the NGOs’ pre-decided projects with ‘upward accountability’ and limited funding, NGOs, most of the time, bypass communities’ major concerns and demands and ignore local knowledge and wisdom. Community concerns, such as local knowledge, are often ignored, considering them as uninformed and naive while a development solution entails the ‘growth of ignorance’ (Hobart 1993). The fact that vernacular knowledge tends to be regarded as inferior by modern science is widely recognized in the literature (Escobar 1998; Forsyth 2004). Developing dependency on external supports through ignoring local concerns and priorities, as well as, providing hopes of solving all kinds of problems, actually hinders the process of enhancing resilience, consequently exacerbating vulnerabilities. A dependent community cannot be resilient.

9 Conclusion The empirical studies, conducted within haor communities, provided a suitable context to explore impacts of external supports on community vulnerability, particularly where communities are isolated, marginalized, located in areas of significant flood risk, have limited financial resources, affected by the political dynamics of NGOs’ involvements and are generally dependent on NGO supports. The research finds that communities’ perceptions of their vulnerability and resilience are highly influenced by their experiences of working with NGOs and the consequences of NGO-initiated incentive-induced and infrastructure-based development activities. Community perceptions of flood resilience and vulnerability are linked to the condition of their built environment and colored by their awareness of both the positive and negative impacts of structural flood mitigation measures. This research primarily contributed to introduce the idea of support dependency, which explains the reasons of prolonged underdeveloped condition of marginalized communities and this condition is associated with external supports that communities receive from external bodies, mainly from NGOs. NGOs are often considered

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as the alternative development partner, who can give ‘voice’ to the poor, encourage public-private cooperation and participatory approaches and generate social capital at the community level (Ditcher 1986). But NGOs’ involvement as providing external supports is dominated by the top-down process, where the ‘upward accountability’ controls development initiatives and ignores community concerns and priorities. NGOs are usually engaged with finding new and more effective poverty-reduction strategies for ensuring the effective use of aids, which are targeted to achieve certain goals, now embedded within the Millennium Development Goals (Bolinick 2008). Derksen and Verhallen (2008) describe, because of the dispersion of scarce resources, that often NGOs must plan and implement such projects or programs, which are small in scale and usually ineffective and/or unsustainable. Moreover, the claims about ‘real’ needs based on science or expertise disregard the claims of local communities as lay perceptions (Jasanoff 1999; Baruah 2012). NGOs’ involvement for an extended period with supports not as per community concerns, entraps the community into a cycle of support dependency, whereas the prioritization of community concerns through active community participation can guide to getting free from this dependency cycle. This finding suggests the process of working with communities in such a way should be modified so that it should not exacerbate their vulnerabilities through making them dependent.

References Alam MJB (2000) Concept of flood shelter and its planning to cope with flood. In: Proceedings of the third housing and hazards international conference. Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka Alam MK, Hasan MR (2010) Protection works against wave attacks in the haor areas of Bangladesh: analysis of sustainability. J Constr Developing Countries 15(2):69–85 Anik SI, Khan MASA (2012) Climate change adaptation through local knowledge in the northeastern region of Bangladesh. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 17:879–896. https://doi.org/10. 1007/s11027-011-9350-6 Arnstein SR (1969) A ladder of citizen participation. J Am Inst Planners 35(4):216–224 Baruah S (2012) Whose river is it anyway? Political economy of hydropower in the Eastern Himalayas. Econ Polit Wkly 47(29):41–52 Bebbington AJ, Hickey S, Mitlin DC (2008) Introduction. In: Bebbington AJ, Hickey S, Mitlin DC (eds) Can NGOs make a difference? The challenge of development alternatives. Zed Books, London & New York, pp 3–37 Brinkerhoff JM (2003) Donor-funded government-NGO partnership for public service improvement: cases from India and Pakistan. Voluntas: Int J Voluntary and Non-profit Organ 14(1):105– 122. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1022997006704 Bolinick J (2008) Development as reform and counter-reform: paths travelled by slum/shack dwellers international. In: Bebbington AJ, Hickey S, Mitlin DC (eds) Can NGOs make a difference? The challenge of development alternatives. Zed Books, London, pp 316–333 Cannon T, Muller-Mahn D (2010) Vulnerability, resilience and development discourses in context of climate change. Nat Hazards 55(3):621–635. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-010-9499-4 Chowdhooree I, Islam I (2018) Factors and actors for enhancing community flood resilience: an experience from a river-side settlement in Bangladesh. Int J Disaster Resilience in the Built Environ 9(2):153–169. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJDRBE-12-2016-0056

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Derksen H, Verhallen P (2008) Reinventing international NGOs: a view from the Dutch co-financing system. In: Bebbington AJ, Hickey S, Mitlin DC (eds) Can NGOs make a difference? The challenge of development alternatives. Zed Books, London, pp 221–239 Ditcher TW (1986) Demystifying ‘Policy Dialogue’. Technoserve, Norwalk Disaster Management Bureau (DMB) (2010) Bangladesh: National plan for disaster management 2010–2015. Disaster Management and Relief Division, Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, Dhaka Field CB, Barros V, Stocker TF, Qin D, Dokken DJ, Ebi KL, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Plattner GK, Allen SK, Tignor M, Midgley PM (eds) (2012) Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation. A special report of working groups I and II of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Geis D (2000) By design: the disaster resistant and quality-of-life community. Nat Hazards Rev 1(3):151–160. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1527-6988(2000)1:3(151) International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) (2011) Haor infrastructure and livelihood improvement project: enabling poor people to adapt to climate change (Project Design Report, Volume 1: Main Report). IFAD, Rome. Retrieved from http://www.ifad.org/operations/projects/ design/103/bangladesh.pdf Jasanoff SA (1999) The songlines of risk. Environ Values 8(2):135–152 Kusumasari B, Alam Q, Siddiqui K (2010) Resource capability for local government in managing disaster. Disaster Prev Manage 19(4):438–451. https://doi.org/10.1108/09653561011070367 Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) (2005) National Adaptation Programme of Action. Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) (2010) Master Plan of Haor Areas. Bangladesh Haor and Wetland Development Board, Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka Niekerk D (2007) Local government disaster risk management. In: Waldt G (ed) Municipal management: serving the people. Juta and Company, Cape Town, pp 227–250 Pelling M (2003) The vulnerability of cities. Earthscan Publications, London Shaw R, Mallick FH, Islam A (2013) Disaster, risk and evolution of the concept. In: Shaw R, Mallick FH, Islam A (eds) Disaster risk reduction approaches in Bangladesh. Springer, London, pp 3–21

Dr. Chowdhooree has been employed as an Assistant Professor in the Post Graduate Programs in Disaster Management and in the Department of Architecture of BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. As an academic with interests in disaster risk reduction and architecture, he teaches courses on disaster preparedness, emergency response and recovery, humanitarian assistance, building for disaster and building technologies. In 2018 he has received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Queensland University of Technology, Australia. He acquired the degree of Master of Urban and Regional Planning, as well as, his professional degree in Architecture from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. He also received the Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2010. From the same university he finished the graduate certificate program in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. He was recognized as a Young Scientist involved in disaster management research by Irrigated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) in 2017. Dr. Dawes is serving as the acting Head of School of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Dr. Dawes focuses on four main research areas: STEM and Engineering Education; Initial Teacher Education; Protection of Land and Water Resources; Protecting and Restoring Water Quality and Sustainable Development. Dr. Dawes and his research colleagues continue to strive towards improving the quality, relevance and performance of STEM and Engineering Education along with the value of scholarship in Engineering Education. He received his PhD degree from Queensland University of Technology and BAppSc (Geology) degree from Queensland Inst. of Technology. From 2013 to 2017, he was the project leader of the Step-Up project, one of five projects

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awarded a total of $12 million by the ETMST (Enhancing the Training of Mathematics and Science Teachers Programme). Ms. Sloan has been a Lecturer in the Department of Urban & Regional Planning of Queensland University of Technology since May 2009. Prior to arriving in Queensland, she worked as an environmental engineering consultant to local governments in Florida as well as state and federal environmental agencies, advising clients on issues related to the interfaces between water and the built environment, including options for water supply, storm water, and wastewater management. Mellini’s current research examines the role of crises, communication, and prior actions in decision-making processes and outcomes, specifically focusing on challenges for local councils related to increasing community resilience to climate change.

Sustainable Development Through Post-Disaster Reconstruction: A Unique Example in Sri Lanka Iftekhar Ahmed

Abstract Sri Lanka, with its extensive coastal communities, was among the most severely impacted countries by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The widespread devastation and consequent displacement of coastal communities spurred many reconstruction programs. The field of post-disaster reconstruction is characterized by the demand for rapid rebuilding and repair of housing and infrastructure, with a multitude of international and local agencies engaged over the immediate and short term in response to this demand. After a level of recovery has been achieved, most agencies move on elsewhere to address other priorities and rarely engage in strongly supporting the transition from recovery to long-term sustainable development. The post-tsunami reconstruction work in the village of Seenigama of a Sri Lankan local NGO, the Foundation of Goodness (FoG), demonstrates a different paradigm by serving as a vehicle for achieving long-term sustainable development by being embedded within the community. The FoG project underscores the significance, and perhaps necessity, of an integrated community development approach that caters to the various needs of the community, representing a systematic approach where housing infrastructure, services, facilities and livelihoods were all inter-linked. A key lesson is the long-term support, provided to the community by the implementing agency. In this way, in addition to addressing the immediate post-disaster reconstruction needs, FoG was able to cater to community needs that evolved and changed over time. This project was implemented after a huge tsunami disaster in a developing country that was being torn apart in a prolonged civil war, hence it also had it challenges. In the changing context of Sri Lanka with various internal and external pressures, a transformative narrative is likely to emerge in the future. Keywords Foundation of goodness · Housing · Reconstruction · Sri Lanka · Tsunami

I. Ahmed (B) School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_4

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1 Introduction One of the most massive disasters in recent history, the Indian Ocean Tsunami struck on the morning of 26 December 2004. Gigantic waves of more than thirty meters devastated coasts in fourteen countries, killing almost 230,000 people (USGS 2013). Aftershocks reached as far away as Alaska (ADB 2005). Nearly US$14 billion was donated from around the world for reconstruction (Cosgrave 2007). The island nation Sri Lanka’s coastal communities were amongst the most severely impacted by the tsunami, second only to Aceh province in Indonesia (PreventionWeb 2008). It affected more than a million people, killing more than 35,000 people, and destroying or damaging more than 150,000 houses (Department of Census and Statistics 2005). In response, a large number of housing reconstruction programs were mounted by many international and national organizations. Together with the large amount of temporary and transitional housing, about 120,000 permanent houses were planned and built (RADA 2006). Following the tsunami, the Sri Lankan government initiated a ‘buffer zone policy’, restricting new construction in a 100-meter zone from the coastline. The width of the buffer zone was subsequently revised to 35–55 meters according to location (Shaw and Ahmed 2010). People who lost houses originally located in the buffer zone were resettled in newly established inland settlements, termed as ‘donor-driven’ projects because they were funded and/or built by international donor agencies or international non-governmental organizations (INGOs). Houses that were damaged or destroyed outside the buffer zone were repaired or rebuilt with government funding in an ‘owner-driven’ mode where the house-owners organized and managed the work (Ratnayake and Rameezdeen 2008). As the reconstruction process involved financial transactions, the progress of donor-driven projects was slow, compounded by the problem of securing suitable land (Ratnayake and Rameezdeen 2008). Consequently, the government gave donors the option of implementing owner-driven projects. However, most donors did not agree because of fears regarding quality, mismanagement and corruption. Thus, most donor-driven projects were implemented by INGOs, using local consultants and contracted labour. Sri Lankan non-governmental organizations (NGOs) played a much lesser role compared to the plethora of INGOs that had implemented the bulk of the post-tsunami recovery and reconstruction programs (Bennett et al. 2006; Silva 2009). However, the Foundation of Goodness (FoG), the case study of a local NGO discussed below, was one of the few exceptions. The post-disaster reconstruction was characterized by the demand for rapid rebuilding and repair of housing and infrastructure, with a multitude of international and local agencies active over the immediate and short term in response to this demand. After a level of recovery was achieved, most agencies moved on elsewhere to address other priorities and hardly any of them engaged in strongly supporting the transition from recovery to long-term sustainable development. In this context, sustainable development is reflected in the socio-economic well-being of a community undeterred by shocks and stresses, in line with the aims of the UN’s Sustainable

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Development Goals (UNDP undated). Related to that, the community’s resilience is similarly reflected in the ability to prepare for, withstand and recover effectively from disasters (drawn from a similar conception of resilience presented by UNDRR 2017). The literature widely points to post-disaster reconstruction offering a window of opportunity to “build-back-better” and enabling community resilience and sustainable development (Haigh and Amaratunga 2011; Mayena 2013; Twigg 2015). Yet, real-world examples of that paradigm are limited. To address this gap, the work of FoG is discussed because it demonstrates an effort towards long-term sustainable and resilient development.

2 Background Following the 2004 tsunami, the author was involved in a number of studies on post-disaster reconstruction in Sri Lanka and examined a wide range of projects in the tsunami-affected southern coast (Charlesworth and Ahmed 2015; Ahmed and Charlesworth 2014; Shaw and Ahmed 2010). While many positive achievements were noted, one of the key issues was that after project completion, most of the implementing agencies left or shifted their focus to other activities and areas. Particularly, after the long-drawn ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, many agencies became preoccupied with the demands of post-conflict recovery in the conflictaffected eastern and northern regions of the countries, and the chapter of post-tsunami reconstruction came to an end for them. Recovery after a massive disaster, such as the tsunami, that results in relocation and resettlement of impacted communities is a protracted process and it often requires many years, if not decades, for communities to recover fully. In such a context, after a wide investigation of a number of post-tsunami recovery projects, the work of FoG in the village of Seenigama in southern Sri Lanka stood out as different in its approach to becoming embedded within its beneficiary community and provide long-term support. Thus, it was chosen to study the FoG project which primarily was continued as a long-term approach to engage the beneficiary community, even after most other agencies had folded-up operations after completion of their reconstruction projects.

3 Methodology This chapter builds on an extensive set of literature reviews undertaken in the studies mentioned in the preceding section. FoG’s newsletters and website (www.uncond itional compassion.org) were also useful secondary information sources. The key methodological approach followed here is to reflect on findings from field investigations on the FoG project in Seenigama. The main data collection methods were stakeholder and key informant interviews, community meetings, transect walks,

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observation, and photographic and audio-visual recordings. The data from the literature review and fieldwork was then analyzed through content analysis, which led to grouping of themes, coding and cross-referencing to interpret and present the findings of the analysis below. The recording of vignettes of FoG staff member and experiences of the project beneficiaries about the tsunami and the reconstruction initiative were also analyzed to assemble the narrative presented below.

4 Case Study: Foundation of Goodness (FoG) FoG is based in the village of Seenigama in Sri Lanka’s southern Galle district. After the devastation in the 2004 tsunami, FoG with support from a number of national and international donors initiated post-disaster recovery efforts to rebuild the community and implemented various projects, including the construction of 625 houses and repair of 401 houses in Seenigama and nearby villages. The case study here discusses this project by FoG in Seenigama village. The work of FoG is unique, because unlike the international agencies that undertook the bulk of the post-tsunami reconstruction and were external to the beneficiary communities, it is a local NGO established by Sri Lankan leadership and situated within the community. In most reconstruction projects, even outside Sri Lanka in the other tsunami-affected countries, most implementing agencies were external to the country with their base elsewhere from the project location (Telford and Cosgrave 2007).

4.1 Project Roles As revealed from field studies, Mr. Kushil Gunasekara, a Sri Lankan citizen, with his roots in Seenigama, founded FoG in 1999, and became its Executive Director. Prior to the 2004 tsunami, FoG provided community development services such as English language and computer training, sports programs, a maternity clinic and organized water and electricity supply from service providers to houses in the village. Together with the emergency response and relief after the tsunami, FoG raised funds from various sources to rebuild the devastated communities in Seenigama and nearby villages. A narrative drawn from an interview of Mr. Kushil Gunasekara is given below, explaining FoG’s approach to the post-tsunami reconstruction work: Seenigama is my village and I have donated my ancestral home, which is now the FoG center. After the tsunami, seeing that people were being relocated away from their birthplace, I bought land in the village, so that housing could later be built for affected villagers here. We were very careful in beneficiary selection so that people who were seriously affected were selected, and we also checked if they had received a house from some other agency. All the houses have a garden in addition to the public green areas. I wanted people to have greenery around them and the children to grow up in a natural environment.

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Four settlements, called “villages”, were funded by different donors and were built by different contractors as part of the reconstruction project. Victoria Gardens, the largest village, was built by Global Modular Housing Pty Ltd (GMH), an Australian building products supplier contracted by the Victorian State Government of Australia to design, develop, manage and deliver the project. Initially, GMH was commissioned to engage design and construction consultants to plan the new settlement, and subsequently it became the managing contractor to deliver the project. The site plan for Victoria Gardens was prepared by DPM Consultants, Sri Lanka, led by its Principal Architect Jayantha Bandara. Various Sri Lankan-based architects, engineers and sub-contractors were appointed throughout the project at its different stages.

4.2 Reconstruction Process In the aftermath of the tsunami, land was purchased in Seenigama by FoG with the intention of re-establishing settlements to prevent the migration and dispersal of people from the community and thereby damaging its cohesiveness. Victoria Gardens was funded by the state of Victoria, Australia, and GMH planned and built the Victoria Gardens project, while other donors funded the other ‘villages’ and other contractors managed their construction. Beneficiary selection was done by the Sri Lankan government, together with FoG; almost all the households in Seenigama that had lost their houses in the tsunami were selected. FoG undertook a number of key activities during the reconstruction process including helping the community to develop the designs for the housing and for community infrastructures, such as the community center, which was an important hub in the settlement. Importantly, the community decided on the allocation of houses in the different estates, or “villages” discussed below; the households with larger families were given priority for the two-storied houses. FoG provided additional supports through extra funding for training and livelihood development and continued to undertake maintenance of public open areas in the settlements. The organization continues to remain in the community as an active agency committed to long-term community development beyond the reconstruction initiatives, and over the years has begun to extend its experience beyond Seenigama by drawing on these lessons gained from this experience.

4.3 Key Project Features Four post-tsunami housing reconstruction projects, or ‘villages’, of varying sizes and designs, were implemented by FoG in Seenigama: AVIVA Village: This is a group of ten single-storied detached houses with a community center, computer and English training center, library, maternity clinic and

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playground. This village was funded by AVIVA-UK and WNS Customer SolutionsSri Lanka. Perth Village: This is a cluster of nine single-storied detached houses next to the AVIVA Village, benefiting from its community facilities. This village was funded by the Perth City Council, Western Australia. KPMG/LOLC Village: This is a group of fifty single-storied detached houses with a community center, water supply tower, library and playground. Twenty-five houses were funded by KPMG-UK and another twenty-five by LOLC-Sri Lanka (Fig. 1). Victoria Gardens: This is a planned settlement of 84 two-storied duplexes laid out around a central community area that includes a community center, water purification plant, sewage treatment plant and playground (Figs. 2 and 3). This project was funded by the State Government of Victoria, Australia. This was FoG’s largest reconstruction project on newly acquired land to re-house tsunami-affected households that had lost their coastal property and were not allowed to rebuild there by the government’s posttsunami coastal ‘buffer zone’ policy that restricted resettlement near the coast (Shaw and Ahmed 2010).

Fig. 1 A house in the KPMG/LOLC village (Field Study 2009)

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Fig. 2 Victoria Gardens consists of two-storey duplexes with variations in design (Field Study 2012)

5 Key Strengths The strengths of this project is largely a result of the strong role played by FoG and its long-term involvement with the community. While most of the strengths were evident across the different settlements, they were pronounced in Victoria Gardens. The key strengths are outlined below: Integrated community development: Perhaps the most important strength of the project, evident from interviews of both FoG staff and community members, was its integrated community development approach. Clear understanding was evident that only reconstructing houses was not enough; housing had to be supported and sustained by a range of elements, both physical (roads, electricity, water, sanitation, etc.) and social (education, capacity building, livelihoods, sports, etc.). The FoG housing projects had been implemented with the necessary infrastructures and services and had been complemented and sustained by a wide range of community development activities. Based around the FoG headquarters in the village (Fig. 4), such activities included computer and English language training, and additionally other forms of business and vocational skills training. Projects also included preschools, medical centers, libraries, scuba diving training centers and sales outlets for products made by women with FoG’s support. Sport was viewed as an essential part of child and youth development, and a variety of sports opportunities were

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Fig. 3 Victoria Gardens has a central open area with a playground, community centre and other facilities (Field Study 2009)

Fig. 4 The FoG headquarters is embedded within the community in Seenigama (Field Study 2012)

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provided within the Seenigama community. Even a swimming pool was built to provide swimming lessons as well as sports events such as swimming competitions. Rooted in the community: After the tsunami many international, and even local, agencies had undertaken housing reconstruction projects in Sri Lanka, but in most cases after the projects were completed, they discontinued their operations in the locality and did not maintain any link with the project communities (Silva 2009). On the other hand, FoG was rooted within the community from even before the tsunami, and after implementing the post-tsunami housing reconstruction projects had continued to support the community with a wide range of services. FoG was an intrinsic part of the community in Seenigama. Maintenance regime: Unlike most agencies that had implemented post-tsunami housing reconstruction projects and then left the beneficiary community behind, FoG continued to support the maintenance and upkeep of its housing projects. Communal areas such as playgrounds and open green spaces were regularly maintained by mowing the grass and trimming bushes; drains were cleaned, and roads repaired as required; litter was collected and disposed. This sustained and contributed to consolidating the resilience of the community and the settlements. Infrastructure: The project went beyond only rebuilding disaster-impacted housing to provision of essential community infrastructures and services, which included: Paved roads within the sites; Reticulated power and street lighting; Reticulated treated water supply from deep wells on site; Reticulated sewerage system and on-site tertiary treatment plant in Victoria Gardens. Housing was thereby included as part of a system of community infrastructure that supported important physical, social and household needs of the community. Structural integrity: In Victoria Gardens, the construction company, GMH, applied a permanent formwork reinforced concrete wall building system where integral floor slabs were selected as being significantly superior to the more widespread typical concrete block/concrete frame houses that were destroyed in the tsunami. Certified Australian-made building materials were used in the wall construction system and timber roof trusses. Following international quality standards, GMH Middle East manufactured the roof trusses in Dubai and GMH Lanka manufactured the wall systems in Colombo. They were designed to withstand the high impacts of future hazards, as well as regular wear-and-tear. Multiplicity of layout: All the four settlements have a unique character, with a variety of approaches to clustering of houses. The site planning allowed for this variety, even though in each settlement the same house plan was followed. In Victoria Gardens, the duplexes have different orientations, external color schemes and roof shapes, which resulted in variety in the layout of the settlement (Fig. 2). Four settlements, in together, represent multiplicity responding to the different locations within Seenigama village.

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5.1 Vignettes from the Field The experience of a FoG staff member, as a research participant, as narrated below, illustrates the opportunity for upward social mobility the project brought to the Seenigama community, and its capacity building aspect: I started working at FoG as a cleaning and maintenance staff member in 2005 after the tsunami. It helped me to learn many new skills, including using the computer and learning English, and to eventually rise to the managerial position. The house designs here are based on what beneficiaries would prefer. There was a lot of consultation with them. Together with home-based income, FoG has helped people through larger livelihood support – safe coral mining, brush factory, grocery shops, tuk-tuks, etc. In the future we will need to focus more on local capacity building instead of giving so much stuff for free.

The narrative below of the experience of a female project beneficiary (research participant) indicates satisfaction with the maintenance aspect of the project: She lives with her husband and a child in Victoria Gardens. Before the tsunami she used to live with her extended family in a house close to the ocean. The house was badly damaged by the tsunami and part of it was repaired thereafter; her parents continued to live there after she moved to Victoria Gardens. She heard that FoG was going to provide new houses and so she and her husband approached FoG as there was hardly any space for them in the damaged house. “I am happy to receive a house. I will always be thankful to FoG as they have given us a place to live – a shelter,” she said.

The beneficiaries were very satisfied with the houses: The upper floor had a ceiling, which kept the house cool; the bathroom was tiled and so could easily be kept clean; the drains around the house kept the compound free of waterlogging. They were also content with the open area outside the house, which had facilities such as a playground, community center and shop. The most successful aspect of the project for the beneficiaries was its regular maintenance. “FoG employs someone who maintains the area, cutting the bushes and grass, cleaning the drains and collecting litter from public areas”, another beneficiary (research participant) explained. They were also happy about the different community services offered by FoG: “Everyone here goes to the FoG center. If somebody wants to swim, get computer and English training, they can get it there. My child is going there for English and swimming lessons. I can get medical help there,” another beneficiary (research participant) pointed out.

6 Key Challenges The extensive field studies in Seenigama allowed gaining insights from interviews of a range of stakeholders spanning from FoG staff to community members and project beneficiaries. While the achievements of FoG were highlighted in a positive light by most of the interview respondents, some challenges were also revealed. Sri Lanka is after all a developing country, categorized by the World Bank as a “lower

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middle-income country” (World Bank 2018), and at the time when the FoG project was implemented, it was under extreme pressure from a long ongoing civil war. Thus, despite the remarkable achievements of FoG, there were challenges, some of which are discussed below. Water supply and sanitation issues: Seenigama is a low-lying coastal area with a high sub-soil water table, leading to overflow of septic tanks especially in the rainy monsoons season in the AVIVA, Perth and KPMG/LOLC villages. As a result, experts were commissioned by the Victorian Government of Australia that funded Victoria Gardens to seek a remedy and they decided to build a sewage treatment plant in Victoria Gardens (built after the other settlements) instead of septic tanks. Additionally, a water purification plant was built to address the problem of contamination of ground water. However, it proved difficult to maintain these facilities over the long term and consequently the residents discontinued paying for these services. In response, a switch was made to conventional septic tanks and water supply, incurring extra costs in the process. Preference for two-storied houses, but not duplexes: Except for Victoria Gardens, the other three settlements consisted of single-storied detached houses. In interviews of some of the residents, it was found that they preferred a two-storied house because they feared future tsunamis. Several house designs were offered to prospective residents of Victoria Gardens and after significant discussions the design selected consisted of two-storied, two-bedroom houses to be built as duplexes. This design option gave the residents greater safety, as these are structurally strong with concrete slabs and wall construction. Upper floor level is higher than the recent tsunami water level, which may save its residents in a future tsunami of similar attributes. Overall, although the project beneficiaries preferred the two-storied houses in Victoria Gardens compared to the single-storied houses in the other settlements, they did not prefer duplexes as built; they preferred detached houses for better privacy and more space around the house. Nonetheless, duplexes allowed cost-effectiveness and it was found that the residents were adapting to them as the community is gradually growing in a more cohesive manner. It required long and intensive community consultations to achieve agreement within the community for the allocation of the different houses. Location of service areas: Traditionally in Sri Lanka, especially in rural areas, the kitchen is preferred to be located outside the house because of the practice of cooking with wood fuel, which creates much smoke. However, during community consultations when presented with the design of a house with an indoor kitchen, prospective residents agreed to it, because they did not want to engage in arguments with the consultants; they wanted to simply take what they were being offered. Subsequently most households built a separate kitchen at the rear of the house (Fig. 5) and the kitchen inside was hardly used or converted to other uses, such as a storeroom, study, or even an extra bedroom. Nonetheless, in the case of the toilet, an outdoor toilet was chosen by the community in line with the same preference of keeping service areas detached from the main house, which was incorporated into the design.

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Fig. 5 Residents of the FoG project built separate kitchens at the rear instead of using the indoor kitchen, as seen here in Victoria Gardens (Field Study 2012)

7 Future Initiatives Drawing on the Seenigama experience, gradually FoG began to expand beyond to provide services to other localities by establishing “Village Heartbeat Empowerment (VHE) Centres” as extension hubs; by 2018, ten such VHE Centres had been established (Foundation of Goodness 2018). Importantly, after the end of the civil war in 2009, FoG had been active in conflict-affected northern areas of Sri Lanka to facilitate reconciliation and national unity. Thus, from its original roots as a small NGO in a village, FoG had successfully upgraded its operations to the national level, demonstrating a unique and effective model. Notwithstanding the many challenges in such a process, the ability of FoG to sustain itself, grow and making widespread impact signifies a model organization. From its reports and newsletters (e.g. Foundation of Goodness 2018) it appears that the focus of FoG was on sports and related activities, with the belief that this is an essential part of child and youth development. Nonetheless, despite the organization’s continuing contribution to other areas, for example water and sanitation, there was scope to address a wider range of needs in many of the impoverished rural areas of Sri Lanka. Additionally, the process of post-war reconciliation and rebuilding affected communities would be a long-term process, requiring sustained engagement and sensitivity in a delicate context.

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8 Conclusion FoG was a unique organization and many lessons can be gained from its work. The post-tsunami reconstruction project in Seenigama underscored the importance, and perhaps necessity, of an integrated community development approach catering to the diverse needs of a community. This represented a systematic approach where housing reconstruction was linked to infrastructure, services, facilities, livelihoods and sports (as a key strategy for children and youth development). A key lesson is the longterm support provided to the community by FoG, the implementing agency, being located within the community, unlike most of the other agencies active after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. In this way, in addition to addressing the immediate postdisaster reconstruction needs, FoG was able to address the needs of the community that evolved and changed over time, serving as a stepping stone to establish similar extension hubs embedded in other communities in different parts of the country. This project also clearly highlighted how strong leadership could contribute towards the effectiveness of the project. Without such leadership by the founder Mr. Kushil Gunasekara, this project perhaps would not have been possible, at least in this form. The key factor that gave FoG its uniqueness was its long-term commitment to the development of the community it rehabilitated after the tsunami, and the multifaceted nature of its work where housing reconstruction was supported by a wide range of inputs including community infrastructure and facilities, livelihood development, local capacity building and focus on child and youth development. It should be borne in mind that this project was implemented after a huge tsunami disaster in a developing country that was being torn asunder in a protracted civil war. Thus, it demonstrates that if there is sincere and focused commitment, even in such trying circumstances positive impacts can be made. It should be acknowledged that despite the long span of more than a decade after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, this case study nevertheless presents a snapshot in time. Sri Lanka is confronted by a wide range of challenges, both internal and external, that will have a bearing on the fate of FoG’s efforts in the future. Political instability and a continued decline of the economy (The Business Standard 2019) pose internal hurdles to the continuity of community development initiatives such as FoG’s; external pressures of climate change and global trade frictions between powerful nations will determine its long-term trajectory. Thus, perhaps a re-visit of the FoG case study after a decade might elicit a transformative narrative shaped by unforeseen demands and pressures. Acknowledgements This paper draws partly from research conducted under an Australian Research Council funded Future Fellowship project entitled “Architecture on the Edge: Designing Sustainable Housing Systems for Vulnerable Communities” (Charlesworth and Ahmed 2015); and also an Australian Research Council Linkage and AusAID (ex) funded project entitled “Rebuilding Sustainable Communities: Assessing Post-Tsunami Resettlement Projects in Sri Lanka and India” (Shaw and Ahmed 2010).

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References ADB (2005) From disaster to reconstruction: a report on ADB’s response to the Asian Tsunami. ADB (Asian Development Bank), Manila Ahmed I, Charlesworth E (2014) Housing and resilience: case studies from Sri Lanka. In: Shaw R (ed) Recovery from The Indian Ocean Tsunami: a ten-year journey. Springer, Tokyo, pp 417–434 Bennett J, Bertrand W, Harkin C, Samarasinghe S, Wickramatillake (2006) Humanitarian assistance in tsunami-affected countries: evaluation findings—Sri Lanka. Tsunami Evaluation Coalition, London Charlesworth E, Ahmed I (2015) Sustainable housing reconstruction: designing resilient housing after natural disasters. Routledge, Abingdon (UK) Cosgrave J (2007) Synthesis report: expanded summary. Joint evaluation of the international response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Tsunami Evaluation Coalition, London Department of Census and Statistics (2005) Impact of tsunami 2004 on Sri Lanka. Department of Census and Statistics, Colombo Foundation of Goodness (2018) 2018 recap. Retrieved on 31 Jan 2019 from http://www.unconditi onalcompassion.org/sub/20190107-2018-Recap.php?e=c8e4314ab5 Haigh R, Amaratunga D (2011) A window of opportunity. Int J Disaster Resilience Built Environ 2(2):3 pages Mayena SB (2013) Disaster event: window of opportunity to implement global disaster policies? J Disaster Risk Stud 5(1):10 pages PreventionWeb (2008) Tsunami—data and statistics. Retrieved on 23 Oct 2013 from http://www. preventionweb.net/english/hazards/statistics/?hid=71 RADA (2006) Mid-year review: post-tsunami recovery and reconstruction. RADA (Reconstruction and Development Agency), Colombo Ratnayake RMGD, Rameezdeen R (2008) Post disaster housing reconstruction: comparative study of donor driven versus owner driven approach. In: Keraminiyage K, Jayasena S, Amaratunga D, Haigh R (eds) Post disaster recovery challenges in Sri Lanka. University of Salford, Salford (UK), pp 1067–1080 Shaw J, Ahmed I (2010) Design and delivery of post-disaster housing resettlement programs: case studies from Sri Lanka and India (report). Monash Asia Institute, Clayton (Australia) Silva KT (2009) Tsunami third wave’ and the politics of disaster management in Sri Lanka. Norw J Geogr 63:61–72 Telford J, Cosgrave J (2007) The international humanitarian system and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis. Disasters 31(1):1–28 The Business Standard (2019) Bangladesh economic growth will be highest in Asia this year: IMF. Retrieved on 24 Oct 2019 from https://tbsnews.net/economy/imf-forecasts-78-percent-eco nomic-growth-year?fbclid=IwAR0i8uFSwq3rWTSvH6IznttYk3LCPumBdWOLlI_hTWYx8l GoHx8sIHWyUrk Twigg J (2015) Good practice review 9: disaster risk reduction. Overseas Development Institute, London UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) (undated) Sustainable development goals. Retrieved on 1 Jan 2020 from https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-develo pment-goals.html UNDRR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) (2017) Terminology on disaster risk reduction. Retrieved on 1 Jan 2020 from https://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/terminology#letter-r USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) (2013) Magnitude 9.1: Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra. Retrieved on 23 Oct 2013 from http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2004/us2 004slav/#summary World Bank (2018) The World Bank in Sri Lanka: overview. Retrieved on 17 Feb 2019 from https:// www.worldbank.org/en/country/srilanka/overview

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Dr. Ahmed is Associate Professor and Program Convenor of the Master of Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development, University of Newcastle, Australia. He teaches on policy and social aspects of disaster risk reduction, disaster resilience and management of the built environment and sustainable development. His research interests include post-disaster housing, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and urbanisation in the Asia-Pacific. He has written several books and many peer-reviewed publications, and serves widely as a consultant for international development agencies. He completed his PhD at Oxford Brookes University, UK, master’s at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, and bachelor’s at Indian Institute of Technology, India.

Traditional Practices, Communities’ Aspirations, and Reconstructed End Products: Analyzing the Post-Sidr Reconstruction in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh Shams Mansoor Ghani Abstract Traditional practices derived from indigenous knowledge often fail to get attention in the process of externally supported interventions in any community. This chapter intends to investigate the reconstruction of houses as an external intervention, conducted after the cyclone Sidr in the coastal area of Bangladesh. The usual response from the Government as well as different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in a post-cyclone scenario is to aid with rebuilding or repairing houses following a ‘built back better’ approach focusing on enhancing resilience and reducing risks. Such a multi-agency intervention usually fails to appreciate the traditional practices and indigenous knowledge of the communities and it possesses the risk of resulting inappropriate settlements degrading coastal landscape and cultural heritage. This chapter aims to analyze cultural elements of the affected coastal settlements in general and evaluates the post-Sidr assisted reconstruction interventions in the backdrop of the age-old culture of constructing houses and settlements. Sharankhola, a subdistrict in the south-western coastal region of Bangladeash and one of the most intervened areas after the cyclone Sidr, is selected as the study area of this research. Observations, focus group discussions, and household surveys in the study area were conducted to investigate users’ feedback and consciousness about practicing traditional culture and the outcome of reconstructed products. This chapter reaffirms the fact that traditional wisdom and technologies are rarely considered, putting those at risks of being degraded and lost. Keywords Cyclone · Coastal region · Reconstruction · Traditional house form · Indigenous knowledge · Culture · ‘Built back better’ · Traditional wisdom

S. M. Ghani (B) Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_5

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1 Introduction Traditional practices as outcomes of indigenous knowledge gradually evolve within a community through the experiences of previous generations, as well as their observations, based on individual’s as well as a community’s surrounding natural environment and socio-cultural context (Chowdhooree 2019). Thus, this indigenous knowledge, which is unique in nature (Magni 2017), provides the necessary means for living, more specifically persisting in that context, ensuring similar lifestyle and livelihood options for future generations (Magni 2017; McCall 1988). Due to its strong connections with the natural environment, as well as socio-cultural context, the local communities used to employ local mechanisms in every aspect of their lives before getting exposed to the Western-Euro-centric notions of science and scientific knowledge and technologies. Building houses and settlements is an aspect which is highly influenced by the local geographical context, climate and climatic calamities, and available local materials. On the other hand, the trend of modern development which is usually conducted as external interventions by experts of external bodies, trained in Western-Euro-centric knowledge and technologies, usually prefers to take non-traditional measures due to pressure of industrialization, urbanization and globalization, which ultimately causes undesirable consequences (Chowdhooree 2019; Al-Roubaie 2010). This chapter intends to investigate the reconstruction interventions which followed the ‘built back better’ approach after the cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh to identify the scope of recognizing traditional practices and employing local indigenous knowledge and also the impacts of the reconstruction process on the aspirations of local communities. Cyclones and associated storm surges are usually generated along the 710 km long coast line of Bangladesh due to the geo-formation of Bay of Bengal, the usual direction of monsoon wind, and the geographic location of Bangladesh. The overall development of Bangladesh has been hampered due to these cyclones (Mallick and Rahman 2008) and the poorest section of the population is the regular victim. The frequency as well as the intensity of extreme events like cyclones is increasing due to the impacts of changed climatic factors. Altered frequencies and intensities of extreme weather, together with sea level rise, are expected to have adverse impacts on natural and human systems in future (IPCC 2018) and Bangladesh is among the most vulnerable countries. The cyclone Sidr hit the south-western coastal region of Bangladesh in the evening of 15 November 2007. The storm arrived as a category-4 super cyclone with peak winds at 250 km/h (GoB 2008). An IFRC report (2010) stated that approximately 1.5 million houses were damaged leaving millions of people shelterless. Impacts of cyclone Sidr resulting in the destruction of homestead happened in three ways: storm surge, flooding, and wind impact. A study in the region showed 60% house damage occurred due to cyclonic wind, 22% due to falling of trees and 17% due to storm surges (Moniruzzaman et al. 2013). Traditional practices of building houses and settlements of Bangladesh is on the decline due to rapid urbanisation, top-down development pressure, trends of globalization, high population density (World Population Review 2020), transformation

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of vernacular settings due to industrialization, impact of natural calamities, cultural aggression, and lack of policy supports and awareness. The south-western coastal region is much prone to tropical cyclones and as such, a potential location for major reconstruction interventions. Two of the major cyclones of recent time, Sidr (in 2007) and Aila (in 2009) have resulted such interventions, conducted by governmental and non-governmental organizations. This research studies selected reconstruction interventions of Sharankhola sub-district of Bagerhat district of the coastal region of Bangladesh for satisfying its objectives.

2 Background 2.1 External Interventions and Culture The built environment has been a vivid product of culture and traditional practices, context, and indigenous knowledge, at least in rural or vernacular settings. The following statement of Paul Oliver is very much relevant to this research as the study area is rural as well as at the fringe. Cultural traits and environmental contexts constituted the focus of vernacular traditions in building, which have often existed for centuries. (Oliver 2006, p. xxiv)

Culture is one of the most complex word in English language, which is explained by Throsby (2001) as a frequently used word which does not have a tangible or generally agreed core meaning. But culture is vital for understanding a community, their environment, and context (Rapoport 2005). Various aspects of a culture (i.e. practices, rituals, values, traditions, beliefs, views, rules, and taboos) as outcomes of indigenous knowledge (Magni 2017; AIPP et al. 2012; Dei 1993) act as the core of socio-economic development and scientific and technological achievements of a community (Magni 2017; Hoppers 2001). Development is a necessity for poverty alleviation and the UNESCO (2012) acknowledges that development activities as interventions need to be human-centered and responsive to the cultural context and the particularities of a place and community. Traditional practices of building houses and settlements are evolved through generations of trial and error and as such naturally are culture and context specific. Just like any other development activities, the post-disaster reconstructed projects, due to external influences, involvements of experts, and constrained timeframes, usually do not allow local communities to employ their knowledge to maintain their rights and traditions in a modified context (Magni 2017). The projects more often promote borrowed cultures, influenced by the Western-Euro-centric knowledge (Gadgil et al. 1993). This modified context with borrowed cultures also influences communities’ aspiration, where aspiration means a strong desire to have or do something. An inquiry into the aspiration of a community regarding the type of houses can hence be an important indicator of cultural appropriateness of a certain built environment.

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Ideally, any reconstruction project needs to follow a process through which the final product is achieved (Kabir 2009) and a look into this process answers questions on how the product will be sustainable, culture specific and people centric. The approach of ‘Build back better’ as it is delivered by external bodies (GOs, NGOs, Donors) in the reconstruction phase are not necessarily always culturespecific, active community participatory, and sustainable in nature (Nadiruzzaman and Wrathall 2015). The importance of culture and heritage is often not in focus in developing economies of countries like Bangladesh and pro-development arguments in favor of lives and livelihood keeps the heritage discourse absent in reconstruction phases. However, the scenario is changing fast in the backdrop of sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction where roles of culture and heritage have been well recognized (UN General Assembly 2015; UNISDR 2015). As Paul Oliver rightly stated The embodied values of existing vernacular traditions should be recognized rather than repressed, with respect for indigenous cultural norms and environmental knowledge. (Oliver 2006, p. 421)

2.2 Traditional Practices of Building Houses in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh The traditional housing typologies of Bangladesh include earthen hut with thatch roof, wooden structure and corrugated sheet roof, and lastly brick and R.C.C build structure with corrugated sheet roofs (Ahmed 2001a, b). The usual approach for planning a homestead is found in the form of using pashchati, an outer encircling group of spaces, surrounding a central core structure, usually of two storied. This layout is found in both wooden and R.C.C structures (Rahman 2011; Haq 1999). Local materials such as mud, bamboo, jute stick, straw, wood, bamboo mat (bera), and corrugated sheets are commonly used (Alam et al. 2017). Upper stories (locally called as matcha) are often used for storing valuables and in case of cyclones and storm surges, family members and neighbors can take refuge there. These house forms are found from Cox’s Bazar (Haq 1999) in the eastern coastal area to Satkhira in the western coastal area (Rahman 2011), from the coast of Kuakata to inland settlements of Uzirpur, Barishal (Fig. 1) where brick and wooden built houses are built, following the paschati space planning. Sharankhola upazilla (sub-district) is situated in the southern fringe of Bangladesh adjacent to the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world. It takes a two and half to three-hours’ journey from Bagerhat district town by road, combining bus, bikes, and using a ferry to cross a river. From the capital city Dhaka, it is an eleven to twelve hours’ journey by road including multiple ferry crossings. The sub-district covers 756.61 km2 area with a population of 1,40,000 during the study period (as per 2011 census data adding 0.42% growth) and a density of 157.42/ km2 (City Population 2020). Historically the area was a part of the Sundarbans and as such is rich in tree species. Every household is surrounded by thick vegetation.

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Fig. 1 Prevailing house form of southern Bangladesh, Uzirpur, Barishal (Field study 2015)

3 Research Methodology The research reviewed available literature to form the conceptual background, to survey the secondary sources on the housing traditions of coastal Bangladesh, and to draw a picture of the overall reconstruction scenario in Bangladesh. Later it conducted the qualitative field survey in September 2015 applying various methods like observations, household semi-structured interviews, key informant (GO and NGO employees) interviews and focus group discussions. A questionnaire was prepared based on qualitative data and a survey was conducted based on that. Randomly selected 200 households from three selected villages participated in the survey. The information from various sources and research methods are compared as triangulation to verify their authenticity and reliability. Sharankhola sub-district of Bagerhat district was selected as the case for this study due to extensive housing damages along with being the site for unprecedented volume of reconstruction works. Among four unions of Sharankhola, the research was limited to Rayenda and Dakshinkhali union (Fig. 2) as these two unions were most hardly hit and experienced maximum interventions (Table 1). Three villages were selected based on types of settlements and conveniences. The villages are: 1. Kadamtala (specially for dense cluster type settlement and extensive in situ reconstruction) 2. Chalrainda (specially for dense cluster of relocated settlement and a few scattered in situ reconstructions) 3. Uttar Dakshinkhali for relocated scattered settlement.

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Fig. 2 The Map showing the study location (LGED Bangladesh 2020)

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Table 1 Housing damage in Sharankhola by union (BRAC Sharankhola Branch 2015) Union No.

Union name

Total damaged household

Fully damaged household

Partially damaged household

1

Dhansagor

3170

1348

1822

2

Khontakata

5897

3078

2819

3

Rayenda

5766

3650

2116

4

Dakshinkhali

6519

5287

1232

4 The Process of Reconstruction Interventions After the Cyclone Sidr The affected people initiate to reconstruct or repair their houses and settlements immediately after the disaster, with or without external assistance (Jha et al. 2010). Usually the community comes forward aiding the victims. But without any external assistance recovery becomes difficult and in cases of extensive losses and damages, the recovery is almost impossible with limited local capacities. In the post-Sidr scenario, after the initial immediate response period, characterized by search and rescue, food, water and health care as well as emergency shelter assistance (which was negligible in volume), the GOs and NGOs concentrated heavily on reconstruction of houses and infrastructures. According to Kabir (2009) hazard reduction measures in terms of house design, construction practice and supervision, house extension and repair, household level training, etc. were usually executed for the first time by selected agencies whilst the rest followed their previous formulas and standard design practice of delivering shelters as products from their past disaster response experiences. The latter trend dominated in the study area of current research, as it was found in the study area. The research participants and secondary sources delivered the information that the Government of Bangladesh proposed to provide two possible ways of assistance: building core shelters, and building demonstration model houses while supporting a higher percentage of self-recovery. All member agencies agreed to build core shelters or as per some agencies ‘transitional shelter’. There was a confusion of using terminologies from the beginning. The government failed to enact any strict policy for building structure and as a result of this, many agencies continued their previous tradition of delivering shelters as relief products instead of following any community participatory or self-help process. Affected communities were primarily divided into two groups: land-less and landowners. For selecting beneficiaries, the government relied on local GOs. NGOs used their own sequence of delegation for explaining the process and formulated their objectives synthesizing the government’s directives and donors’ requirements. In order to provide speedy response, the GOs opted for pre-existing barrack style row housing for land-less victims and resilient core shelters for landowners. Due to obligations to donors, NGOs rarely got involved in rehabilitating the land-less households. Their main objective was to utilize donor funds through speedy provision of

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core/transitional shelters only for landowners on the sites of the damaged houses. The local GOs were responsible for running projects for land-less households and delivering products, funded through public channel. At the same time, Shelter Clusters or Shelter Working Group (SWG)s were formed with representatives from GOs, NGOs and donor agencies to coordinated private sector activities. The SWG, under the aegis of government has been monitoring the field performances of shelter strategies since 2008 (GFDRR 2014). Figure 3 shows a diagram, explaining the construction process. The Shelter Cluster, with the help of Shelter Technical Working Group facilitated to establish minimum standards for the core shelter construction, which were endorsed by the Government. These standards were acknowledged by several NGOs as the main guideline for designing their reconstruction prototypes. Minimum core size was set at 305 cm × 305 cm, although 305 cm × 610 cm was preferable. Minimum corrugated sheet thickness was decided as 0.31 mm with a 30-°

Fig. 3 The diagram showing the post-Sidr reconstruction process. Yellow arrows annotate the flow of fund, green arrows annotate influences and advices. The width of the arrows represents proportion of the flow (Field study 2015)

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optimum slope. Some details of joineries like J-bolts and anti-corrosive paint were specified. All wooden structural joineries were suggested to have adequate doublepinned lap joints. All frames were asked to have horizontal or diagonal bracings as appropriate. Lap joints were decided to be without reduction of timber sections. Precast reinforced concrete pillars were decided to be cured for at least 14 days before transportation and installation. The specifications for the RCC pillars were provided in detail with minimum concrete strength of 3000 psi. Although these specifications were fixed to ensure a degree of resilience, the literature review made it evident that core sustainability issues like local knowledge, building traditions, and aspirations of the community were not taken into consideration (Kabir 2009).

5 Findings from the Study Area All four unions of Sharankhola sub-district are linked with the national highway up to the Sundarbans range. The embankment along the bank of river Baleshwar acts as a peripheral road for Dakshinkhali union. The settlement patterns of the villages of Rayenda union can be divided in two typologies: households close to the main road and near bazar areas are ‘highly dense clusters on artificially built mounds’ and households in other areas are ‘scattered and built on artificially raised lands’. In Dakshinkhali union, most of the households follow the latter typology. Scattered settlements on raised or unraised mounds were very common before the cyclone Sidr in the areas which were not protected by the Baleshwar river embankment and these were mostly built by landless population. Most of those houses were washed away which caused many of the casualties during the cyclone Sidr. The predominant local house form, found in field study, is in alignment with the regional tradition, discussed earlier. Mud wall with palm leaves roof, and bamboo frame, bamboo mat/corrugate iron (CI) sheet wall with palm leaves/thatch roof are two types which are mostly used by landless population. Middle income to elite land owners predominantly build single or two storied wooden houses with CI sheet roof. These houses are locally called chou-chala or aat-chala (four roofs or eight roofs respectively). However, several wooden houses are found to be accompanied by temporary structures of bamboo frame and golpata (mangrove palm) or CI sheet roofs, which are used as kitchen, store, cow-shed or toilet. A small portion of pre-Sidr houses were brick built with CI sheet roofing. Flat roofed brick or R.C.C building were rare inside residential clusters. Observations, household surveys and key-informant interviews indicated that the gradual economic progress of a household is reflected in the upgradation of the house form and materials from temporary and low-cost to more permanent in nature, retaining the basic space arrangement, vertical layering, and form. Some of the wooden houses also used extensive application of traditional decorative motifs and colors. It was observed that landless population usually had earthen huts with palm leaves or thatch roofs, bamboo framed huts with bamboo mat walls or CI sheet roofs and huts with CI sheet walls and palm leaves/thatch roofs. For the middle income to elite land owners, wooden houses were the first choice for

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the main living units of a homestead. Temporary structures of bamboo frames and palm leaves or CI sheet roofs, are usually used as kitchen, store houses, cow-shed or toilet in a homestead of land owners. A small portion of pre-Sidr houses were brick built with CI sheet roofing. Flat roofed brick or R.C.C buildings were rare. Research participants expressed their aspirations for having decorated wooden houses and several respondents recognized these houses as their symbols of prestige. However, a few respondents, especially from youth segment, seemed inclined to urban style flat roofed buildings. Chalrainda village: It is the southernmost village of Rayenda union ending with Tafalbari canal and bordering with Dakshinkhali union in the South. Major projects of relocated houses were built in densely planned manner here by NGOs. Uttar Dakshinkhali village: Pre-Sidr state of Uttar Dakshinkhali was like Chalrainda, even more scattered at places except for few densely clustered households near Tafalbari bazar. This village is bordered by the embankment of Baleshwar river, beyond which a major destruction was caused by storm surges. As a result, several families chose to relocate along the embankment, purchasing small pieces of lands from their relatives and friends. Most of the houses of this village were provided by the Government. Kadamtala village: Kamatala village in Rayenda union is situated around a nodal point of the main axial road towards Dakshinkhali. The housing clusters are dense and most of the destroyed houses were reconstructed in their previous locations. A significant percentage of intervention was done by NGOs. A large portion of pre-Sidr decorated and two storied wooden houses survived the cyclone.

5.1 House Typologies of Reconstruction Projects In total three reconstructed house typologies were identified in the study villages. Among these two types were delivered by NGOs, i.e., BRAC and Muslim Aid and the other one was delivered by the Government and it was supported by funds received from the Government of Saudi Arabia. BRAC is identified as the largest international NGO while Muslim Aid is a UK based Islamic charity NGO. I. BRAC’s reconstruction work The research participants delivered the information that BRAC built almost 1300 houses in total in all four unions of Sharankhola. The house typology contains a core living unit of 305 cm × 457 cm with an access veranda of 152 cm wide along the longer side of the core unit (Fig. 4). The unit is built with brick walls and CI sheet sloped roof. The cement-plastered plinth is edged with bricks. Wooden posts are used here to support the roof over the veranda. The veranda as an addition to the core living unit is appreciated by the users and the quality of construction was at satisfactory level. However, the house form is not aligned with the traditional house types and settlement patterns and the users attempted to modify it (not with a lot of success) to fit it into the paschati planning layout.

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Fig. 4 Top: Plan of BRAC’s prototype; Bottom Left: View of BRAC’s prototype; Bottom right. Modified version of that (Field study 2015)

II. Muslim Aid’s reconstruction work The core living unit is here divided into two rooms of same size (305 cm × 305 cm) and the both rooms are accessed through an elongated veranda of 183 cm width (Fig. 5). RCC columns are used for the core unit whereas brick-columns are used to support the CI sheet roof over the veranda. The walls are of brick and the mudplinth is edged with bricks. An additional small unit is attached at the rare side of the living unit. The quality of construction was at satisfactory level. However, use of traditional material in adaption or alteration seemed problematic and the users could not properly add pashchati to the core as seen during household studies. III. The Government Support Reconstruction The core unit provided here is almost like a box of CI sheets with R. C. C. prefabricated pillars, mud-plinth and access doors on both sides and without any veranda which is considered as an essential space in a traditional house typology. The core unit is 305 cm × 457 cm in size (Fig. 6). These shelters were much more inexpensive compared to the previous two. The respondents frequently complained about heat

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Fig. 5 Top: Plan of Muslim Aid’s prototype; Bottom Left: View of Muslim Aid’s prototype; Bottom right. Modified version of that (Field study 2015)

gain and discomfort. Although poor in construction quality and choice of materials, the product adhered strictly to the concept of core shelter. The neutrality of form and elevation, use of mud plinth and not providing a veranda, and lack of climatic comfort generated substantial user adaptation in the form of pashchati (even decorated at times) that made the houses evolve into products close to the traditional house forms.

5.2 Reponses from Research Participants In focus group discussions, research participants delivered the idea that the whole process was suffered due to corrupted and bureaucratic process and lack of coordination among stakeholders. In some cases, standards were not maintained, and some

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Fig. 6 Top: Plan of GO’s prototype; Bottom Left: View of GO’s prototype; Bottom right. Modified version of that (Field study 2015)

non-member agencies got involved. However, major agencies were quite capable to complete their tasks properly. It is briefly discussed below followed by a comparison of minimum standards and users’ feedback. • Selection of site: In case of both public and NGO assistance, most of the shelters were constructed in their original locations of the destroyed houses. Landownership or secure tenure was a precondition for NGOs and only landowners received assistance from NGOs. Local government was the major actor in providing some assistance to landless families and they received a small portion of fallow land as donations from the Government. • Shelter options: Shelter providers either local GOs or NGOs were quite unsure about the nature of shelters. They were in dilemma between transitional and core housing, and temporary and permanent housing. The minimum standards were not suitable for a lot of families and they preferred bigger units, especially when they needed to invest a portion of their own fund. The NGOs opted for more permanent solutions, adding verandas to the basic core units. • Construction materials and methods: Getting quality building materials in large quantity was not easy for either organizations or locals. To resolve this problem,

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NGOs manufactured and supervised their own supplies and sometimes collected materials from far from the site. It was rarely attempted by GOs and NGOs to improve local construction techniques and to train local masons for improving their skills. Pre-cast concrete columns and steel rafters and purlins were used for ensuring the durability of structures. • Adherence to Shelter Cluster guidelines: The standard size of living unit, fixed by the shelter cluster was considered as too small for many beneficiaries. NGOs provided units which are bigger than the standards. The angle of roof inclination is a critical detail which was needed to be fixed and maintained to make shelters resilient to high wind speed. But it was not specified in the standards. As a result, there were cases of variations and some houses exceeded the acceptable limit. Use of thicker CI sheet was maintained by NGOs, but not by GOs. Because of the unavailability of practical and photographic guidelines for making joineries and details in the standards, the shelters were built with weak joineries and inappropriate details. Existing plinth height of several traditional houses were found as higher than the standard guideline of two feet or 61 cm. However, in some cases of reconstruction even the prescribed plinth heights were not maintained, while in some other cases the existing plinths were not stabilized with brick-edging or with cement layers, as it was prescribed in the standard. Using thinner CI sheet than the prescribed standard was another alarming issue that has potentially increased the risk in case of future cyclones. A reconnaissance questionnaire survey was conducted in three studied villages to quantitatively ascertain users’ perspectives about their culture, traditional house forms and the way they evaluate agency-driven post-Sidr reconstruction in their villages. In the pre-Sidr condition almost 30% of houses were built of CI sheets with bamboo frames (Fig. 7). Data were collected to know the procedure of repairing or rebuilding houses after the cyclone Sidr. In total 8 combinations of repairing and rebuilding houses were identified, i.e.: i. ii. iii. iv.

Houses were undamaged; it was not necessary to repair or rebuild Houses were rebuilt using own fund Houses were repaired using own fund The land was bought by the beneficiary and assistance was received from any agency for building house there v. Beneficiary received the house from an agency along with the land in a new location vi. Beneficiary received the house from an agency in the old location vii. Beneficiary received cash-grants and/or materials for rebuilding the house viii. Beneficiary received cash-grants and/or materials for repairing the house. The diagram (Fig. 8) shows the highest number of beneficiaries received houses from any agency on their owned lands in old locations. Slightly more that 25% of beneficiaries were either satisfied or very satisfied with the shelters received from either GOs or NGOs which means a big number of households were not satisfied with the supports received from organizations (Fig. 9).

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Fig. 7 The chart is showing percentage of pre-Sidr house types (Field survey 2015)

Fig. 8 The chart is showing percentage of combinations of repairing or rebuilding process (Field survey 2015)

It was attempted to know the reasons of dissatisfactions. In total 10 reasons were identified, i.e.: i. ii. iii. iv. v.

Shelters look different from traditional houses Shelters are not aligned with the traditional pashchati planning approach Absence of upper story (matcha), used mostly for storing items Shelters are expensive to repair Lack of options of modifying the shelters according to various needs (Not adaptable)

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Fig. 9 The chart is showing percentage of satisfaction level (Field survey 2015)

vi. vii. viii. ix. x.

Inadequate unit sizes Delay in delivery Poor construction quality Shelters are not suitable enough to resist high wind-speed Lack of thermal comfort.

Delay in delivering the shelter, poor construction quality and lack of possibilities of modifying the shelters according to various needs were major three reasons for not liking the agency-supported rebuilding process (Fig. 10). Traditionally, various types

Fig. 10 The chart is showing responses of reasons of lack of satisfaction (Field survey 2015)

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Fig. 11 The chart is showing percentage of aspired house types (Field survey 2015)

of houses were there in the study area. GOs and NGOs provided some other kinds of houses which were different from their traditional houses. Now the inhabitants have more options for choosing a type as their aspired houses which may help to understand the local preferences. A survey was conducted to know the house types which are preferred by the households for future. In total 7 types of options were given to them, i.e.: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii.

Houses like local elites, which are double storied brick-wall flat roofed structures. Brick walled-flat roofed house GoB style house BRAC style house Muslim Aid style house Double storied wooden house Single storied wooden house.

The highest number of respondents (more than 45%) preferred double storied wooden houses which are traditional in nature. Whereas not a single respondent preferred houses like either GoB style or BRAC style (Fig. 11).

6 Analysis and Discussion • Traditional Practices in Post-Sidr housing: Literature review shows that the reconstruction process followed by both GOs and NGOs acknowledged traditional practices and cultural appropriateness in their assessment and evaluation reports

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as a minor consideration. This is understandable, since the daunting task of emergency response and rehabilitation rarely gives opportunity to think deep about traditional practices and culture while bare necessities are prioritized. However, some variables under the umbrella of traditional practices and culture have been used as key consideration that could lead to culture-specific housing. The Shelter Cluster formulated an indirect way to address this by focusing on a neutral core shelter with ample scopes for adapting it according to users’ needs and choices. Moreover, they stressed on beneficiaries’ participation in all stages of reconstruction through the framework of Owner Driven Housing Reconstruction (ODHR). Following these two steps, even without understanding local culture, would have resulted cultural responsiveness at an acceptable level. Unfortunately, the houses provided by the Government, BRAC and Muslim Aid failed to conform with theses steps and hence remained out of context in the traditional cultural landscape. • Aspirations of Local Communities: It is difficult to ascertain local aspirations regarding the built environment in an area that underwent significant external interventions. The distressed population has been motivated in building resilient houses employing modern technologies and advanced building materials. Since elaborated research on traditional house forms and technologies is non-existent in post-Sidr documents and reports, and since framed policy guidelines provided vague directions on dealing with cultural issues and traditional practices, it can be easily assumed that the local community has been made to believe in the new designs accepting the agency advocated shortcomings of their traditional houses. The case was somewhat different, as revealed in household survey and focus group discussions. The wooden house is still aspired by a large portion of households and the highest number of respondents aspired for double storied wooden houses while only 15% respondents aspired for brick-walled flat roofed double storied houses (Fig. 11). Moreover, it was observed in Dakshinkhali that users’ adaptations in limited budget transformed core shelters into a houses which are very close to the traditional practices. • Level of satisfaction: Both household survey and focus group discussion showed that a high number of beneficiaries are not satisfied with the assistance received from either GOs or NGOs. On the other hand, those who were satisfied mentioned the strength and permanency of the reconstructed houses as the key reasons of appreciation. • Settlement pattern and visual eclecticism: In situ reconstruction works are found to be in harmony with existing settlement patterns. This gave way to easier habitation and adaptation by the users and the eventual level of satisfaction. Relocated projects are identified as imposed on the local context, threatening local identity and traditional cultural landscape. Although all built houses that aimed for a finished product failed to harmonize with the surrounding and to generate appropriate user adaptation that could lead to a less eclectic visual scenario.

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7 Conclusion The geographical location of Bangladesh with respect to the shoreline of Myanmar and India, in combination with the emerging reality of climate change and corresponding sea level rise, has made it inevitable that the country will continue to experience cyclones and storm surges of greater intensity and scale in coming years. Therefore, the vulnerable coastal region will continue to be devastated and the surviving traditional practices and the associated local knowledge will continue to lose foothold, unless the top-down expert-driven approach of risk reduction, disaster response, rehabilitation, and reconstruction is altered. The realm of postdisaster reconstruction is being flooded with well-intended publications from agencies focusing on risk reduction, poverty alleviation, and development. However, the issue of safeguarding heritage, traditional practices, culture, local knowledge, and indigenous wisdom is not yet prioritized. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR 2015) suggests recognizing heritage and tradition as a part and parcel of reconstruction discourse. This chapter has revealed that the heritage of traditional practices is rarely considered while the saving of lives and reviving livelihood options get prioritized through a top-down expert-driven process of development. Whereas the traditional wooden house forms (found in the study area) are potentially more resilient to cyclones and storm surges than most of the new house forms, proposed and constructed by various agencies. The repeated top-down advocacy delivered from reconstruction agencies has influenced and modified the aspiration of some households towards masonry-built houses over traditional wooden ones. It shows how external interventions, conducted without considering the context, can undermine traditional practices and local knowledge and can demotivate the affected population to practice their traditions. By ignoring traditional wisdom and indigenous knowledge, research institutions and decision-makers follow the top-down expert-driven approach, neglecting a wealth of knowledge. This kind of practice flaws the decision-making process, which consequently fails to involve local communities (Chowdhooree 2019; Hirsch and Alam 2007). It can be suggested that the post-disaster reconstruction regime of Bangladesh should be open to include ideas from traditional practices, local knowledge, and local masons and craftsmen following the guidelines of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. Organizations working primarily in the field of heritage conservation should get involved with local communities in reconstruction and rehabilitation projects. The terms like sustainable, people-centric, and owner-driven should no longer remain popular risk reduction jargons, these should be applied in accordance with what these concepts are destined to achieve.

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References AIPP, IWGIA & SDC (2012) Indigenous peoples and climate change adaptation in Asia, Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact. Retrieved from http://www.iwgia.org/iwgia_files_publications_files/ 0656_IPs_and_Climate_Change_Adaptation_in_Asia.pdf Ahmed KI (2001a) Participatory Action research (PAR) on building—for-safety options for lowincome rural housing in flood-prone areas: study in Manikganj, Research Report, Grameen Trust, Dhaka, Bangladesh Ahmed KI (2001b) Participatory Action research (PAR) on building—for-safety options for lowincome rural housing in flood-prone areas: study in Gopalganj, Research Report, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and University of Exeter, UK Alam MR, Kaish ABMA, Zain MFM, Dev SK, Mahzabin MS (2017) Vulnerability assessment and construction recommendations of local houses in the cyclone prone coastal areas of Bangladesh. Int J Disaster Risk Reduction 21(Oct 2016), 118–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2016.10.010 Al-Roubaie A (2010) Building indigenous knowledge capacity for development. World J Sci Technol Sustain Develop 7(2):113–129. https://doi.org/10.1108/20425945201000008 Chowdhooree I (2019) Indigenous knowledge for enhancing community resilience: an experience from the south-western coastal region of Bangladesh. Int J Disaster Risk Reduction 40:2008. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101259GoB City Population (2020) https://www.citypopulation.de/. Accessed on 24 Feb 2020 Dei G (1993) Sustainable development in the African context: revisiting some theoretical and methodological issues. Afr Develop Rev 18:97–110 Gadgil M, Berkes F, Folke C (1993) Indigenous knowledge for biodiversity conservation. Ambio 22:2–3 GFDRR (2014) Planning and implementation of post-sidr housing recovery : practice, lessons and future implications. Retrieved from https://www.gfdrr.org/sites/default/files/publication/rfcs2014-bangladesh.pdf GoB (2008) Super cyclone Sidr 2007—impacts and strategies for interventions. In: Strategies. Retrieved from https://www.preventionweb.net/files/9470_cyclonebangladesh.pdf Haq B (1999) Battling the storm: study on cyclone resistant housing. Retrieved from https://www. sheltercluster.org/sites/default/files/docs/BattlingtheStorm-typhoonresistantconstruction.pdf Hirsch D, Alam M (2007) Knowledge and capacity for governance: the negotiated approach. Discussion draft paper for the session on knowledge and capacity for governance, Delft, The Netherlands Hoppers CAO (2001) Indigenous knowledge systems and academic institutions in South Africa. Perspect Educ 19:73–85 IFRC (2010) Final report. Cyclone SIDR, Bangladesh. In: IFRC. Retrieved from https://www.ifrc. org/docs/appeals/07/mdrbd003fr.pdf IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014 synthesis report summary chapter for policymakers. IPCC, 31. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324 IPCC (2018) Summary for policymakers. In: Masson-Delmotte PRS, Zhai VP, Pörtner H-O, Roberts D, Skea J, Pirani MIGA, Moufouma-Okia W, Péan C, Pidcock R, Connors S, Matthews JBR, Chen Y, Zhou X, Lonnoy TWE, Maycock T, Tignor M (eds) Global warming of 1.5 °C. An IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways. Retrieved from https://www.ipcc.ch/site/ass ets/uploads/sites/2/2019/05/SR15_SPM_version_report_LR.pdf Jha AK, Barenstein JD, Phelps PM, Pittet D, Sena S (2010) Safer homes, stronger communities. In: Construction. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-8045-1 Kabir R (2009) Post-cyclone Sidr family shelter construction in Bangladesh—documentation of plans and processes. In: Shelter working group. Retrieved from https://www.sheltercluster.org/ sites/default/files/docs/post-cyclone_sidr_family_shelter_construction_in_bgd_final_version. pdf

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Bangladesh LGED (2020) Map of Sharankhola Sub-district. Local Government Engineering Department, The Government of Bangladesh McCall M (1988) The implications of Eastern African rural social structure for local-level development: the case for participatory development based on indigenous knowledge systems. Reg Rural Dialogue 9:41–72 Magni G (2017) Indigenous knowledge and implications for the sustainable development agenda. Eur J Educ 52:437–447. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12238 Mallick FH, Rahman MA (2008) Cyclone shelters and alternatives for sustained development in Bangladesh. J South Asian Disaster Stud 1(1):59–67 Moniruzzaman M, Siddik MAB, Akter MP (2013) Damage nature of family shelters due to cyclone Sidr: a study of Sarankhola Upazilla. Jagannath Univ J Sci 2(1):21–31. Retrieved from https://geospot24.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/damage-nature-of-family-shelters-due-tocyclone-sidr-a-study-on-sarankhola-upazila.pdf Nadiruzzaman M, Wrathall D (2015) Participatory exclusion—cyclone Sidr and its aftermath. Geoforum 64:196–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.06.026 Oliver P (2006) Built to meet needs: cultural issues in vernacular architecture. https://doi.org/10. 1017/CBO9781107415324.004 Rahman T (2011) Strengthening the coastal settlements of Bangladesh through planning and construction approaches. Asian J Environ Disaster Manage (AJEDM)—focusing on pro-active risk reduction in Asia 03(4):389. https://doi.org/10.3850/S1793924011000976 Rapoport A (2005) Culture, architecture, and design. Locke Science Publishing Company Inc, Chicago Throsby D (2001) Economics and culture, p 194. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10. 1080/13547860306286 UN General Assembly (2015) Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development (A/RES/70/1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13398-014-0173-7.2 UNESCO (2012) Culture: a driver and an enabler of sustainable development. Retrieved from http:// www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/post2015/pdf/Think_Piece_Culture.pdf UNISDR (2015) Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction 2015–2030. In: Third world conference on disaster risk reduction, Sendai, Japan, 14–18 March 2015. A/CONF.224/CRP.1 World Population Review (2020) http://worldpopulationreview.com/. Accessed on 26 Feb 2020

Mr. Ghani is employed as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Architecture, BRAC University and at present is working as a member of its Postgraduate Programs in Disaster Management Board. He completed his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology specializing on urban mixed-use developments. He has served as architectural consultant for numerous building and interior design projects all over Bangladesh. He was also part of post-cyclone reconstruction projects for rural communities. Before joining BRAC University, he served as a faculty at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Dhaka. His master’s research, done at BRAC University, was on post-disaster reconstruction. His research interests include culturally appropriate interventions, risk reduction and development, sustainable urbanism and housing, and heritage and cultural landscapes at risk.

Designing Spaces with Victims of Humanitarian Crisis: Action Research on Spaces for Children at Rohingya Camps in Bangladesh Emerald Upoma Baidya, Farah Mahboob, Fatiha Polin, and Imon Chowdhooree Abstract The victims of humanitarian crisis, due to series of constraints, usually need to evacuate from their native places and seek asylums in any safer location. The temporary accommodation of displaced population, identifying as refugee camps provide fragments of ‘bare life’, where children of the victim community rarely get opportunities to have an environment suitable for their physical and mental growth. This chapter studies the camps established in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh for temporarily accommodating Rohingya population who were forced to migrate from Myanmar. The child-friendly spaces developed as Humanitarian Play Labs (HPL)s within the camp areas provided the scope for exploring an interactive and community participatory design process for making the spaces culturally sensitive. The pilot process of current research identified three features which were added to existing HPLs: wall decoration (alpona), fabric-made drop ceiling (shamiyana) and bamboo platforms. It was identified that the playful, creative and engaging environments helped children better to manage their traumatic condition, caused by humanitarian crisis experiences. Moreover, retaining their identity through adding traditional features to HPLs was also identified as a crucial aspect of healing through tailored and creative activities and spaces. Keywords Child friendly space · Childhood development · Learning through play · Co-creating spaces · Rohingya art and culture · Humanitarian crisis · Humanitarian play lab (HPL) E. U. Baidya (B) · F. Mahboob BRAC Institute of Education Development, Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: [email protected] F. Mahboob e-mail: [email protected] F. Polin Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements, Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: [email protected] I. Chowdhooree BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_6

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1 Introduction Humanitarian crisis is more accurately defined as ‘crime against humanity’ and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court has recognized a range of crimes within this criteria that include murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer of population, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law, torture, rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, enforced prostitution, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity, persecution against any identifiable group, enforced disappearance of persons, apartheid crimes, inhumane acts that cause great suffering or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health against any civilian population as a part of widespread or systematic attack (UN 2014; Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 1999). In any such condition, irrespective of its nature and context, victims usually face series of constraints which include physical and sexual violence, enslavement, communicable diseases, imprisonment, losing homes, detachment from native places, economic loss, emotional distress, food scarcity and associated other socioeconomic challenges. Being victims of humanitarian crises, they experience as well as witness violence, loss of family members, get displaced from native places, and face violations of human rights, along with experiencing a range of other socioeconomic challenges (Hermosilla et al. 2019; UN 2014; Hill 2004). Displacement of a community from its native place, due to humanitarian crisis, forces them to seek asylum in a safer location, where they are usually identified as refugees though all displaced populations do not fall under the category of refugee definition. In some cases, they are identified as stateless person as well as internally displaced person (IDP). Refugees as recognized citizens of a particular country are identified as victims of any humanitarian crisis who have crossed international boarder and need humanitarian assistance (means all kinds of care and attention) from a host community as well as from international communities for an interim period before going back to their previous living condition. Stateless persons are not legally identified as citizens of any recognized country and internally displaced people means they did not cross an international boarder. The temporary accommodation of refugees, identifying as refugee camps provide fragments of ‘bare life’, preparing its inhabitants to return to ‘normality’ (Chaux and Haugh 2018; Turner 2014, 2005, 2010). Media portrayals of refugee camps emphasize the short-term and humanitarian nature of these camps— usually depicting starving and injured refugees, desperately waiting for help in food distribution queues and makeshift hospitals. In fact, the average length of stay is nearly 20 years and for some refugees this represents their whole life to date (Chaux and Haugh 2018; Milner and Loescher 2011). The wellbeing of victim children is usually severely threatened by the risk of violent activities, abduction and abuse, and the disruption of development (Hermosilla et al. 2019). Children in this condition, pursue a series of humanitarian needs to ensure their safety and security along with maintaining every child right and promoting their psychosocial wellbeing. It seeks a special attention towards the needs of children while designing spaces for

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Fig. 1 View of a Rohingya camp, Cox’s Bazar (Field study 2018)

them within a refugee camp. The term “design” refers to the comprehensive array of influencing factors, based on a single idea of serving a definite purpose, that not only refers to what is created but also the organic nature of the creation and how it will influence activity and thought (Feinberg and Keller 2010). Designing a space solely for children within a refugee camp, referring as child-friendly space (CFS), demands to conduct an action research, considering the socio-cultural context of the beneficiary community and availability of necessary resources. This chapter intends to narrate and evaluate the action research conducted by the BRAC Institute of Educational Development for designing child-friendly spaces (CFS) in Rohingya camps (Fig. 1), situated in Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh. The Rohingya community is identified as an ethnic minority group of Myanmar, residing mostly in its state of Rakhine and not enlisted as citizen of Myanmar. 8,30,000 of the Rohingya people have crossed the international border and now residing in several camps, established within the territory of neighboring country Bangladesh, after being evicted from their place of residence due to crimes against humanity committed by the government security forces, including mass atrocities, sexual violence, and widespread arson (Human Rights Watch 2020).

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2 Background 2.1 Child Friendly Spaces in Refugee Camps Children of victim communities, due to humanitarian crises experience a broad range of protection risks, where they get exposed to life-threatening and traumatic incidents and severe risks of being separated from parents and other family members, being displaced, neglected, sexually exploited and abducted. (Ager et al. 2011). Their psychosocial wellbeing gets challenged due to exposure to traumatic events and disruption of pre-existing patterns of lifestyle (Reed et al. 2011). These children are brought to camps of displaced population along with their family members or without their family members and reside there until the cause of their displacement is resolved. According to the statistics of 2016, over 65 million persons as victims of displacement are residing in camps (UNHCR 2016a) and the number is increasing. The displaced population of any form can be identified as ‘matter out of place’ (Douglas 1966, pp. 48) in the ‘national order of things’ (Malkki 1995, pp. 495) and their temporal accommodation (commonly refereed as refugee camps) as those are planned (Chaux and Haugh 2018) become the containers that allow to maintain fragments of ‘bare life’ and anomalous humanity (Turner 2005, 2010). Children of this kind of sheltered community are being raised in that condition with scars of crimes which they faced and witnessed. Refugee camps are usually located in remote and thinly populated areas (Turner 2015) where outsiders are prevented from entrance and refugees are prohibited from leaving unless to permanently return to their home country (Chaux and Haugh 2018; Ramadan 2013; Turner 2005). The host community as well as international communities usually runs development programs along with providing care and maintenance in such a way so that after the temporal condition they may go back to normality in a peaceful condition. Several programs are conducted aiming to create a responsible and reasonable ‘community’ out of what they perceived as a traumatized, apathetic mass of refugees (Turner, 2005, 2010). Humanitarian responses often address the needs of victims through psychosocial programming which also targets children so that they can recover from threats against their overall wellbeing. Building Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) within the camp area commonly seeks attention. Hermisilla and colleagues (2019) found positive impacts of those spaces on the mental and physical growth of children of camp areas. Child Friendly Spaces (CFS), primarily have been considered as a standard approach for supporting children’s psychosocial wellbeing and local facilitators from host or international communities usually attempt to make resources available to victims through conducting structured activities (Child Protection Working Group 2012; Save the children 2008; UNICEF 2011). CFSs aim to provide safe and comfortable environment in which children receive supports for their well-being in situations of extreme adversity (UNICEF 2011, 2009) and these aid to build their personal resources such as confidence, self-respect and emotional self-regulation as well as broader coping strategies (Hermosilla et al. 2019). CFSs are usually created as scalable, adaptable and creative programs, involving games, fine and performing arts,

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and interactive educational activities, which are effortlessly operable in challenging contexts in a cost-effective manner (Ager et al. 2013; UNICEF 2009; Kostelny and Wessells 2008). To make CFSs successful, special attention needs to be drawn to take decisions for designing the space. Feinberg and Keller (2010) define the term “design” as the comprehensive array of influencing factors based on a single idea and deciding the mechanism of transforming that idea to reality to carry out the purpose. Designing spaces for children needs to perceive the physical space (how patrons view and use the space), as well as the intuitive space, considering the dynamics of daily interactions that affect the space along with its enclosure, contents and habitation (Feinberg and Keller 2010). This research focuses on the design dynamics of child friendly spaces in refugee camps.

2.2 Involvement of BRAC Institute of Educational Development in Rohingya Camps The massive humanitarian crisis which was unfold in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people to cross the border into neighboring Bangladesh. According to the UNICEF (2019) at present, around 919,000 Rohingyas are living in the southern Bangladesh, almost 700,000 of which arrived following the violence of late August 2017. Instead of identifying them as refugees the Government of Bangladesh prefers to identify them as forcibly displaced Rohingyas. With the support of local communities, as well as, national and international organizations, the Government of Bangladesh has been addressing this humanitarian crisis through accommodating them in some designated camps which have been settled in Cox’s Bazar district, close to the border with Myanmar (UNICEF 2019). Along with other organizations, BRAC got involved here. BRAC is identified as the largest nongovernmental development organization in the world, working to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease and social injustice (BRAC 2020). BRAC intended to create opportunities to build skills and resilience that are long-lasting and applicable in multiple contexts, for ensuring secure and dignified repatriation of the displaced Rohingya population. Their programs include learning opportunities for children, developing life skills of adolescents, and cash for work for the adults (BRAC 2018). Along with targeting this large-scale humanitarian crisis through providing basic physical needs of food and water, hygiene and sanitation and protecting their fundamental rights, BRAC specially has developed a program, targeting children, as 55% of total Rohingya population are children; many of whom were detached from their families, and have faced serious issues related to psychological distress, vulnerability and trauma (BRAC 2018). A need was felt to create child-friendly spaces (CFS) within the camp areas, where children will be safe and protected and will take part in creative activities incorporating elements of playing, through which healing can be possible (BRAC 2020; Mariam et al. 2019). Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) are

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considered as measures of emergency response to provide a safe space for children in any crisis. Similar spaces for the Rohingya children were decided to build within the camp area. The BRAC’s program for creating CFS is called Humanitarian Play Lab (HPL) which is aimed to develop as the model of play-based solution, applicable to help refugee children to learn and recover from trauma and it is supported by research works where playing is identified as a tool for healing trauma (BRAC 2020). It recognizes the need for more structured interventions for long-term early childhood development (ECD) strategies. The LEGO Foundation, under Clinton Foundation, works to promote the importance of learning through play in the developing world through the BRAC Play Lab Project in Bangladesh, Uganda and Tanzania (The LEGO Foundation 2020). Since 2015 through intending to promote playing as a learning tool, BRAC along with the LEGO Foundation, has been developing and implementing the play model. The play model as an instrument is designed to keep children engaged which may provide stimulation for cognitive and social-emotional development and develop self-regulation and resilience (Mariam et al. 2019). The model incorporates play-based learning in its curriculum and is implemented over 300 play spaces across Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. BRAC’s HPL model is an adaptation of the Play Model developed by the LEGO Foundation. But at the beginning, this play model was developed for the children of marginalized communities of urban areas, not for refugee children. The BRAC Institute of Educational Development (BIED) on behalf of BRAC has been running the Humanitarian Play Lab (HPL) curriculum for children aged 2–6 within the framework of CFS. The main objective of HPL is to use play as a tool for healing and learning. At HPLs, the everyday session includes different activities, i.e. reciting kabbya (Rhymes), narrating kissa (stories), preparing visual arts and craft items, and playing unique local games. The psychosocial aspect makes the model unique from the other existing models. This institute officially got involved in September 2018, with the slogan “Play to Heal, Play to Learn,” to explore the concept, in the low resource and humanitarian settings of Rohingya camps (BRAC 2019). As Dr. Erum Mariam, Executive Director of BRAC IED said, The Humanitarian Play Lab model is a repurposing of the Science of Play for settings troubled by humanitarian crisis. Learning through play portrays children as being empowered and upholds their dignity. It provides them with comfort, happiness and pride as they play with toys, engage in physical play, recite and chant (BRAC 2019)

By adapting the model to the highly contextualized settings within the Rohingya community, BRAC intends to seek appropriate approaches for early childhood development, child protection, and psychosocial well-being in a humanitarian setting. This research is focused on the spatial design of HPLs of Rohingya camps.

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3 Methodology This research selected Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar as case study areas for exploring the process of designing the play spaces, establishing its relationship with traditional cultural practices of Rohingyas for generating a sense of ownership to user groups. Building HPLs within the camp areas started through engaging the community members (children along with their mothers/female guardians) in a the multi-stakeholder decision-making process of building HPLs. The pilot process of current research conducted in 2018 allowed the users (children along with their mother/female guardians) to use the space and let them personalize the space and simultaneously community reactions were observed and monitored for tracing feedbacks on the process and final outcomes. HPLs of three camps at Kutupalong, Hakimpara and Balukhali of Ukhia sub-district in Cox’s Bazar were selected to conduct this research (Figs. 2 and 3). Fig. 2 Map showing locations of studied HPLs (Field study 2018)

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Fig. 3 HPL of Kutupalong camp (Field study 2018)

The multi-stakeholder team was formed in the first phase to get feedback from all members who could contribute in the decision-making process. The main objective of forming that multi-stakeholder team was to ensure the participation of the target beneficiary group in an effective participatory way. The Initial meeting with the camp authority allowed the BIED team to enter the camp areas and select suitable participants. The community leaders were approached and interviewed in a semistructured manner to understand the process of building HPLs within the camp areas. The BRAC HPL model, as a contextualized adaptation of the BRAC Play Lab model, was primarily aimed to cater children aged from 2 to 6 years. But practically it has potentials to become a space for children of all ages. Here, the targeted community members were the Rohingya children of camp area, among whom some had lost their parents and family members and came here along with their neighbors. For receiving proper feedback from the user groups, children aged from 4 to 12 years (pre-teen) were targeted and they were allowed to participate along with their mothers or female guardians so that they feel comfortable to participate and in necessary cases, their guardians can communicate on behalf of them. The pilot process allowed the participants to use the space, participate in interactive sessions and provide personal touches through decorating or modifying the interior and exterior spaces of the HPLs. The main objective of the process was to allow the users to participate directly in creating their own spaces. The phase initially employed focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews to know their cultural practices and traditions for creating or decorating spaces, focusing on children and later based on their feedback, interactive sessions were arranged where

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children along with their guardians were encouraged to share their usual cultural practices and exercise their traditions in terms of choosing colors, selecting decorating items, preparing those items and decorating the whole space. The process also allowed to engage parents and instructors (teachers) who work at HPLs to trace reactions of participants towards the process and final outcomes through observations and focus group discussions.

4 Designing Humanitarian Play-Labs Initial surveys and focus group discussions conducted within the camps revealed the fact that traditions and cultural norms used to play a strong role in the everyday lives of Rohingya community members. These conversations became a journey of cultural discoveries. The community leaders in the interviews delivered the idea that the children used to use courtyards within their homesteads of their original place of residence in Myanmar to play there. The courtyard used to serve as a multi-functional space where the children used to spend most of their time through playing traditional games. Their houses, as well as the courtyards used to be surrounded by tall betel nut trees, serving the purpose of fencing the territory through allowing natural light and ventilation, and maintaining privacy. In the current condition, the children usually play with whatever little materials they can find around their vicinity. As playing is an important activity for the children, the HPLs need to be able to serve that purpose successfully. The guardians as well as the children wanted HPLs in their camps to be like the courtyards which they used to have back in Myanmar. The process of building HPLs employed tools like, transect walks and focus group discussions to make major decisions about HPLs, which included selecting suitable location, appropriate dimension, building materials and construction technology and functional spaces. At that time, teams were formed with participants included members from BIED (research tem), local building material and construction experts, staffs from camp-managing authority and targeted community members. Because of the high density in camp areas, practically it was not possible to provide enough open outdoor spaces like courtyards for playing outdoor. Based on the site availability and opinions of camp authorities, building and construction experts and community participants it was decided to build HPLs as open and unrestricted indoor spaces. Each HPL (Fig. 3) was planned to build as a rectangular open single space with approximate dimensions of 3.6-m × 7.3-m. Because of available materials, construction technology and budget, it was decided to build each HPL mostly as a bamboo structure where structural loads are carried by bamboo columns and beams. The upper portion of walls (above 122 cm from the ground) of the structure were made of crisscross perforated bamboo fences (tiyara/tangrabera) to ensure natural lighting and air circulation and the lower portions (up to 122 cm from the ground) were made with corrugated iron sheet for waterproofing and security. The roofs were made of tender bamboos and shaded with thatch, tarpaulin and bamboo net fencing. The sheet of tarpaulin was decided to add on the roof for ensuring rain protection. Construction

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materials and styles were mostly suggested by local experts and representatives of camp authorities, considering budget and materials availability. The pilot process of current research allowed the research participants to use the space and they were encouraged to add elements or decorate the space according to their traditional practices and past experiences. In the semi-structured interviews, it was attempted to know children’s favorite color, usual practices of decorating homes, sources of getting decorating items and let them prepare and use those items or ways to decorate the spaces. The focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews conducted at this stage, found out the information that children as well as adults love to decorate their houses through drawing colorful floral motifs on walls and floors and adding colorful fabric-made ceiling drops under the main roof. These floral motifs on walls and floors are termed as Alpona and the ceiling drops are called as Shamiyanas. Shamiyanas also help to control the indoor temperature, working as multi-layered insulators. It was decided to arrange interactive art workshops in HPLs for engaging participants into creating art works, remembering their past experiences. At first art materials like colors and papers were supplied to a group of 10–15 children of 4–12 years old and they were encouraged to draw whatever they like. During the process, the children sat in groups and shared the art supplies with everyone. At the beginning some children were hesitating to draw on papers and were only observing others who were very enthusiastically started to draw on papers. But later everyone started to draw on papers. Children of age 4–5 picked basic colors to draw and mostly drew elementary shapes (dots, lines, circles etc.) with color pencils. Children of age 6–8 drew mostly flowers, domestic animals, balls or other play materials, using variety of colors. Girls of age 8–12 started to draw mostly floral motifs and later almost everyone drew floral patterns with vibrant colors which were highly influenced from their traditional alpona designs (Fig. 4). Based on the discussions, it was found that, their favorite colors are red, green, yellow and white. Besides floral motifs, boys also drew images of planes, cars, helicopters, and animals. Later the participants were allowed to draw these motifs on the exterior and interior wall surfaces of the HPLs with permanent colors (Fig. 5). Most of the children were not confident to draw on the walls at first. Some children were not familiar with using liquid paint or brushes. So, the participation was not spontaneous at the beginning. Eventually when one or two children started drawing with paint on the walls, gradually other children started to show their interests to create motifs on walls. It was a slow process at the beginning, but once it started, children loved the process and eventually all the children including outreach workers participated in it. Children of age 4–6 years wanted to touch the paint as it was a new experience to them. They wanted to dab fingers in the paint to draw on the wall or use thick brushes to draw lines or solid objects. To make HPLs more culturally contextual it was decided to add the shamiyana as drop-ceiling of the space (Fig. 6). Participating women played active roles to add shamiyanas to these structures, as the Rohingya women used to prepare these items with fabric and threads at home for their houses. They provided information regarding all details of preparing these shamiyanas. After providing the materials the women formed groups to prepare shamiyanas for all HPLs in their camps. At

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Fig. 4 Floral motifs drawn on paper by participants (Field study 2018)

first, they made the design outline on paper and then transformed that idea into real materials. Every participant became enthusiastic to contribute in that task. In the Design process of shamiyana, adolescents and young mothers drew and decided the motif to put on. Though shamiyanas were prepared by the adolescents and mothers;

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Fig. 5 Participants are painting on wall surfaces (Field study 2018)

children had immense joy when it was installed in the center. Children celebrated the installation in a festive way. The information was also received that the Rohingya people living at the camps usually add bamboo platforms (matcha) in front of their shelters (Fig. 7). Taking inspirations from this pratice, participants also suggested to add bamboo platforms of different sizes around the HPLs, so that children can use those as a transitional space between the indoor and the outdoor areas. Following their ideas bamboo platforms were added at different levels. The pilot process of current research identified three features which were added to existing HPLs: wall decoration (alpona), fabric-made drop ceiling (shamiyana) and bamboo platforms. Inviting the children, adolescents and community members into designing and decorating the HPL provided a sense of familiarity and ownership within the community regarding HPLs. Furthermore, this was also practicing to retain the Rohingya culture. During the process, the participants were observed and approached to know their reactions about the process of contextualizing HPLs. The adults expressed their satisfactions regarding the location and environment of HPLs. They never thought of having any space like HPL within a camp or emergency shelter area. The process helped them as well as their children to get involved in creative activities, leaving their traumatic experiences behind. The space is perceived as safe and their children enjoys the time spending there. The instructors of HPLs provided the information

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Fig. 6 A view of Shamiyana (Field study 2018)

that they noticed positive changes among the children after getting engaged in the pilot process of decorating HPLs. According to them, the HPL is getting the success as it provides a safe platform and integrates traditional cultural practices with the healing process through engaging the children into physical and creative activities. Within a very short time the active engagement worked as a therapeutic process and the designed environment proved its successes as a curative tool to address children’s behavioral and psychological issues. The children feel free coming here, not realizing that they are not allowed to leave the camp area. The traditionally significant arts and crafts, as elements of nostalgia allow the children as well as adults to feel a homely environment as if the original home is not very far away.

5 Discussion and Conclusion At first glance, refugee camps are most commonly portrayed as prisons or mental hospitals in which social stability is maintained through coercion (Chaux and Haugh 2018; Berk 1966; Thomas 1984). Goffman (1961), interested in organizations such

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Fig. 7 Children are playing on bamboo platforms attached to their housing unit (Field study 2018)

as prisons, mental hospitals, boarding schools, and monasteries, terms these organizations as the total institution, where many like-situated individuals reside, work and live an enclosed, formally administered round, detached from the wider society. Refugee camps are similar places for accommodating refugees and displaced population. These are sometimes even identified as cities (Agier 2002) and the authority actively negotiates the camp, creating new identities. Refugees are not only passive victims of the history, but they are temporarily identified as remaining outside the history while they are living in camps, hoping to get back to their previous lifestyle. They also create a parallel history, where their lives have been stopped at certain period. In this captive condition, the prevailing emotions of camp-dwellers are usually extreme boredom and frustration, as once refugees enter a camp, they relinquish their autonomy and are not allowed to work or move freely outside the camp, unless to return home. The refugee camps are ideally expected to keep the enthusiasm among its dwellers so that they can get hopes for living better and can get back to ‘normality’. Violence and displacement had created exceptional conditions, and it was the task of the camp leadership to prepare the refugees in such a way so that they may live a normal life in a camp environment, at the same time, they may get ready to go back to their original lifestyle. The HPL, with its special features and scopes for engaging children and adults contributes positively to the camp environment. Those have provided the platform for healing through play, using traditional games, rhymes and activities and fostered a

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sense of community among displaced peoples by creating a supportive environment for mothers and children. The designed environment of HPLs allowed to run the play therapy which is used as a curative tool to address children’s behavioral and psychological issues. The uninterrupted courtyard-like space of an HPL, alponas on its walls and scopes for drawing and painting on walls, scopes of playing on, with and around bamboo platforms and spending time under colorful shamiyanas help the children to learn, develop and understand the world around them. These were identified as therapeutic, as these helped children to express their feelings. This was especially important for children in fragile settings, where they were exposed to violence and poverty. It was communicated that the playful creative and engaging environments helped such children better to manage their traumatic condition, caused by their experiences. Moreover, retaining their identity was also considered as a crucial aspect of healing and the process deliberately attempted to integrate cultural and traditional practices in the play model through tailored and creative activities and spaces. The spaces have been designed with arts and crafts, elements of nostalgia for the old home. The BRAC IED team, women, adolescents and children have worked together to design the spaces with culturally significant artworks, floral patterns and motifs. Their reactions, which were overwhelmed in nature, also encourage to explore scopes to conduct further research, using a playfulness scale to assess quantitatively the recovery level of children and impacts of design elements on the healing process of children.

References Ager A, Meltzer J, Vojta M, Savage K (2013) Child friendly spaces: a systematic review of the current evidence-base on outcomes and impact. Intervention 11(2):133–148 Ager A, Blake C, Stark L, Daniel T (2011) Child protection assessment in humanitarian emergencies: case studies from Georgia, Gaza, Haiti and Yemen. Child Abuse Negl 35:1045–1052 Agier M (2002) Between war and city: towards an urban anthropology of refugee camps. Ethnography 3(3):317–341 BRAC (2020) http://www.brac.net/. Accessed 18 Feb 2020 BRAC (2019) Humanitarian play labs: helping Rohingya children heal and learn through play. http://www.brac.net/latest-news/item/1213-humanitarian-play-labs-helping-rohingya-chi ldren-heal-and-learn-through-play. Accessed 17 Feb 2020 BRAC (2018) BRAC’s humanitarian response in Cox’s Bazar: strategy for 2018 Berk BB (1966) Organizational goals and inmate organization. Am J Sociol 71:522–534 Chaux MDL, Haugh H (2018) Organizing refugee camps: “respected space” and “listening posts” academy of management discoveries 4(2):155–179. https://doi.org/10.5465/amd.2017.0040 Child Protection Working Group (2012) Minimum standards for child protection in humanitarian action. Child Protection Working Group, Geneva Douglas M (1966) Purity and danger: an analysis of concepts of pollution and Taboo. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London Feinberg S, Keller JR (2010) Designing space children and teens in libraries and public places: how tto carve out a niche that epitomizes service. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/ Goffman E (1961) Asylums: essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. Penguin Random House, New York

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Hermosilla S, Metzlerl J, Savage K, Musa M, Ager A (2019) Child friendly spaces impact across five humanitarian settings: a meta-analysis. BMC Public Health 19:576. https://doi.org/10.1186/ s12889-019-6939-2 Hill K (2004) War, humanitarian crises, population displacement, and fertility: a review of evidence. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC Human Rights Watch (2020) https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/burma. Accessed 18 Feb 2020 Kostelny K, Wessells M (2008) The protection and psychosocial well-being of young children following armed conflict: outcome research on child centered spaces in northern Uganda. J Dev Process 3(2):3–25 LEGO Foundation (2020) https://www.legofoundation.com/en/. Accessed 18 Feb 2020 Malkki L (1995) Refugees and exile: from “refugee studies” to the national order of things. Annu Rev Anthropol 24:495–523 Mariam E, Zaman SS, Yesmin S, Huq S, Sarwar SS (2019) BRAC humanitarian play lab: when playing becomes healing. Barnard Van Leer Foundation. Issues. 2019. Innovation. https://earlyc hildhoodmatters.online/2019/brac-humanitarian-play-lab-when-playing-becomes-healing/ Milner J, Loescher G (2011). Responding to protracted refugee situations: lessons from a decade of discussion. Forced Migration Policy Briefing 6. Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford Ramadan A (2013) Spatialising the refugee camp. Trans Inst Br Geogr 38:65–77 Reed R, Fazel M, Jones L, Panter-Brick C, Stein A (2011) Mental health of displaced and refugee children resettled in low and middle-income countries: risk and protective factors. Lancet 379(9812):250–265 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1999) Crimes against humanity 7 Save the Children (2008) INEE toolkit: child friendly spaces facilitator training manual. Save the Children, London Thomas J (1984) Some aspects of negotiated order, loose coupling and mesostructure in maximum security prisons. Symbolic Interact 7:213–231 Turner S (2014) Making good citizens from bad life in post-genocide Rwanda. Dev Change 45(3):415–433. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12093 Turner S (2010) Politics of innocence: hutu identity, conflict and camp life. Berghahn Books, New York Turner S (2005) Suspended spaces: contesting sovereignties in a refugee camp. In: Hansen TB, Stepputat F (eds) sovereign bodies: citizens, migrants, and states in the postcolonial world. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, pp 312–332 UN (2014) Framework of analysis for ATROCITY CRIMES: a tool for prevention. United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect UNHCR (2016a) Global forced displacement hits record high. Retrieved from http://www. unhcr.org/enus/news/latest/2016/6/5763b65a4/global-forceddisplacement-hits-record-high. html. Accessed 21 Aug 2016 UNICEF (2009) A practical guide for developing child friendly spaces. UNICEF, New York UNICEF (2011) Global protection cluster and global education cluster. INEE, IASC. Guidelines for child friendly spaces in emergencies UNICEF (2019) The Rohingya refugee crisis: the humanitarian crisis continues with no immediate solution in sight. UNICEF Bangladesh. https://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/en/rohingya-refugeecrisis-0. Accessed 12 Dec 2019

Ms. Baidya has been working as a community architect since 2014. Currently, she is working with BRAC Institute of Educational Development and involved in designing indoor and outdoor play spaces for BRAC Play Labs across Bangladesh. She received Bachelor of Architecture degree from BRAC University, Bangladesh and Master in Urbanism and Strategic Planning degree from KU Leuven, Belgium.

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Ms. Mahboob is an architect, passionate to work with communities and learn from their indigenous knowledge. She has been working as an architect at BRAC Institute of Educational Development, BRAC University, Bangladesh. She received her Bachelor in Architecture degree from Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology in 2014 and is currently perusing her Master in Architecture degree at Bangladesh University of Science and Technology. Besides, she works as a volunteer architect at POCCA (Platform for community Action and Architecture), Bangladesh. Ms. Polin is an architect who has expanded her research studies beyond her professional obligations and has a keen interest in research. She has been working as a researcher at the Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements since the beginning of the institute in 2015. She received her Bachelor in Architecture degree from Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology in 2007 and recently completed her Master in Disaster Management degree from the University of Dhaka. She has been involved in various projects with children and conducted several workshops. Furthermore, she passionately writes about historically significant structures of Bangladesh. Quite a few of her works have been published and she presented papers in several conferences across the globe. Dr. Chowdhooree has been employed as an Assistant Professor in the Post Graduate Programs in Disaster Management and in the Department of Architecture of BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. As an academic with interests in disaster risk reduction and architecture, he teaches courses on disaster preparedness, emergency response and recovery, humanitarian assistance, building for disaster and building technologies. In 2018 he has received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Queensland University of Technology, Australia. He acquired the degree of Master of Urban and Regional Planning, as well as, his professional degree in Architecture from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. He also received the Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2010. From the same university he finished the graduate certificate program in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. He was recognized as a Young Scientist involved in disaster management research by Irrigated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) in 2017.

Addressing Urban Risks

Disaster Risk Reduction in Cities: Towards a New Normal Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, Jonathan S. Blake, and Karishma Patel

Abstract This chapter introduces some of the key issues facing scholars and practitioners of disaster risk reduction (DRR) in urban areas, which are now home to over half of the global population. After a brief introduction, the chapter defines cities as socio-technical systems distinguished not only by their large populations but by containing a diversity and concentration of institutional structures, cultures, and industries. There is much variety among cities as well as within them, with wide ranges on many factors, including size, governance type and quality, and wealth. The next section explores the risks that exist in cities. The authors argue that many of the aspects of risks are the results of human decisions. This includes decisions that increase potential exposure to hazards and people’s vulnerabilities to them, such as land use policies, natural resource management, building regulations, and the provision of social services. The result of such decisions often leaves poor and marginalized people more exposed and more vulnerable to the wide spectrum of hazards that impact cities. These hazards generally fall into three categories: natural hazards (e.g., earthquakes and floods), human-caused yet unintentional hazards (e.g., transportation accidents and industrial accidents), and intentional human-caused hazards (e.g., war and terrorism). But the line between these types are often unclear, as neglect, negligence, corruption, poor planning, and lax enforcement raise questions of human culpability in the production of disasters triggered by seemingly natural hazards. The next section discusses potential solutions for addressing urban risks. The authors warn, however, that the interaction of hazards, vulnerabilities, and capacities in every city is unique, which means that there is no single ‘formula’ for successful urban DRR. With this caveat in mind, the authors raise exciting paths forward for DRR

A. Clark-Ginsberg (B) · J. S. Blake · K. Patel RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] J. S. Blake e-mail: [email protected] K. Patel e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_7

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based on complexity approaches, climate change adaptation, governance, technology, and a focus on equity. Keywords Urban environment · Urban risks · Disaster risk reduction · Urban population

1 Introduction Urbanization has been a profound trend that has changed the character of the world over the past decades and is expected to continue well into the future. In 1950, only 29% of people lived in cities. Today, over 50% of people are city dwellers, a number that is expected to grow to 68% by 2050 (UN DESA Population Division 2018). As people have urbanized, so too have disaster risks. NGOs, government agencies, communities, and private sector organizations, consequently, must address the many risks found in cities. The urban environment, however, poses distinct challenges that create unique risks either not found or found far less frequently or severely in other settings. This means that disaster risk reduction (DRR) in cities requires different approaches to be effective. The chapters in this section provide a range of views as to how this can be done. As a prelude to those contributions, this chapter offers a brief overview of DRR in cities, touching on the urban environment, the urban riskscape, and promising solutions for urban DRR.

2 The Urban Environment Before examining risks and risk reduction in cities, it is important to understand what is meant by a city. While they are home to large numbers of people, cities are not defined merely as agglomerations of people. In addition to being large human settlements, cities entail a diversity and concentration of institutional structures, cultures, and industries. Heterogeneous and complex, they vary across different dimensions, including population, geography, housing and infrastructure, economics, and patterns of development, as well as within these dimensions over time and across space. Recognizing the different cultural, economic, and social dimensions and how they interact with one another can help identify what a city truly is: a sociotechnical system “consist[ing] not only of hardware, but of legal, corporate, and political-economic elements” (Edwards 2003, p. 199). Cities often vary dramatically along these lines. They can differ in size, from small cities such as boroughs with relatively small municipal governments to large cities to huge ‘megacities’ of over 10 million residents. Governance properties can vary within similarly sized cities. For instance, mega-regions, or clusters of multiple cities with millions of people each, can range from highly integrated with hierarchical governance structures, to loosely integrated megacities with decentralized or

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polycentric structures of governance. Governance may also be influenced by the state power, as some cities have highly formalized state-centric governance structures while others have highly informal ones, even to the extent that most residents live in informal settlements and work in informal jobs in some cities (Myers 2010). Economically, cities can be described as wealthy or poor along different dimensions, including aggregate assets, residential wealth, poverty rates, metropolitan productivity, employment, and government revenue and spending. Differences in size, density, governance, and economics exist not only between cities but within cities as well. For example, in many cities’ extreme poverty in the form of slums and homeless populations offers a stark contrast to the opulence of wealthier neighborhoods. Access to goods and services, as well as their quality and reliability, can vary dramatically within cities, with some neighborhoods well serviced and others lacking in even the necessities. Variation within cities continues to grow, particularly in cities facing high rates of unregulated urban growth, adding to factors related to poverty, unemployment, informality, and backlogs in public services and creating cities comprised of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ living side by side (Williams et al. 2019).

3 The Urban Riskscape Risk is the product of the magnitude and frequency of a hazard coupled with the degree of vulnerability of people and their exposure to hazards (UNISDR 2017). Hazards are events that have the potential to cause negative impacts such as loss of life, property damage, disruptions to the economy, and environmental degradation. On its own, a hazard is not a disaster. For a disaster to occur, people must be exposed to the hazard and vulnerable to losses. Exposure refers to the situation of people or situations located in hazard-prone areas. Vulnerability is characterized by physical, social, economic, and geographic constraints that reduce one’s ability to prepare for or cope with the impacts of hazards. Exposure and vulnerability are both deeply influenced by human decisions. Many decisions related to urban life shape vulnerability, including those related to land use, natural resource management, building regulations, and the provision of social services such as education and healthcare. These decisions, to be sure, are often severely constrained, making some people more vulnerable and exposed to hazards than others: poverty, marginalization, discrimination, and lack of access to services mean that some populations have far less choice than others as to where to live, the services they can access, and the jobs they can get. They often instead suffer from the decisions of those that are better off, who prosper from activities that often create risks elsewhere (Lewis and Kelman 2012). Given the diversity of the urban environment and its inhabitants, it can be difficult to characterize the ‘typical’ risks in cities. Risks are not evenly distributed within urban areas nor across them. For example, the poor are often exposed to more risks and have less access to resources than those with higher incomes and assets. This lack of access to resources means that they are more vulnerable when a hazard occurs. The

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most vulnerable often reside on the streets, in slums, or in other informal settlements, which are often labeled as illegal and deprived of amenities and public services. Risks also vary between cities, depending on factors like geography, topography, climate, wealth, service provision, and regulations. For instance, relative to other cities, large coastal cities are more directly vulnerable to storm surges, rising sea levels, flooding, and local and regional land subsidence (Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2019), while cities on fault lines can face earthquake-related hazards. Disproportionately constrained by resources, cities in the Global South tend to be more vulnerable than cities in the Global North so frequently face greater risk. Although each city has a unique risk profile, there are certain hazards common to nearly all of them. First, natural hazards exist in all cities, even if their frequency and severity vary greatly. Depending on their climate and geographic location, cities can be exposed to the full gamut of natural hazards: earthquakes, tsunamis/cyclones, floods, landslides, blizzards, tornados, and tidal surges, to name but a few. Second, cities face human-caused yet unintentional hazards, such as transportation accidents, fires, industrial accidents, and building collapse. The quality of the built environment plays a major factor in the magnitude and frequency of these hazards; as it improves, these hazards decrease. And third, cities face intentional human-caused hazards, such as war, terrorism, riots, cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, and other acts of largescale disruption. Social, political, and economic relations shape these intentional hazards, including the extent of their frequency. The line between natural hazards, unintentional human hazards, and intentional human hazards, however, is not always clear. Neglect, negligence, corruption, poor planning, and lax enforcement raise questions of human culpability in the production of disasters triggered by seemingly natural hazards. While the destruction of a house, or even entire community, may be proximately caused by a natural hazard such as a river flooding or landslide, it was intentional human decisions, including building in a hazardous location, neglecting infrastructural improvements, and not keeping buildings up to code, that are the underlying cause of the disaster. Indeed, policymakers are increasingly recognizing that natural and human-caused intentional hazards are linked in important ways and are making efforts to integrate their management, such as through the integration of disaster risk reduction and peacebuilding in conflict situations (Peters et al. 2019). Because human decisions are at the heart of all disasters, including those caused by natural hazards, no disaster is truly ‘natural’ but is rather the manifestation of human decisions (Wisner et al. 2004). All the types of hazards just described are found in non-urban environments as well, but certain characteristics of cities make those more likely and more severe. The basic fact of being spaces of concentrated populations means that high-impact, lowfrequency ‘intensive’ risks are likely: the impact of the same magnitude earthquake will be much greater in a highly populated city compared to a less populated rural area. What is more, cities’ high heterogeneity of people and systems means that the low-severity, high-frequency ‘extensive’ risks are a feature of everyday life (Dodman et al. 2017). Cumulatively, the impact of these disparate floods, fires, diseases, acts of violence, and other extensive risks are disasters that rival any intensive disaster. Finally, cities are reliant on large, complex socio-technical infrastructure systems,

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which are vulnerable to technological hazards ranging from intentional or foreseen to unintentional or unforeseen. Although vulnerable, stakeholders can form highlyreliable networked structures from these systems that they can use to address many of the risks that appear in cities (Berthod et al. 2017, Forthcoming). Risks are not static but evolve based on the decisions of people and interactions of components that make up or influence a city. Many actions create risks, such as corruption, discrimination, and denial of access to resources (Lewis and Kelman 2012). And often, the actors creating the risks are not the ones who suffer when disaster strikes (Wisner and Lavell 2017). For instance, the risks of harm from climate change are disproportionately caused by the wealthy but felt by the poor. It is this realization that leads Wisner and Lavell (2017) to call for moving beyond reactive DRR efforts that focus on mitigating existing hazards to a more proactive agenda of ‘resisting disaster risk creation’ that targets preventing new hazards from arising. Governance and urban planning play a critical role in shaping risk in cities (Adelekan et al. 2015; Dodman et al. 2017). The outlook of a city in the present has emerged out of the many choices that city managers have intentionally or unintentionally made over the years, decades, and centuries (Knowles and Loeb, forthcoming; Oliver-Smith 2012), and the outlook of a city in the future will emerge out of choices made in the present that were built on the past. One choice, such as a failure to regulate development or provide new settlements with services, can lead to unchecked growth in informal settlements, which can exacerbate existing hazards and create zones of high-risk. Another choice, formal planning processes that reject informal, community-led practices, can exacerbate and create risks. Nairobi, Lagos, and Bangkok are among cities that have witnessed large slum-clearing projects that, despite being motivated towards risk reduction, ultimately introduced new fragilities and reshaped risk by undermining informal governance structures that had innately developed in response to local vulnerabilities and hazards. Alternatively, city managers might try to geographically or temporally push risks outside a city, reducing risks for here and for now. However, as the city continues to grow or develop, these risks can re-emerge in the long-term, sometimes more severe. For instance, Mexico City has historically imported its water from surrounding areas, but as its metropolitan area has grown to include over 22 million people and absorbed neighboring areas, its demand for water has been increased. This has led to groundwater overexploitation, which has increased rates of land subsidence, flooding, and landslides in these new parts of the city (Oswald Spring 2011; Tellman et al. 2018). Socioeconomic factors, such as marginalization, poverty, and unequal economic development also shape urban risks. Given the heavy dependence on markets for securing basic necessities including housing, health services, and food and water, poverty is often a major risk driver in cities: without strong livelihoods that provide a steady source of income, the poor face near-constant threats related to factors such as eviction, food insecurity, and lack of healthcare. Globalization influences many of these threats and represents both an opportunity and challenge for people in cities. For instance, the globalization of food supply chains has reduced chances of locallydriven food shortages but has created a potential for global food crises—such as the

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food crisis caused in part by international food trading that struck the world in the 2008 (Christiaensen 2009). Climate change also contributes to disaster risk in cities. It does so in three main ways. First, climate change directly affects storms, hurricanes, typhoons, wildfires, floods, droughts, and other weather-related hazards adding uncertainty and altering their frequency, intensity, duration, and complexity (IPCC 2014). The increase in hazards frequency, duration, and intensity means that more people living in cities are exposed to hazards while the additional uncertainty makes DRR planning more difficult. Second, the changing climate can pose a challenge to existing social and physical systems in cities, which have been developed for previous climate regimes. For example, sea levels have boosted the magnitude of storm surges and flooding in coastal cities during hurricanes and typhoons, overpowering existing infrastructure and infiltrating areas further inland than before. Because, DRR systems have not been developed for these new climate regimes, they are often not designed to deal with the growing threats that climate change creates. Third, climate change exasperates existing social vulnerabilities by undermining individuals’ abilities to cope with the changes (Sanchez-Rodriguez 2009). For example, in India, changing seasonal monsoon patterns are making it harder for farmers to reliably grow crops, impacting their livelihoods (Taraz 2017). Linkages between rural and urban economic and social systems means that such changes in crop production can impact cities, by for instance compromising urban economic sectors dependent on agriculture and exacerbating rural to urban migration. The interactions between hazards, vulnerabilities, and risk management is complex, requiring efforts to understand interdependencies and interactions between multiple stakeholders. For instance, natural hazards can have synergistic effects and interact with vulnerabilities and capacities in ways that increase or decrease risks (Clark-Ginsberg et al. 2018): drought conditions and associated hot temperatures increase the potential for fires. In turn, fire-stricken lands are less able to absorb surface water, which increases the chances of flooding. When people with few resources are exposed to a multiplicity of hazards they can turn to negative coping strategies that increase vulnerability, laying the groundwork for future disaster (Clark-Ginsberg 2017).

4 Promising Solutions for Urban Disaster Risk Reduction Addressing risks in cities involves utilizing the various capacities that can be found in urban spaces to minimize hazards, reduce exposure, and improve vulnerability. Given each city is its own unique socio-technical system, coming up with suitable DRR practices that can work across cities is difficult. The unique interaction of hazards, vulnerabilities, and capacities in cities, driven by a city’s hardware, legal, corporate, and political-economic elements, means that there is no single ‘formula’ or ‘recipe’ for urban DRR; approaches that work in one location or context may not be appropriate for another. Furthermore, interventions often have outcomes that can be

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difficult to predict, meaning that an intervention designed to reduce risks in one area may create it in another. Understanding how to improve DRR thus presents a significant challenge for decision makers. However, given some of the overarching features of the urban risk landscape, there are promising approaches, including complexity orientations, enhancing governance, and leveraging new technology, that can be deployed to reduce risks. Working with complexity is one solution for urban DRR. DRR processes have to encompass many constituent elements and ensure their harmonization within the complex urban socio-technical systems. They must include bottom-up interventions that are cognizant of localized differences and top-down interventions that respond to national and global processes of shaping risks. Since vulnerability is often created through everyday decisions, risk management is not just an activity undertaken by specialized DRM agencies but is a crosscutting issue to be dealt with by all members of the society, with the effectiveness of interventions as a product of how they shape broader processes. Assessing how urban systems function and how they can be shaped is not a trivial task, but several approaches show promises. The NGO GOAL is developing Resilience for Systems (R4S) approach (GOAL, n.d.) that aims to improve the understanding of how systems function and how they react to shocks and stresses. To do so R4S conceptualizes systems from a socio-technical perspective and draws on techniques such as fuzzy cognitive mapping to show how system components relate. GOAL has successfully applied R4S in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and other cities like it to better understand the riskscape and where and how to reduce risks. Likewise, techniques like Social Network Analysis (SNA) can be useful for understanding how various stakeholders interact. Organizations such as the International Rescue Committee have developed guidelines showing how to use SNA for development interventions (International Rescue Committee 2016), and SNA has been used to map out and analyze the risk reduction stakeholder networks in several cities (ClarkGinsberg 2020). Together these techniques and others like them can be used to help understand risks in cities and identify for risk reduction cognizant of complexity. Climate change adaptation is another example of how complexity approaches can be deployed to address hazards and hazard drivers in cities. As a highly complex ‘wicked problem’, climate change lacks straightforward and widely-agreed upon planning solutions (Levin et al. 2012). Instead, climate change adaptation seeks to minimize climate change-related risk through a process of continual adjustments, either incremental or transformational (IPCC 2014). Incremental adaptations are adaptations that extend existing mechanisms aimed at reducing negative impacts of climate change-related hazards (Kates et al. 2012). Constructing a seawall in response to an increase in storm surges is an example of an incremental adaptation: the seawall reduces the impact of storm surges through an intervention targeted at a single, localized, system component. Transformational adaptations aim at largescale changes that create lasting shifts in how risks are structured in a system (Kates et al. 2012). A transformational adaptation to storm surge would do more than merely protect what exists but would rather combine natural and man-made infrastructures to fundamentally change the ecosystem, introduce new coastal land uses, and change how humans and natural systems interact. While truly and sustainably addressing

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climate change-related hazards requires transformational adaptation, engaging in transformational adaptation is often hindered by high costs for investment, institutional and behavioral norms that lean toward the status quo, and the uncertainties in climate risks (Kates et al. 2012). Transformational adaptations are often said to be more feasible during certain windows of opportunity, such as after a disaster when people are supposedly willing to ‘build back better’ to reduce future risks (Folke et al. 2010; Folke 2006). Yet transformation is rarely realized in these moments: following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, efforts were made to rebuild the city of Port au Prince better and stronger than before, both to earthquakes and to climate change-related hazards like hurricanes. Yet on the 10-year anniversary of the earthquake the city is arguably worse off than it was before the earthquake (Collodi et al 2019). As the primary mechanism for capitalizing on the existing resources provided by many and harnessing them towards a common objective, improving governance is critical for reducing risks in cities. However, governance in and around urban areas is often much more complex compared to rural areas. Not only are the concentrations of people higher, but urban areas tend to be more ethnically, socially, and economically diverse, which makes coming to consensus over governance trajectories difficult. Rapid growth due to in-migration from rural areas can also disrupt social networks and the forms of rule and control that depend on those networks. Finally, cities often contain multiple, overlapping systems of governance, ranging from the national government to the municipal government to local power brokers and neighborhood associations. These characteristics of urbans areas amount to a “distinct environment characterized by great social and institutional complexity,” which makes the provision of effective governance even more challenging (Auerbach et al. 2018, p. 263). This complexity can be seen in what have often emerged as hybrid governance structures of cities, or governance structures shaped by both state and non-state actors (Post et al. 2017). Risks in cities are often shaped by these hybrid governance structures, in some cases with positive outcomes and in others negative (Blake et al. 2019). Attempts to reduce the risks of disasters in urban areas must pay attention to these multiple, at times cooperating and other times competing, sources of governance, and work within this complex landscape. Technological changes, while creating potential for new hazards such as those related to cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, can also provide many tools for DRR. New technologies for surveillance—such as the crowdsourced platform Ushahidi (2018) can help identify and respond to emerging risks more quickly and more accurately, before they become disasters. Ridesharing and mobility platforms such as Uber and Lyft can be deployed to improve transportation, including during emergencies. Mobile phones can connect people to each other and to institutions that play roles in mitigating risks, such as banks for emergency cash transfers, and emergency services and health departments. In Kenya, humanitarian organizations used the mobile banking platform M-PESA to provide critical cash transfers in response to the disasters caused by the 2008 post-election violence to great effect (Datta et al. 2008). If utilized correctly, some of these technologies have the potential to even circumvent the need to develop more centrally planned and expensive infrastructure

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systems, resulting in a new transformational adaptation that is easier to implement than previous adaptations. While some issues related to complexity, governance, and technology offer unique advantages for cities, they also fall within usual overarching DRR practices of risk analysis, preparedness, and mitigation. For instance, improving early warning systems by utilizing new technologies can be a preparedness activity to facilitate early and rapid response in cities. Leveraging hybrid governance structures to increase access education can reduce vulnerability by helping populations access employment opportunities and social services. Since these interventions are broad, they often fall outside the remit of agencies dedicated specifically to disaster management, instead requiring broad support from a variety of agencies such as those focused on health, environment, and social issues. Thus, like DRR interventions elsewhere, this means that DRR is as much a broader developmental issue than an issue specific to emergency management (Thomalla et al. 2018; Wisner et al. 2004). Although managing risk in cities can be daunting given the scale of cities and their vast risks, implementing DRR in urban environments also has advantages. As concentrated bodies of people, institutional structures, physical and environmental infrastructure, and social capacities, cities contain many resources that can be used to reduce urban risks. Such resources mean that it is rarely the absolute scarcity of resources that are creating risks, but rather the (in)equitability of how those resources are being distributed. Cities are places of risk because the ‘have nots’ do not have the same ability to access the broader resources of the city that the ‘haves’ do. Because of this, risk reduction in cities is often about more effectively and more equitably harnessing existing resources and using them to reduce risks. Many different actors are working to advance the knowledge and practice of urban DRR. At municipal level different stakeholders are coming together to address the spectrum of urban-related risks. In the United States, the Greater Washington Board of Trade is bringing together private sector companies, government officials, nonprofit organizations, and researchers to attempt to collectively leverage smart city technology to minimize risks and enhance opportunities that strengthen urban resilience across the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region (Board of Trade, n.d.). The Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre is using action-based research to enhance capacities and knowledge for improving residents’ wellbeing in informal settlements across the city of Freetown, Sierra Leone (SLURC, n.d.). Beyond municipal level, research initiatives like ALNAP’s urban humanitarian Community of Practice (ALNAP, n.d.), University College Dublin’s Preparedness and Resilience to address Urban Vulnerability Project (PRUV, n.d.), and Harvard University’s Urbanization and Resilience Program (Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, n.d.) are developing evidence-based solutions to address urban vulnerability and hazards. NGOs, such as the Resilient Cities Catalyst (Resilient Cities Catalyst, n.d.), a continuation of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities Initiative, are taking those solutions and using them to reduce risks in cities across the world. These efforts are supported by global policy processes such the United Nation’s New Urban Agenda (United Nations 2017), a global action plan for sustainable urban development, and

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its Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (United Nations 2015) which provides a global policy framework for DRR.

5 Conclusion: Towards a New Normal of DRR in Cities Cities are complex socio-technical systems, with risks arising from multifaceted system interactions. Reducing risk requires engaging with all of the components of these systems. But such efforts, to be truly impactful, must put issues of equity front and center. A commitment to addressing inequalities in exposure and vulnerability to hazards among and within cities carries the potential for reducing disaster risks for everyone. If risks are managed smartly and with an eye toward equity, our new urban world can be one of safety and prosperity for all. Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to Krishna Kumar for support and guidance and the Pardee Initiative for Global Human Progress at the Pardee RAND Graduate School for funding.

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Dodman D, Leck H, Rusca M, Colenbrander S (2017) African urbanisation and urbanism: implications for risk accumulation and reduction. Int J Disaster Risk Reduction 26:7–15 Edwards PN (2003) Infrastructure and modernity: force, time, and social organization in the history of sociotechnical systems. Modernity Technol 1:185–226 Folke C (2006) Resilience: the emergence of a perspective for social–ecological systems analyses. Glob Environ Change 16(3):253–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.04.002 Folke C, Carpenter S, Walker B, Scheffer M, Chapin T, Rockström J (2010) Resilience thinking: integrating resilience, adaptability and transformability. Ecol Soc 15(4). Retrieved from http:// www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss4/art20/ GOAL (n.d.) R4S: Resilience for systems. Retrieved from http://resiliencenexus.org/r4s/ Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (n.d.) Urbanization and resilience program. Retrieved from https:// hhi.harvard.edu/research/urban-emergencies Hoegh-Guldberg O, Jacob D, Taylor M, Bolaños TG, Bindi M, Brown S, Camilloni IA, Diedhiou A, Djalante R, Ebi K, Engelbrecht F (2019) The human imperative of stabilizing global climate change at 1.5 °C. Science, 365(6459):eaaw6974 International Rescue Committee (2016) Social network analysis handbook: connecting the dots in humanitarian programs. Retrieved from https://www.rescue.org/sites/default/files/document/ 1263/socialnetworkanalysise-handbook.pdf IPCC (2014) Climate Change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: global and sectoral aspects. Contribution of working group II to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. In: Field CB, Barros VR, Dokken, DJ, Mach, KJ, Mastrandrea MD, Bilir, TE, Chatterjee, M, Ebi, KL, Estrada YO, Genova RC, Girma B, Kissel ES, Levy AN, MacCracken, S, Mastrandrea PR, White LL (eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, New York, USA Kates RW, Travis WR, Wilbanks TJ (2012) Transformational adaptation when incremental adaptations to climate change are insufficient. Proc Nat Acad Sci:201115521. https://doi.org/10.1073/ pnas.1115521109 Knowles S, Loeb Z (Forthcoming) The voyage of the paragon: disaster as method. In Horowitz A, Remes JAC (eds) Critical disaster studies: new perspectives on disaster, vulnerability, resilience, and risk. University of Pennsylvania Press Levin K, Cashore B, Bernstein S, Auld G (2012) Overcoming the tragedy of super wicked problems: constraining our future selves to ameliorate global climate change. Policy Sci 45(2):123–152 Lewis J, Kelman I (2012) The good, the bad and the ugly: disaster risk reduction (DRR) versus disaster risk creation (DRC). PLoS Curr 4 Myers GA (2010). Seven themes in African urban dynamics. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet Oliver-Smith A (2012) Peru’s five-hundred-year earthquake: vulnerability in historical context. In The angry earth. Routledge, pp. 88–102 Oswald Spring Ú (2011) Aquatic systems and water security in the Metropolitan Valley of Mexico City. Current Opin Environ Sustain 3(6):497–505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2011.11.002 Peters K, Peters LER, Twigg J, Walch C (2019) Disaster risk reduction strategies: Navigating conflict contexts. Retrieved from https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-documents/ 12690.pdf Post AE, Bronsoler V, Salman L (2017) Hybrid regimes for local public goods provision: a framework for analysis. Perspect Politics 15(4):952–966 PRUV (n.d.) About PRUV. Retrieved from https://www.alnap.org/our-topics/urban-response Resilient Cities Catalyst (n.d.) About RCC. Retrieved from https://www.rcc.city/about-rcc Sanchez-Rodriguez R (2009) Learning to adapt to climate change in urban areas. A review of recent contributions. Curr Opinion Environ Sustain 1(2):201–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cos ust.2009.10.005 SLURC (n.d.) Project overview. Retrieved from https://www.slurc.org/about.html Taraz V (2017) Adaptation to climate change: historical evidence from the indian monsoon. Environ Dev Econ 22(5):517–545

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Tellman B, Bausch JC, Eakin H, Anderies JM, Mazari-Hiriart M, Manuel-Navarrete D, Redman CL (2018) Adaptive pathways and coupled infrastructure: seven centuries of adaptation to water risk and the production of vulnerability in Mexico City. Ecol Soc 23(1). https://doi.org/10.5751/ es-09712-230101 Thomalla F, Boyland M, Johnson K, Ensor J, Tuhkanen H, Gerger Swartling Å, Wahl D (2018) Transforming development and disaster risk. Sustainability 10(5):1458 UN DESA Population Division (2018) World urbanization prospects: the 2018 revision, Online Edition. Retrieved from: https://population.un.org/wup/DataQuery/ UNISDR (2017) UNISDR terminology. Retrieved from https://www.preventionweb.net/termin ology United Nations (2015) Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction. Retrieved from https://www. preventionweb.net/files/43291_sendaiframeworkfordrren.pdf United Nations (2017) New urban agenda. Retrieved from http://habitat3.org/wp-content/uploads/ NUA-English.pdf Ushahidi (2018) 10 years of impact: 2008–2018. Retrieved from https://www.ushahidi.com/upl oads/case-studies/ImpactReport_2018.pdf Williams DS, Máñez Costa M, Sutherland C, Celliers L, Scheffran J (2019) Vulnerability of informal settlements in the context of rapid urbanization and climate change. Environ Urban 31(1):157–176 Wisner B, Blaikie P, Cannon T, Davis I (2004) At risk: natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters. Routledge Wisner B, Lavell A (2017) The next paradigm shift: from ‘disaster risk reduction’ to ‘resisting disaster risk creation’ (DRR > RDRC). Paper presented at the Dealing with Disasters Conference, University of Durham, UK. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320045120_The_Next_P aradigm_Shift_From_’Disaster_Risk_Reduction’_to_’Resisting_Disaster_Risk_Creation’

Dr. Clark-Ginsberg is an associate social scientist at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit nonpartisan institution that helps to improve policy and decision-making across the world through research and analysis. A disaster researcher by training, Dr. Clark-Ginsberg’s research focuses on topics including natural hazards, community resilience, governance and disasters, DRR, and critical infrastructure protection. Dr. Clark-Ginsberg works with both researchers and policymakers and is currently involved in several projects on a variety of topics, including community responses to climate change, incident management systems, measuring community resilience, and climate migration. Dr. Blake is an associate political scientist at the RAND Corporation and the author of Contentious Rituals: Parading the Nation in Northern Ireland (Oxford University Press, 2019). His research interests include governance in post-conflict countries, social movement mobilization, and forced migration. Previously, he was a visiting fellow at the Columbia Global Policy Initiative and a consultant to the UN Development Program in Liberia and the International Rescue Committee in Sierra Leone. Ms. Patel is a Ph.D. candidate and policy researcher at the RAND Corporation and the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research contributes to disaster response and recovery planning, leveraging technologies for risk governance, documenting climate change adaptation, and evaluating interventions targeting vulnerable urban populations. Previously, Karishma has worked on projects sponsored by USAID, NASA, and the French Red Cross, developing collaborative strategies, building partnerships, and conducting evaluations to support global programs and local projects in countries across Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. Karishma holds a Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard University and Bachelors’ degrees in Economics and International Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guyana.

Small Changes with Big Impacts: Mitigating Fire Risks Through Small Interventions in Informal Settlements of Dhaka City, Bangladesh Afroza Ahmed and Sadia Subrina

Abstract Fire Service and Civil Defense of Bangladesh reported 170 fire incidences in informal settlements of Bangladesh in 2016 (Rabbi , 2018). In fact, this is a recurring incident in the slums over the years, which makes “slum” and “fire” synonymous in Bangladesh. Two devastating fires broke out in the slums of Karail and Saattola in December 2016, which destroyed almost 700 houses. Unfortunately, these types of hazards draw very little attention from both public and private sectors. Although some international and national nongovernmental and private organizations provide post hazard assistances, their interventions are usually limited to the infrastructural level because of unspecified land tenure and low property rights of slum dwellers. This also discourages the engagement of built environment related professionals in mitigating the risks or upgrading the slums through spatial design solutions. Questioning this trend of attitude, as a part of social responsibility, the research team (including a volunteer group of architects, planners, engineers and students from different universities in Bangladesh) conducted a pilot project to support fire affected people of Karail and Saattola slums with the principle of “Build Back Better.” This chapter shares the experiences and insights of this slum reconstruction process after fire hazards. It focuses on providing guidelines for housing reconstruction, and a master plan with improved road network to alleviate risks of the highly dense slum settlements and upgrade the slum environment to make it fire-resilient. Keywords Slum · Fire · Karail slum · Saattola slum · Reconstruction

A. Ahmed J. A. Architects Ltd.; State University of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: [email protected] S. Subrina (B) Department of Architecture, Military Institute of Science and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_8

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1 Introduction Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has a population of 17.598 million (IndexMundi 2018). This has been increased from 6 to 12 million during the period from 1990 to 2005. According to the U.N., Dhaka will be the home to more than 20 million people by 2025 (German and Pyne n.d.). Every day almost 2000 people (The Guardian 2018) migrate to this megacity. Population growth in Dhaka city during the period of 2001–2011 was 3.96% per annum (Rajuk 2015). Up to now, about 63% of the total growth of Dhaka’s population has been due to internal migration. The migrant people usually find their shelters in slums which are marginal settlements with substandard facilities, inadequate infrastructures, and services. Insufficient infrastructures, overcrowded and unhealthy environment and poor living quality characterize these slums. At present (2019) about 646 thousand people are living in almost 3394 slums of Dhaka (The Daily Star 2019); the situation is predicted to be deteriorated after a decade, if proper measures are not implemented. Lack of urban amenities and safe living conditions make these slums more vulnerable to incidences like fire incidents, water logging, as well as threats of eviction. Since the dwellings are mostly of improvised or temporary structures, these show least resilience towards any kind of hazard. Although cyclones and floods have overshadowed the threat of fire hazard, fires cause substantial impairment in Bangladesh. Accidental fire and arson are the most recurring occurrences in the slum areas. Huge number of slum inhabitants in Bangladesh are in a constant state of fear of fire hazard as it may destroy their assets and leave them as homeless. Frequent fire incidents in Karail slum are usual scenes in slum dwellers’ life—media covers the news, there are some quick reactions, then usually nothing happens, life goes on and slum dwellers live the same life, having almost zero impact for long term improvement. Though fire occurrences in the Saattola slum is not that frequent; yet all the victims face almost the same fate. How the fire starts or who initiates arson is never fully investigated, but it is apparent that the influential people use fire as a tool to vacate the land to increase the rent or to change the land use for greater benefits in future (Field survey 2019). But, in most of the cases, the poor slum inhabitants suffer the most. The objectives of this book chapter are to investigate the challenges and scopes of working on post-fire hazard slum settlements and to provide fire-resilient guidelines for slum upgradation, generated from hands-on experiences in the context of two slums areas in Dhaka-Karail and Sattola.

2 Literature Review There are a plenty of research works on slum that have addressed a vast range of issues. Some studies focus on the intensity of slum problem whereas some research investigate eviction of slums and violation of human rights in Bangladesh. Furthermore, a few studies document the innovative initiatives or approaches, mostly adopted

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by different government and non-government organizations, to overcome service deficiencies and improve living conditions of the slum dwellers (Mohit 2012). But the discussion on reconstruction experiences in any post hazard context and guidelines on spatial features to improve the living quality of slums is a less explored field. Available studies on the post hazard situation mostly focus on issues, like, loss of lives and resources and struggles of slum dwellers. Cities Alliance (2006) identifies slums as neglected chunks of cities where housing and living environments are terribly poor. In alignment with the UN-Habitat’s definition of slum, this study state slum in its operational terms. According to the UNhabitat, a slum lacks one or more of the following indicators: a durable housing structure, access to basic services like clean water, proper sanitation; adequate living space and secure tenure. These are the conventional indicators of slums, though the last one is not currently used in the slum measurement (UN-Habitat 2003). In literature, the debate prevails regarding the use of terms ‘slum’ and ‘informal settlements’. Some use the terms interchangeably, whereas some argue that there is a discrete difference between a slum and an informal settlement (Mahabir et al. 2016). This chapter embraces the perspective that slums, and informal settlements are same and, can be treated as one. In his paper, written based on a pilot project on “Building Resilience in Urban Slum Settlements” executed in the Talab Camp in Mirpur, Dhaka, during 2012–2013, Ahmed (2016) shares the key lessons learnt for enhancing community resilience towards multiple hazards in urban slum settlements from the project which was conducted through community participation and architects’ consultation. As a similar approach, this research attempts to fill the gap of existing literature through presenting the case of involving a professional team in the reconstruction process of two slums, after fire incidents, to improve the living environment, acknowledging the UN-Habitat’s description of slum.

3 Background of the Study Immediately after the disaster, occurred on December 4, 2016 in Karail slum, BRAC, a non-governmental organization (NGO) made a need assessment and a list of affected people. Karail, the largest slum area of Dhaka (Choudhoury et al. 2016), is in Mohakhali and more precisely it is situated adjacent two affluent localities of the city: Gulshan and Banani (Fig. 1), next to Gulshan-Banani Lake. At least 100,000 inhabitants, who are predominantly migrant people, live in Karail slum (Huq 2017). They usually find jobs in diverse informal sectors in neighboring areas. The slum is sprawled over a land area of 100 acres (BRAC 2017), which is legally owned by various government authorities such as Bangladesh Telephone and Telegraph Board (T&T), Ministry of Public Works and Housing, and the Ministry of Science and Technology. Numerous eviction attempts and fire incidences could not stop the proliferation of this slum over the time. Upon the request of BRAC, a self-motivated group of architects, planners and engineers together with student volunteers under the platform

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Fig. 1 Left: location of Gulshan, Banani, Mohakhali, Karail and Saattola slum in blow-up map; Right: Location of Karail and Saattola slums in the map of Dhaka

of Urban Support System, along with JA Architects Limited, a local architectural consulting firm spontaneously participated in the reconstruction process. While the group of professionals and volunteers were working on the reconstruction of Karail slum, another fire engulfed the nearby Saattola slum on December 11, 2016. Shattola slum is also located in Mohakhali (Fig. 1). The land legally belongs to the Public Health Department of Government of Bangladesh and following the liberation war in 1971, grade 3 and 4 employees of the department started to live there informally. The place eventually transformed into an illegal slum as the primary residents started to build shanty houses and rent it out to lower income people to increase their household income. Over the period the whole area turned into a large slum with one storied semi-permanent structures mostly. The slum is informally controlled and managed primarily by the employees, their families, several local musclemen and politicians. The same team voluntarily took up to support the victims of Saattola slum too. The socio-economic condition of victims and land-house ownership pattern were needed to be considered for the reconstruction process. The victims usually own the houses but not the land. Such an ownership pattern guided to consider accessible and effective as well as less expensive solutions for improving the living quality. The design principle of “Build Back Better” was aimed to follow throughout the process,

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considering the idea that “small actions can have big effects” (Gibson-Graham et al. 2013, p. xxiv). As Hawken stated, “small and seemingly inconsequential actions took place that eventually changed the world” (Hawken 2007).

4 Methodology The pilot research was conducted in two slums: Karail slum and Saattola slum of Dhaka city (Fig. 1), Bangladesh. The study part employed qualitative approaches (i.e.) to have a better reflection of community’s voice in proposing reconstruction guideline. Participatory approach helped to explore the opinions and experiences of slum dwellers who were directly affected by the fire and to gather factual and contextual data. Primary data were collected through focus group discussions, semistructured group interviews, transect walks, key informant’s interviews (KIIs) with local government institutions and NGO representatives, digital site survey, area mapping, and social mapping. The core design team was formed by J. A. Architects Ltd. and teachers from the department of Architecture of BRAC University and State University of Bangladesh (SUB). More than 20 volunteers from different public and private universities were also involved in the initiative. The project was supported by ward councilors (local government representatives) and funded by the Dhaka North City Corporation, as the areas are located within that city corporation area. A professional survey agency was hired by J. A. Architects Limited to conduct the detail physical survey of the fire-affected areas. The process was started with focus group discussion sessions with all owners of affected houses to know their ideas, needs, and expectations. Later the social mapping was conducted, using quantitative data like number of affected houses, number of damaged belongings, and possible costs of reconstruction. Eventually a spatial design proposal was developed, employing participants’ feedback and the proposal was validated by the participants in the presence of ward commissioner (local leader). It took almost 5 days to initiate the reconstruction process in Karail slum, whereas it took only 1 day in Sattola slum as the area was small and the team gained experiences while working in Karail slum. Secondary data were collected through reviewing relevant national and international reports, media news, research papers and various slum development proposals. The Guidelines for Planning, Design and Construction of Pro-Poor Slums Integration Project (PPSIP) prepared by the National Housing Authority in 2015 were also reviewed to assist the project.

5 Interventions and Reconstruction Process According to the study participants, the fire incident of December 4, 2016 in Karail slum, forced the victims to live under the open sky in the winter. It was sourced from the kitchen of a restaurant inside the slum area. A blanket and pillow shop adjacent

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to the restaurant triggered the fast spreading of fire that eventually destroyed almost 500 houses. It also affected some road-side shops. To prevent the spreading of fire, 40 houses were dismantled by the local people. In Sattola slum, the fire was initiated from a primary school, situated adjacent to the main access road; but the main reason of it remained unknown. Fortunately, the spreading of fire was interrupted by the surrounding 6–8 feet wide streets and it saved some parts of the slum from being affected. Community people also dismantled some houses to limit the spreading of fire. This fire burnt down a housing block with 115 houses, affecting about 29 house owners. Walls and roofs of these shanty houses were made of corrugated iron (CI) sheets which made the structures more vulnerable to fire. The proposal prepared for Karail slum included detail housing layout and wider road network. The houses were arranged horizontally through a narrow access road from the main road. Additionally, a parallel pedestrian road from the main approach road was introduced to create intimate places for women and children. The proposal prepared for Saattola slum also included detail housing layout and wider road network, especially considering the affected housing cluster. Previously, the single storied houses were arranged in a cluster in a very compact manner without allowing enough natural ventilation and day light. The housing clusters were proposed to make double storied through staking one unit above another, allowing to clear up some space at the ground level for providing better natural ventilation and daylight inside the houses. Table 1 mentions contributions received from key team-members. The whole process was phased into following five steps: • Step 1: Getting to know victims and major stakeholders To know the affected house owners and tenants, the team conducted focus group discussion sessions and transect walks with the affected people and met the house owners and the Ward Councilor. Information on family size and economic condition, household income, existing condition of the affected people, monthly house rent, etc. were collected through talking to them and visiting the sites with them. • Step 2: Understanding pre-fire conditions To understand pre-fire condition of the slums, in-depth group interviews were conducted with all the affected house owners and tenants. Information on amount of land occupied by the beneficiaries, existing housing situation, proposed housing needs, location of services (kitchen, water supply, latrine etc.), poverty level and other social aspects were collected during the social mapping exercise. House owners helped the team to draw the house layout with the use of match sticks. At this stage the hired professional survey agency also conducted the detail physical survey of the fire-affected areas. • Step 3: Developing considerations for site planning Through excessive discussions with the house owners, representatives from DNCC and ward councilors (local government representative) and based on the 2015 “Guidelines for Planning, Design and Construction of PPSIP Settlements” of the National

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Table 1 Name, category and contributions of key team-members Team-members

Type of members

Contributions

J. A. Architects Ltd., Academics and students of BRAC University, State University of Bangladesh (SUB), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), North South University (NSU), Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST)

Core design team and volunteers

Assessing housing needs of the community Studying existing housing conditions and patterns Preparing proposals based on of site visits and feedback received from community participants Preparing model of the housing reconstruction

J. A. Architects Limited

Architectural consulting firm

Leading and guiding the design team Raising fund for the project Estimating cost for housing reconstruction

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC)

Municipal corporation Generating fund and providing building materials

Ward Councilor

Local government representative

Providing moral supports Convincing and managing the local community

BRAC

NGO

Initiating the pilot project Preparing the list of affected people Distributing id card for relief distribution Generating the fund and providing building materials

Housing Authority, the following design considerations were developed for Karail and Saattola slums reconstruction: i.

Amount of land occupied by the house owners should remain the same as before fire hazard. ii. Neighbors of the houses within a cluster should be the same as before. iii. The number of houses should be the same as before. iv. Roads should be wider than before. v. All the rooms facing the primary street should have options for commercial uses. vi. Open spaces should be kept for tree plantation and social gathering. vii. Services like kitchen, water supply, toilets, etc. should be shared and strategically located viii. Standard room size should be followed ix. Proper ventilation and sunlight should be ensured x. Sustainable building materials should be used

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Fig. 2 Proposed house layout for Saattola slum (left) and Korail slum (right)

• Step 4: Developing the master plan with details (Fig. 2) Initially a draft of house layout for Karail and Saattola slum was proposed based on feedback received from the community participants. The draft proposal was presented to the community participants as well as ward councilors and representatives from DNCC and BRAC. After that the proposal was finalized with following details: i.

The usual street-width was identified as too narrow—approximately 60–90 cm, hardly allowing 2 persons to pass side by side. Even the slum dwellers were aware of the importance of wider streets for ensuring access to houses, evacuating from houses and providing gaps to prevent the fire to spread. The fire hazard of Saattola slum was an evidence of this. In Saattola slum, only one block was damaged by the fire as comparatively wider streets around the block prevented the fire from spreading to adjacent blocks and thus streets helped to minimize the damage. On the other hand, in Karail slum, the narrow streets could not prevent the fire to spread quickly from one block to another and could not let any vehicle to go inside to put off the fire. Considering these facts, it was mutually decided to make main access roads at least 260 cm wide and internal streets at least 183 cm wide. This will allow to have enough distance between blocks and let the fire vehicles to access in the future. ii. Aside from these primary and secondary roads, the proposal suggested to have small open spaces that would act as courtyards within the housing clusters for allowing to have well-ventilated and naturally lighted indoor environment and working as an assemble point in any emergency condition. It is expected that these spaces will eventually work as social spaces for the dwellers. Additionally,

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iv.

v.

vi.

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north-south orientation of the houses was maintained so that a proper cross ventilation can be ensured, which is preferable in a tropical climatic condition. The in-depth study of the lifestyle of research participants, existing room sizes, site area and number of households (inhabitants) guided to design a module of 244 cm X 244 cm to accommodate a residential unit within it. The proposal also suggested to have at least two windows to allow cross ventilation, whereas the previous houses did not have any window. It was a challenge to accommodate all households in the proposed master plan with wider roads/streets and bigger units. To accommodate the adequate number of units in the given site, in some cases, double storied structures were proposed (Fig. 3). It was found that previously, in frequent cases the communal kitchen and toilets (including shower areas) were very close to each other, which was not desired by the inhabitants and at that same time it used to possess the risk of getting contaminated easily. Some dwellers used to wash their dishes and food items inside the toilets. The proposed master plan allowed to have adequate washing areas inside the kitchens, and these were kept apart from communal toilets. Though there was a target to ensure enough natural light and air inside the units and common spaces, sometimes it was difficult to achieve that quality. To overcome the challenge in some cases different building materials and features were introduced which allowed to have natural ventilation and lighting. For

Fig. 3 Double storey structure with wider road (field survey, 2016)

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Fig. 4 Use of wire mesh in common spaces to bring light and air (field survey, 2016)

example, double-loaded corridors were proposed to be covered with transparent materials. In areas where penetration of rainwater could be allowed, wire meshes (screens) were proposed to be used (Fig. 4). The implementation of the proposed master plan was quite difficult as the house owners were not very willing to leave spaces to have wider roads and streets, courtyards, bigger kitchen areas and bigger residential units though they were aware of the necessity of having those design features. They were more interested to have more small residential units so that those can be rented out to more tenants. Design team, ward councilor and representatives from DNCC and BRAC had to meet the house owners for several times to convince them to follow the proposals. The problem was gradually overcome with the help of some affirmative house owners and the ward councilor. However, it was not possible to make all internal streets at least 183 cm wide. Finally, it was decided to make the primary roads 260 cm wide and immediate secondary roads 183 cm wide. As the house owners were not interested to sacrifice spaces, all other internal roads remained as narrow as before. Nonetheless, after executing the proposal, community people were happy to have a wider access to the clusters that allows any smaller vehicle like, 3-wheelers (van) to run. Initially, a reduction in the number of rooms caused by the increased room size and provision of courtyards made the dwellers disappointed. However, in order to keep the number

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of houses intact, double storied structures were proposed. The community people were satisfied with the solution as the upper floors can get more light and air. The City Corporation and BRAC distributed pre-cast concrete columns for constructing ground floors, bamboo/timber posts for constructing upper floors and CI sheet for walls and roofs. However, the design team was not allowed to participate in the material selection process.

6 Findings and Analysis While working in these informal settlements, fixing the nature, extent and the process of architects’ professional contribution to the slum dwellers was the first challenge. Another important issue was the readiness and capability of the slum dwellers to afford these changes. While providing spatial design solutions with a hope to minimize the fire risk and improve the living quality in the slums, the design team found some new insights into the way slum dwellers adapt the design interventions. Community often rejects expensive and long-term design solutions whereas they are very willing to adopt cost effective short-term solutions. They also prefer interventions which will not affect their economic benefits. Since most of the dwellers were not the legal owners of the land, they were under a constant fear of being evicted. This made them reluctant to extensively build or extend and modify the houses. Usually they do not want to build permanent structures as they do not want to invest for it, though they are aware of the need for the better living environment with accessibility, open space and healthy amenities. Reducing the number of rooms was a dilemma; one less room could render one family homeless and reduce income for the owner. As a result, the living quality faces stiff resistance by economic constrains. However, this was also true that small modifications like widening the alleys, small adjustments in room size, windows, hygienic toilets, slightly bigger kitchens, and community spaces, could bring a huge improvement in their life style. These small changes not only improve the dweller’s living standard, but also save their lives. A bit wider road allows fire vehicles and ambulances to access. In the words of a local resident, ‘After replacing the CI wall with wire mesh in the corridor, the space is full of light and air and it’s really nice’. Thus, easy and small changes make senses. Small interventions have huge potentials and great impacts on the safety and quality of informal settlements. The context of Karail and Saattola slums depicts that such small measures minimize the adverse impacts of fire and other associated hazards.

7 Challenges Reconstruction activities in Karail and Saattola slums encountered various challenges and limitations during the rebuilding process. Following are the key challenges:

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• Controversy over the involvement of architects on illegally occupied land: As most of the inhabitants of slum settlements have no land right, engagement of built environment related professionals like architects, in mitigating hazard risks as well as upgrading its environment through spatial design proposals has always been neglected. Moreover, involving architects in reconstructing slums also does not happen frequently. The main challenge was to work with house owners as well as powerful musclemen , who don’t have any legal tenure right over the land. They have been living in these slums for last 30–40 years and providing housing to poor migrated people in return of rent. The intervention got appreciations from different parts of the society; but contributions to illegal occupants raised controversies as well. • Constraint of time: Like other post disaster context, there was a pressure of severe time constraint for preparing the master plan as the victims were living in very temporary and rudimentary shelters, and in some cases without any kind of shelter. Some dwellers had already started to rebuild their houses by themselves before any proposal was provided. Therefore, the target was to prepare the proposal as well as implement it as soon as possible. • Encroachment of Gulshan-Banani Lake: During the rebuilding process, slum dwellers encroached some parts of the adjacent Gulshan-Banani Lake to extend their residential units. They filled up the water body partially with garbage and other materials and constructed a few units there due to insufficient monitoring by the authority. • Difficulties to motivate house owners to sacrifice partial lands: Owners were always interested to maximize the number of residential units and thus the rental income rather than giving away some lands for having community space, set back, wider roads, etc. However, wider access road and courtyards ensure long term benefits such as better safety, light, ventilation and better health. Though the inhabitants could not deny the long-term benefits of improved built environment, most of the house owners were reluctant to sacrifice parts of their lands for widening the access roads and building some open spaces or courtyards. • Lack of commitment and comprehensive initiatives from the top-level service providers: Lack of sincere efforts to reconstruct the fire affected slum areas is evident among the top-level decision makers. Authorities usually do not have any vision or plan for informal settlements in urban areas. For example, in the cases of Karail and Saattola slums, though the contributors (DNCC and BRAC) distributed some building materials, there was lacking in coordination and monitoring among the organizations and/or the service providers to supervise the reconstruction process.

8 Conclusion The pilot project, narrated here, assisted the fire affected community for rebuilding their houses, following the bottom up approach in an active participatory manner.

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A master plan with some detail design proposals (such as widening roads, creating courtyards, using fiber glass for covering corridor-roofs, using wire mesh for the veranda, planting vegetables, etc.) were provided and finally those were implemented in a minor altered manner. These small interventions created a visibly safer and improved living condition in the slum areas. The intension of this pilot project was to create a model for slum rebuilding in Bangladesh. From this participatory experience, it is found that an effective intervention in the slums to reduce risks can be initiated with small steps. Imposing design solutions out of what professionals think slum dwellers need without understanding their everyday practices and challenges, may fail. An intervention through a bottom up approach instead of top down approach gives scopes to explore the reality, to understand the inner dynamics of informal settlements, how the slum functions, and the aspirations of slum dwellers for their future shelters, before proposing any design dream. Architects as well as planners should reconcile their knowledge with slum dwellers’ perceptions to satisfy community-needs. The process of working with beneficiaries leads to be focused towards affordable and practical options rather than ambitious utopian ideas. Inhabitant’s financial desires often overpower their realizations for better environment which needs to be managed by the authority in a very influential manner without imposing any decision. Changes which are small in scale are usually get accepted easily as these do not alter the current lifestyle drastically but make positive impacts for alleviating risks. The successful intervention which has been stated in this chapter may inspire to replicate the process in any other hazard-prone location for eliminating their risks. Acknowledgements This paper is based on the voluntary work of a group of architects, planner, engineers (academics) from J. A. Architects, BRAC University, State University of Bangladesh (SUB), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), together with architecture students from BUET, North South University (NSU), SUB, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) to support both Karail slum community and Saattola slum community after two devastating fire hazards in December, 2016 upon request by the Urban Development Program of BRAC.

References Ahmed I (2016) Building resilience of urban slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Procedia Soc Behav Sci 218:202–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.04.023 BRAC (2017) Korail. Factsheet. http://www.brac.net/sites/default/files/factsheet/2017/urban/Kor ail-2017.pdf. Accessed 25 Oct 2019 Choudhoury ZUA, Durrat F, Hussain M, Alam MS, Andersen MK (2016) Poverty and Violence in Karail Slum in Dhaka. A report. University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, DIGNITY-Danish Institute against Torture, Copenhagen, Denmark, University of Edinburgh, UK Cities Alliance (2006) Cities alliance for cities without slums: action plan for moving slum upgrading to scale. Cities Alliance, Washington, DC. pp 1, Retrieved from http://www.citiesalliance.org/ sites/citiesalliance.org/files/ActionPlan.pdf

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German E, Pyne S (n.d.) Dhaka: fastest growing megacity in the world, PRI. Economics, GlobalPost. https://www.pri.org/stories/2010-09-08/dhaka-fastest-growing-megacity-world. Accessed 25 Jan 2019 Gibson-Graham JK, Cameron J, Healy S (2013) Take back the economy: an ethical guide for transforming our communities. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Hawken P (2007) Blessed unrest: how the largest social movement in history is restoring grace, justice, and beauty to the world. Penguin, New York Huq E (2017) Seeing colours in Korail. The daily star. https://www.thedailystar.net/perspective/see ing-colours-korail-1435801. Accessed 20 Oct 2019 IndexMundi (2018) Bangladesh demographics profile 2018. https://www.indexmundi.com/bangla desh/demographics_profile.html. Accessed 15 Oct 2019 Mahabir R, Crooks A, Croitoru A, Agouris P (2016) The study of slums as social and physical constructs: challenges and emerging research opportunities. Reg Stud Reg Sci 3(1):399–419 Mohit MA (2012) Bastee settlements of Dhaka City, Bangladesh: a review of policy approaches and challenges ahead. Procedia Soc Behav Sci 36:611–622 Rabbi AR (2018) Why do slum fires recur with such deadly regularity? Dhaka Tribune. https:// www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/special/2018/06/19/why-do-slum-fires-recur-with-such-dea dly-regularity. Accessed 20 Dec 2018 Rajuk (2015) Dhaka structure plan 2016–2035, Dhaka: past and present. http://www.rajukdhaka. gov.bd/rajuk/image/slideshow/Dhaka_Structural_Plan.html. Accessed 05 Nov 2019 The Daily Star (2019) Over 6 lakh slum dwellers in Dhaka: minister. https://www.thedailystar.net/ city/6-lakh-slum-dwellers-in-dhaka-1757827. Accessed 20 Oct 2019 The Guardian (2018) Dhaka: the city where climate refugees are already a reality. https://www.the guardian.com/cities/2015/dec/01/dhaka-city-climate-refugees-reality. Accessed 15 Jan 2019 UN-Habitat (2003) The challenge of slums–global report on human settlements 2003. London, UK: United Nations Human Settlements Programme

Dr. Ahmed has been working in different capacities, sometime as Architect, Shelter Specialist, Land Use Planning Expert, Water and Environmental Sanitation Specialist, Urban Planner and Urban Infrastructure Development Specialist for United Nations and other reputed international development agencies, during the last 30 years. She has experiences of working in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Timor Leste. As the Chairperson of J. A. Architects Ltd., a reputed consultancy firm in Bangladesh, she got involved in designing various social development facilities. Dr. Ahmed has also been actively involved in different research activities and projects, particularly, in low cost housing upgradation, slum reconstruction, and land tenure issues. Currently, she is also serving as an Associate Professor at State University of Bangladesh (SUB). She obtained her Ph.D. degree in 2011 from the Civil and Building Engineering Dept. of Loughborough University, UK. She completed her Master in Urban and Regional Planning degree from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, BUET in 1990 and obtained Bachelor of Architecture degree from the same university in 1987. Architect Subrina is serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture of Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), Bangladesh. She completed her Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2010 from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Bangladesh and Master of Human Settlements from K U Leuven, Belgium in 2015. She also worked as an Assistant Architect in a renowned architectural firm ‘Saif Ul Haque Sthapati’ to acquire practical experience. Her undergraduate thesis on deprived tea-plantation workers and master’s program on ‘Human Settlements’ have accelerated her interest in the trajectory of philanthropic architecture, settlements, and urbanism. Her interest in humanitarian contribution made her active in various outreach programs like re-building the Korail slum and Sattola slums for the fire hazard victims, campaign on gender and public space, heritage conservation of Old Dhaka, etc.

Rethinking Roles of Local Non-governmental Organizations (LNGO) in Managing Disaster Risks in Historic Neighborhoods: Experiences from the City of Lagos, Nigeria Olufemi Samson Adetunji, Oluwatosin Samuel Owolabi, and Samson Olaoluwa Faboye Abstract Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are taking up an increasing role in the management of disaster risks within historic neighborhoods; yet, loss of historic sites due to disasters is increasing. Local Non-Governmental Organizations (LNGOs) usually collaborate with international Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) and the government to conduct post-disaster interventions within the ‘affected’ neighborhoods. In this context, the question arises that how LNGOs can contribute to making the neighborhoods around historic sites prepared to face any disaster. This chapter, therefore, examines the participation of LNGOs in addressing disaster risks before, during and after disaster events, especially flooding and coastal storm within historic neighborhoods focusing on Lagos, one of the vulnerable cities in Nigeria and where diverse historic sites are located. A quantitative survey of LNGO staffs and local community leaders was conducted to collect data and information, focusing on disaster risk reduction interventions and community perception towards LNGO interventions. The analysis focused mainly on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the interventions implemented by the LNGOs. The chapter finds that interventions of LNGOs focused primarily on postdisaster responses rather than pre-disaster planning to address the vulnerabilities of the historic sites and neighborhoods to avert the future damages. The preservation of historic sites within the settlement requires community-driven interventions addressing the concerns of the local people. The chapter concludes that LNGOs need O. S. Adetunji (B) School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia e-mail: [email protected] O. S. Owolabi Department of Architectural Technology, Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] S. O. Faboye School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_9

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to rethink and refocus their roles and interventions in planning and mitigating risks and assisting communities in preparing for disaster events. Keywords Cultural heritage · Disaster · Historic neighborhoods · Non-governmental organisation · Vulnerability

1 Introduction Over the last four decades, concerns on the rate of destruction of historic neighborhoods and loss of places that express cultural values and identity of the people to disasters in Nigeria are increasing (Adewumi 2018; Chidozie and Ayibainewoufini 2014). Various scholars (Nkwunonwo 2016; Ohiole et al. 2016; Elias and Omojola 2015) ascribed this to the changes in climate, sea level rise, rapid urbanization, poor infrastructure and poor disaster awareness. Hazards remain the primary cause of damages, destructions and loss of historic sites and neighborhoods (Gandini et al. 2018; Spennemann 1999). Importantly, whenever disaster occurs, cultural and historical assets which are regarded as valuable and irreplaceable are destroyed resulting in environmental and social harm (Taboroff 2000). Also, the lack of ownership and care for historical sites is another factor that contributes to their vulnerability to hazards. Meutia and colleagues (2018) also added that the materials of the historic sites are often highly susceptible to damage, deterioration and destruction caused by climate change and sea level rise. In Lagos, Nigeria, for instance, climate change induced disasters are critical, affecting various historical neighborhoods (such as Badagry, Ikorodu, and Iganmu). With a history of disasters in Lagos, more than sixty historical sites were partially or wholly destroyed between 1985 and 2014 (Adetunji et al. 2018; Abolade et al. 2013). While efforts by stakeholders to address the disaster risks of the historic sites and neighborhoods living around these historic sites have not yielded satisfactory results. However, a few Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are making efforts to integrate economic, social and political aspects in response to disaster events mainly through relief interventions in affected neighborhoods. Ohiole and colleagues (2016) characterized the efforts as ad hoc, reactive, not focused, and poorly coordinated and managed. However, in the light of the successes, recorded by NGOs in disaster risk management in other countries (such as Australia, France, USA and UK), many concerned stakeholders in developing countries (such as Ghana, Nigeria, Indonesia and Philippines) are establishing NGOs to address impacts of disasters and protect cultural identity and significance of historic sites (Adewumi 2018; Elias and Omojola 2015). The community needs tangible evidences of the past as reminders for the present and future, and existence of historic sites provides a familiar environment and improve quality of life (Spennemann 1999). Based on the assertion of Forbes (2018), the goal of preserving and protecting historic sites is enshrined in the purpose that historic sites express the ‘social meaning of life within the community’, which are revealed in

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the beliefs, morals, custom and law, creative expressions such as music, dance, literature, songs, landscapes and buildings. Historic sites embody the sense of connection and cultural diversity of a community. Yuan and colleagues (2018) also admitted that the community needs to play a key role in addressing various risks and hazards, facing by the places of historic significance to maintain the connection between the historic sites and their neighborhoods. This chapter therefore contributes to existing knowledge relating to disaster risks in Nigeria and respond to the crucial question of how local non-governmental organizations (LNGOs) can contribute to the preparedness of neighborhoods around historic sites for mitigating disaster (especially flooding and coastal storm) risks. In the view of this, focusing on neighborhoods around historic sites in Lagos, the study assesses evidences of disasters in historic sites and examines the capacity of LNGOs in responding and managing disasters. The importance of LNGOs in planning and mainstreaming disaster risk mitigation, preparedness and adaptation is emphasized as well.

2 Background 2.1 Understanding Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) NGOs are widely recognized as an important stakeholder in mitigating disaster risks within human settlements (Shaw and Izumi 2014). However, there is an ongoing debate regarding the meaning, roles and extent of involvements of NGOs in mitigating disasters risk of historic sites, as well as communities since the ‘Yokohama Plan of Action for Safer World’ recognized the roles of communities and NGOs in disaster risk management approaches (Izumi and Shaw 2014). But, it is widely agreed amidst scholars that NGOs play diverse and significant roles due to the close relationships that exist between the NGOs and the community (Komino 2014). NGOs are sometimes referred to as civil society organizations, voluntary organizations or community-based organizations while their precise definitions vary based on functions and the country of operation. For instance, the term ‘non-profit organization’ (NPO) is frequently used in the USA compared to the UK where they are referred to as ‘voluntary/charity organization’ (Shaw and Izumi 2014). In the seminal work of Lewis (2010), civil society organizations (CSO) is described as organizations functioning within the community and independent of government control at federal, state and local levels. Shaw and Izumi (2014) added that ‘NGO’ is most used about international and national development actions in developing countries. However, Söderbaum (2007) and Kasfir (1998) classified NGOs into local and international. The local non-governmental organizations (LNGOs) are established out of people’s initiatives and mainly involved and managed by people living within the community(ies); while international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) are the NGOs that transcend country boundaries such as Rockefeller Foundations,

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OXFAM, USAID and IFRC. The Commonwealth Foundation (2004) further states that most of the times, LNGOs engage in fundraising, implementing development initiatives and acquiring supports (such as, expertise and funds) from INGOs. Importantly, the wide-ranged functions of NGOs can be categorized into three components: to implement development initiatives in provision of goods and services to the people, to catalyze social transformation and development, and to partner and integrate economic, social and political actors for development (Lewis 2004). These three functions are evident in disaster response and relief activities, but Kasfir (1998) and Komino (2014) noted that many NGOs in developing countries focus more on implementing development initiatives than other functions due to inadequate expertise and a poor understanding of social development and transformation landscape within their communities of operation. In this context, local non-governmental organizations (LNGO) cater for a broad range of community-based groups to meet their needs and demands through initiating development activities. LNGOs are expected to be voluntary, non-profit (Kasfir 1998), free from government’s involvements (Shaw and Izumi 2014) and have following features: i.

ii. iii. iv. v.

implement activities to improve quality of life through providing reliefs, recognizing interests of the poor, protecting the environment, providing essential social services, participating in major decision-making and undertaking community development activities; enjoy freedom from external control in case of fulfilling their aims and objectives; practice democracy, flexibility and non-sectarian, horizontally structured and short lines of communication; commit to address root causes of challenges faced by the communities; and have awareness about the particularities (social, cultural, economic etc.) of their area of operation.

However, various LNGOs often establish relationships with the government to gain legitimacy (Söderbaum 2007) where they may oppose, complement or reform any governmental decision instead of ignoring it (Clark 1991). In many countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, and Bangladesh, the government enforces registration of NGOs and regulate their activities (Söderbaum 2007; Clark 1991) and attitudes of the government towards NGOs vary across countries, regions and local areas. The government sometimes exercises active hostility or intervene in the affairs of NGOs (Paul 2000). There are evidences where the government, especially in developing countries, exercises its powers to ban, delist or de-register NGOs with or without good causes (Kasfir 1998). On the other hand, many NGOs successfully collaborate with the government and receive its supports and favors (Bhandari 2014). Also, some scholars (such as Shaw and Izumi 2014; Söderbaum 2007; Lewis 2004) critiqued the roles of NGOs as overreaching in taking up the responsibilities of governmental organizations. The overlaps in roles of NGOs and governmental organizations contribute to the attention shift from the government institutions towards less accountable private organizations (Tvedt 2002). Lewis (2010) and Kasfir (1998)

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revealed the fact that many government organizations have resolved to ‘outsourcing’ their responsibilities to NGOs. As Lewis (2004, p. 45) describes that NGOs contributes to facilitation of neoliberal policy change either by participating in de facto privatization or by taking responsibility for clearing up the clutters of neoliberal policies which disproportionately disadvantaged the marginal population.

2.2 Disaster Risks in Historic Neighborhood Heritage—natural and cultural, tangible and intangible, fixed and movable—is increasingly at risk of disasters. The increase in frequency and severity of disasters, in some cases, creates various forms of impacts such as displacement, annihilation, loss of identity, meanings and association with places of cultural and historical significance, especially within historic neighborhoods. According to Taboroff (2000), historic sites and their neighborhoods in low-income countries are at risk of disasters. In support of this revelation, Rico (2014) finds that the impact of disasters further increases due to the absence of risk estimation, evaluation, minimization and preparedness measures. However, Martins and colleagues (2018) posit that armed conflict, urbanization and lack of community ownership of historic sites are contributing to increase vulnerabilities of historic sites. The 1966 devastating floods of Venice (Italy) and 2016 earthquake in Artrice (Italy), 2016 earthquakes in Christchurch (New Zealand) and Kathmandu (Nepal) and the armed conflict in Syria are few examples of disasters that affected historic sites as well as communities living around these sites (Forbes 2018; Martins et al. 2018). Concerning the Amatrice earthquake, Formisano and colleagues (2017) found that archeological sites of prehistoric period, especially streets of these sites were destroyed. Also, the Christchurch earthquake resulted into an immense impact on the built heritage, particularly the masonry buildings of early nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Forbes 2018). Any disaster cannot occur without having a ‘marker’ and a cause (Gandini et al. 2018). Disaster risk is the product of hazard and vulnerability; while hazard is the phenomenon (such as earthquake, storm and flood) which has the potential to cause disruption or damage to historic sites (Martins et al. 2018). Vulnerability refers to the susceptibility or exposure of historic properties to hazards (Shaw and Izumi 2014). Hazard is the external source of disaster while vulnerability is the inherent weakness of historic sites to withstand the impacts of hazards (Formisano et al. 2017). In response to these schools of thoughts, UNESCO and ICOMOS (2010) submits that hazards can be natural or human-induced (Table 1); where natural hazards refer to phenomenon caused by natural factors with adverse impacts on individuals and communities, while human-induced hazards refers to threats with elements of human intents, negligence, error and involving failure of a system. However, these two categories have the potential to cause secondary hazards that will further disrupt system within any community. Within the scope of heritage management, it’s vital to find out the association of disasters, disaster risks, and hazards with vulnerabilities of historic sites and their neighborhoods (Meutia et al. 2018; Rico 2014; Dilley

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Table 1 Categories of hazards (UNESCO and ICOMOS 2010) Natural hazards

Human-induced hazards

Secondary hazards

Meteorological

Hurricane, lightning, heavy precipitation

Hydrological

Flash floods, landslide, volcanic ash, storm surge

Hydrological infrastructure failure (dams, reservoirs, drainage system failure), coastal protection failure (sea walls)

Volcanic

Lava flows, pyroclastic flows, ash and block falls, gases

Mining-induced (e.g. mud Mudflows, landslides, volcano) tsunami, fire

Seismic

Faulting, transient shaking, permanent deformation (e.g. folds), induced movement (liquefaction and mass movement)

Dam- and Mass movement, fire, reservoir-induced mass flood movement, mining-induced explosion

Biological

Epidemics (human, animal or plant and human-animal transferable diseases), pest infestation/attack, algal blooms, coral bleaching events, weed/nuisance plant spreading

Climate change

Sea-level rise, rainfall pattern change, increased storm severity, desertification

Others

Flooding (coastal/rivers), fire Disease epidemic, pollution

Drainage system failure,

Fire, pollution, violence

et al. 2005). Various scholars (Adewumi 2018; Formisano et al. 2017; Rico 2014) agrees that disasters may cause severe disruption of the functioning of community, causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses, while the community fails to cope with the condition using its available resources and capacities. Disaster risks to historic sites and neighborhoods are results of both external and internal factors (UNESCO and ICOMOS 2010). External factors are the disturbances or damages caused by various hazards such as earthquakes, flood or military conflicts, while internal factors consist of intrinsic fragility and sensitivity of places of historic significance to the surrounding environment (Maio et al. 2018). Gibson and colleagues (2018) and Meutia and colleagues (2018) also admit that mitigation and preparedness measures are essential in addressing disaster risks to historic

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sites and neighborhoods. The measures are to be implemented through collaboration among government, non-governmental organizations, the community and other stakeholders such as heritage professionals (Meutia et al. 2018; Maio et al. 2018). Based on this, LNGOs need to prioritize prevention, mitigation and preparedness measures. But, the inability of governmental organizationds especially in developing countries to implement such measures constitute a barrier to the protection of values and significance of historic sites (Gibson et al. 2018). This is mainly due to the lack of disaster risk management plan (DRMP) geared towards historic sites and neighborhoods. The report of UNESCO and ICOMOS (2010) finds that DRMP provides clear, flexible and practical guidance to stakeholders and community on actions to take to prepare, prevent or reduce the negative impacts of disasters. DRMP also improves the capacity of stakeholders to implement and enforce heritage management regulations and policies (UNESCO and ICOMOS 2010).

3 Methodology This research focuses on Lagos, Nigeria which is historically one of the early settlements in West Africa, where various historical sites of Nigeria are located (Douglas 2017; Abolade et al. 2013; Zubairu et al. 2012). In addition, major proportion of LNGOs, operating in Lagos, focus on different developmental issues such as education, energy and infrastructure (Onwuemele 2018). Data and information on the roles and impacts of interventions of LNGOs were collected from two sources—(1) LNGO staffs (paid and volunteer) and (2) community leaders—of surveyed neighborhoods. At first, an operational profile of LNGOs operating in Lagos, Nigeria (n = 686) was developed, using secondary sources to know their year of establishment, staff population, and operation focus (aims and objectives). 29 LNGOs were selected from the profile based on three different criteria. Two paid and four volunteers, who are above 18 years of age were randomly selected from each of the 29 LNGOs for the questionnaire survey. Also, profiles of historic sites and neighborhoods in Lagos were developed to understand the spread of historic sites in Lagos (Table 2). Other details, contained in the profile are social structure, community governance and demographics. The community profile provides details on the key actors in the decision-making process of the community. According to Nix (1977), community profiling is a strategy, useful to develop an understanding of the people within a community of interest. The strategy helps to illustrate detail social and economic characteristics, and the groups and networks within the community (McCauley et al. 2015). This strategy was also described by Burt (1981), as an efficient method of collecting data and information from a sample of actors (decision makers) and determining the networks used in the community power structure and decision-making process. Later, the community leaders (key decision makers) were identified through a combination of positional and reputational approaches. Here, the positional approach was used to identify leaders within the selected neighborhoods who are in positions of

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Table 2 Historic neighborhoods in Lagos, Nigeria (Lagos State Government 2011; Legacy 1999) Historic neighborhoods Places of historical significance Lagos Island

Tinubu Square, Independence building, Colonial building, Massey Children Hospital, Independence bridge, Popo Aguda, Abari cemetery, Shitta-Bay Mosque, Site of First Tap water, Glover Memorial Hall, King’s College, Holy Cross Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, Motherless Babies Home, Lagos Yacht Club, Tafawa Balewa Square, National Museum, Lagos Central Mosque, Lumpkin House, Muson Centre, Iga Idunganran, Da Rocha Water House

Marina

Lagos House, Governor-General House

Iganmu

National Theatre building

Alausa

Round House (within Lagos State Secretariat), State House

Badagry

Agorin Beach, Site of fallen Agia tree, Gberefu building, Badagry Heritage Museum, Palace of the Akran, Early Missionaries Cemetery, First Storey building in Nigeria, Mobee Compound Boekoh Quarters, Old Oba Akran’s Palace

Oworonsoki

Georgios Cole House

Ipaja

Ijon village, Port De Young

Ikorodu

Palace of the Ayangburen

Lekki

Awolowo Detention Camp, Lekki Conservation Centre

Ebute Metta

Jackel House

Epe

Sungbo Eredo

Eti Osa

Oba Ojomu Palace

authority, while reputational approach helped to identify the well-informed members of the selected neighborhoods that influence how and what the neighborhoods do in response to disasters (Warner and Galindo-Gonzalez 2014). Similarly, McCauley and colleagues (2015) suggest that for identifying crucial decision makers (community leaders), it is advisable to understand their interconnections and influences on disaster interventions. In total 142 community leaders were identified and 38 were randomly selected across the neighborhoods from the three geo-political zones of Lagos (Fig. 1). 2 sets of questions were used for conducting the questionnaire survey: i. LNGO-A for paid and volunteer staff of LNGOs, and ii. LNGO-B for community leaders. Respondents were requested to rate their responses through a 4-point likert scale of 1 to 4 denoting level of agreement (1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Agree, 4 = Strongly agree) and level of concern (1 = Not concerned, 2 = Not very concerned, 3 = Somewhat concerned, 4 = Very concerned). LNGO-A focused on three sections: i. capacity of the LNGOs ii. evaluation of programs and iii. interventions.

Fig. 1 Geo-political zones and historic neighbourhoods in Lagos (adapted from Ajibade et al. 2013)

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LNGO-B covers the needs and perception of the neighborhoods towards the initiatives and interventions of the LNGOs.

4 Context Lagos is regarded as ‘A City state’ with an estimated population of 17.5 million, one of the fastest growing cities in the world (Elias and Omojola 2015). The city is located in the coastal area of Atlantic Ocean within latitudes from 6° 22 7 to 6° 42 36 N and longitudes from 2° 42 22 to 4° 18 0 E. Lagos, as one of the oldest kingdoms in West Africa, was established in the fourteenth century by the Awori Tribe of Yoruba people in Southwestern Nigeria (Davis and Kalu-Nwiwu 2001). In 1967, the city became the state capital and served as the host to various economic and bureaucratic establishments of Lagos State. Barnes (2018) describes the city as the most diversified with more than 250 ethnic groups, including the Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. A small number of Americans, Chinese, Greeks, White Zimbabweans, Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Cuban also reside in the city. Historically, in the 1760 s, Portuguese merchants settled in the city and made use of the city as a port for the slave trade. For instance, Badagry community is described as the epicenter of the slave trade in Lagos from where slaves were exported through the creeks and lagoons in the seventeenth century. The settlement of the Portuguese and other Europeans, in later years, influences the nature and styles of tangible (such as buildings, monuments and landscapes) and intangible (such as folklore, music, tradition and language) heritage of the city. Prucnal-Ogunsote (2002) argues that from the eighteenth century, architectures of international style, employing flat roofs and rectilinear forms, became popular, mainly due to the settlement of Europeans in Lagos. Historic neighborhoods are identified primarily by the places of historic significance within the city (Zubairu et al. 2012). For instance, the National Theatre building in Iganmu, Lagos (Fig. 2) serves as a symbol of the emerging cultural awakening and civilization of African culture (Enohoro 1977). Apter (1993) describes the theatre building as the ‘rallying point for people from various cultural backgrounds in Nigeria’. Table 2 provides the list of historic neighborhoods in Lagos and the places of historic significances located within the neighborhoods. Due to the influence of the Atlantic ocean, Lagos experiences rainfall of various amount all year round, reaching the highest between May and September (Israel 2017), contributing to the high vulnerability of the city to coastal flooding and erosion (Ponte 2016). At the same time, seasonal temperatures exhibit high variability, which contributes to the debate of managing impacts of climate extremes manifested through disasters such as flooding, heat waves and coastal storms. Various scholars (Israel 2017; Elias and Omojola 2015; Ajibade et al. 2013), working on vulnerabilities of Lagos to hazards suggest that floods and storm surges are the paramount natural hazards affecting the city. Based on the available flood data of cities in Nigeria between 1985 and 2014 and investigations conducted by Aderogba (2012), Nkwunonwo (2016) and Ajibade and colleagues (2013), Lagos is identified

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Fig. 2 Aerial view of National Theatre Building, Iganmu, Lagos

as the highest hit city amidst 25 cities in Nigeria (Table 3) (National Theatre Nigeria, 2019).

4.1 Respondents’ Characteristics The survey includes a broadly representative sample of LNGOs staffs and community leaders in terms of age distribution and gender composition. The mean age is 44 years for the LNGO staff, and 56 years for the community leaders (Table 4). Also, all the respondents have attained minimum educational attainment of secondary or technical school certificates. 87.26% of the respondents achieved minimum of bachelor or diploma degrees with 8.96% having doctorate degrees in various fields. Finally, it is worth noting that the community leaders represent fourteen historic neighborhoods in Lagos (Table 5).

4.2 Exposure to Disasters The study assessed the concern and perceptions of respondents regarding disaster events that are recorded in databases (EM-DAT and Nigerian Ministry of Environment) and previous studies of disasters in Nigeria. Table 6 illustrates strong concerns

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Table 3 Historical flood data of Nigerian cities (1985–2014) (Nkwunonwo 2016; Aderogba 2012) Cities

Mean width (meters)

Highest experienced height (meters)

Mean frequency (per annum)

Mean longest durations ever lasted (days)

Asaba

125.00

7.88

6

10

Abuja

163.00

6.20

5

4

Abeokuta

115.05

7.32

6

8

Aba

235.00

7.54

5

15

Ibadan

521.45

9.20

3

7

Oweri

124.04

8.21

5

7

Warri

221.25

7.28

6

16

Benin city

198.00

8.90

8

12

Jalingo

115.00

7.37

4

5

Enugu

147.72

7.35

5

6

Lagos

747.00

11.88

10

25

Kano

110.00

9.72

3

8

Kaduna

128.00

9.53

5

12

Katsina

122.00

6.25

4

11

Sokoto

114.25

7.02

6

4

Port-Harcourt

121.21

8.12

4

18

Ondo

124.75

7.80

8

11

Ogbomoso

118.00

9.55

3

12

Osogbo

111.00

9.73

8

13

Onisha

128.00

7.65

4

4

Calabar

213.00

7.53

8

11

for disaster events amidst the community leaders while Fig. 3 shows the yearly occurrence rate of disasters within neighbourhoods in Lagos. However, data in Table 6 and Fig. 3 focus on the entire Lagos as a state due to non-availability of disaster-specific data of each neighbourhood. The concerns for flooding (3.86), windstorm (3.62), sea erosion (3.74) and fire (3.78) within the neighbourhoods rank high, while concerns for drought (1.82) and earthquake (1.66) ranks lowest within the neighbourhoods. In Fig. 3, flooding has occurred once or more in the neighbourhoods, while a considerable proportion of the respondents (92.11% and 81.58% respectively) revealed that windstorms and fire-accidents had affected their neighbourhoods more than once in a year. Overall, drought and earthquakes are the least occurring disaster in neighbourhoods of Lagos.

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Table 4 Characteristics of respondents’ categories Categories and variables

LNGO staff

Community leader

Freq.

Percent.

Freq.

Percent.

Gender Male

87

50.0

19

50.0

Female

87

50.0

19

50.0

18–24 years

25

14.0

0

15.8

25–34 years

30

16.9

4

15.8

35–44 years

43

24.2

5

13.2

45–54 years

29

16.3

7

10.5

55–64 years

30

16.9

9

15.8

65 years and above

21

11.8

13

28.9

Primary

0

0.0

–

–

Secondary and technical certificate

6

3.4

–

–

OND*

9

5.2

–

–

12

6.9

–

–

Age distribution

Level of education

Mono-techniques (Colleges of Education) HND**

38

21.8

6

15.8

Bachelor

73

42.0

16

42.1

Master

24

13.8

9

23.7

Doctorate

12

6.9

7

18.4

*Ordinary National Diploma; **Higher National Diploma Table 5 Selected community leaders and their neighborhoods Neighborhoods

Frequency

Percent

Neighborhoods

Marina

1

2.6

Eti Osa

2

5.3

Badagry

1

2.6

Popo Aguda

5

13.2

Epe

2

5.3

Ikoyi

2

5.3

Lagos Island

2

5.3

Oworonsoki

4

10.5

Onikan

2

5.3

Ipaja

5

13.2

Iganmu

3

7.9

Ebute meta

2

5.3

Ojo

2

5.3

Ikeja

5

13.2

Total

Frequency

38

Percent

100

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Table 6 Concern for disaster amidst the community leaders

Mean (n = 38)

SD

Flooding

3.86

1.13

Windstorm

3.62

1.24

Fire

3.78

1.12

Drought

1.82

0.97

Earthquakes

1.66

0.92

Landslides/Mudslides

2.86

1.29

Lightning strike

2.71

1.08

Thunderstorm

2.84

1.06

Sea erosion

3.74

1.05

Fig. 3 Yearly occurrence rate of disasters in neighbourhoods in Lagos

4.3 Disaster Intervention Table 7 illustrates the perception of respondents to disaster interventions within their neighbourhoods. Respondents (mean score of 1.60 for overall perception of interventions, conducted before any disaster) agreed that their neighbourhoods are less prepared for disaster events with poor drainage system, unprotected historical sites and lacking in necessary infrastructures. On the contrary, respondents are more favourable to interventions, conducted as responses to disaster events. According to them, places of historical significance within their neighbourhoods usually get destroyed while disasters occur (mean score of 3.86) and various LNGOs conducts disaster relief interventions within their neighbourhoods (mean score of 3.12). However, respondents indicated that community members were not involved in the development of disaster management plans to prepare for future disaster events.

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Table 7 Community perception of interventions before, during and after disastersa Items

Mean SD.

Before disaster My community is aware of the potential disaster risks, the neighborhood may face 1.42

0.86

Community members often collaborate to address issues that can enhance disaster risk cause disaster before disaster occurs

2.36

1.24

I am aware of disaster preparedness plan for my neighborhood

1.47

0.98

My neighborhood has a community warning system

1.24

1.03

People living within the neighborhood have access to learn and practice evacuation plan

1.29

0.84

Drainages and other infrastructure are regularly monitored for avoiding dysfunction

2.51

1.26

Drainages and other infrastructure within the neighborhood is in good condition

1.48

1.03

Disaster awareness events are conducted regularly for the community

1.37

1.01

Vulnerable places (such as historical buildings and sites) are protected against disaster

1.42

1.28

Significant places and buildings are marked with warning signs and information

1.39

0.89

Overall perception of the activities before disasters

1.60

1.04

Those with special needs (such as children, disabled, senior citizen) are provided 1.79 with guides and support during disaster events

1.08

There is support from the government for the community during any disaster

2.24

1.25

Historic sites are destroyed anytime disaster occur within their neighborhoods

3.86

1.28

NGOs provides emergency services during disaster events

2.24

1.14

Overall perception of the activities during disasters

2.53

1.19

Government provides support for recovery after disaster

2.56

1.24

Various NGOs has implemented disaster relief interventions within my community

3.12

1.29

Experiences from past disasters made the community to take actions to avoid future disaster events

1.84

1.02

Community members are involved in development of disaster management plan (DMP) to prepare for future events

1.21

1.09

Overall perception of the activities after disasters

2.18

1.16

During disaster

After disaster

a Reported

scale ranges from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree)

LNGO staffs revealed the fact that membership fee is the primary source of funding of their interventions. 35.63% respondents indicated that their LNGOs raised funds through individual donations, which is higher than corporate donations (23.56%). More than 50% of the respondents revealed that international NGOs support disaster responses more than disaster preparedness interventions after disaster events. Overall

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funding from government-related sources (15.62%) is considerably lower to the financing from private sources (48.6%). According to twenty-nine (76.32%) community leaders, LNGOs’ interventions are not contributing significantly to the protection of historical sites within their neighbourhoods. Twenty-one (55.26%) respondents also revealed that interventions within their neighbourhoods intensified within last one year right after disaster incidents, whereas, nominal activities have been conducted to train community members to be prepared for future disasters. Among all respondents only 4 community leaders have received trainings on disaster risk management; but the trainings were not specific to their neighbourhoods. The leaders who did not receive any training, expressed their inability to identify and implement appropriate measures to contribute positively to protect historical sites within their neighbourhoods (Table 8). Finally, responses on who should be responsible for taking actions to address future disasters, notified the importance of LNGOs and heritage professionals in disaster risk management. 65.79% of community leaders expect LNGOs and heritage professionals to implement interventions for disaster preparedness and protection of Table 8 Barriers to disaster preparedness Barriers

Number of responses Community leaders LNGO staff

Never participated in training for community members on disaster risk management

31

45

Community members have little/no sense of ownership of historic places

36

52

4

23

Local NGOs preferred to distribute disaster/emergency relief 21 material to affected neighborhoods

42

Many of the emergency services (Fire service, Civil Defense 15 Corps etc.) are not equipped to respond to disaster

21

The constitutional framework for emergency management in 11 Nigeria constitutes bottlenecks to prompt response of emergency services to disaster

74

Government budgetary allocation for disaster risk 19 management is considerable low to address disaster exposure of historic sites and their neighborhoods in Nigeria

48

Inadequate political will on the part of decision makers

16

31

Not aware of actions to take that can help prepare the places 28 of historic significance and my community in general for disaster

37

My community/LNGO lacks experts/professionals in disaster risk management

16

41

Cultural belief about disaster contribute the vulnerability of historic sites and neighborhoods

18

35

Participated in disaster risk management workshops but not specific to my neighborhood

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Table 9 Initiating disaster preparedness and protection of historical sites Items

Community leaders (%)

LNGO staff (%)

Community members

10.53

11.49

Government agencies (e.g. National Emergency Management Agency)

7.89

19.54

Community leaders

10.53

14.37

LNGOs

42.11

27.59

Heritage professionals

23.68

17.82

International organizations

5.26

9.20

Total

100

100

historic sites (Table 9). Additionally, a significant portion of LNGO staffs agreed that government agencies, LNGOs and heritage professionals have essential roles to play for reducing disaster risks within neighbourhoods.

4.4 Communication of Disaster Information The study explored the preference of community leaders on methods of disseminating disaster information. These methods include different information and communication (ICT) tools such as mobile phone, emails and social media. Table 10 indicates that 60.53% of the community leaders prefer to receive information related to disaster through mobile phone, websites and social media. However, 21.05% prefer employing community group meetings as avenues to disseminate disaster information. Table 10 Preference for receiving disaster information Frequency

Percent

Print media (fact sheet/brochure, Newspaper, poster, fliers etc.)

2

5.26

Electronic media (radio, television)

5

13.16

Mobile phone (phone call, SMS, MMS)

13

34.21

Websites and social media (emails, Facebook, WhatsApp etc.)

10

26.32

Community group meetings

8

21.05

Total

38

100

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O. S. Adetunji et al.

5 Discussion Exposure to disasters is generally high across the historic sites and their neighborhoods in Lagos, while the contribution of interventions of LNGOs before, during and after disaster is less satisfactory. However, many of the interventions of LNGOs address the needs of during and post- disaster conditions, instead of making communities prepared for disaster events. The level of knowledge related to disaster management is also identified as considerably low across the neighborhoods. Scholars (Forbes 2018; Martins et al. 2018) posit the importance of disaster preparedness within historic neighborhoods, as historic sites are regarded as vital part of the community denoting its identity and origin. According to Lidstone and Nielsen (1998) the formal education is weakly linked with the amount of interventions for reducing disaster risks within historic neighborhoods. Izadkhah and Hosseini (2005) also note that disaster education, especially in developing countries, faces challenges due to inadequate expertise and educational materials. Concerning exposure of historic neighborhoods to disasters, this research analyzed the level of concern of neighborhoods and the occurrence rate of disaster events. This research proves the necessity to develop disaster education beyond the scope of formal education in such a way so that it may raise awareness and increase understanding about disaster risks and vulnerabilities of historic neighborhoods. In Lagos, historical neighborhoods, increasingly threatened by flooding, coastal storms, sea level rise, high temperature and high rainfall, demand responses from governmental and non-governmental stakeholders (Elias 2018), whereas responses from federal, state and local governments are identified as slow due to political, legislative and fiscal constraints (Elias and Omojola 2015). The findings suggest a positive perception of interventions of LNGOs during and after disaster compared to the weak perception of LNGO interventions before the disaster. Moreover, given the need for disaster preparedness within historic neighborhoods, Gibson and colleagues (2018) suggest to change the non-inclusive reactive approach to the preparatory approach where heritage professionals can expand their roles from regulators to facilitators, and assist neighborhoods in protecting historic sites. But the research found that most of the members of the historic neighborhoods have little or no knowledge about disaster risk management, which needs to be improved. In this case, rethinking and refocusing the roles of LNGOs may contribute positively to overcome the barriers of disaster preparedness within historic neighborhoods. It also stresses to address the gap among the government, heritage professionals and the historic neighborhoods in addressing disaster risks. LNGOs with access to international collaborations and networks contribute to empower historic neighborhoods to protect historic sites within their neighborhoods. In particular, the collaboration between LNGOs and INGOs will also contribute to encourage the active participation of community members in disaster actions. This indicates that adopting multimodal means of improving awareness and understanding of disaster risks may contribute significantly to the protection of historic sites.

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6 Conclusion This study focuses on historic neighborhoods of Lagos, their exposures to disasters and roles of LNGOs in addressing the impacts of disasters before, during and after the events. The findings of the study contribute to current understanding of disaster management in historic neighborhoods, but the contributions are limited based on the unique location of Lagos, which is considered ideal for this study. In spite of the limitations, the study illustrates conceptual connections between responses from LNGOs and perceptions of community members to disaster risks and offers heritage professionals’ vital roles in assessing historic sites to determine their exposures and vulnerabilities to disasters. More broadly, the study reinforces the need to refocus the roles of LNGOs from the reactive to responsive approach to disaster management. Accordingly, the findings highlight the importance of community-based actions to reduce disaster risks. Importantly, the community-based approach may include targeted public awareness strategies and inclusion of disaster education contents in school learning programs. This will contribute to encourage stronger involvements of community members in the protection of places of historical significance within their neighborhoods.

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Dilley M, Chen RS, Deichmann U, Lerner-Lam, AL, Arnold M (2005) Natural disaster hotspots: a global risk analysis. The World Bank Douglas I (2017) Flooding in African cities, scales of causes, teleconnections, risks, vulnerability and impacts. Int J Disaster Risk Reduction 26:34–42 Elias P, Omojola A (2015) Case study: the challenges of climate change for Lagos, Nigeria. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 13:74–78 Elias P (2018) The challenges of climate change communication for lagos coastal communities handbook of climate change communication, vol. 2. Springer, pp. 129–145 Enohoro I (1977) The second world black and African festival of arts and culture: Lagos, Nigeria. Black Scholar 9(1):27–33 Forbes C (2018) What has happened to my heritage? Disaster recovery in Christchurch and kathmandu. Nat Emerg Response 31(2):14–19 Formisano A, Chieffo N, Mosoarca M (2017) Probabilistic damage scenario: a case study in Amatrice affected by the 2016 seismic sequence. Paper presented at the 3rd international conference on protection of historical constructions Gandini A, Egusquiza A, Garmendia L, San-José J-T (2018) Vulnerability assessment of cultural heritage sites towards flooding events. Paper presented at the IOP conference series: materials science and engineering Gibson J, Hendricks MD, Wells JC (2018). From engagement to empowerment: how heritage professionals can incorporate participatory methods in disaster recovery to better serve socially vulnerable groups. Int J Herit Stud 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2018.1530291. Listed Sites (Preservation) Law (2011) Israel AO (2017) Nature, the built environment and perennial flooding in Lagos, Nigeria: the 2012 flood as a case study. Urban Climate 21:218–231 Izadkhah YO, Hosseini M (2005) Towards resilient communities in developing countries through education of children for disaster preparedness. Int J Emergency Manage 2(3):138–148 Izumi T, Shaw R (2014) Role of civil society organizations in policy and advocacy in risk reduction. In: Civil society organization and disaster risk reduction. Springer, pp 15–27 Kasfir N (1998) Civil society, the state and democracy in Africa. Commonwealth Comp Polit 36(2):123–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/14662049808447770 Komino T (2014) Disaster risk reduction national platform and strategic national action plan in Afghanistan. In: Civil society organization and disaster risk reduction. Springer, pp 29–41 Lagos State Government (2011) Listed Sites (Preservation) Law. Retrieved from https://lawnigeria. com/2019/10/listed-sites-preservation-law/ Legacy (Cartographer) (1999) Historical sites of Nigeria Lewis D (2004) The management of non-governmental development organizations: an introduction. Routledge Lewis D (2010) Nongovernmental organizations, definition and history. In: International encyclopedia of civil society. Springer, pp 1056–1062 Maio R, Ferreira TM, Vicente R (2018) A critical discussion on the earthquake risk mitigation of urban cultural heritage assets. Int J Disaster Risk Reduction 27:239–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.ijdrr.2017.10.010 Martins AN, Forbes C, Pereira AA, Matos D (2018) The changing city: risk and built heritage. The case of Lisbon downtown. Procedia Eng 212:921–928 McCauley M, Ramanadhan S, Viswanath K (2015) Assessing opinions in community leadership networks to address health inequalities: a case study from Project IMPACT. Health Educ Res 30(6):866–881 Meutia Z, Akbar R, Zulkaidi D (2018) Heritage planning and rethinking the meaning and values of designating heritage sites in a post-disaster context: the case of Aceh, Indonesia. Paper presented at the IOP conference series: earth and environmental science National Theatre Nigeria (2019) Gallery of national theatre. Retrieved from https://nationaltheatre nigeria.com/h3/galleries/

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Nix HL (1977) Community and its involvement in the study planning action process. In: Community and its involvement in the study planning action process. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Nkwunonwo UC (2016) A review of flooding and flood risk reduction in Nigeria. Glob J Human-Soc Sci Res 16(2):23–42 Ohiole OK, Ojo IS, Olatunde AT (2016) Climate change and its impacts on the development of coastal communities in Nigeria. Int J Account Res 42(3419):1–12 Onwuemele A (2018) Public perception of flood risks and disaster preparedness in lagos megacity, Nigeria. Acad J Interdisciplinary Stud 7(3):179–185 Paul JA (2000) NGOs and global policy-making. Retrieved from https://www.globalpolicy.org/emp ire/31611-ngos-and-global-policy-making.html Ponte E (2016) Planning the adaptation of coastal cities to climate change: a review of 14 pilot projects. In: Planning to cope with tropical and subtropical climate change. Sciendo Migration, pp 154–170 Prucnal-Ogunsote B (2002) The international style in Nigeria: technological and cultural Bridge or Disaster. J Environ Technol 1(1):102–114 Rico T (2014) The limits of a ‘heritage at risk’ framework: the construction of post-disaster cultural heritage in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. J Soc Archaeol 14(2):157–176 Shaw R, Izumi T (2014) Civil society and disaster risk reduction: an Asian overview. In: Civil society organization and disaster risk reduction. Springer, pp 1–13 Söderbaum F (2007) Regionalisation and civil society: the case of Southern Africa. New Political Econ 12(3):319–337. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563460701485276 Spennemann DHR (1999) Cultural heritage conservation during emergency management: luxury or necessity. Int J Publ Admin 22(5):745–804. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900699908525403 Taboroff J (2000) Cultural heritage and natural disasters: incentives for risk management and mitigation. Managing disaster risk in emerging economies. Disaster Manage Risk 2:71–79 The Commonwealth Foundation (2004) Non-governmental organisations: guidelines for good policy and practice. Retrieved from http://www.3sektorius.lt/docs/NGOGuidelinesforGoodPoli cyandPractice_2013-01-17_15_21_00.pdf Tvedt T (2002) Development NGOs: actors in a global civil society or in a new international social system? Voluntas. Int J Voluntary Nonprofit Organ 13(4):363–375 Unesco I, Icomos I (2010) Managing disaster risks for World Heritage. World Heritage Resource Manual, UNESCO, Paris, pp 1–6 Warner L, Galindo-Gonzalez S (2014) Identifying key community leaders to assess extension programming needs. University of Florida IFAS Extension, WC164 Yuan C, He Y, Feng Y, Wang P (2018) Fire hazards in heritage villages: a case study on Dangjia Village in China. Int J Disaster Risk Reduction 28:748–757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2018. 02.002 Zubairu S, Abdulrahman M, Ayuba P, Adedayo O (2012) A study of listing of buildings and monuments in Nigeria (1956). J Econ Sustain Dev 3(7):89–100

Mr. Adetunji as a doctoral candidate at the School of Architecture and Built Environment of the University of Newcastle, Australia is conducting a research on ‘Social Participation in Climate Change Adaptation of Built Heritage in Nigeria’. He is also serving as a sessional academic staff there. He is active in fields of climate change adaptation, disaster management and creativity in cultural heritage. He is also one of the founding members of NERD Multi-concepts, an entrepreneurial outfit seeking to improve creativity and entrepreneurship in culture, heritage and art in Nigeria. He is a member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in Australia and Nigeria. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. Between 2010 and 2014, he served as a project architect for a series of conservation projects in Nigeria.

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Mr. Owolabi is an emerging researcher passionate about global issues linking culture to sustainable development of human environment. He teaches at the department of Architectural Technology, Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. He is one of the founding members of NERD Multi-concepts, an entrepreneurial outfit seeking to improve the management of cultural heritage in Nigeria through digital solutions. He is a graduate member of the Chartered Institute of Public Diplomacy and Management and an ambassador of the Green Campus Initiative (GCI). He holds bachelor and master’s degrees in architecture from Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. Mr. Faboye is a Nigerian architect with research interests in urbanism and architectural heritage. He holds a master’s degree in architecture from Federal University of Technology, Akure and is currently working as a research associate at the International Institute for Policy Development Strategies where he is a member of the Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology Research Work Group. His work experience cuts across the implementation of MDGs/SDGs projects in Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom, Benue, Enugu and Edo States.

A Complexity Approach for Reducing Disaster Risks for Marginalized Urban Populations: Comparing DRR Interventions Across Four Cities Aaron Clark-Ginsberg

Abstract The extreme poor increasingly reside in cities, often in high-risk settlements such as slums. Unfortunately, the risk in cities is an incredibly complex product, shaped by interactions between groups of people, natural and physical infrastructures, and different institutions. This chapter conceptualizes cities and their risks as a complex adaptive system and examine the methods for risk reduction. To do so, it reviews how the international NGO Concern Worldwide reduces risks for the extreme poor living in four cities: Port au Prince, Haiti; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Nairobi, Kenya; and Freetown, Sierra Leone. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in these cities, this chapter finds that while many commonly used disaster management techniques can be employed for risk reduction, the complex and dynamic nature of urban systems creates unique challenges that must be accounted for. Risk reduction can be enhanced by implementing a multiplicity of interventions spanning scales and perspectives, structured along the lines of preparedness and response to crisis, direct services provision, and enhancing social inclusion. To truly to escape crises, these interventions must address not just the immediate symptoms of risk, but the underlying macro processes creating hazards and vulnerabilities. From these results, the argument is made that a complex system approach that is cognizant of interconnections among hazards, vulnerabilities, and forces of creating risks, is crucial for addressing risks in cities. By introducing this complex system perspective and providing a series of real-world examples of risk reduction in cities, this chapter should be relevant for researchers and policymakers working to understand how risks in an urban context can be managed in better ways.

1 Introduction In 2010, a magnitude of 7 earthquake struck Port au Prince, Haiti, levelling much of the city and killing over 200,000 residents (Doocy et al. 2013). A few weeks later A. Clark-Ginsberg (B) RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_10

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a magnitude of 8.8 earthquake with energy 500 times greater than the Haiti earthquake struck the Chilean city of Concepción. Fortunately, the damage was minimal and only 562 deaths were recorded (CRED 2019). Such differences provide a stark illustration of the crucial importance of disaster risk reduction (DRR) capacities of cities. Concepción fared better because it had made significant investments in its emergency response systems, it had strong and well-enforced building codes and its population and government had more resources to address the disaster (Kovacs 2010). Urban disaster risk reduction is becoming increasingly critical as the world urbanizes, particularly for the extreme poor. Today well over 50% of the world’s population lives in cities, compared to 20% of the world’s population in 1900 (United Nations 2018). As locations with concentrations of services, jobs, and other resources are necessary for a productive and meaningful life, living in cities often affords tremendous advantages. However, cities also house substantial risks, particularly for poorer and more marginalized populations, including natural hazards such as landslides and floods, technological hazards like building collapse, diseases and environmental health risks, and social hazards like violence and insecurity. Furthermore, poverty and marginalization is urbanizing as the world urbanizes, with cities housing greater and greater numbers of extreme poor, often in highly risky locations with few basic services such as slums (Ravallion et al. 2007). Although a crucial part of urban poverty reduction and sustainable development, there are several challenges associated with reducing risks in cities. First, urban livelihood patterns, community structures, and political dynamics are different than rural ones, meaning DRR needs to be approached in different ways. Instead of agricultural based livelihoods, livelihoods often revolve around manufacturing and services; instead of chieftain-based governance, governance operates through mayoral structures. Thus, certain factors such as rapid urbanization, concentrated poverty, income and social inequality, and policies and justice deficits, can contribute to risk for the extreme poor in cities (de Boer et al. 2016). NGOs, however, have historically focused on rural areas, and are still relatively new to DRR in cities. Second, complexities in these environments can be overwhelming: cities have large and heterogeneous population, numerous administrative bodies, a mixture of economic systems, and many interconnected infrastructures, which can make it difficult to understand how risks are created and how those can be reduced. Even targeting poorer and at risk population can be challenging since, while the extreme poor are sometimes concentrated in locations like slums, there can be high variation in poverty within and between slums as well as extreme poverty outside slums (Montgomery and Hewett 2004). Third, the socially constructed nature of risks (Oliver-Smith 2016; Wisner et al. 2004) is highly apparent in cities, with often clear and direct links between the actions of one person and the risks of another. NGOs must navigate potentially contentious political environments if they are to address risk. Conceptualizing urban areas and their risks as a complex adaptive system can help to understand how to reduce risks in cities. Complex adaptive systems (CAS) are systems comprised of numerous interacting parts, whose interactions create nonlinear outcomes affecting the system as a whole (Holland 1995). With their dense mix of

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people, infrastructure, and institutions, cities are the quintessential complex systems (McHale et al. 2015; Rydin et al. 2012) with risks arising out of the interactions between system components. While it is unclear whether it is possible to govern complex adaptive systems, employing a CAS perspective can help identify some of the features of how risks emerge and might be managed (Duit and Galaz 2008; Ramalingam 2013). For instance, this perspective acknowledges that when certain system thresholds are reached, systems can destabilize and lead to a rapid cascade of changes (Clark-Ginsberg et al. 2018). By highlighting issues like cascades in cities, a CAS perspective can help identify how and where to engage in activities to reduce risks. This chapter uses the CAS perspective to understand how to reduce risks for the extreme poor living in urban areas. It is designed to provide researchers and policymakers working to reduce risks in cities with a way to conceptualize urban DRR and show how different interventions can be employed to reduce risks. To do so, it examines how one international NGO, Concern Worldwide, reduces risks of the extreme poor living in urban areas. Concern has been implementing DRR in cities since the early 2000s (Clark-Ginsberg 2015), so reviewing Concern’s works can help to gain insights into how to reduce risks in cities. In what follows, the chapter next provides a brief review of the literature before describing the methodology. Following this, a comparison is made of Concern’s DRR activities across four cities, Freetown, Sierra Leone; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Nairobi, Kenya, and Port au Prince, Haiti. Drawing on primary research conducted in each of these cities a typology of interventions for DRR in cities is developed, before examining how these interventions did—and did not—address risks. In the discussion and conclusion, these cases are used to identify processes for addressing complex risks in cities.

2 Cities, Complexity, and Disaster Risk Reduction Urban areas are often described in contrast to rural areas by their settlement density (high), population size (large), institutional and administrative systems (complex), and cultural association and identity (cosmopolitan) (Parnell and Oldfield 2014). Urban and rural areas can be viewed as part of a continuum: settlements can be urban in some ways (e.g. an urban economy focused on industry and services) and rural in others (a simple administrative system). Rural and urban areas are also closely interlinked, with frequent exchange of people, services, information, and income, between urban and rural areas is common and long-standing, and should be thought of as parts of the same system (McHale et al. 2015; Jones and Corbridge 2010). Interconnections create conjoined spaces of risks and poverty, such as in Namibia, where drought can lead to urban migration and create in spikes in urban unemployment (Jakobsone 2013). Urban environments demonstrate what the risk researcher Charles Perrow (1984) identifies as two significant features of risks in complex systems: complexity, a heterogeneous mix of interacting components, and tight coupling, a lack of slack or

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give between components. Cities are places of compressed spaces. People live in close vicinity to each other, and institutional, economic, and infrastructural structures are often adjacent, making complexity and coupling common. Systems can be coupled in numerous ways, e.g. geographically by being located in the same area, economically by being part of the same supply chain, or environmentally by being dependent on the same environmental services. Tight coupling affords tremendous efficiencies since it reduces frictions between system components, but those efficiencies can also create risks if activities in one system (e.g. industrial production) create negative externalities (e.g. pollution) for another, or if they lead to dependencies that create systemic risks (e.g. economic downturn from industry collapse). In cities, as is the case elsewhere (Wisner et al. 2004), the extreme poor tend to be at the receiving end of complexity induced disasters. Hazards in urban areas include human derived hazards such as criminality, gang warfare, conflict related to discrimination and marginalization, price spikes, contagious disease, floods, fires, unemployment, and building collapse, and natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, and hurricanes. The poor are more likely to live in areas disproportionately exposed to these hazards (Wisner et al. 2004; LaVeist and Wallace 2000; MorelloFrosch et al. 2001); this tight geographic coupling means that they are often the first to experience these hazards. They also tend to have less access to crucial services such as schools and roads (Thomas and Quinn 2008; Hewett and Montgomery 2001), either because, services are privatized or because those are only available in wealthier neighborhoods. Indeed, although cities are typically economic, cultural, and administrative centers, the unequal connections between residents and resources mean that cities are structured in ways that allow for pronounced inequalities and highly “splintered” access to resources and exposure to risk (Marks and Elinoff 2019; Graham and Marvin 2002). Slums, heavily populated informal settlements with substandard housing, few if any public amenities, high prevalence of hazards, and high levels of unemployment, are some clearest manifestations of extreme poverty (Kinyanjui 2010). Slums often occupy large swathes of urban areas in developing countries, to the extent that around one third of people living in urban areas live in slums (World Bank 2018). Slums, however, are not the only place where the poor can be found; poor can be scattered in richer neighborhoods, either on the streets as homeless or in shoddy housing. This loose coupling with resources makes it difficult to access many of benefits of the urban environment. When coupled with repeated hazard exposures, the poor are often forced to resort to negative coping strategies like taking out loans and skipping meals, placing them in a further position of vulnerability and creating a vicious poverty and vulnerability trap (Clark-Ginsberg 2017). Certain DRR strategies appear to be useful for reducing risks in cities. Disaster risk reduction refers to activities aimed to reduce the damage caused by hazards, and includes activities related to preparedness, mitigation, prevention, and early response (UNISDR 2018). Approaches to DRR in urban areas can be divided into two general categories: those treating disaster risk as a negative externality attributed to nature to be controlled via technocratic measures, commonly known as the hazard paradigm, and those understanding disaster risk as an product society’s actions known

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as the vulnerability paradigm (De Milliano et al. 2015; Hewitt 1983). Disaster risk is increasingly being conceptualized as part of the vulnerability paradigm, as a product of human activities, the result of inequitable access to resources and exposure to risks with efforts focused on addressing risks through social, political, and economic interventions (De Milliano et al. 2015; Hewitt 1983). In urban areas the vulnerability focused approach is particularly appropriate, as the risk is primarily a distributional issue. Within this paradigm, it is increasingly recognized that efforts to control damages are being outweighed by the processes generating new risks, leading to call to focus on preventing new risks from being created (Gaillard 2019; Wisner and Lavell 2017; Lewis and Kelman 2012). Along with supporting certain paradigms, complexity also has implications for the ways that risks are managed in cities. Highly complex and tightly coupled can produce ‘system’ or ‘normal’ accidents that emerge from unexpected interactions between system components and rapidly cascade across tightly coupled systems (Perrow 1984). Mechanisms for managing these risks include working to reduce complexity and coupling, abandoning systems whose potential for catastrophe is too great, reacting to new risks as they emerge, utilizing system approaches to risk management, intervening across jurisdictional boundaries, and creating high reliability on organizational structures that can respond rapidly with appropriate resources (Ansell et al. 2010; Boin 2009; Sutcliffe and Weick 2006; Roberts 1990; Perrow 1984). In practice, interventions that focus on continual learning and evaluation and take a systemic approach to governance that is cognizant of interactions among interventions, focusing on rapid adaptation to emergent processes, and engaging in many of the principles found under the banner of resilience all fare well for reducing risks in complex adaptive systems (Clark-Ginsberg et al. 2018; Duit and Galaz 2008; Perrow 1984). However, in many cases, disasters are not ‘system’ or ‘normal’ in their origins, and do not arise because they have been obfuscated by layers of complexity and occur too quickly to intervene (Wisner et al. 2004; Perrow 1984). Instead, disasters often arise when risks are known well in advance and there is ample time to intervene. Rather than being the unavoidable outcomes of a complex and tightly coupled system these disasters are instead the byproduct of systems that provides limited access to power, structures, and resources, reinforced by discriminatory political and economic ideologies (Wisner et al. 2004). They arise out of a lack of political will to reduce risks, inequitable institutional structures which put marginal population in hazardous environments and give them few resources to reduce vulnerabilities or cope with disasters when those occur. For these situations, risk reduction is less about managing the complexity and more about addressing the underlying structures creating risks, giving those at risk the means to mitigate and recover from disasters when those emerge, and decoupling the poor and vulnerable from the risks being produced by broader systems. Such decoupling cannot just be a community level endeavor; Communities are nested within their broader environment, and both shape and are shaped by that environment (Pescaroli and Alexander 2015; Gunderson 2001). These interconnections mean that, lower level systems such as communities

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are likely to return to their previous condition if those higher level systems remain intact (Gunderson 2001).

3 Methodology This study utilized a comparative case study method, comparing Concern’s DRR practices in four cities, Port au Prince, Haiti; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Nairobi, Kenya; and Freetown, Sierra Leone. Case studies are particularly useful in researching issues that are complex, vague, or otherwise difficult to easily quantify, while comparative cases strike a balance between single detailed cases and large-N statistical analysis, so are useful for understanding a complex phenomenon but when theory-testing and generalizability is desired (Zucker 2009; Lijphart 1971). Cases were selected to represent a broad mix of cities in developing countries. While each city is urban in all senses of the word—from their high population densities, large population sizes, and diverse population types, to their industry and service dominated economies, complex administrative structures, and urban cultural association and identity—specific city profiles differed, including their hazards, geographic locations, and levels and types of poverty and vulnerability. The research presented in this chapter is part of a larger project with Concern Worldwide designed to understand and document how Concern reduces risk in the communities in which it works. Concern is an international NGO focused on the elimination of extreme poverty. It operates in approximately 20 countries with a mixture of emergency response and development, including many interventions designed to reduce risks. To understand how Concern reduces risks, the researcher undertook a two-year project between 2013 and 2014 examining and documenting Concern’s DRR activities in different contexts. This included visiting 10 countries to review projects and talk with staffs and partners, government agencies, and beneficiaries about the organization’s DRR practices. Each visit followed a similar structure and included a desk review of country-level programming documents, followed by individual and group interviews with Concern staffs, government officials, partners, and beneficiaries to discuss the projects, and field visits to observe and review the projects. To guide the interviews a semi-structured interview protocol was developed based on the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria, an evaluation criteria designed to provide a standardized approach to evaluating development interventions through criteria focused on relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability of a project (Chianca 2008). Interviews varied in length, lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to over 4 hours, and in focus, depending on the area of expertise of the respondent. Notes were taken throughout and were analyzed along with documents to develop findings.

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4 Risks in Nairobi, Port Au Prince, Freetown, and Dhaka The poor living in Nairobi, Port au Prince, Freetown, and Dhaka face remarkably similar challenges, including privatization of services and high cost of living; marginalization, discrimination, and exploitation; high levels of unemployment and lack of a steady income; and exposure to human derived hazards including violence, eviction, price shocks, disease, and to various natural hazards depending on the geography. High cost of living and marginalization are major and tightly coupled challenges: high costs make it difficult to secure basic access and incentivize the active exploitation of the poor in the name of profit.

4.1 Port Au Prince, Haiti Port au Prince is Haiti’s rapidly growing capital, home to about three million people (CIA 2019). Port au Prince is a port city, exposed to tropical storms and hurricanes; it is mountainous, facing landslides, floods, and erosion; and it is located in an active earthquake area, placing it at the risk of earthquakes and tsunami. Many of Port au Prince’s poorer residents reside in slums and are exposed to these natural hazards as well as derived hazards and hazard drivers such as corruption, widespread gang violence, limited service access, high levels of marginal employment and unemployment, unplanned growth, and unclear systems of land tenure (Clark-Ginsberg 2015). On average, the poor in these areas spend over half of their income on food, and over a quarter of their income on education (Clark-Ginsberg 2015). Concern works in two centrally located slums in Port au Prince, St. Martin and Martissant, and focuses on water, sanitation, and hygiene, livelihoods, health, education, and emergency response. DRR interventions include strengthening community disaster management committees, peacebuilding, infrastructure improvements, and small business development.

4.2 Freetown, Sierra Leone Freetown, like Port au Prince, also is a port city with mountainous terrain, a rapidly growing population, and several slums whose residents face natural and human derived hazards (including storm surges, landslides, floods, disease, fires, and pollution), and high levels of vulnerability. They also have limited access to basic services, with low police presence, poor waste and sanitation facilities, limited access of electricity (often only accessible illegally), and limited road access (Clark-Ginsberg 2017). Many residents describe an activity designed to reduce risks—mandatory relocation from higher to lower risk locations—as one of the main risks in the slums,

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since relocation would remove residents from many of the city’s services and livelihood options (Clark-Ginsberg 2017). While the government has not been able to relocate residents, it has implemented construction bans across many of the slums that it considers risky in an effort to disincentive settlement. Concern works in six slums in Freetown, mainly in water and sanitation, with specific activities including strengthening community level disaster management committees, improving local health systems, small-scale mitigation, and emergency response.

4.3 Dhaka, Bangladesh In Dhaka, Bangladesh’s burgeoning capital, Concern works with one of the city’s poorest and most vulnerable populations, pavement dwellers, long-term homeless who live on the streets, often in semi-permanent settlement locations. Pavement dwellers spend an average of six years living on the streets, exposed to natural hazards and facing threats of eviction from their settlements. They often face violence, kidnapping, prostitution, protection racketeering, and other forms of exploitation (ClarkGinsberg and Hunt 2017). They tend to work low paying jobs such as petty trading and day laboring. Many lack official government birth registration and national identification cards since both require a permanent address, so often cannot access government services like schools and health centers or secure formal employment. They are, at best, ‘invisible poor’, ignored by other residents of the city; at worse, they face structural and direct violence. To reduce risks for this population, Concern focuses on improving livelihoods while changing the broader institutional environment, including through the creation of pavement dweller centers, special facilities that provide pavement dwellers with basic services including shelter, water, security, health, and livelihood support, as well as city-level and national level advocacy.

4.4 Nairobi, Kenya Nairobi has eight main slums, which are where many of the poorest residents of the city live. Population densities in these slums are high—they house 50% of the city’s total population, but only occupy 5% of its residential land (Bird et al. 2017). In these slums services, including water, sanitation, health and education are limited and mostly privatized. Rates of joblessness and marginal employment are high. They tend to be located in hazardous areas such as along the banks of rivers or by waste facilities; natural hazards like flooding and erosion, as well as human derived hazards such as violence, criminality, and pollution, are rampant (Bird et al. 2017). Concern focuses on improving access to and the delivery of services, including health, education, and solid waste disposal, and livelihood improvements such as cash grants and skills training.

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5 Disaster Risk Reduction Programs in Port Au Prince Freetown, Dhaka, and Nairobi Table 1 is a list of the activities that Concern engages in to address risks in each of these cities. Some are local and target an at risk population directly mainly using community-based disaster risk reduction techniques, while others are regional and national and focus on how stakeholders at different levels address risks. In response to the diverse impacts of disasters and causes of hazards and vulnerability, these interventions also cover different sectors such as livelihoods, health, and environmental services. Figure 1 shows a framework for DRR in urban areas, developed by grouping this array of interventions into categories of related activities. The framework shows that DRR is a combination of risk assessment, preparedness and response to crisis, service provision, and building social inclusion. In all cases, urban DRR starts with a risk assessment to understand hazards, vulnerability, and capacity of the target community. Some interventions focus on providing people in dire situations with basic support that save lives and reduces negative coping—activities that fall under the category of preparedness and response to crisis. To reduce the chances of crises occurring, longer-term interventions are required to mitigate risks. This includes provision of basic services, such as electricity, roads, schools, and improving livelihoods, designed to address unsafe conditions and drivers of risks. These interventions Table 1 List of DRR interventions in Freetown, Dhaka, Nairobi, and Port au Prince (Field-survey 2019)

Context analysis (Haiti, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone)

Private sector engagement (Haiti, Kenya, Sierra Leone)

Participatory risk assessment (Sierra Leone, Kenya)

Emergency cash transfer (all)

Surveillance systems (Kenya) Participatory urban planning (Haiti) Cholera tracking (Sierra Leone)

Pavement dweller centers (Bangladesh)

Peacebuilding (Haiti)

Small business development (Haiti, Bangladesh, Kenya)

Conflict sensitivity (Haiti)

Physical mitigation (Sierra Leone, Haiti)

Disaster management committees (Sierra Leone, Haiti)

Natural resource management (Haiti, Sierra Leone)

Community conversations (Kenya)

Solid waste management (Haiti, Kenya, Sierra Leone)

Peacebuilding committees (Haiti)

Improving water access (Haiti and Bangladesh)

Policy advocacy (all)

Livelihood training (Bangladesh, Haiti, Kenya)

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Fig. 1 Urban DRR framework (Field-survey 2019)

are often implemented at community level over a medium term. It also includes what is often longer term and macro level activities such as peacebuilding, community conversations, and policy change designed to bring about fundamental long-term changes in the status quo and address the drivers and root causes of crises. The framework illustrates some of the key activities required to address risks in complex adaptive systems. These activities reduce coupling from hazards and increase coupling with productive services that eliminate vulnerability. Risk assessments improve knowledge, which is important for facilitating adaptation and addressing emergent dimensions of CAS. Shorter term preparedness and response can also be a way to react to emergence quickly, reducing the chances of threats creating longer term impacts or larger cascades. Service provision and building social inclusion can address the underlying conditions creating risks, ultimately resulting in an environment that is more robust and less likely to be affected when hazards strike. The move from individual to community to systems level of focus also reflect the multi-tiered sites of the risk, which interact with each other in ways that often replicate processes of risk creation or risk reduction (Pescaroli and Alexander 2015; Gunderson 2001). Since these levels interrelate, changing complex systems require sets of activities that engage across levels, making this multi-tiered approach a crucial part of risk reduction. The next section describes in greater detail the ways that Concern implemented these sets of activities across each of these four cities.

5.1 Risk Assessment Risk assessment involves the systematic determination of the nature and extent of disaster risk by assessing hazard exposures and vulnerabilities (UNISDR 2017). Concern uses two primary strategies for assessing risk in these cities, a context

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analysis to establish a high-level picture of the poverty and risk dynamics of each city, and participatory assessments designed to provide a detailed risk profile for a specific area. While risk assessment is a crucial part of reducing risks in cities, the complex and changing nature of urban systems can make it difficult to assess risks. Concern conducted contextual analyses in Dhaka and Port au Prince. To do so, it held an initial workshop and reviewed secondary data, and collected and analyzed quantitative primary data, including interviews and focus group discussions with government officials, vulnerable populations, and staffs of other NGOs, to develop findings of who the poor are, where they are living, and why they are poor, including the risks they face. Results from this analysis show how poverty and risks are highly place-based, contingent upon the unique makeup of hazards, vulnerabilities, and capacities of an area (Norris et al. 2008). For instance, in Dhaka poverty and vulnerability were mainly organized geographically, with homeless pavement dwellers the poorest and other groups, including slum dwellers, less poor, while in Port au Prince there were differences in poverty within the slums, with marginal informal sector workers, female headed households without a stable source of income, and households whose heads are unable to work as more poor than other slum residents. Concern adapted many participatory assessment techniques (Chambers 1997) to gain a more detailed working knowledge of the specific hazards with high impacts on communities. These techniques included hazard mapping, historical reviews of disasters, and seasonal calendars, and were often targeted at marginal populations and implemented with the support of community partners with a strong knowledge of the context. Community based data collection is useful for addressing what is often a lack of data on the poor, and for revealing hidden poverty masked by broader city-level statistics that do not capture localized inequalities. By focusing on the community as locus of analysis, community techniques are also a way of capturing specific and unique place-based dynamics of risk and resilience, which is necessary for risk management in complex contexts. Community representatives also noted that these approaches recognized communities’ knowledge and agency of the area and argued that such techniques were useful for both understanding risks and acting on risks, since that enhanced risk awareness and could be a first step towards galvanizing communities into action. The use of these two assessment techniques indicates that risk analysis processes used in non-urban contexts can work for assessing risks in cities, but also require several modifications. First, the distinctions between natural and human derived hazards are not clear in cities, since cities contain heavy concentrations of human processes such as physical infrastructure and economic systems, which can influence and create natural hazards. Given this and the fact that human derived hazards like violence and eviction often outweigh natural hazards, risk assessment should focus on the cacophony of hazards that the poor face rather than be limited to hazards that are purely natural in origin. Second, power dynamics and multiple stakeholders often characterize urban contexts, so a robust institutional and power analysis must be included in urban risk analysis. The most vulnerable group does not necessarily follow ‘typical’ lines (such as women, the elderly or disabled) but may instead be more about livelihood types. Third, extreme poverty that exists in such urban areas is

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often ‘masked’ within broader level statistics, so city-level assessments may mask the complex nature of complexity. Rather than taking a city-level geographic perspective to risk analysis, it is therefore better in urban areas to take a group-based perspective on risk, understanding that often communities are based on interest (for example, church, youth, or football associations) or livelihood types (as garbage pickers or factory workers) as much as those are geographic. Finally, the dynamic nature of risk in urban areas reinforces the importance of updating risk analysis on a regular basis. Cities and their hazards are constantly evolving; reducing risk requires a robust risk assessment focused on understanding how cities are evolving and addressing changes in ways those mitigate risks.

5.2 Preparedness and Response to Crisis Poor urban households often already live on the brink of disaster, so when a hazard strikes, they quickly turn to negative coping strategies to survive, which in turn can further exacerbate the crisis. Providing emergency support in a timely manner, ideally early in or even before a crisis to prevent people falling into negative coping strategies, and reducing the loss of life and economic, cultural, and environmental damages from disasters are ways of reducing the negative impacts of disasters. Improving preparedness at community levels by strengthening early warning systems and establishing risk surveillance systems, developing contingency plans, improving community response capacities, and transferring assets, including cash, goods, and services, are all ways of preparing and responding to crisis in cities. Concern works to strengthen local governmental and nongovernmental community disaster management committees (DMCs) to improve preparedness, providing them with training, skills, and resources to respond to emergencies and, when those structures are around, linking them to higher governance structures. While these DMCs can provide rapid response, most DMCs are volunteers and require external supports for disasters where responses are highly technical and when post-disaster reconstructions are necessary. These supports can be difficult to secure, however, as there are often both financial limitations and political barriers (e.g. not wanting to provide incentives for settling in a marginal area) hampering response. Concern also works to establish intermediary between local and national disaster management structures, such as in Freetown, where it established a community-based organization to act as coordinating body for DMCs and has a mandate focused on disaster management. This linking and bridging function is crucial because it allows the DMC to access knowledge and resources at higher levels and translate it to lower levels; a mechanism that improves risk reduction coupling and decreases the chances of negative risk cascades. Surveillance systems are the tools for monitoring and sharing information as a disaster unfolds. This tracking helps agencies to respond to disasters quickly, making it a useful component of preparedness. Using a surveillance system as an early warning system is only appropriate for slow onset disasters, since thresholds indicate

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a worsening situation which can be used before it turns into a major disaster. Many surveillance systems that Concern has implemented are simple and mainly consist of reporting disasters of a certain scale as those occur, but it also has an advanced surveillance system in Nairobi, Indicator Development for Surveillance of Urban Emergencies, designed to provide detailed information for a wide variety of stresses (Patel et al. 2017). Urban-specific surveillance systems are necessary for three reasons. First, many key indicators of crisis differ between urban and rural contexts. For instance, food security surveillance systems designed for rural uses (such as the Famine Early Warning Systems) tend to focus on the agricultural dimensions of food security, using meteorological and ecosystem data to identify potential for crop and livestock failures. Since urban populations mostly engage with markets and services for livelihoods, agricultural-focused surveillance systems provide little information that can be used to understand urban food security. Instead, urban focused indicators are necessary for food security. Second, because of their large population sizes, different thresholds are needed for surveillance systems in urban areas. If populations are large, even a small relative change in food security may necessitate a large response that could easily overwhelm emergency systems. Thus, in order to not overwhelm emergency response capacities, urban surveillance systems need to be sensitive, precise, focused on early detection, and have clear response thresholds set at appropriate levels. Third, since digital surveillance techniques are typically more efficient than non-digital techniques, they are often useful for urban areas, particularly to identify certain dispersed shocks that in aggregate can be disasters. Both reporting and acting on surveillance system information is challenging. For instance, DMCs in Freetown do not have a standardized format for reporting disasters, and government officials note that information does not always reach them. As a result, when emergency information is collected, it is not always acted upon. Because of this issue, in Nairobi Concern is working to standardize response by developing response thresholds with triggers. However, since response is necessitated on both technical capacity and political will, thresholds need to be developed in a way that secures buy-in from all stakeholders, including members of the government, local community members, and NGOs. Emergency asset transfers are interventions to provide households with the material necessary to survive. The asset transfers Concern provides can be categorized based on whether assets are cash based or non-cash based and whether they are provided conditionally or unconditionally. When markets are functioning well and populations are very poor, as is the case in many urban areas, cash based unconditional transfers tend to work well. Partnering with private sector companies can be a way of improving asset transfers: in Kenya Concern has partnered with the cell phone company MPesa to provide cash to residents facing food crisis transferred to them through their mobile phones, which can be used to safely transfer money in a way that is less expensive and more secure than paper ones (Datta et al. 2008). This can be particularly useful for urban areas where crime rates tend to be high. These interventions show how vital it is to invest in establishing the right institutions for preparedness and response, through activities like training, providing access

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to emergency response materials, and establishing surveillance systems. Preparedness needs to be urban specific, requiring a more localized and precise set of early warning and surveillance indicators based on urban livelihood systems, and engaging actors such as private sector companies with presence in cities and unique resources for risk reduction. However technological interventions are predicated on addressing power relations that favor inertia rather than preparedness and response.

5.3 Service Provision Poor and vulnerable city dwellers often do not have access to basic services, which makes it difficult to react to and recover from crises. Concern provides critical services that can mitigate risks, including to health (waste management and water sanitation) and to livelihoods, often through business development and skills training, and implements direct mitigation interventions through natural resource management, structural engineering, service centers, and sensitization campaigns. In Dhaka, Concern provides services through pavement development centers, buildings it has established where pavement dwellers can cook, rest, bathe, store valuables, receive training, and access services such as daycare and healthcare. The daycare service allows families to work while children learn, women and children can stay at the centers at night and escape potential violence associated with sleeping in the open, and the centers can be used as a permanent address for government registration forms, which are necessary to access many government services. These services thus address many of the daily risks associated with living on the streets, such as sexual violence, kidnapping, cold snaps, and theft, both by reducing hazard exposure and by reducing vulnerability. Improving the built environment also reduces risks, often within a specific geographic area. For instance, riverine erosion is a problem for many residents living in the slums of Port au Prince. While driven by many factors including rapid deforestation and increase in non-permeable surfaces, erosion can be mitigated via structural interventions at river level, such as the two check-dams that Concern has constructed out of gabions to slow the flow of water and reduce erosion. Larger watershed level activities can also help mitigate erosion: in Freetown, Concern helps communities to plant trees, which reduces flood and erosion risks. Volunteers grow trees from seeds in their backyards, which they plant in higher risk areas, typically areas with steep slopes. Communities in Freetown have built small walls out of rocks, tires, and waste to protect from storm surges and erosion; while these examples of communitybuilt ‘do it yourself DRR’ provide some protection, they are under-designed for the hazards, so their protection is limited. They are, however, in some cases the only option because of the government’s ban on constructing physical mitigation, which is designed to disincentive settling in higher risk areas. Waste and water related risks are a manifestation of many of the challenges associated with mitigation in complex urban environments. Clean water and waste disposal facilities are limited across many slums; as populations are concentrated in these

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areas, this leads to major environmental health problems that are challenging politically and socially. For instance, in Freetown much of the city’s waste ends up in its rivers, which reduces water flow and contributes to flooding in low-lying slums on floodplains. While voluntary cleanup programs could be implemented to mitigate waste disposal in rural areas, voluntary approaches are ineffective in Freetown due to lower levels of community cohesion and a market driven economy coupled with the continued production of waste upstream. Instead, changes are needed to prevent waste from being dumped and eventually ending up in Freetown’s rivers. However, such reforms are incredibly difficult, requiring systemic reforms across the city. Similarly, Korogocho slum in Nairobi is located near a 30-acre open landfill, which leaches pollution into the surrounding soil, water, and air, exposing over 200,000 people to contaminants (Concern Worldwide 2012). Residents, however, are opposed to shutting down or relocating the dumpsite since 10,000 people work as waste pickers—a dangerous job that leads to infections, respiratory disease (which affects 53% of children at the dumpsite) injuries from scrap metals and toxic waste, and lead in the bloodstream (Concern Worldwide 2012). Concern has implemented livelihood supports and vocational trainings to reduce dependence on the waste, but many residents still choose to work as waste pickers, exchanging physical health for economic survival. Gang violence overlays issues of health and sanitation in the slums of Port au Prince. Water in the slums is privatized, and in one of the slums, the Grand Ravine area, gangs control one of the only sources of clean, potable water, and charge residents for using it. To address this, Concern is providing trainings to help gang members work as waste removers, an alternative livelihood, in exchange for giving the water point to a neutral public body that can ensure equitable access. Since costs are high and services are often privatized, strong livelihoods are critical for managing risks in cities. Because the causes of poverty are multifaceted, improving livelihoods often requires a multitude of interventions. In Dhaka, Concern supports livelihoods by providing pavement dwellers with small grants and livelihood trainings, a place to save money, day-care and shower facilities, and assists with securing governmental registration cards. The support helps pavement dwellers to engage in the economy of the city, which can be a way out of poverty. Government registration is particularly important since many businesses will not employ people who have national identification cards. In Nairobi, most residents participate in ‘merry go rounds’, informal savings groups between friends and neighbors. Members will save a small amount per month, often around 10–20 Kenyan shillings (around 10–20 cents USD), the sum of which is then given on a rotational basis to a member of the group to purchase larger items that would otherwise be unaffordable. Although Nairobi residents can also access credit through local lenders, most do not want to risk falling into debt so only use credit as a last resort. Services, direct mitigation, and improving livelihoods can reduce risks in cities, however the urban environment has complexities that pose challenges for risk reduction. Livelihood related issues both reflect and enforce broader issues that create risks. In Port au Prince, high rates of unemployment, high costs of living, lack of services, and insecurity combines to make it extremely hard for slum residents to escape from poverty. In turn, poverty creates desperation and gives rise to crime and

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gang warfare. Thus, peacebuilding initiatives must focus on developing economic pathways away from poverty and violence. As Concern’s attempts to reduce the impact of waste through localized cleanups in Freetown demonstrate, exposure to hazards and inadequate mitigation are often symptoms of larger and more systemic issues, that, if not addressed, can overwhelm the localized mitigation actions. Creating win-win mitigation strategies—by for instance developing markets for recycling and other forms of waste management— and working with multiple stakeholders at higher levels can address some of these issues; however, broader systemic change is incredibly difficult. Within this environment, poorer residents make complex tradeoffs between risk types, for instance by exchanging greater exposure to waste for livelihoods or by sacrificing access to credit to avoid risks associated with debt. In some cases, Concern can change the calculation by providing access to services that would otherwise not be available and working to address the broader system shaping risk, but Concern is often underfinanced relative to the scale of the risk at hand. As a result, maintenance issues can lead to the gradual degradation of infrastructure, waste issues are not addressed so residents are exposed to toxins that lead to diseases, and the processes of violence can gradually return.

5.4 Building Social Inclusion Urban areas are rife with inequality, and building social inclusion is critical to DRR. Communities need to be able to engage with stakeholders outside of their community, however the extreme poor often have limited access to broader governance systems. Furthermore, communities are not homogenous (Titz et al. 2018), meaning that there can be inequality and differential inclusion within communities. Improving inclusion and tackling the root causes of risk can be challenging, yet it is necessary to reduce the impacts of disasters. Depending on the context, Concern engages in different activities to build social inclusion, including community conversations, pavement dweller centers, peacebuilding, and disaster management committees. In Nairobi, Concern’s inclusivity work focuses on community conversations, long-term community-level meetings that use participatory tools to engage in dialogue. Community conversations are designed to empower communities to act to address issues that they can address on their own, while also providing a vehicle for demanding changes from risk creators and engaging in government planning processes. They are long-term interventions built on the voluntary support from communities. As a result, residents are often initially reticent to engage in community conversations and only do so after months of initial discussions. In Port au Prince, Concern focuses on peacebuilding to reduce gang violence and address the root causes of conflicts. As in Nairobi, activities tend to focus on changes through dialogue processes, but Concern also provides small funds to enact projects that reduce poverty and other factors that contribute to violence. Project participants, including members of community-based organizations and former combatants,

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described dialogue processes as a powerful tool for reducing violence, but also noted that to be successful dialogue process needs to occur over the space of years rather than weeks or months. Residents described how safety had improved in the slums where Concern works, which made it easier to engage in livelihoods and for outside organizations to provide services. Private sector actors also participated in some of these projects and provided small services (like installing street lights) in the slums. Along with improving the slums, involvement in these projects had economic benefits for these companies: during the 2008 food riots, for example, numerous businesses were attacked, but not those engaged in peacebuilding. Although useful for building piece, dialogue programs were hampered by an inability to address larger systemic issues contributing to conflict. Many believed that the organization needed to focus more on economic development and education, which were cited as driving conflict. Others noted the need to engage with higher level national stakeholders—who were purported to use gangs to maintain political control over slums. In Dhaka, Concern works to help pavement dwellers become recognized as citizens of Bangladesh and reducing stigma and discrimination associated with living on streets. Its activities occur at local, municipal, and national levels. At the local level, Concern works with local authorities (e.g. police, hospital, and school officials) to help them to improve relations with pavement dwellers. At the municipality level, it has lobbied the Dhaka city municipality to provide pavement dwellers specific services and secure a budget line for pavement dweller support. At national level it has worked with members of the media and held press conferences and rallies to raise the national profile of pavement dweller issues and has hosted journalists and ministry officials to visit pavement dwellers. Some of these activities have been successful: as part of Concern’s lobbying efforts, pavement dwelling centers can now be used as an address for birth registration and national identification and there is now a non-partisan parliamentary issue-based group with a focus on pavement dwellers that has published a book on pavement dweller needs entitled Pavement Dwellers’ Right to Survive (Shil 2013). The multitude of stakeholders and institutional systems operating in urban environments creates an incredibly complex environment that is difficult to change and requires long-term and systemic interventions that can be implemented flexibly as situations evolve. While Concern recognizes the necessity of a long term and flexible approach to building social inclusion, such approaches are antithetical to the often shorter term and tightly focused interventions that donors provide funding for. Indeed, staff noted that at times they found it difficult to convince donors to provide longer term and more flexible funding options. Despite donor desires for shorter term interventions, trust can take a long time to develop, and interventions need to be far reaching and include elements that do not always directly match the direct causes of crisis. As multi-level and multi-sectoral issues those also require involvement from multiple stakeholders—whose values can be significantly different. Long term engagement can be a way of aligning values toward a common and agreed upon outcome. There are also additional questions on whether an international NGO-driven approach to DRR an appropriate vehicle in this environment is, given the need for systemic changes and the often more localized scale of operational presence and

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impact that NGOs can provide. While NGOs are often involved in country-level DRR fora and are increasingly entering into consortia as ways of operating at scale and magnifying voices to affect systemic change, their ability to operate at national and international level remains questionable given their often a small footprint and limited scale of influence.

6 Discussion and Conclusion Cities are the quintessential complex adaptive systems. As this chapter shows, conceptualizing cities as complex adaptive systems helps to understand risk formation and develop strategies for risk reduction. The poor are often tightly coupled to hazards and only loosely coupled to opportunities, meaning that hazards can have dramatic effects on poverty and vulnerability. The urban spaces structuring this coupling are themselves a dense amalgamation of physical and social infrastructure, with their own interdependencies and risks. Organizations attempting to reduce risks therefore need to be cognizant of interconnections, work across levels and sectors, and be able to adapt rapidly to changes. The differences between urban and rural areas require different ways of doing DRR, such as development of new urban specific surveillance systems or the adaptation and expansion of existing community based DRR techniques. Taking as wide a possible definition of hazards and not limiting DRR merely to natural hazards is important for urban areas since many of the risks, such as violence, conflict, and waste, are human in origin. The human orientation of risk also points to a greater need for activities such as peacebuilding that build social inclusion in cities, or activities focused on service improvement designed to reduce the inequitable, “splintered” (Marks and Elinoff 2019; Graham and Marvin 2002) nature of the cityscape. However, the specific mix interventions necessary to reduce risks differs across contexts depending on the unique placed based makeup of the stakeholder and institutional environments: gang violence is an overriding factor in Port au Prince, for example, while the threat of eviction and restrictions on slum development are overriding factors in Freetown. Urban slums also show a range of wealth levels, ethnicities and allegiances, and even richer areas have pockets of poverty within them. Cities are not homogenous in their challenges, and interventions need to be designed to reflect differences. Concern’s work shows how a broad scope of activities, from risk assessments, to preparedness, service provision, and building inclusion can help to reduce risks in urban areas. Through these activities, Concern can reduce the short-term impact of urban hazards and address some of the longer- term factors creating risks. These all fall under the ‘standard’ set of DRR activities—risk analysis, preparedness, mitigation, and advocacy—but are adapted to the urban specific contexts. Concern’s work also reveals some of the challenges associated with working in urban contexts. The often-wide gap between the ‘have’ and have-nots’ of city dwellers leads to inequitable vulnerability and hazard profiles and creates incentives

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to maintain the status quo. As part of this, pressures from politicians to either ignore or relocate slums, make it difficult to ensure that slum conditions are adequate for safe and dignified lives. The market-oriented nature of urban spaces is well recognized, but livelihood support has proven difficult to improve, which is perhaps not surprising seeing as those living in slums devote most of their time to improving their livelihoods but find it difficult to remove the many barriers in their ways. Urban areas are a maze of diverse institutions that are both challenging to navigate and sometimes contradictory. This complex environment makes risk reduction difficult, but also makes it clear that multi-stakeholder approaches, advocacy, and broad reforms across the cityscape targeted at preventing disaster risk creation are fundamental for successful urban DRR. Examples of the need to make broad reforms include the importance of improving waste disposal across Freetown, addressing upstream deforestation for reducing downstream flooding in Port au Prince, and improving industry and employment in Nairobi. Concern has focused its work within certain neighborhoods like slums rather than outside of the targeted slum area at a larger scale. Although necessary for long term and sustainable change, there is a question of whether Concern, and NGOs like it, are able to successfully operate and intervene at this larger scale. The successes and challenges associated with Concern’s work in these cities show that while many interventions can be enacted to reduce negative coupling and improve positive, Concern and other organizations are still learning how to navigate the complex risk environments of cities. Continuing to build knowledge on urban specific forms of DRR can improve risk reduction in cities and add to the knowledge on how to govern risks under conditions of complexity. Unfortunately, since urban environments contain high levels of complexity and coupling and contain create tradeoffs in risks that are not possible to circumvent, it may not be possible to fully address risks in cities, even with improved practices. However, while urban environments may have the features necessary for normal accidents to arise, many of the current disasters that poor face are avoidable products of lack of political will, inequality, and institutional structures that marginalize the poor and vulnerable in the name of efficiency and profit. Interventions designed to address marginalization, reduce poverty, and prevent disaster risk creation, can go far in reducing these disasters.

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Dr. Clark-Ginsberg is an associate social scientist at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit nonpartisan institution that helps to improve policy and decision-making across the world through research and analysis. A disaster researcher by training, Dr. Clark-Ginsberg’s research focuses on topics including natural hazards, community resilience, governance and disasters, DRR, and critical infrastructure protection. Dr. Clark-Ginsberg works with both researchers and policymakers and is currently involved in several projects on a variety of topics, including community responses to climate change, incident management systems, measuring community resilience, and climate migration.

Adapting with Climate Change Impacts

Adaptation and Development for Mitigating Impacts of Climate Change and Climate Extremes in Urban Areas Huraera Jabeen

Abstract Adaptation is essential to reduce increased risks and repetitive disasters from climate change that limit opportunities for development. Thus, ‘adaptation as development’ as an approach perceives development as the basis for, and in some cases synonymous with, adaptation. Different groups of population become vulnerable to the impacts of climate change for being in geographic space—where vulnerable people and places are located; or social place/position—who in those places is the most vulnerable. However, adaptation in the built environment has to consider climate variables that impact on various financial, physical and human capitals. Recognizing diversity within a society along with associated opportunities and challenges helps in recognizing the diverse adaptive capacities of different groups as well as addresses the problematic issues of agency, power-relations and negotiation of inhabiting the built environment in urban areas. Keywords Adaptation · Adaptive capacity · Agency · Built environment · Development

1 Introduction Climate change impacts are experienced by different groups of population in different manners. Exploration of adaptations to climate change are driven by four key questions: what to adapt to, who or what adapts, how does adaptation occur and what are the limitations to adaptation (Pelling 2010). Until very recently ‘climate change’ as a definition remained concerned with visible, dramatic and large impacts causing disasters; while considerations of ‘climate extremes’ brings in the often unnoticed, less dramatic, repetitive, and incrementally developing scenarios. It also emphasizes the need to address both extreme and non-extreme impacts affecting human wellbeing. Similarly, considering both exposure and vulnerability as key determinants of H. Jabeen (B) Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_11

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risks and impacts in the definition expands the premise of analysis to social organizations, governance systems, national and international politics along with individual behaviour, in other words, development. This chapter aims to discuss adaptation and development for mitigating impacts of climate change and climate extremes. The following section examines the relationship between adaptation and development which leads the brief discussion on impacts of climate change. The exploration of vulnerability to climate change in the next section summarize from different authors’ works. The discussions on the built environment and differential vulnerability helps to arrive at concluding notes on which approaches can lead to sustainable mitigation of the impacts of climate change and climate extremes.

2 Adaptation and Development Adaptation is considered as a ‘desirable outcome’ of any initiatives to reduce vulnerabilities arising from climate change and climate extremes in recent research and policy discussions. The simple logic behind such an argument is that, human beings have managed to survive and flourish while adapting to changing environments. As such, societies make adaptation a natural process that has always taken place, and is likely to continue (Adger et al. 2009). Nevertheless, the disproportionate changes in climate in recent history have exposed the less resilient communities and more vulnerable individuals to be severely affected by changes. These changes are now associated with increasing risk of disaster, and are far more visible than incremental changes in climate (Schipper and Burton 2009). The increased risks and repetitive disasters are limiting the opportunities for development for the most vulnerable population. Hence, adaptation has been increasingly associated with development issues to reach the most vulnerable. Adaptation has been associated with development in three different forms (Ayers and Dodman 2010). The first two forms—‘stand-alone adaptation’ and ‘adaptation plus development’—treat adaptation in a narrow sense. They see adaptation as ‘additional’ to baseline development needs, or the development activities need to become ‘climate proofed’ through screening for climate change vulnerabilities and then action being needed to address them (Ayers and Dodman 2010). Conversely, the third approach—‘adaptation as development’—perceives development as the basis for, and in some cases synonymous with, adaptation. It involves making progress against development indicators considering climate change, including reducing poverty, providing general education and health benefits, improving living conditions and providing access to financial markets and technologies (Ayers and Dodman 2010). In an urban environment, one of the key development indicators is the living condition depicted by housing, infrastructure and how people act on them—in other words the built environment.

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3 Impacts of Climate Change Climate change impacts can be direct and indirect in how they affect nature and wellbeing of human. The direct impacts include increased and untimely rainfall; flooding; increased heat or acute winter; and a potential rise in sea level. The possible indirect impacts, among others, include water clogging and landslide; water shortage; heat islands; saline intrusion; disruption of livelihoods and incomes; loss of assets and infrastructure; increased disease and increased migration etc. Considering these impacts, Hunt and Watkiss (2011) identified the following sectors in the urban context that are likely to be most affected by any change in climate: • • • • •

Effects of extreme events on the built infrastructure; Effects on health; Effects on energy use; Effects on water availability and resources; and Effects of a sea level rise on coastal cities.

These effects are not uniform: they vary among different groups living in urban areas.

4 Vulnerability to Climate Change Vulnerability can be conceptualized in three categories (Cutter 2006). They are: a) vulnerability as the risk/hazard exposure (distribution of hazardous condition, occupancy of hazardous zone and distribution of structural losses in the built environment); b) vulnerability as social response (societal resistance and resilience to hazards); and c) vulnerability as hazard of place. Vulnerability as a ‘hazard of place’ combines the concepts of both bio physical and social response, but within a specific area or geographical domain. This can be geographic space—where vulnerable people and places are located; or social place/position—who in those places is the most vulnerable. For example, in urban areas vulnerability is greatly influenced by the extent and quality of the infrastructure and public services; yet access to services by vulnerable populations are not only a physical issue but rather encompass the political aspect where the most affected usually have least influence on decision making (Satterthwaite et al. 2009). Thus, urban poor communities or women may be considered more vulnerable to climate change in urban areas. However, Kelly and Adger (2000) explained that the definition of vulnerability varies considerably, with assessment focusing on either the start or end of appraisal.

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As an end point, the appraisal represents the net impact of climate change to determine the extent of the problems, thus, determine the cost of climate change (O’Brien and Wolf 2010). On the contrary Kelly and Adger (2000) advocate considering vulnerability as a starting point to understand how impacts will be distributed in order to identify how they can be reduced. This approach accepts that multiple environmental and social factors that influence vulnerability are exacerbated by climate change; and thus, measures vulnerability from a multi-dimensional perspective. For example exposure, sensitivity and the adaptive capacity of an individual or community can be measured by factors of physical hazards, social relations and individuals (Wisner et al. 2004). Exposure to physical hazards is measured by proximity to the source of threats, incident frequency, and probability, magnitude, duration or spatial impact. Social impacts are measured by threats to lifelines, or infrastructure to support basic needs, poverty/wealth indicators, gender, race, social relations, political power, food aid and international aid. In these discussions often the quality of settlements and the built environment are not assessed adequately. Nevertheless, their qualities influence potential economic losses, injuries and fatalities from natural hazards for an individual or community (Cutter 2006). Taking the interrelationship of these factors into consideration, Hulme (2009) suggests viewing the nature of hazard events as a social construct rather than a biophysical condition. He suggests defining climate change as a ‘wicked problem’; ‘solutions of such are difficult to recognise because of complex interdependencies in the system affected’. Accordingly, he argues that ‘one aspect of a wicked problem often reveals or creates other, even more complex problems that demand further solutions’ (Hulme 2009, pp. 334).

5 Built Environment and Differential Vulnerability The literature on climate change illustrates that the built environment is exposed to both severe weather conditions and extreme climate events. Researchers also imply that adaptation in the built environment addresses diversified features of climate variables—their frequency, intensity, spatial extent, duration, and timing that cause severe weather conditions or extreme climate events. Furthermore, the direct impact of differentials of temperature and rainfall are equally as significant as their indirect impacts, for example—water clogging, landslide, flooding, wind storms and storm surge. For cities located in coastal areas, the potential sea-level rise and storm surges require significant considerations that may not be the case in other cities in different locations. In addition, adaptation in the built environment has to deal with issues like access to water and energy, livelihood, living conditions affecting human health that are indirectly influenced by physical forms and spaces, how they are planned, constructed and maintained. In other words, adaptation in the built environment must consider climate variables that impact on various financial, physical and human capitals.

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Drawing on these discussions, therefore, it can be seen that the scale and purpose of adaptation will vary widely between macro and micro scales in an urban area. For example, on a micro-scale in the built environment the key purpose of adaptation will be to reduce the impact of physical hazards. These include taking on structural measures, i.e. constructing better drainage that stops heavy rainstorms creating floods; or reducing people’s exposure to hazards, for example, working with those who live in areas at risk of flooding to improve their housing or to move to safer locations (Satterthwaite et al. 2009). Such adaptations in the built environment in urban areas are concerned more with the access to and the quality of the housing and infrastructure. On a macro scale for example at the city level, adaptation is perceived as a social and political process—associated with justice, responsibility and obligation issues. Adger and colleagues (2009, p. 2) argue that if human activities are driving climate change, then adaptation involves issues such as compensation and liability.

Similarly, Pelling and Wisner (2009, p. 8) argue that the emerging crisis in environmental risk and human security is ‘a failure in the social contract’. Adaptation can be seen as an integral part of development because building resilience and adaptive capacity are argued to promote flexibility; encourage learning from grass-root coping strategies (Jabeen et al. 2010); emphasize the need to support generic adaptive capacity along with hazard specific response capacity (Schipper and Pelling 2006); and increase access to resources and empowerment of marginal groups (Wisner et al. 2004). If adaptation is taken to be a development problem this may lead to an assumption that poverty-reducing responses will similarly reduce climate vulnerability – but these are not identical problems. Eriksen and O’Brien (2007) suggest that such assumptions may lead to policies and programmes that create contradictory outcomes. Accordingly, the authors suggested three types of measure to effectively target this interface: (a) measures that target the risk posed by climate change to the poor (e.g. deterioration of water and social infrastructure); (b) measures that aim to strengthen the capacity to cope with and adapt to climate stress (e.g. engaging in alternative sources of income); and (c) measures that address the causes of vulnerability (e.g. poor social and physical infrastructure) (Eriksen and O’Brien 2007, pp. 348). Nevertheless, in most of these approaches, adaptation remains in the policy domain. Alternatively, Pelling (2010, pp. 168) proposed a ‘resilience-transitiontransformation framework’ to move from the policy domain to one that also accepts adaptation as an activity and aspiration that cuts across all development activities; hence accepting the reality of ‘adapting with climate change’. He preferred the ‘transformative’ nature of adaptation over ‘resilience’ or ‘transition’. The latter two arguably allow unsustainable or socially unjust practices to persist under existing

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political and governance regimes (Pelling 2010, pp. 170). Conversely, ‘transformative’ adaptation creates possibilities to revise and reform or replace existing social contracts and modes of development, as well as defending social gains already won. Pelling (2010) asserts that it is a ‘call to tackle the causes of vulnerability at their roots’, rather than addressing the symptoms of vulnerability. However, this transformation will need to occur on different spatial and societal scales; hence, it will be influenced by livelihood, community structures, social groups, household, gender, age, ethnicity, historical time and physical/psychological health (Pelling 2003). Again, societal processes of consent and the ability of individuals, groups, or organizations to take direct action govern the ability to make decisions for change (Adger et al. 2005). For example, women may be constrained by social and cultural structures that place them in inferior social positions limiting their access to income, education, a public voice, and survival mechanisms (AfDB et al. 2003). Therefore, recognizing diversity within society along with associated opportunities and challenges will help in recognizing the diverse adaptive capacities of different groups in any urban area.

6 Conclusion Planning to maximize resilience of any marginalized group of population requires tackling the root causes, rather than addressing the symptoms of vulnerabilities. In that respect considering the reality better conceptualizing adapting with climate extremes may be preferable than adapting to climate extremes for capturing the reality better (Pelling 2010:164). With this approach perception of climate extremes as an external threat of development will move to ‘accepting that it is both a product and driver of development’ (Pelling 2010). The concept also highlights the proactive nature of adaptation activities in comparison with reactive measures. Furthermore, it follows the ‘adaptation as development’ approach that is argued to become more sustainable to address the vulnerabilities of the marginalized groups, in comparison with the ‘stand-alone’ or ‘adaptation plus development’ approaches (Ayers and Dodman 2010). External intervention in adaptation, in most cases, are focused on the socioeconomic development. Development programs claim success based on economic empowerment of members of the marginalized groups. However, if critically examined the reasons behind why many of the success stories erode after some time, especially after a climate induced disaster or extreme event, the examination leads to the ‘space’ or the ‘built environment’ where the economic activities take place. Inequality in inhabiting space is one of the underlying causes of differential climate resilience in urban areas (Jabeen 2019). As a consequence, building resilience of marginalized groups to climate change and climate extremes remain ambiguous; seldom the interventions address the problematic issues of agency, power-relations and negotiation of inhabiting the built environment in urban areas.

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References Adger WN, Arnell NW, Tompkins EL (2005) Successful adaptation to climate change across scales. Glob Environ Change 15(2):77–86 Adger WN, Lorenzoni I, O’Brien KL (2009) Adapting to climate change: thresholds, values, governance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge AfDB, Asian Development Bank, Development, Department for International, & Directorate General for Development: European Commission; Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development; United Nations Development Programme; United Nations Environment Programme, W. B. (2003) Poverty and Climate Change: Reducing the Vulnerability of the Poor through Adaptation. Washington DC Ayers J, Dodman D (2010) Climate change adaptation and development I: the state of the debate. Progr Dev Stud 10(2):161–168 Cutter SL (2006) Vulnerability to environmental hazards. In: Cutter SL (ed) Hazards vulnerability and environmental justice. Earthscan, London, p 447 Eriksen SH, O’Brien KL (2007) Vulnerability, poverty and the need for sustainable adaptation measures. Clim Pol 7(4):337–352 Hulme M (2009) Why we disagree about climate change: Understanding controversy, inaction and opportunity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK Hunt A, Watkiss P (2011) Climate change impacts and adaptation in cities: a review of the literature. Clim Change 104(1):13–49 Jabeen H (2019) Gendered space and climate resilience in informal settlements in Khulna City, Bangladesh. Environ Urban 31(1):115 Jabeen H, Johnson C, Allen A (2010) Built-in resilience: learning from grassroots coping strategies for climate variability. Environ Urban 22(2):415–431 Kelly PM, Adger WN (2000) Theory and practice in assessing vulnerability to climate change and facilitating adaptation. Clim Change 47:325–352 O’Brien KL, Wolf J (2010) A values-based approach to vulnerability and adaptation to climate change. Wiley Interdisc Rev Clim Change 1(2):232 Pelling M (2003) The vulnerability of cities: natural disasters and social resilience. Earthscan Publications, London Pelling M (2010) Adaptation to climate change: from resilience to transformation. Routledge, London Pelling M, Wisner B (2009) Disaster risk reduction: cases from Urban Africa. Earthscan, London Satterthwaite D, Huq S, Hannah R, Pelling M, Lanko PR (2009) Adapting to climate change in urban areas: the possibilities and constraints in low- and middle-income nations’. In: Bicknell J, Dodman D, Satterthwaite D (eds) Adapting cities to climate change: understanding and addressing the development challenges. Earthscan, London, pp 3–50 Schipper L, Burton I (2009) Understanding adaptation: origins, concepts, practice and policy. In: Schipper L, Burton I (eds) The earthscan reader on adaptation to climate change. Earthscan, London, pp 1–10 Schipper L, Pelling M (2006) Disaster risk, climate change and international development: scope for, and challenges to, integration. Disasters 30(1):19–38 Wisner B, Wisner B, Cannon T, Blackford J, Blaike P (2004) At risk: natural hazards, people’s vulnerability, and disasters, 2nd edn. Routledge, London

Dr. Jabeen, is an academic and development professional with 20 years of experience in urban resilience, gender, and the built environment, with a specific focus on the intersection of gender and climate change in cities. She sustained academic contribution to the discipline of architecture and global urban development with contribution to the enhancement of student s learning via pedagogic innovation and change. Her scholarly research experiences on climate change

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adaptation and risk reduction of urban households are contributing to her emerging international profile from presenting and publishing for academics, professionals and policymakers. She has wide experiences of working with civil society organizations, donor organizations and community members. Dr. Jabeen re-joined BRAC university after working as a post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Population Council, New York, USA till 2015 after completing her PhD in International Development and Policy Management from the University of Manchester, UK in 2013.

Local Community Engagement for Adaptation to Future Challenges in the Pilot Flood Detention Area of Thailand Phaothai Sin-ampol, Tawee Chaipimonplin, and Supawadee Songka

Abstract Designating flood detention areas is one of the flood risk management policies that has been implemented in the Lower Yom River Basin of Thailand since 2017. Spatial and temporal components in relation to agriculture and livelihood of people have been adjusted to fit with the policy, including rescheduling water allocation and growing seasons, as well as promoting fishing and additional jobs during the period of seasonal floods. The forcasted flood risk model and households’ perceptions regarding the land use, identified these adjustments as responsible to increase challenges for managing flood risks. This chapter explores the potential of local community engagement in reducing risks of flooding under the flood detention area policy focusing on social vulnerability. Data was gathered during 2017–2018 including five interviews of the representatives from irrigation and disaster prevention agencies, which are all state organizations, and 11 local community leaders, as well as the questionnaires from 206 households, living in the flood detention area. The results showed that social vulnerability, in this context, is induced by several root causes including unequal power relations in establishing flood risk adaptation strategies, variable ‘monoculture’ policies in economic development with fewer concerns in diversification, as well as lacking future recognition and knowledge for contextbased adaptation. Apart from irrigation agencies, which have been leading agencies in flood risk management, households and communities need to be encouraged as active stakeholders in developing stronger collaboration both within communities and across sectors for their own living with the awareness of future changes. Future adaptation strategies that are more suitable to different spatio-temporal and

P. Sin-ampol (B) · T. Chaipimonplin · S. Songka Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand e-mail: [email protected] T. Chaipimonplin e-mail: [email protected] S. Songka e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_12

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socio-economic contexts of flooded communities in the river basin, need to be introduced. The strategies include flood prevention mechanisms, multi-level knowledge exchange for adaptation, and transformation to alternative job opportunities. Keywords Local community engagement · Flood adaptation · Social vulnerability · Pressure and release model (Par) · Flood detention area · Thailand

1 Introduction The likelihood and intensity of flooding impacts due to climate change have threatened many regions throughout the world and are expected to be more severe in the twenty-first century (IPCC 2014). Heavier rainfalls and unpredictable patterns of floods are expected to be experienced in the Asia-Pacific region, where Thailand as a country of this region is exposed to damages and losses due to flood events. The 2011 flood of Thailand is considered as one of the most devastating events of the recent history which caused at least 45–46.5 billion US dollars of economic loss (UNESCAP 2015; Kundzewicz et al. 2013). Although the state has formulated several flood prevention policies since the era of constructing dams in last three decades, the policies have rarely reduced the risks and consequences of monsoonal (AugustNovember) floods of the country, particularly in its northern tributaries (Chantawong 2002; Boonkrob 2002). The failure of flood risk management policies of the state has resulted the redundancy of tasks of agencies and conflicts of interests and lack of coordination among agencies (Marks and Lebel 2016), exacerbating the challenges faced by local communities. A gradual change in flood risk management policies for the Yom river basin of Thailand has been initiated since 2011, considering local protests against dam constructions. Even though engineered infrastructures as structural mitigation measures were constructed in earlier years, these have not been successful in many cases (Choudhury et al. 2004; Schanze et al. 2008; Schelfaut et al. 2011; Katyal and Petrisor 2011). Alternatively, the pilot participatory model for flood detention has been designed as an integrative approach and primarily it has been applied in Bang Rakam district of Phitsanulok province at the Lower Yom river watershed under a triad of collaborative management—called the Bang Rakam Model. This model, primarily engages irrigation agencies to enhance their infrastructural capacities in order to increase the draining capacity and to control flood water at the optimum level, fulfilling local demands. Partner organizations from different task groups have helped local communities to find out a path to convert their rice fields to ‘fish ponds’ during the flooding season, and to shift the rice cultivation season through rescheduling the irrigation system. Additionally, necessary information about future scenario and flood forecasts from multiple sources have been utilized to alleviate risks in daily lives and occupations during the flooding season. Since 2017, the Royal Irrigation Department (RID), as the leading organization of the pilot project, has collaborated with both public stakeholders and education institutions for minimizing risks and

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providing better livelihood opportunities to local people. For example, additional jobs apart from fishing during the flooding season, market security program for local farmers, and the improvement of rice cultivation technologies were introduced (Yom Nan Operation and Maintenance Office 2017). It intends to meet the target of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through eliminating poverty, food and social insecurity, environmental degradation, as well as promoting resilient settlement in the climate change era (Griggs et al. 2014; Kreimer and Arnold 2000). Although the Thai government has applied inclusive policies for water resource management in the Lower Yom river basin, the analysis of place-based projected risk of seasonal flooding in the Bang Rakam district (that tends to be severe after 2035) (Chaipimonplin and Sin-ampol 2019), as well as institutional arrangements for mitigating flood risks are being considered as essential to understand community risk perceptions and social vulnerabilities of the communities. Communities, living with unsafe conditions and limited capacities, are often manipulated in case of accessing resources for adaptation (Wisner et al. 2004; Oulahen 2016). In this context, the past experiences of using resources and adapting with adverse conditions may assist (Lei et al. 2014; Smithers and Smit 1997) to formulate both short and long-term planning strategies, allowing enough flexibility and practicing a collaborative decision making process to include relevant stakeholders, particularly from the local level (Cinner et al. 2018; IPCC 2007, 2012; Adger et al. 2004). This research, therefore, employed the results, derived from the forecasted flood risk model of the Lower Yom river basin and Bang Rakam district [analyzed by the Artificial Neural Network model (ANN)] to figure out potentials of active engagements of local communities in the pilot flood detention policy for reducing flood risks. It worked with households to understand the complex trade-offs of flooding in the socio-economic and spatial context in selected local communities and explored previous and current attitudes and practices of the local people in adapting their livings according to the policy in order to portray unsafe conditions and offer a guideline for the local communities and related stakeholders for overcoming future challenges. In this case, the pressure-and-release (PAR) model was chosen as an effective scheme to uncover social vulnerability and configure tailor-made practices for adaptation.

2 Conceptual Background: Social Vulnerability Analysis in Flooding Contexts for Community Based Adaptation A well-known relationship of risk is weighted between vulnerability and hazard intensity, with the likelihood of occurring a hazard. Dealing with vulnerability requires social agents to increase adaptive capacities. In this research context, the future flooding intensity and likelihood as potential physical hazards have already been proven by the future flood model using the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model

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(Chaipimonplin and Sin-ampol 2019). Following this model, it very limitedly investigated issues of vulnerability and adaptation. The behavior-oriented approach explains adaptation to disasters as a process of individual decision-making with both rational and arbitrary influences. Collective interactions to the landscape, participation of social groups, socio-economic background, and perceptions about surrounding environments are also counted as factors that influence individual decision-making. Each decision-making, either likely or not likely leads to adapt, depending on the selfevaluation mechanism at a particular moment of time (Amedeo et al. 2009; Burton et al. 1978; Golledge and Stimson 1987; Walmsley and Lewis 1984). As human beings cannot be separated from their built environments, the adaptation process, thus conveys a sense of finding strategies from previous experiences to let them sustain better in the same environment and landscape, even under negative impacts of future climatic hazards (Lei et al. 2014; Smithers and Smit 1997). Thus, adaption requires to enhance capacities in mobilizing natural, human, social, physical, and financial resources and assets to advance risk and vulnerability reduction for individuals, households, and communities (Dazé et al. 2009). Even though a social agency can access and possess capitals, it does not always ensure an effective adaptation when the flexibility is not considered. Flexibility in adaptation can be derived from the knowledge sharing across stakeholders, collaborative practices, local community empowerment, and learning about future variabilities (Cinner et al. 2018). In terms of future challenges, IPCC (2012) recognizes the importance of long-term adaptation in reducing community vulnerabilities to climate change impacts by fostering three mechanisms: anticipatory/proactive adaptation, autonomous adaptation, and planned adaptation. Anticipatory/proactive adaptation creates practical guidelines for people prior to damages. Autonomous adaptation promotes spontaneous actions in living with multiple challenges from climatic stimuli and socio-ecological pressures. Planned adaptation, in addition, encourages the society to set up and accomplish essential goals in a decision-making process. Basically, effective adaptive capacities in practice should focus on applying both security in resource possession and proper tailor-made decision making (IPCC 2012). Impacts of riverine flooding illustrate the complexity of adaptation in practice and can explain the behavioral skepticism of why each decision-making is, or is not, enacted by individuals, households, and communities. Singh (2014) and Wisner and colleagues (2004) describe the complex trade-offs in flooding between positive outcomes of sedimentation that benefit agriculture and attracts settlements, industrial and commercial development to locate in a specific place, and negative consequences which have potentials to obstruct economic development in that area. It, hence, is necessary to investigate whether flooding is being perceived and interpreted due to different social contexts, rather than portraying it as only a hazard. In addition, unequal opportunities for accessing physical, financial, social, and political resources of social units need to be investigated, understanding the dynamic of a society. In this regard, the Pressure-and-Release Model (PAR) (Sayers et al. 2018; Klijn et al. 2015; Marks 2015; Porio 2011; Walker and Burningham 2011; Abramovitz 2001) can be used as an important tool to uncover social vulnerabilities by analyzing three components including:

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• Root causes: represent limitations to access energy, infrastructures, resources, power, ideologies, and beliefs that affect resource distribution and allocation across social groups. Root causes also indicate troubles in adapting regulatory mechanism that might control mindset and practices of people in each area. Unequal power relations among classes and areas, in a flooding perspective, generate the stratification of protection strategies, leading to flood disadvantages. • Dynamic pressures: show the process based on root causes that bring unsafe conditions to a particular place, such as, lack of knowledge and appropriate skills, investment, and market, changes in population structures, resource degradation, global environmental change, and so on. • Unsafe conditions: reveal the specific pattern of risky condition that differentiate wellbeing of households and individuals, depending on physical environment (e.g. low quality of infrastructure and irrigation), local economy (e.g. inequalities due to social stratification, income distribution, gender, etc.), state implementation (e.g. lack of willingness to response, insufficient roles of the state), as well as exclusion and marginalization in an ethnic perspective (Sayers et al. 2018; Klijn et al. 2015; Marks 2015; Porio 2011; Walker and Burningham 2011; Abramovitz 2001). These factors have potentials to cause illness, interruption of livelihood and employment capacity, loss of financial capital and other assets (e.g. land, livestock, etc.), and loss of income due to flood incidents. Adjusting social conditions and empowering local livelihood become key factors in social protection and flood precautions with structural mitigation, detention area, land zoning, flood warning system, and effective message delivery system. Balancing structural-technological mitigation with coordination among social groups and knowledge exchange across disciplines could overcome pitfalls in flood risk management (Richert et al. 2017; Klijn et al. 2015; Manuta et al. 2006; Abramovitz 2001). Community adaptation planning should recognize the capacity in living with climate changes and socio-economic transformation (Dazé et al. 2009). Community culture in living with socio-ecological variabilities can be readjusted and reinvented to facilitate interdependency, membership, and participation within a social group and determine success in achieving shared values of adaptation in a local context by integrating traditional practices and modern technologies. However, applying a role model in different areas without contextualizing problems and solutions is not considered as reasonable. Each community, therefore, demands to be empowered to understand climate change impacts on their situations, as well as the dynamic of social identity and available options for adaptation (Ensor and Berger 2009). In terms of policy making, cross-sectional policy integration with critical concerns in uncertainties of biophysical and socioeconomic factors and knowledge co-production from various stakeholders, particularly local communities, could help to strengthen the adaptation policy (Dovers and Hezri 2010) and avoid one-size-fits-all policy implementation (Hussey et al. 2013). Several promising options of sustainable livelihoods for communities, in the context of flooding, include income diversification, mobility, communal pooling, and storage of essential assets and basic needs (Agrawal and

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Perrin 2009). State, private sector, and civil society have the potential to create the external intervention programs, while local community should have rights to configure these interventions based on current and future pressures at multiple levels of society (Agrawal and Perrin 2009). To make a judgment in this case, establishing the mechanism to empower community in driving self-regulatory mechanism for adaptation requires an appropriate platform. The right platform would help identifying several constraints in relation to flood risk management policies and responses. The most explicit advantage of the PAR model, compared with other theories, is the capability in fulfilling the analysis of socio-economic risk and vulnerability. Any physical modelling can only identify how flooding hazards are anticipated to happen in terms of time and intensity. The PAR model can directly stress the interplay of power and ideology among multiple authorities that affect social vulnerability of individuals and communities, which have been frequently illustrated in flood risk management of Thailand. More importantly, this model allows to make use of local practices and attitudes in designing bottomup and tailor-made strategies in engaging adaptation to future multiple challenges, particularly in socio-economic development and future climate variability.

3 Methodology This research applied mixed methods—both qualitative and quantitative approach— to analyze and envisage local community engagement for adaptation to future challenges under the main theoretical model—PAR. From the qualitative side, triangulation across diverse opinions from government agencies, local leaders, and responses from some open-ended questions of household questionnaire survey were employed to show complex trade-offs in flooding and previous adaptation actions. This analysis provides several suitable cutting-edge adaptation strategies, both short and long term, for the whole community. Quantitative analysis was carried out to support the argument of the future adaptation pathways under multiple pressures. Descriptive statistics such as ratio and likert scale ranking, as well as Pearson’s correlation were used to represent attitudes and practices in adaptation to current and future circumstances of affected households. As a social and field survey research, a significance level of 0.01 and 0.05 is acceptable and reasonable for this study in order to avoid Type I error in hypothesis testing and guarantee both rigorous and general applicability of statistical results (Lavrakas 2008). Several relationships in statistical analysis were selected including: (1) Household perception of previous and current flooding patterns with current household attitudes in adaptation to flood, household collaboration to flood adaptation at the community level, and effectiveness of government agency management. This research expected that planned and anticipatory attitudes,

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active collaboration from households, and high effectiveness from government agencies management could decrease household perception about flooding impacts in spatial, temporal, and intensity dimensions. (2) Future practices in adaptation to flood with household perceptions of previous and current flooding patterns, current household attitudes in adaptation to floods, and household collaboration to flood adaptation at a community level. In this sense, self-regulatory practices in adaptation would be motivated if greater flooding impacts, sense of being more active in adaptation, and expansive collaboration within a community were investigated. This chapter studies selected communities of the Lower Yom catchment area in Bang Rakam district of Phitsanulok province, Thailand, using the ANN model that generated future flood forecasting analysis to extract the current and future circumstances and constraints for adapting through multiple layers of biophysical and socioeconomic influences in relation to flooding and livelihood perspectives. The temparature and rainfall changes of this area are projected for thirty years (2035–2064), using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ECHAM5) regional climate model (Chaipimonplin and Sin-ampol 2019; Chotamonsak et al. 2011; Chotamonsak 2011). This district is a core area of participatory flood risk management scheme which has been firstly implemented in 2017 by the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) and other state allies. This model estimates the future flooding trends (which will be flooded every year and intensified in terms of higher water level) (Fig. 12.1) and portrays the coverage area which will be affected by the highest flooding in 2041 (Fig. 12.2) (10.59 m, or +3.31 m above the river bank level). The Digital Elevation Model (DEM), using remotely sensed data has simulated that 4 out of 11 sub-districts (Tha Nang Ngam, Bang Rakam, Wang Ithok, and Bo thong sub-districts) will be highly affected due to this extreme flooding. Apart from considering flood risk in a future scenario, this research also considered the total damages, occurred due to the latest major flood of 2011. Besides, the topography and contributions to a pilot flood detention scheme (Bang Rakam Model) were counted as an external policy intervention from the state level that influenced the decision-making process of selecting the study area for exploring local community engagement for adaptation. Considering above mentioned reasons, Tha Nang Ngam sub-district, among 4 severely affected sub-districts of Bang Rakam district, was selected for conducting this research. This area was severely affected due to the 2011 flood. Along with the Yom river, other adjacent rivers were also responsible for flooding Tha Nang Ngam sub-district. Additionally, this sub-district is located within a main detention area of the Bang Rakam model and 6 out of 11 villages of this sub-district are included within this pilot model. This study targeted to understand the previous (prior to 2011) and current policies and projects (during 2011–2018) for flood risk management of Bang Rakam district. The information was needed to gather from multiple levels and sectors to figure out different viewpoints of current potentials and constraints in adaptation under social vulnerability analysis. In that case, semi-structured interviews were conducted to get

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Fig. 12.1 Prediction of average river water level of flooding seasons during 2035–2064 the analysis of artificial neural network under the future scenario of climate change (Chaipimonplin and Sinampol 2019)

information from five local governmental organizations of sub-district and district levels which are engaged in irrigation, disaster prevention and mitigation. Local leaders of 11 villages of Tha Nang Ngam sub-district were also interviewed individually to get information about flood risk patterns, advantages and disadvantages of each community for adapting to flood, and future adaptation strategies anticipated by themselves and other community members. Most importantly, this research conducted a questionnaire survey to get information from household-level about their adaptation attitudes and strategies towards current and future flood adaptation. 206 households were selected for this survey which is approximately 10% of total number of households of Tha Nang Ngam sub-district. Using the quota sampling method, the required number of samples were selected from 11 villages, ensuring proportional representations of 11 villages.

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Fig. 12.2 Coverage area of the most extreme flooding event in 2041 from future flood prediction (Chaipimonplin and Sin-ampol 2019)

4 Complex Trade-Offs in Flooding of the Lower Yom River Basin Trade-offs in flooding is likely to be fluid and complicated depending on various changes in social, economic, and political influences from national to local levels. Primarily, the ancestors who have settled down in this floodplain area for almost a century ago, can be illustrated as authentic water folks and their lifestyle can be described in three ways—residence, transportation, and land use. This area had a tradition of building houses on stilts (approximate 2–3 m high) near the main canal, which used to allow its inhabitants to live there even in a flooded condition. Each household used to have a small gondola (light flat-bottomed boat) for regular

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transportation during normal and flooding condition. They used to use their boats for fishing all over the year, considering fishing as an alternative option for earning. Rice plantation was their main occupation and lands were used to be used for rice cultivation for 5–6 months in a year. Rice fields used to be flooded for 2–3 months every year and most of the villagers used to apply their traditional wisdom for fishing, using local fishing tools along with the gondola. The nature of riverine flood used to be predictable and quite stable. Local people in the past used not to be much worried about the intensity and depth of flooding. A gradual transformation in spatial and socioeconomic contexts of the community in recent three decades, however, has started to challenge the principles of living with floods among villagers. The rapid expansion of transportation infrastructure and automobile vehicles has influenced many settlements to reside next to main roads, the level of which are higher than the level of major water channels. This situation, accompanied with changing in housing materials and modern styles of accommodation, has partially influenced at least half of total households in this community to adjust and build single or double-storied houses without leaving the ground floor open or not on stilts. In addition, around 17% population (Field survey 2019) are identified as new settlers who have migrated from adjacent communities and provinces, and mostly do not prefer to build houses on stilts, following the local tradition and wisdom. The gondola, as a main vehicle for local transportation, has been replaced by motorcycles and cars, though some households still use gondolas during the flooding season. At the same time, rice cultivation has been intensified due to commercialization by adopting short-term dry-season rice varieties and agricultural technologies to plant and cultivate in winter and summer seasons, and cash crops (like, sugar cane, cassava) have been introduced to the community. Due to these changes, locals rarely get involved in fishing, using traditional wisdom (Field survey 2019). The emergence of commercial agriculture, as well as modern transportation systems and settlement pattern, due to the rapid economic growth era of Thailand (from 1990s to 2000s), strongly demanded an effective irrigation system for controlling flood water and allocating adequate water to farm lands even in dry seasons. The flood risk of downstream metropolitan region was started to be managed by draining out water from floodplains area without allowing to store the water in local water bodies. As a result of it, local farmers get affected by both early flooding in harvesting seasons and water shortage in dry seasons. Both disasters, due to the modern scheme of flood risk management threaten the livelihood security of local farmers and consume the biggest share of government budget for compensating the losses and rehabilitating the victims. Even though such losses are usually observed in most of flooding occurrences, anticipatory planning for context-based adaptation is not yet considered. Besides, only rice plantation got prioritized by the state policy, ignoring the necessity of income diversification. After the 2011 major flood, the government adopted the principle of disaster risk management (2P2R—prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery) to implement in an annual and centralized manner. Structural development and improvement of irrigation infrastructures and budget allocation for compensating flood-victims are started to practice as the main pathway for mitigating flood damages. This policy,

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however, was hardly applicable to the Yom river basin, as the locals were protesting dam construction in the upstream and it forced the government to implement ‘soft strategies’ for dealing with their conditions. In the same time, the rice mortgage policy was also issued to subsidize rice farmers by giving a surplus to the yield price so that lands can be extremely used for productions. Other than constructing few engineered small and medium scaled irrigation structures, substantial changes in livelihood adjustment was not been happened within next three years. Few empirical outcomes from 2P2R policy, however, were helpful for managing flood risks. Fiscal failure from the rice mortgage policy with the coup d’etat in 2014 resulted in the insecurity of financial capital for most of the farmers in that area. But the outstanding inheritance during the era of the ‘Bang Rakam 2P2R’ policy was the establishment of Yom Nan Operation and Maintenance Office (YNOMO) in 2013. This organization is responsible for designing the drainage network across the Yom and Nan rivers, surveying the remaining water channels, and developing irrigation infrastructures for flood relief and protection in the northern city and the downstream metropolitan region. Four years later, in 2017, a significant amount of initiatives were taken for managing flood risks in the Lower Yom catchment area. Basically, the RID, collaborating with the YNOMO, the 3rd Army Area, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, local administrative organizations, local leaders, water users’ groups, and local farmers, developed a detention area for the flooding season, establishing inter-basin water transfer network and adjusting livelihood patterns according to a suitable irrigation calendar. This pilot model, as a community-based participatory water management program in Bang Rakam detention area, was titled as the ‘Bang Rakam model’, covering approximately 60,800-ha lands that include 6 villages of Tha Nang Ngam sub-district. Major concepts of the pilot flood detention area are: • Infrastructure development—aims to increase drainage capacity within and between river basins to control flood water and enhance capacities for providing enough waters to farmlands during dry seasons. • Adaptation of local communities—asks for collaboration among local communities in the pilot model in making a commitment to detain the flood water during August to November in an acceptable level which will not disrupt daily livings. Several supplementary jobs, provided by the state—such as fishing and local industry (which were traditional ways of utilizing opportunities during flooding), vegetable planting, and other tasks—are recognized as alternative sources of income during the floods. Many facilitation programs, including supply chain management for the local yields, fish handling supports, and the introduction of new rice varieties were introduced to the detention area. The rice plantation is planned to be rescheduled according to the new irrigation schedule. Farmers will be able to grow rice for two times (rainy season crop during mid-April to July, and dry season crop during December—March) using floodwater, as well as water from the major dams of Nan river basin during dry seasons. Compensation will be guaranteed if any damages occur prior to the flood detention duration.

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• Information for forecasting—is another essential scheme to support the early warning system and integrate the network of river basins flowing from the upstream to the metropolitan region. According to the dynamic revolution of flood risk management and other socioeconomic development policies, riverine flood events in the detention area tend to be interpreted under a complex equation of trade-offs between advantages and disadvantages the flood used to be considered as a part of living before the trend of agricultural commercialization and rapid economic growth. Local wisdoms of living with floods, however, are now dissociated from many households, relying on state policies of flood risk management. But the local farmers who are living nearby the river and main canals (the majority population inside the pilot model area) still consider the riverine flooding as a normal natural phenomenon which is better than a drought condition; as many participants said, ‘having a lot of water is much better than no water for farming’. Current trade-offs of floods among social groups are stated in Table 1. For the ancestors and their successors, floods may provide several opportunities of sustaining livelihoods which the government agencies need to recognize in order to legitimate as parts of the context-based adaptation policy of the pilot model. Floods can maintain fertility and eliminate weeds and pests from the farmlands. Farmers also use floodwater for cultivation. Local fishing is also an alternative source of income for this group of people; however, not every household can do it, particularly the new settlers, non-farm employees, and households outside the pilot model area. Yet, they might get compensations during floods and can get more choices to grow cash crops due to lower physical exposure to floods. Different trade-offs among social groups due to external policy implementation have fundamental impacts on social vulnerability. Six among 11 villages of Tha Nang Ngam sub-district are parts of this pilot model, while the others are not included. The communities within the pilot model are secured due to the agreement between Table 1 Current trade-offs of floods among social groups (Field survey 2019) Social groups

Advantages of trade-offs

Disadvantages of trade-offs

Ancestors, successors, and rice farmers

- Maintain fertility - Reduce weeds and pests - Grow new rice varieties, using flood water - Engage in fishing

- Interrupt children’s education when schools get flooded - Elderly people encounter difficulties in accessing healthcare services - Early flooding causes damages in agriculture and settlement

New settlers, non-farm employee, and households outside the pilot model area

- Receive compensations - More choices to grow cash crops due to low intensity of flooding

- Excessive drainage from the pilot model area causes floods - Inconvenience for daily living and commuting to work -Engage in fishing as a non-suitable choice

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the government sector and local people. Heavy rainfall in the upstream area and high river water level may flood rice fields outside the model area before the regular season. Attitudes and practices of households and communities in adapting to flood are essential to indicate how social vulnerability is induced only by the inclusion in the pilot model, occupation, and settlement.

5 Results and Discussions 5.1 Attitudes and Practices in Flood Risk Adaptation • Current attitudes and practices Households in 11 villages were asked to describe their perceptions about previous and current flooding events, as well as reflect their attitudes toward three aspects— knowledge provision about causes and effects of flooding, collaborations among communities, and future planning and prevention by using 5-score likert scale system. The relationship between attitudes and practices towards flood risk adaptation, both in current and future events, was analyzed with the perceptions of previous and current flooding patterns in Table 2. The analysis aimed to reveal how planned and anticipatory attitudes, active collaborations among households, and high effectiveness of governmental management shape community perceptions about spatial, temporal, and intensity dimensions of floods. It is empirical that if the intensity is perceived as severe, local people tend to realize causes and effects, attempt to mitigate damages, make future plans, spread local knowledge and help each other to adapting to floods. High reliability on the efficiency of state and local leaders and active collaborations among stakeholders for managing flood risks, make them reluctant to perceive the severity of flood risks. According to the survey, local people did not perceive any significant changes in intensity, spatial, and temporal dimensions of flooding in their area, except some extreme events that usually occur once in every 4–7 years. Although local people assessed current flooding as a normal situation, they highly recognized the importance of self-preparedness (4.19 out of 5) and strong collaboration across households within a community (4.00 out of 5). More than 65% participants have relatively high motivation to employ short-term prevention and preparedness measures. Knowledge exchange within a household and future planning for mitigating floods were ranked as neutral, even though one-third of the households agreed to drive these factors in practice. Only 28% households could identify the link between climate variabilities and flood-impacts. Land -use changes within a community were not recognized as a leading factor for enhancing flood risks. Attitudes among households of Tha Nang Ngam sub-district were quite similar whether each village is located within the pilot model or not. Yet, government sectors and local leaders expressed their basic understanding regarding roles of climatic variabilities and land-use changes

Exchanging information about flooding within communities

−0.179*

−0.161*

Community participation in policymaking

−0.180*

0.164*

Helping each other to mitigate and adapt

0.267**

−0.282**

0.227**

Disseminating knowledge

0.233**

−0.216**

0.166*

Planning to adapt to future flood events

0.179*

Frequency

0.202**

0.180*

Duration

Temporal dimensions

Local leaders

0.202**

Mitigating flood damages

Areal extent

Local irrigation office

0.201**

Intensity

Perception to flooding patterns

Realizing causes and effects of floods

*Represent a significance level at 0.05 **Represent a significance level at 0.01

Collaboration across households within a community

Efficiency in flood risk management

Attitude

Influential factors to perception

0.155*

−0.160*

0.213**

0.159*

Speed of onset

0.163*

0.107*

Variability

3.62

2.99

3.68

3.62

4.00

3.63

3.60

4.19

3.36

Rating score (out of 5)

Table 2 Relationship between perception to flooding patterns and attitude, efficiency in flood risk management, and collaboration of household in community adaptation (Field survey 2019)

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for threatening adaptation strategies of local people. It, consequently, could represent inadequate risk communication about future challenges from the state to local people, even though more than 75% participants stated that they accessed credible flooding news and information from local leaders. After launching the participatory flood risk management in 2017, local households, particularly within the pilot model, expressed their satisfactions with the efficiency of local irrigation office (YNOMO) (3.62 out of 5) and their local leaders (3.68 out of 5). The early warning system was also appreciated as effective. Local irrigation offices also surveyed flood-damages of some households and implemented several structural mitigation measures such as developing new water channels, improving drainage capacities in small waterways, repairing embankments, and so on. However, in terms of collaboration among stakeholders within a community for reducing flood risks, government agencies and local leaders were not able to effectively collaborate with households. Households did not actively engage both in planning and practicing during critical periods (2.91 and 2.99 out of 5). Instead, they just followed general practices commanded by state agencies and local leaders, as well as, followed traditional cultures (3.98) and exchanged information with other neighbors (3.62). Some participants, both from within the pilot model and outside pilot area, identified weak leadership of local leaders as the main cause of making problems, since the leaders failed to collaborate properly with households, to provide continuous supports for additional income sources, and had lower trust on financially vulnerable households. • Future adaptation strategies Each household expressed opinions on 10 future adaptation strategies. Seven out of ten strategies represented close relationships to the perceptions of flooding patterns (Table 3); so, these factors were selected for further analysis. In current situation, participants from all communities disagreed to migrate to different but safer locations (1.64 out of 5). As a result, in situ adaptation strategies were prioritized for the future, recognizing the relatively high importance of community solidarity (3.76 out of 5). Local viewpoints about future adaptation choices were also found as correlated with the perceptions of flooding patterns. Local people who have experienced the impacts of floods (particularly in areal extent, frequency, and variability) did not anticipate practicing strategies even though the relationships were statistically significant, and these might potentially advocate many future adaptation strategies. They might participate with a community in policy making (3.44 out of 5), learn more about future trends of flooding (3.25 out of 5), or physically adjust residences, farm lands, and community landscape to be safe from floods. Adopting supplementary jobs to secure income was also quite acceptable (3.12 out of 5); but it is not going to permanently change their occupations (2.58 out of 5). In addition, purchasing tools to prevent flooding at the household level was not preferred as a choice to practice in future. The responses showed that household attitudes towards flood adaptation primarily foster effective in situ adaptation strategies, due to statistically significant relationships (both at 0.01 and 0.05 significance level). Six factors in relation to attitudes, including future planning of households, disseminating knowledge about

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Table 3 Relationship between future adaptation strategies and perception of flooding patterns (Field survey 2019) Future adaptation strategies

Perception of flooding patterns Intensity

Areal extent

Temporal dimensions Frequency

Duration

Community 0.151* participation in policy making

0.189*

0.172*

0.243**

Knowing future trends of flooding

0.271**

Adjusting residences and farm lands

0.162*

Helping community to build infrastructures for flood prevention

0.172*

Engaging to supplementary job options

0.134*

Switching to more secure jobs

0.253**

0.166*

Purchasing tools for flood prevention

0.322**

0.261**

Speed of Variability onset 0.164*

Rating score (out of 5) 3.44

3.25

0.191*

3.18

0.162*

0.159*

3.12

3.12

2.58

0.181*

0.186*

2.42

*Represent a significance level at 0.05 **Represent a significance level at 0.01

flooding among household members, readiness to mitigate flood-damages and adapt to flooding impacts, collaborative assistance across households within a community, local leadership, and community preparedness. Continuous practices in active household collaboration to flood adaptation at the community level (flood prevention in a critical period and participation to planning) showed a close relationship (at 0.01 significance level) to practice in situ adaptation strategies in future. In terms of passive collaboration—exchanging information with local people within the community and following rules and commands during flooding, relatively supported economy-related options for in situ future adaptation (at 0.01 significance level) which includes income diversification through finding supplementary jobs, switching to new occupations, adjusting residences and farm lands, and accumulating tools to prevent floods.

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Although current attitudes and practices for flood adaptation at the household level among communities are not much different, future adaptation strategies seem to be diverse. Communities, which are comparatively less exposed to floods and not included within the Bang Rakam model, do not find supplementary jobs for practicing income diversification and fail to adjust residences and farm lands to cope with floods. Households, located in four communities within the pilot model, have problems in social cohesion and knowledge exchange and did not show enthusiasm for future planning, collaborating with their communities, learning future trends of flooding, and helping their communities to build and improve flood prevention infrastructures. Some communities are facing challenges to practice self-regulatory measures for adapting to future challenges, because of the barriers in accessing social and human capitals, due to weak social cohesion and local leadership, as well as insufficient knowledge and scopes for exchanging information.

5.2 Social Vulnerability Analysis The PAR model is adopted for this research, as a core scheme for analyzing social vulnerabilities, based on previous experiences, actions in dealing with flooding impacts, and future adaptation choices at the household level. Figure 12.3 illustrates three underlying causes that trigger unsafe conditions among vulnerable social groups, using the PAR model. • Unequal power relations in case of establishing flood risk adaptation strategies Unequal power relations among the state, communities, and households exacerbate the social vulnerability. Each community primiralily needs effective local leadership and leaders’ social relationship with households and other stakeholders.

Fig. 12.3 The pressure model of Tha Nang Ngam sub-district (Field survey 2019)

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Lacking in social cohesion and limited scopes for community participation in planning and practicing measures for reducing risks limit to maintaining adaptive capacities. Isolated households fail to explore effective adaptation practices which allow them not to avail assistance from external stakeholders and to face losses and damages in terms of assets, savings, residences and properties. Secondly, the communities within pilot model get opportunities to eliminate social vulnerabilities at certain level, but it does not totally protect the community if it and its households do not collectively satisfy basic needs. Thirdly, unequal power relations can be illustrated through basic infrastructure development deficit, particularly in cases of road and irrigation systems. Thus, it can be firmly argued that social cohesion and leadership of local leaders can encourage the community and households to sustain under flood risk conditions, even though a particular community is not located within the pilot model and/or could not access the benefits of adequate infrastructures. Similarly, continuous supports from the pilot model with well-prepared infrastructures and good social relations and cohesions of local leaders with government agencies might not guarantee the efficiency of local flood risk management practices. Instead, it could cause damages to local people, if the households do not pay attention or not being invited to participate in practicing and planning adaption measures. The pressure model identifies the unequal power relation as a significant pitfall for causing disadvantages in flood management among households and communities of different locations (Sayers et al. 2018; Marks 2015; Klijn et al. 2015; Porio 2011; Walker and Burningham 2011; Abramovitz 2001). For example, lack of basic infrastructure development and inclusion to the pilot model can create inequality in spatial dimension. This situation can also reflect in partial authority of the state for encompassing policies and decision making at a certain level (Wisner et al. 2004). Besides, the results from Tha Nang Ngam sub-district do not clearly state that whether the social class influences differences in vulnerabilities or not. However, these inequalities might not generate disadvantages in flood management, if the local leadership and social cohesion are strong enough to share benefits among households in a community. It is not the only necessary to identify flood as a disaster, but it also needs to shed the light to have concerns about its trade-offs, especially for the people who apply traditional practices for living with floods. • ‘Monoculture’ in economic development policy Because of the local tradition and land topography, local people prefer to get involved in rice-cultivation and the policy that promotes only rice production as the monoculture in economic development, is eliminating the scopes of alternative employments. The transformation from rice mortgage policy to current subsidization of production factors in last five years has also decreased income security from rice production. Local fishing trends would be the best available option, but not all have skills to be engaged in fishing. Single direction of development rarely leaves the scope for livelihood diversification. Many local leaders and households reported instability in skills development program and intermittent linkage of local products to the market, as fundamental schemes for distributing risks and opening new opportunities for more sustainable livelihoods. This root cause is an obvious answer to

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identify why local households were not much interested in using supplementary jobs or applying for a new occupation to lessen future risks. The ‘monoculture’ with fluctuated rice production policies lessens household autonomous capacities for adaptation and this may cause low income, lack of savings, and sustained debt, as well as financial deficit in flood prevention. • Lack of future recognition and knowledge for context-based adaptation Although flood is quite normal and becomes a part of local living, concerns about future risks were not much noticed among participants, resulting (1) relatively low awareness about climate change impacts on changing patterns of floods; (2) inefficiency of long-term forecasting, risk communication, and accuracy at the community level; (3) different risk perception levels; and (4) partial inclusion of the pilot model, which diminishes the opportunities of communities, located outside the model for accessing the information. It is noticed that several households, as well as their communities were not enthusiast enough for planning for mitigating future risks. The lack of future recognition and knowledge about context-based adaptation have created uncertainties and inflexible adaptation strategies, leading to live in unsafe conditions. These include limited time for preparedness (that might make inappropriate responses to events) and inconveniences in daily life (especially of children and elderly people). Staffs of local state agencies also have experienced too much burdens in mobilizing budget and workforce for the prevention and preparedness stages, instead of providing assistance during a critical period. This circumstance can be termed as the ‘balloon effect’.

5.3 Improving Unsafe Conditions The analysis of pressure-and-release (PAR) model illustrated that choices of adaptation among households are not something innate, but these are navigated by root causes and dynamic pressures across time. Based on the results, derived from both physical and social models, five vital issues were gathered from government agencies, local leaders, and households to improve unsafe conditions and create opportunities for local engagement for adapting to future challenges and ‘releasing’ the community from risky conditions. This research suggests that a complete relationship of risk analysis can be derived from both physical and socioeconomic analysis. Integration of scientific and social science research is a good choice to help communities to identify their problems. Current practices of government agencies in implementing the pilot ‘Bang Rakam model’ as a participatory scheme, endeavor to balance structural-technological mitigation measures, allowing coordination among social groups and knowledge exchange across disciplines to overcome pitfalls in flood risk management. This action does not actually aim to reduce flood intensity and duration, but it is designed as a mechanism to readjust social conditions and empower local livelihoods, ensuring social protection. Exploring external policy interventions in relation to flood risk

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Fig. 12.4 Release model of Tha Nang Ngam sub-district (Field survey 2019)

management must be inclusive. Various arenas of policy, including water resource management, agriculture, disaster management, spatial planning, climate change, and so on are essential to identify different aspects of social vulnerability and make robust adaptation for addressing future challenges in a community. Adaptation to future challenges requires flexibility and transformation from knowledge sharing across stakeholders, collaborative practice, local community empowerment, and learning of new information that tentatively identifies future variabilities (Cinner et al. 2018; Dazé et al. 2009). Empirical findings of this research mark the inefficiencies of these factors for formulating adaptation policy and implementing strategies, based on the policy. Stages for improving unsafe conditions are developed here in accordance with the ‘four stages of adaptation’ by transforming root causes of pressures to achieve social resilience (Fig. 12.4). Basically, the government is responsible for advancing mitigation and coping capacities of relevant stakeholders. The early warning system is expected to be able to forecast weather conditions and warn people. Information from the early warning system must be conveniently accessible to all so that everyone can be benefited through effective commands and risk communications in any critical period. Each community needs to be able to employ suitable strategies, under the principle of flexible adaptation. The importance of developing structural mitigation measures, detention areas, flood warning system, and effective message delivery system also cannot be undermined. However, land zoning policy, which did not get priority in previous flood risk management scheme of Thailand, needs to be further developed along with other strategies to have settlements and economic developments in safer locations (Richert et al. 2017; Klijn et al.

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2015; Manuta et al. 2006; Abramovitz 2001). It is needed to know the current condition of severely affected groups, so that they may participate in policy formulation and implementation, developing trust with local leaders and state agencies. Context or area-based adaptation needs to be accomplished through the establishment of household collaboration programs for social cohesion and community robustness. Local leaders as key persons can play roles to disseminate knowledge and information to households and to establish social cohesion within communities, undermining the hierarchical order. Local wisdom from various generations, social groups, age, and gender need to be shared and configured as possible solutions based on previous experiences, under the principles of planned and anticipatory adaptation. Local leaders, furthermore, should focus on social networking activity to connect with academic scholars, civil society groups, and private sectors in order to enhance adaptive capacities in a holistic way. In general, it represents a clear illustration of contextualizing social vulnerability, encompassing internal and external conditions that each community encounter (Wisner et al. 2004). Selecting practices for adaptation is navigated and constrained by the joint action of previous experiences, capitals, and power relations at a particular moment in the landscape, rather than only self-evaluation as described by scholars (Burton et al. 1978; Golledge and Stimson 1987; Walmsley and Lewis 1984). As most local people prefer in situ adaptation, it needs to be evolved in a proactive way by encouraging local villagers to collectively plan and assist community tasks under flood prevention and preparedness principles. In the meantime, state agencies need to adjust economic development policy to implement diversified programs, recognizing local livelihoods. For example, local fishing practices can be revived for both daily living and commercial purposes. Alternative employment opportunities, considering local contexts, community preferences, and market demand need to be promoted. This will lead to autonomous adaptation. Ultimately, the transformation of flood risk management from state-oriented to citizen-centered and community-based adaptation will be able to reduce risks and vulnerabilities in long run. The government needs to provide knowledge about climate change and socioeconomic challenges, as well as to enhance the ability of local communities and households to recognize and explore context-based problems by themselves with a sense of multi-level interaction. It will help the community to be in the leadership position to initiate future plans through collaborating with external stakeholders and exchanging knowledge. Local livelihood options can be revived by integrating traditional practices with modern technologies (Ensor and Berger 2009), but it is not often recognized as a sustainable readjustment. As a new community culture, adaptation must avoid the trend of one-size-fits-all policy implementation (Hussey et al. 2013). The current research identifies in situ options as preferred options, recognized by local people, particularly for diversifying income generating options and accumulating social capital, which are parts of adaptation strategies of sustainable livings, suggested by Agrawal and Perrin (2009). For policy recommendations, the inclusion of all communities to the pilot model is necessary. The goal of successful adaptation under future challenges cannot be achieved without community participation in a bottom-up process. State agencies,

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as leading actors, need to encourage social cohesion and risk communication at the local level, promote learning and adjusting livelihood conditions and integrating climate and socio-economic concerns in flood-related adaptation policies. The next stage of research, after exploring social vulnerability, should be directed to encourage community-based adaptation through the Participatory Action Research (PAR) with local communities and the pilot model partnership to foster better policy decision making (Smit and Wandel 2006; Adger et al. 2005). Community-based research may be a potential scheme to extract social identity of households and individuals in making decision to adapt, directly assist vulnerable people and communities, protect livelihood security in a place-based context, challenge traditional mindset of flood risk management, welcome all local voices for policy making, and facilitate networking and knowledge exchange platform across sectors (Reid 2016; Gogoi et al. 2014; Forsyth 2013; Ayers and Forsyth 2009).

6 Conclusion This research was conducted in the context of adopting flood forecasting, using the ANN model, to point out high-risk communities in terms of future flooding conditions under climate change impacts. Even though it was found that floods will occur every year in Bang Rakam district after 2035, knowledge is essential on how the local community and related stakeholders could sustain better in the era of multiple future challenges induced by climate change impacts, flood risk management strategies, and development policy. In order to promote local community engagement for adaptation, the integration across disciplines together with the analysis of physical and social settings are important to represent social vulnerabilities and future possibilities in making tailor-made adaptation policies. This chapter finds that many households and communities have attempted to mobilize resources and capitals to strengthen their readiness for adaptation to current and future circumstances. However, three major root causes have constrained local communities for initiating future planning, gathering active collaboration at the household level, considering future risk awareness particularly in climate change impacts, and adopting flexibility in adaptation towards changing situations. These root causes include (1) unequal power relations in establishing flood risk adaptation strategies; (2) variable ‘monoculture’ policies in economic development with fewer concerns in diversification; and (3) lack of future recognition and knowledge for context-based adaptation. In this sense, households and communities need to collaborate within communities and across sectors for living with future changes. Future adaptation strategies need to be introduced to the local communities based on various flooding conditions including flood prevention mechanism and technology, multi-level knowledge exchange for adaptation, and occupation transformation.

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Acknowledgements This chapter is a part of the research project “The Application of an Artificial Neural Network Model for Water Level Prediction in the Future from Climate Change and Community Adaptation to Climate Change in Bang Rakam District”, funded by the Targeted Research Initiatives Program under the collaboration among the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), the Biodiversity-based Economic Development Office (BEDO), and the Chiang Mai University. The research team is thankful to kind assistances from the Yom Nan Operation and Maintenance Office, local state organizations, community leaders, and households in Bang Rakam District, Phitsanulok Province. In addition, the contribution of Miss Nattaporn Luangpipat for editing the language for this manuscript is highly appreciated.

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Dovers SR, Hezri AA (2010) Institutions and policy processes: the means to the ends of adaptation. WIREs Clim Change 1:212–231. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.29 Ensor J, Berger R (2009) Community-based adaptation and culture in theory and practice. In: Adger WN, Lorenzoni I, O’Brien KL (eds) Adapting to climate change: thresholds, values, governance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Forsyth T (2013) Community-based adaptation: a review of past and future challenges. Environ Policy Govern 4(5):439–446. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.231 Gogoi E, Dupar M, Jones L, Martinez C, McNamara L (2014) How to scale out community-based adaptation to climate change. CDKN Working Paper Golledge RG, Stimson R (1987) Analytical behavioural geography. Croom Helm, London Griggs D, Smith MS, Rockstrom J, Ohman MC, Gaffney O, Glaser G, Kanie N, Noble I, Steffen W, Shyamsundar P (2014) An integrated framework for sustainable development goals. Ecol Soc 19(4):49. https://doi.org/10.5751/es-07082-190449 Hussey K, Price R, Pittock J, Livingstone J, Dovers S, Fisher D, Hatfield-Dodds S (2013) Statutory frameworks, institutions and policy processes for climate adaptation: Do Australia’s existing statutory frameworks, associated institutions and policy processes support or impede national adaptation planning and practice?. National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast IPCC (2007) Fourth assessment report: climate change. IPCC, Geneva IPCC (2012) Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014: synthesis report. IPCC, Geneva Katyal AK, Petrisor IG (2011) Flood management strategies for a holistic sustainable development. Environ Forens 12(3):206–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/15275922.2011.595051 Klijn F, Kreibich H, de Moel H, Penning-Roswell E (2015) Adaptive flood risk management planning based on a comprehensive flood risk conceptualisation. Mitig Adapt Strat Global Change 20:845–864. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-015-9638-z Kreimer A, Arnold M (2000) Managing disaster risk in emerging economies. The World Bank, United States Kundzewicz ZW, Kanae S, Seneviratne SI, Handmer J, Nicholls N, Peduzzi P, Mechler R, Bouwer LM, Arnell N, Mach K, Muir-Wood R, Brakenridge GR, Kron W, Benito G, Honda Y, Takahashi K, Sherstyukov B (2013) Flood risk and climate change: global and regional perspectives. Hydrol Sci J 59(1):1–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2013.857411 Lavrakas PJ (2008) Encyclopedia of survey research methods. SAGE Publications Ltd, London Lei Y, Wang J, Yue Y, Zhou H, Yin W (2014) Rethinking the relationships of vulnerability, resilience, and adaptation from a disaster risk perspective. Nat Hazards 70:609–627. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s11069-013-0831-7 Manuta J, Khrutmuang S, Huaisai D, Lebel L (2006) Institutionalized incapacities and practice in flood disaster management in Thailand. Sci Cult 72:10–22 Marks D (2015) The urban political ecology of the 2011 floods in Bangkok: the creation of uneven vulnerabilities. Pac Aff 88(3):623–651. https://doi.org/10.5509/2015883623 Marks D, Lebel L (2016) Disaster governance and the scalar politics of incomplete decentralization: Fragmented and contested responses to the 2011 floods in Central Thailand. Habit Int 52:57–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.08.024 Oulahen G (2016) The production of unequal vulnerability to flood hazards: a conceptual framework for hazards research in Canada’s cities. Can Geogr 60(1):82–90. https://doi.org/10.1111/cag. 12232 Porio E (2011) Vulnerability, adaptation, and resilience to floods and climate change-related risks among marginal, riverine communities in Metro Manila. Asian J Soc Sci 39:425–445. https:// doi.org/10.1163/156853111x597260 Reid H (2016) Ecosystem- and community-based adaptation: learning from community-based natural resource management. Clim Dev 8(1):4–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2015.103 4233

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Richert C, Erdlenbruch K, Figuières C (2017) The determinants of households’ flood mitigation decisions in France—on the possibility of feedback effects from past investments. Ecol Econ 131:342–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.09.014 Sayers P, Penning-Rowsell EC, Horritt M (2018) Flood vulnerability, risk, and social disadvantage: current and future patterns in the UK. Reg Environ Change 18(2):339–352. https://doi.org/10. 1007/s10113-017-1252-z Schanze J, Hutter G, Olfert A, Penning-Rowsell EC, Parker D, Harries T, Nachtnebel HP, Holzmann H, Neuhold C, Meyer V, Kuhlicke C, Neuhold C, Olfert A, Parker D, Schildt A (2008) Systematization, evaluation and context conditions of structural and non-structural measures for flood risk reduction. Flood-Era Joint Report. European Research Area Network, London Schelfaut K, Pannemans B, Van der Craats I, Krywkow J, Mysiak J, Cools J (2011) Bringing flood resilience into practice: the FREEMAN project. Environ Sci Policy 14(7):825–833. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.envsci.2011.02.009 Singh K (2014) Application of pressure and release (PAR) model for assessing vulnerability to industrial hazards in district Bathinda (Punjab, India). Int J Manag Soc Sci Res (IJMSSR) 3(5):25– 29 Smit B, Wandel J (2006) Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability. Glob Environ Change 16(3):282–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.03.008 Smithers J, Smit B (1997) Human adaptation to climate variability and change. Glob Environ Change 7(2):129–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0959-3780(97)00003-4 UNESCAP (2015) Disasters in Asia and the Pacific: 2015 year in review. UNESCAP, Bangkok Walmsley DJ, Lewis GJ (1984) Human geography: behavioural approaches. Longman, London Walker G, Burningham K (2011) Vulnerability and environmental justice: evidence and evaluation of inequality in a UK context. Crit Soc Pol 31(2):216–240. https://doi.org/10.1177/026101831 0396149 Wisner B, Blaikie P, Cannon T, Davis I (2004) At risk: natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters, 2nd edn. Routledge, London Yom Nan Operation and Maintenance Office (2017) Water management for supporting in-season rice cultivation in the rainy season of detention field, royal irrigation department (Bang Rakam Model 2017). Yom Nan Operation and Maintenance Office, Phitsanulok (Thai)

Mr. Sin-ampol s expertise is related, but not limited to community-based adaptation to climate change and flood, disaster risk management and resilience, multi-level environmental governance, geography and behavioral perspectives of individuals, and mobility/migration and rural restructuring. He has been working as a Lecturer in the Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University since 2015. He is currently a PhD candidate at Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, and conducting a research focusing on enhancing capacities of individuals of repeatedly flooded communities to participate in community-based adaptation in Thailand. He also acquired the degree of Master of Arts in Social Science (Development Studies) from Chiang Mai University with the Excellent Thesis Award in Humanities and Social Sciences for his thesis, entitled ‘Mobility of Fish Cage Farmers in the Ping River Basin as an Adaptation to Climate-related and Socio-economic Risks’. He has experienced in various research projects with government agencies, NGOs, and international collaboration in order to foster adaptive capacity and resilience of local communities to multiple stressors in relation to climate change, haze pollution, flooding, and water resources management. Dr. Chaipimonplin received the BSc degree in Soil Science from Khon Kaen University, Thailand, the Master of Applied Science degree in Geospatial Information from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia and the PhD degree from the University of Leeds, UK. He has finished the Certificate Program on Processing the Radar Data of Earth Surface Remote Sensing from NPO Mashinostroyenia, Moscow, Russian Federation and the Certificate Program on GIS and Remote Sensing for Natural Hazard and Risk Assessment from ITC, The Netherlands. He is serving as

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an Assistant Professor at the Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, of Chiang Mai University, Thailand. He is a member of the Regional Center for Climate and Environmental Studies (RCCES). He focuses on research areas of artificial neural network model for natural hazard, flood forecasting, air pollution, landslide mapping, and prediction of soil carbon stock. Ms. Songka received the degree of Master of Science in Geography and Geoinformatics (Environmental and Disaster Management) from the Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences of Chiang Mai University, Thailand. During the study program, she worked as a research assistant in the project of predicting disaster and adaptation of local communities in flooded areas and in the project entitled ‘Agriculture Management to Reduce the Impact and Cope with Climate Change’. Her interests are related to disaster management and geospatial analysis of flooding hazards.

Public and Private Sector Interventions in Post-disaster Resettlement: A Case Study of Model Villages in Pakistan Ali Jamshed, Irfan Ahmad Rana, and Usman Maqsood Mirza

Abstract Flooding is the most frequently occurring disaster in the world. In recent decades, climate change has been shown to be linked to a higher frequency of flood occurrences around the world. Every year, flooding displaces millions of people worldwide resulting in escalating vulnerabilities of exposed populations. Pakistan, in particular, is extremely vulnerable to climate change induced floods. It has seen a growing trend of disastrous flooding events in recent decades. The extreme flood event of 2010 (and similar events in the years since) have caused tremendous human and material losses. The construction of ‘model villages’ as a mitigating strategy to flooding has turned out to be an intervention of choice for both public and private sectors for the resettlement of exposed and vulnerable population. This strategy was initiated by the government, and then various non-government organizations (NGOs) followed suit with their own planning and development approaches. More than 200 model villages have been developed in Punjab province since the 2010 flood event. This book chapter revisits the model villages developed in 2011 to evaluate public and private intervention in the aftermath of the flooding and assess their resettlement approaches. For this purpose, four model villages were randomly selected in severely flood-affected districts of Punjab province. Two of the studied model villages were developed by NGOs, while the other two were developed by the provincial government’s disaster management authority. Expert interviews, focus group discussions, authors’ observations, and household surveys were conducted. A total of 145 relocated households were surveyed using structured questionnaires. A. Jamshed Institute of Spatial and Regional Planning (IREUS), University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany e-mail: [email protected] I. A. Rana (B) Department of Urban and Regional Planning (URP), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (SCEE), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] U. M. Mirza Otterbeck Architekten, (OA Office GmbH), Stuttgart, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_13

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The analysis shows model villages designed and developed by NGOs were more sustainable and resilient than the resettled communities in provincial government backed projects. It was found that livelihood and skill-development programs based on local markets, community mobilization, training, maintenance and operation of community services, and young and adult literacy programs were the predominant factors which made communities more resilient. Keywords Rehabilitation · Disaster recovery · Community-based disaster risk management · Rural communities · Climate change

1 Introduction The impacts of flood events are devastating in developing countries due to their limited coping capacity and adaptation to flooding. Interventions to reduce, mitigate and adapt to the risks of flooding—from private to public, local to international—are carried out globally costing billions of US Dollars annually (Watson et al. 2015; Shreve and Kelman 2014). These flood events have resulted in extensive internal and external interventions in the form of relief, recovery and reconstruction initiatives. Private and public ventures have tried to address reconstruction issues in developing as well as developed countries. Public-private partnerships have also been successful in provision of such disaster resettlements. However, recognition of which type of intervention is the best is still debated. This book chapter examines and compares external (public and private) interventions for post-disaster resettlement in the context of rural flooding in Pakistan. It revisits the model villages developed in 2011 to evaluate interventions from the government-led external intervention (which is considered as ‘public’), and NGO-led external intervention (considered as ‘private’). Pakistan is a developing country in South Asia with a population of approximately 208 million. Its average GDP growth rate is 5.5% and is ranked 147th on the Human Development Index (PBS 2017; Jahan 2015). Pakistan’s geographical and climatic features make the country extremely prone to multiple environmental hazards, of which floods are the most frequently occurring. Pakistan has experienced multiple flood events in the past affecting (Rana and Routray 2018) primarily the rural areas of the country (Jamshed et al. 2017). It is estimated that between 1970 and 2017, 85 flood events occurred, displacing over 80 million people, causing thirteen thousand mortalities and economic damages of more than 21 billion US Dollars (EM-DAT 2017). In the last ten years, floods have become more frequent and intense due to climate change and pose a serious challenge for flood disaster management in Pakistan. The flood event in 2010 played havoc with the affected population and hit the local and national economy hard. This flood event has exposed various vulnerabilities of the country. In 2009, Pakistan was ranked 69th on Global Climate Risk Index and was later ranked 1st in 2010 on the same list due to the impacts of the flood disaster in the same year (Kreft et al. 2015). This flood event has caused an estimated damage

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of 10 billion US Dollars (EM-DAT 2017). World Bank has estimated that over 2000 people lost their lives; 1.6 million houses were destroyed, and over 20 million people were internally displaced within the country (The World Bank 2010). In the aftermath of the disaster, external interventions (both public and private) played a key role for minimizing the impact through relief, recovery, and reconstruction. Post-disaster phases (relief, reconstruction, and recovery) cost more than US$ 8.7 billion where 81% of contributions for relief and recovery efforts came from donors (The World Bank 2015). In this chapter, a comparison of the resettlement efforts of the public and private sector after the flood disaster of 2010 has been done. Resettlement efforts were carried out in the form of model villages (MVs). Four MVs—two developed by the public sector and two by the private sector—were selected. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, whereas checklists were constructed to analyze qualitative data. Based on these, this chapter tries to identify pre-disaster and postdisaster socioeconomic and physical changes in resettled communities. The research is aimed to help planners, developers and disaster managers for effective post-disaster settlement.

2 Theoretical Background Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Climate-induced extreme weather events such as floods are forecasted to occur with a higher frequency and intensity (IPCC 2012). After the 2010 extreme flood event, public resettlement was implemented in Pakistan, however there is a significant gap in literature regarding the efficacy and long-term sustainability of such measures (Jamshed et al. 2018). The IPCC views resettlement as a failure to adapt but research has shown it can be a sustainable adaptation measure in disaster risk reduction (IPCC 2012). In recent years, post-disaster resettlement has been framed as an adaptation strategy; however, an uncertainty surrounding the benefits and disadvantages of resettling vulnerable communities is also acknowledged (Arnall et al. 2013; Arnall 2018). Arnall (2018) describes three principles of resettlement ventures. The first principle states that resettlement should always be seen as the very last resort when all other adaptation measures are declared to be ineffective. The primary reason for this principle lies within the relative infancy of research into how resettlement affects different communities. The second principle delves into willingness of people to relocate, and asserts that resettlement should always be voluntary, since research into involuntary resettlement has shown its inefficacy. The third principle is that resettlement should provide communities with better development standards than their pre-disaster settlements. Resettlement can be categorized in different ways. In terms of willingness of people to resettle, it can be said to be either voluntary or involuntary (King et al. 2014; Hansen and Oliver-Smith 1982). One benefit of involuntary resettlement is that it can bring development opportunities to the communities, allowing physical and social infrastructure to be readily available to them which is

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not the case in their pre-disaster conditions. On the flipside, one major disadvantage of involuntary resettlement is that it has been found to impoverish the communities which are induced to relocate (Arnall 2018). Some researches, for example Evrard and Goudineau (2004) and Wilmsen and Wang (2015), dispute this categorization, stating that state-led voluntary settlement programs often operate in a grey area (Arnall 2018), with coercive incentives that provide little to no alternatives than to resettle. On the other hand, in sectoral terms, resettlement can be public or private, with public referring to state-initiated resettlement programs whereas private referring to programs initiated by private entities, non-government organizations, or communities themselves (Badri et al. 2006). The primary difference between public and private resettlement is that government-led schemes are readily adopted as tools to solve issues of poverty and vulnerability of rural populations and is hardly ever the last resort (Arnall 2018). Barnett and O’Neill (2012) also identifies disadvantages of involuntary resettlements. He identified labor mobility as an alternative to forced resettlements which can have fewer risks and larger rewards. Resettlements have also shown to increase vulnerability and maladaptation, by leading to landlessness, unemployment, homelessness, social marginalization, food insecurity, reduced access to common-property resources and increased morbidity (Barnett and O’Neill 2012). However, Okada et al. (2014) attribute such maladaptation to lack of preparation and planning. They show that resettlement and land-swap initiatives, if properly managed, offer some of the best long-term strategies for disaster risk reduction. Maladaptation can also be directly linked with voluntary resettlement, as resettlement always fails when people do not want to relocate, which inherently decreases their capacity to adapt and increases vulnerability (Barnett and O’Neill 2012). Correa and Gonzalez (2000) contend that resettlements to similar geographical regions can cause an increase in vulnerability and economic losses, and in case of involuntary relocation to these regions people tend to return to their original lands. Ganapati and Ganapati (2008) discuss public participation in resettlements and declare that although such participation may in theory be desirable, achieving it in reality proves to be more complicated. One important reason is that such participatory initiatives attract unrepresentative sample of the concerned population. Jamshed et al. (2018) conclude that participatory process in resettlements allows policymakers to understand the preferences and local knowledge of the concerned population, and builds support and trust for policies, avoiding time consuming litigation against such plans and policies. Cronin and Guthrie (2011) are of the opinion that community participation in resettlement creates an unshakeable sense of ownership and connection of the community to the new development, thereby increasing its coping capacity. It has been shown that resettlement can decrease livelihood security, social capital and cultural ties (King et al. 2014). Furthermore, state intervention in the resettlement process impacts upon complex layers of community dynamics and resilience (King et al. 2014). Santiago et al. (2018) assert that one of the major weaknesses of public sector relocation is that people are more dependent on the state and prefer to take little responsibility. Usamah and Haynes (2012) discuss effects of relocation over short and

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long term by studying two cases and find that communities face losses of community and livelihood options, but simultaneously feel safe from the threat of disasters. This demonstrates that public sector resettlement programs can reduce risks from environmental threats but increase social vulnerability. While a significant amount of literature address different dimensions of post-disaster resettlement, there is a gap in research which can compare external resettlement interventions in Pakistan. Empirical comparison of government-led and private sector interventions in selected model villages in Pakistan is carried out in this research to address this research gap.

3 Model Village Initiatives in Pakistan In order to cope with the reconstruction phase of the disaster, the Government of Punjab, together with international and local NGOs, devised a strategy for the first time to construct ‘model villages’ (MVs) to resettle the most exposed, vulnerable and marginal section of affected population with modern facilities in rural areas to raise their living standard. A model village is defined as planned, resilient and sustainable rural settlement with different social and physical amenities and economic opportunities. The development of MVs was mainly concentrated in Punjab province as it was the decision of the provincial government to construct the MVs. Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan where almost 53% of country’s population subsists (PBS 2017). Punjab was also significantly affected during the 2010 flood event and more than six million people in the province were displaced and more than 3000 villages were severely affected (Nadeem et al. 2014; PDMA 2013; NDMA 2010). Two primary criteria were chalked out to select the MVs: first to select the districts which were extremely affected by floods and second to select the district where the majority of resettlement projects were carried out. These two criteria also correspond to the external interventions for reducing disaster risks by focusing on relief and recovery efforts. Considering this, the district of Muzaffargarh was deemed the most suitable to carry out the study as 1.7 million were displaced, around 0.2 million houses were destroyed and over 500 settlements were affected only in this district (NDMA 2010). Distribution of cost of MVs developed by public sector is given in Table 1.

4 Methodology Social science-based research methodology was adopted for this study (Fig. 13.1). Initially, comprehensive literature was reviewed, and academics and professionals were consulted for the theoretical understanding and framing of the research problem. The research questions were developed, and the case study area was selected for fieldwork. Literature analysis and theoretical background helped in guiding the analysis. The analysis led to recommendations and conclusion.

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Table 1 Financial costs of model villages in Punjab (Public Sector) (Field-survey 2018) S. No. District

No. of villages

No. of Houses

Total cost (PKR) Per village cost 1 USD = 133 (PKR) PKR (November, 2018)

1

Dera Ghazi Khan

3

360

188,845,591

62,948,530

2

Mianwali

2

200

128,802,858

64,401,429

3

Bhakkar

1

80

58,003,753

58,003,753

4

Layyah

3

180

127,548,256

42,516,085

5

Rajanpur

4

375

202,552,586

50,638,147

6

Rahim Yar Khan

3

300

203,107,800

67,702,600

7

Muzaffargarh

Total

6

506

281,214,354

46,869,059

22

2001

1,190,075,197

393,079,603

Fig. 13.1 Research design

4.1 Selection of Case Studies The preliminary expert interview with officials of Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) revealed that this organization developed 22 model villages (MVs). However, the exact number of MVs developed by private sector was unknown. Tasleem (2010) claimed that almost 200 on-site and off-site MVs were planned and developed in the affected districts of the province by public and private sector (Tasleem 2010). The interview with an assistant director of finance and planning

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of PDMA revealed that the government spent around 75 million Pakistani Rupees only for housing in 22 MVs. (Table 1). As the number of model villages by private sector was not available, for comparative purposes, two model villages were selected from each sector. A total of four MVs were randomly selected, two were developed by NGOs (private) and other two by Provincial Disaster Management Authority (public). Household surveys were conducted to evaluate public and private interventions in development of MVs in resettlement of affected population. NGO developed MVs were Ittehad and Pakpur, whereas PDMA developed MVs were Ehsanpur and Jalwala (Fig. 13.2 and Annex 1). Ittehad MV is situated at 30° 38 25.30 north and 70° 58 23.52 east. It is located next to the rural town Ehsanpur and approximately 15 km north of sub-district headquarter Kot Addu. The River Indus passes at an approximate distance of 11 km in the west of the MV. It spans an area of 23.5 acres and accommodates almost 1100 people in 166 housing units. Housing is distributed in six different blocks. Each block has 25–30 housing units and separate park and livestock enclosure. The project was mainly funded and developed by Engro Foundation—local NGO—and completed in less than one year. Basti Pakpur Noor Ghazi is located at 29° 59 7.92 north and 71° 4 25.07 east near a small rural settlement Shahgarh. The site is situated 12 km North West of district headquarter Muzaffargarh city. Chenab River flows 13 km to the east and Indus flows 22 km west of the MV. The MV was developed over an area of 8 acres with 99 houses accommodating around 650 people. The community is divided into six blocks where each block has 15–17 houses, a park, and a waste disposal point. The MV village was developed by Pakpur Foundation together with Ansaar Management Company (AMC) and few other partner NGOs. Table 9 indicates that most of the services and facilities are provided by NGOs in the MVs compared with MVs developed by public sector organizations. Basti Jalwala developed by Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) is situated at 29° 51 31.18 north and 71° 4 28.82 east. The site is located 10 km from the urban settlement of Khangarh and 25 km from district headquarter Muzaffargarh. River Chenab is located ten kilometers in the east. The MV consisted of 136 houses with a common community park, animal shed, and veterinary center. Ehsanpur MV is located at a latitude of 30° 38 20.83 North and longitude of 70° 58 33.97 East and is almost 15 km away from sub-district headquarters Kot Addu. The MV is positioned in front of Ittehad Model Village. It consists of 69 housing units having a community park and livestock shed. This MV is also developed by the PDMA. Eshanpur MV is not connected with any kind of electricity facilities.

4.2 Sampling A total of 470 houses were constructed in all the selected model villages (MVs), one for each relocated family. There were approximately 3111 people living in selected four model villages. It was difficult to survey each house due to financial and time constraints, therefore it was decided to randomly involve households

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Fig. 13.2 a Map of Pakistan showing the province of Punjab, b Map showing rivers, 2010 flood extent, location of selected district and location of various constructed model villages in the province (in green dot). c map showing selected district, its sub-district headquarters as well as location of government and NGOs driven model villages taken as case study areas (Authors 2019)

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Table 2 Sample size distribution in case study areas (Field-survey 2018) Name of model village

Total households

Total population (approx.)

Total families surveyed

Representation of population surveyed

% of population surveyed

Private MVs

Ittehad MV

166

1100

50

331

30%

Pakpur MV

99

655

32

212

32%

Basti Jalwala

136

900

41

271

30%

Ehsanpur MV

69

456

22

146

32%

470

3111

145

960

31%

Public MVs

Total

who are completely willing to participate in the survey. Considering this criteria, 50 households from Ittehad MV, 32 from Pakpur MV, 41 from Basti Jalwala and 22 from Ehsanpur MV were interviewed resulting in the total sample of 145 households. It gave a sample size for each study area which represented between 30% and 32% of the population (Table 2).

4.3 Data Collection and Analysis A household survey (using questionnaire, focus group discussion and personal observation) was the primary tool for the data collection. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed containing both closed and open-ended questions. The questionnaire had six main sections and several sub-sections. The main sections gathered information on area profile, respondent profile, comparison of situation before and after relocation, community participation in the resettlement process and overall rating on different aspects of resettlement. A check list based on Likert scale was used to compare pre and post disaster situation regarding income, housing, health, education and security (Annex 2). For example, households were asked if they perceive better income-earning opportunities, housing, health, education or security in the MV as compared to their place of origin. Likert scale represented the level of agreement compared the pre and post-disaster situation. The pretest of ten questionnaires was performed to remove ambiguities and unnecessary information as well as to improve the questionnaire. Field assistant was hired to collect the data considering language and cultural limitations.

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5 Results and Discussion 5.1 Socio-Economic Profile of Respondents The household survey revealed that all the case studies differ in socio-economic situations (Table 3). The proportion of literate people (who attended at least primary school) is much higher in NGO developed MVs compared to public sector developed MVs. More than 50% of respondents were literate in Ittehad and Pakpur MV, whereas in Ehsanpur MV only 27% of respondents were literate. Average family size was between 6 and 7 where Ittehad MV consist of large families with the average family size of around 7, Pakpur had average family size 6.8, Jalwala had 6.1 and Ehsanpur had 6.7. All case studies consisted of large family sizes. Regarding economic aspects, none of the households in all case studies was unemployed. In Jalwala, the majority were self-employed and in all other MVs majority are employed. Income level in Table 3 Socio-economic profile of respondents (Field-survey 2018) Indicators

Literacy

Family size

Employment status

Monthly family income (in PKR)

Classes

Private MVs

Public MVs

Ittehad MV

Pakpur MV

Jalwala MV

Ehsanpur MV

Overall

% (N = 50)

% (N = 32)

% (N = 41)

% (N = 22) % (N = 145)

Illiterate

46.0

34.4

51.2

72.7

49.0

Literate

54.0

65.6

48.8

27.3

51.0

Mean

0.54

0.65

0.49

0.27

0.51

Std. Dev

0.503

0.482

0.506

0.455

0.501

15,000

10.0

21.9

12.2

13.6

13.8

Mean

2.18

2.59

2.37

2.05

2.30

Std. Dev

0.896

1.043

0.994

1.046

0.988

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Pakpur was the higher (mean income = 12,200 PKR) compared to other MV and Ehsanpur MV had the lowest mean income (mean income = 8800 PKR). Pakpur was economically better-off because of its close proximity to sugar mill and district headquarter Muzaffargarh where the majority of its residents were employed, whereas Jalwala is second better because of its close proximity urban settlement of Khangarh. Ehsanpur MV was surrounded by the rural agriculture fields with limited economic opportunities. Average monthly family income in all the MV was 10,000 PKR, which is very low. Overall, the whole district was deprived in terms of socio-economic development, and was ranked as 34 out of 36 districts in Punjab province (Jamal 2012).

5.2 Post-disaster Situation 5.2.1

Income Opportunities

The household survey generated mixed results in terms of available income opportunities in and around MVs compared to the place of origin (Table 4). On one hand, 60% of Ittehad MV residents expressed their satisfaction with available income opportunities (14% of which strongly so), with only 12% expressing their dissatisfaction stating that income opportunities are limited compared to place of origin. On the other hand, Pakpur MV residents registered mixed responses, with half of the residents having either neutral or negative appraisal of available income opportunities. Interestingly, very few (only 3.1%) of Pakpur MV residents showed a strong approval of existing income opportunities. Residents of public MVs also opined a mixed evaluation of income opportunities. Majority of Ehsanpur MV residents (45.5%) were indifferent to the available income opportunities and no resident expressed a strong approval. In Jalwala MV, on the other hand, 31.7% of respondents—a significantly Table 4 Income opportunities in model villages (Field-survey 2018) Name of village Private MVs

Public MVs

Total

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Ittehad MV

7 14%

23 46%

14 28%

4 8%

2 4%

Pakpur MV

1 3.1%

6 18.8%

8 25%

8 25%

9 28.1%

Ehsanpur MV

0 0%

5 22.7%

10 45.5%

4 18.2%

3 13.6%

Jalwala MV

5 12.2%

10 24.4%

8 19.5%

13 31.7%

5 12.2%

13 9%

44 30.3%

40 27.6%

29 20%

19 13.1%

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large percentage—expressed a negative opinion of the available income opportunities. On average, across all surveyed public and private MVs, the results were again mixed: 39.3% of all respondents registered favorable opinions and 33.1% registered negative opinions regarding available income opportunities, with a sizable percentage (27.6%) of the sample expressing their neutral opinion.

5.2.2

Housing Satisfaction

Across all surveyed MVs—public or private—residents expressed their high satisfaction with post-housing conditions, with no resident registering a “bad” or “very bad” opinion (Table 5). In both private MVs—Ittehad and Pakpur—the satisfaction was higher with a very low percentage of moderate appraisals in comparison with public MVs. For instance, 72% of Ittehad MV and 87% of Pakpur MV residents evaluated their post-housing satisfaction as “very good”. In Pakpur MV, particularly, the post housing satisfaction was the highest with no resident registering even a moderate evaluation. Similarly, in both public MVs (Ehsanpur and Jalwala MVs), a majority of residents evaluated their post-housing satisfaction as either good or very good. However, in comparison with private MVs, the results were less than ideal: In Ehsanpur MV, particularly, a sizable proportion of the respondents (31.8%) expressed moderate satisfaction with their post-housing conditions. In pre-disaster situation, almost all households used to live in adobe or semi adobe houses, but resettlement provided them with solid houses with brick cement. Therefore, no response was registered as “bad” or “very bad”. Moreover, in private MVs, housing design allowed cross ventilation in rooms by providing auxiliary spaces in front and back side of the houses whereas in public MVs row housing was provided with no auxiliary spaces on the back side. Additionally, private MVs provided open kitchens—in the corridors of the houses—considering rural character. Therefore, housing satisfaction was much higher in private than public MVs. Table 5 Post housing satisfaction (Field-survey 2018) Name of village Private MVs

Public MVs

Total

Very good

Good

Moderate

Ittehad MV

36 72.0%

7 14.0%

7 14.0%

Pakpur MV

28 87.5%

4 12.5%

0 0.0%

Ehsanpur MV

9 40.9%

6 27.3%

7 31.8%

Jalwala MV

28 68.3%

12 29.3%

1 2.4%

101 69.7%

29 20.0%

15 10.3%

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Table 6 Educational facilities (Field-survey 2018) Name of village Private MVs

Public MVs

Very Good

Good

Moderate

Ittehad MV

49 98.0%

0 0.0%

1 2.0%

Pakpur MV

32 100.0%

0 0.0%

0 0.0%

Ehsanpur MV

19 86.4%

2 9.1%

1 4.5%

Jalwala MV

36 87.8%

5 12.2%

0 0.0%

136 93.8%

7 4.8%

2 1.4%

Total

5.2.3

Educational Facilities

In both public and private MVs, the household survey revealed a near-perfect evaluation of the education facilities (Table 6). In both private MVs, almost all of the residents agreed that the education facilities were “very good”. Similarly, education facilities in public MVs were also positively evaluated by their residents (86.4% and 87.8% respectively for Ehsanpur and Jalwala MVs). No resident gave a “bad” or “very bad” opinion regarding the education facilities in all four surveyed MVs. These results, when averaged, reflected the same trend: as thevast majority of the respondents (93.8%) from all four MVs rated the education facilities very highly.

5.2.4

Health Facilities

The household survey revealed that in the private Ittehad MV, the respondents evaluated the health facilities as highly satisfactory, with no respondent registering a moderate evaluation (Table 7). However, results from Ittehad MV could not be compared with Pakpur MV, because, the latter did not possess any health facilities. On the other hand, the respondent evaluation of health facilities in public MVs was, positive, but inadequate. In Ehsanpur MV, 91% of respondents reviewed the health facilities as either good or very good, with only about 9% moderate evaluations. In Jalwala MV, the moderate evaluation of health facilities was 26.8%, revealing that health facilities in this MV were the lowest ranked as compared with Ehsanpur and Ittehad MVs.

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Table 7 Health facilities (Field-survey 2018) Name of village Private MVs

Public MVs

Very good

Good

Moderate

Ittehad MV

47

3

0

94.00%

6.00%

0.00%

Pakpur MV*

N.A.

Ehsanpur MV

10

10

2

45.50%

45.50%

9.10%

Jalwala MV

9

21

11

22.00%

51.20%

26.80%

66

34

13

58.40%

30.10%

11.50%

Total *Note Pakpur MV had no health facility

5.2.5

Security

In terms of perceived security by the respondents of the model villages, results of the household survey revealed that private MVs fared slightly better than the public MVs (Table 8). For both Ittehad and Pakpur MVs, 60% and 53.1% of respondents appraised their perceived security as “moderate”. In comparison between the two private MVs, security was worse in Ittehad MV, as a considerable 30% of the respondents evaluate security as “bad” compared to 12.5% in Pakpur MV. Only 4% rated the security as “good” in Ittehad MV as compared to 18.8% in Pakpur MV. On the other hand, in public MVs, the security was also deemed less than satisfactory as compared with the private MVs. For instance, in both Ehsanpur and Jalwala MVs, no respondent appraised security as “very good”. Security was considered as “good” by less than 5% of the respondents in both MVs. Ehsanpur MV fared slightly better than Jalwala MV with 45.5% of its respondents evaluating their perceived security as moderate compared to only 12.2% in Jalwala. A majority of 61% and 24.4% of Table 8 Security (Field-survey 2018) Name of village Private MVs

Public MVs

Total

Very good

Good

Moderate

Bad

Very Bad

Ittehad MV

1 2.0%

2 4.0%

30 60.0%

15 30.0%

2 4.0%

Pakpur MV

5 15.6%

6 18.8%

17 53.1%

4 12.5%

0 0.0%

Ehsanpur MV

0 0.0%

1 4.5%

10 45.5%

8 36.4%

3 13.6%

Jalwala MV

0 0.0%

1 2.4%

5 12.2%

25 61.0%

10 24.4%

6 4.1%

10 6.9%

62 42.8%

52 35.9%

15 10.3%

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respondents evaluated their security as “bad” and “very bad” in Jalwala, respectively. Overall results reflected the same trend: opinions regarding security in majority of the respondents in all of the model villages surveyed ranged from moderate to bad, with only a minority of respondents holding a favorable opinion of their perceived security.

5.2.6

Provision of Physical Amenities

Provision of basic facilities and services are essential for successful post-disaster resettlement. Table 9 shows provision of facilities and services in each of the four surveyed MV. The facilities and services are categorized as social, economic, infrastructural, and environment. Provision of each facility and/or service under each category is marked with a check symbol, whereas its absence is indicated by no symbol. Social facilities and services were provided in both private and public MVs, however it is interesting to note that only Ittehad MV provided religious building, and Ehsanpur MV was the only MV without a primary school. In terms of economic amenities, Ittehad MV was well-provisioned with livelihood diversification training facility, dairy hub and commercial shops. With provision of only shops, Pakpur MV was the least provisioned in terms of economic facilities. In both private MVs, veterinary health center was not provided although it existed in both public MVs. Results have shown that infrastructural facilities are the priority for both public and private MVs, with private MVs showcasing better infrastructure than public MVs. Streets were paved in all four MVs. Pakpur MV featured both solar and grid electricity supply, alongside adequate water supply infrastructure. Solar electricity infrastructure was provided in only one other MV, namely the Jalwala MV. Interestingly, both public MVs were not connected with electricity grid, which makes Jalwala solely dependent on its solar power infrastructure. Finally, environmental services and facilities are clearly not a priority for public MVs. Both Jalwala and Ehsanpur MVs were provided with open spaces and parks, however basic environmental services and facilities like solid waste management, underground drainage, water filtration, and wastewater treatment were not provided in any of the public MVs. On the other hand, both private MVs were well-provisioned with these facilities, however Ittehad MV was the only model village with its own dedicated wastewater treatment infrastructure, however it lacks its own potable water filtration unit which was present in Pakpur MV. In both of these MVs, solid waste management and underground drainage infrastructure were provided, making them better than public MVs. In short, private sector MV provided better infrastructural and environmental services than public MVs. These physical and environmental facilities were much better compared to the place of origin. Group discussion revealed that some of these facilities (e-g., water supply, paved streets, solid waste management, drainage system, livestock shed) were never provided at the place of origin. These facilities have positive effects especially on households relocated in private MVs.

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Table 9 Facilities and services provided in each model village (Field-survey 2018) Facilities and services

Private MVs

Public MVs

Ittehad MV

Pakpur MV

✓

✓

Basti Jalwala MV

Ehsanpur MV

✓

✓

Social Mosque Health center/dispensary Primary school

✓

Vocational training center

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Economic Livelihood/income diversification training

✓

Dairy hub

✓

Shops

✓

Veterinary hospital/health center Infrastructural ✓

Electricity (Grid)

✓

Electricity (Solar)

✓

✓

Water supply (hand pumps)

✓

✓

✓

✓

Paved streets

✓

✓

✓

✓

Livestock shed

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Solid waste management ✓

✓

✓

✓

Environment Parks/Open spaces Underground drainage system

✓

Drinking water filtration unit Wastewater treatment

5.2.7

✓

Resettlement Strategies by Public and Private Sector

Both Public and private sector has initiated model villages for resettling disaster affected rural households in Pakistan, but planning strategies adopted by both sectors are in contrast. Jamshed et al. (2018) point out striking differences and similarities regarding community participation in post-disaster resettlement planning process. Table 10 shows each private and public sector’s planning process from initial land acquisition, design, construction and rehabilitation. Firstly, selection of affected people (or beneficiaries) was decided. Private sector considered both house damages and socio-economic conditions, whereas public sector only considered physical

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Table 10 Resettlement strategies for model villages (Field-survey 2018) Criteria

Private sector

Public sector

Allocation policy/selection of beneficiaries

Based on house damages and socio-economic conditions

Based on house damages

Location of model village

Based on distance as well as considering the past multi-hazard history

Based on distance from affected villages

Layout/design of model village

Participatory layout design with special concern on cultural and privacy issues and consideration of local climate

Pre-designed layouts without considering community concerns

Design of houses

Designs with special consideration of local rural character and climatic aspects

Pre-designed houses without considering cultural and local character

Planning and design of facilities

Use of available resources in planning and design of facilities Mainstreaming facilities with existing services Environment friendly technologies Considerations social, cultural, and economic needs in provision as well as planning and design

Considerations social, cultural, and economic needs only in provision Environment friendly technologies (biogas and solar)

Skill development and Livelihood opportunities

Vocational training for each household both male and female (mat making, construction, beekeeping, livestock farming, and entrepreneurship) Commercial area Dairy hub Fish pond Adult literacy programs

Vocational training center (not operational) Commercial area

Monitoring, operation and maintenance

Village organizations District model village Block development committees management boards Village Organizations

damages to houses of affected population. In case of physical locations of new model villages, private sector deliberately put distance from previous settlements, to save them from possible extreme events. Public sectors, on the other hand, decided the location based on distance from previously affected village. Housing design plays an important role in shaping lives and culture of the society. Private sector accommodated inputs, received from local communities, whereas public sector did not involve communities in the physical planning and designing process of model villages. When developing and providing various amenities, both private and public

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sector considered community needs, as well as environmental, cultural and social dimensions. Solar power houses, solar pumps and biogas were key environmentally friendly amenities. Both private and public sector provided vocational institutes to develop skills and technical help in the communities. However, private sector went one step further by ensuring diversification of livelihood options through provision dairy farms, adult literacy programs, skill development, and vocational trainings. For the continuous maintenance of villages, both sectors formed village boards and organizations to mobilize community and deliver their concerns to sponsors or local government. However, community mobilization was seen to be followed up in true spirit in NGO-sponsored model villages.

6 Conclusion and Recommendations Disaster resettlement is a multi-faceted and complex phenomenon. Private and public sectors, as well as their synergy, are important in addressing disaster-impacts in the post-disaster phase. Rural flooding has a tendency in developing countries to wreak havoc in communities, leaving them exposed to various social, economic, infrastructural and environmental issues. Unless timely and need-based relief and rehabilitation are provided, these communities may suffer for extended periods of time. The disastrous flooding of 2010 in Pakistan laid bare this fact, where millions of people were affected, and which paralyzed half of the country. Both private and public sectors stepped up to provide houses along with necessary amenities to the displaced population. Model villages were launched throughout the country to cater to households displaced by flooding. This research has investigated post-disaster resettlement situation by relocated households compared to their place of origin. The analysis has shown that the private and public sector put efforts in relocating displaced population. However, both had their shortcomings and advantages. Better houses and living environment with access to social amenities are major advantages while shortcoming in the maintenance of community facilities was noticed. One very positive aspect was that none of the households were found unemployed in target model villages. Resettlement process along with the provision of facilities are drastically different. Generally, households living in model villages developed by private sectors seemed more satisfied. Each NGO developed their own strategies for planning, designing, and implementing MVs which differ from the strategies developed by the public sector. However, in terms of housing satisfaction, all surveyed MVs—public or private—residents expressed their high satisfaction. Similarly, the household survey showed positive satisfaction with the education facilities. In terms of security and infrastructural development satisfaction, private sector supported MVs were slightly better than their counterparts. Livelihood and skill-development programs were far more diversified, and young and adult literacy programs could make the communities more resilient. This improved situation can be attributed to more community participation in the development process of model villages. Overall, external interventions—especially by private sectors—in

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post-disaster resettlement have socially, economically and physically improved the lives of disaster affected vulnerable households. The results of this research provide multiple lessons and recommendations for the future. It can be recommended to ensure the participation of communities, both beneficiaries and hosts, through the resettlement process. Participation in resettlement process can be helpful in planning housing layout and designing structures that represent norms and cultures of communities and create sense of ownership. Cautious selection of communities based on the socio-economic situation can result sustainable outcomes. Communities should be trained for operation and maintenance of services and facilities. Livelihood and skill development programs should be developed based on local market potentials. Last but not the least, the public and private sector should work closely together in order to benefit from information and knowledge sharing.

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Annex 1

Commercial area in Ittehad MV

Street view in Ittehad MV

Vocational training for women in Pakpur MV

Housing block in Pakpur MV

Livestock shed in Jalwala MV

Street view in Jalwala MV

Inside view of house in Ehsanpur MV

Street view of Ehsanpur MV

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Annex 2 How would you rate the services and facilities in model village compared to place of origin? Services and facilities

Very good

Good

Moderate

Bad

Very bad

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Housing Education Health Security Electricity How much do you agree “there are enough income earning opportunities in and around MV” Facilities and services Social Mosque Health center/dispensary Primary school Vocational training center Economic Livelihood/income diversification training Dairy hub Shops Veterinary hospital/health center Infrastructural Electricity (grid) Electricity (solar) Water supply (hand pumps) Paved streets Livestock shed Environment Parks/open spaces Solid waste management Underground drainage system Drinking water filtration unit Wastewater treatment

Check

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Mr. Jamshed is pursuing his Ph.D. degree at the Institute of Spatial and Regional Planning (IREUS), University of Stuttgart, Germany. He did his Bachelor in City and Regional Planning degree from the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, and worked for one and a half years in public sector. Later, he did his Master in Infrastructure Planning degree from the University of Stuttgart, Germany with a scholarship from the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Government of Pakistan. His research interests are vulnerability assessment, disaster resilience, post-disaster resettlement, and rural-urban linkages.

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Dr. Rana, is an urban planner and is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, National University of Sciences Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. He received postgraduate and doctorate degrees in Regional and Rural Development Planning from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. His research interests include urban and regional development, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation. Mr. Mirza graduated as an architect in 2012 from the University of Punjab where he served as a Lecturer for four years. In 2016 he received the DAAD scholarship to study MSc in Infrastructure Planning at the University of Stuttgart in Germany, where his master’s thesis was focused on the comparative assessment of climate change adaptation plans in South Asian countries. His research interests include climate change adaptation and disaster risk management, sustainable architecture and urbanism, green building technologies, theory of architecture and urban design, etc. Currently, he is working as an architect for Otterbeck Architekten (OA Office GmbH) in Stuttgart, Germany.

Effectiveness of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) Training Programs: Views and Voices from Barisal Division, a Coastal Region in Bangladesh Sharmin Nahar Nipa, Jarin Tasneem Oyshi, and Istiak Ibne Rouf Abstract Barisal division, a coastal region of Bangladesh, is one of the most vulnerable zones in terms of climate-induced disasters, where the children, women, and young people are at high risk. Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) training programs for children and youth usually aim to change the way of thinking and action, which can make the future generations or the communities more resilient. Trainings can help to improve skills, knowledge, and capacities to manage any disaster event. Considering this fact, the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER) of BRAC University facilitated several capacity building training programs on DRR and CCA, which have been conducted in different districts of Barisal division. Nearly 105 children and youth of 3 districts (Barguna, Bhola, and Barisal) of Barisal division have transformed into Disaster Ambassador and helped to enhance the capacities of their communities to deal with climateinduced disasters. This chapter aims to find out the effectiveness of these training programs to build disaster resilient communities through the active participation of children and young people. It finds that the trained children and youths became able to contribute positively through making decisions and developing work plans which were supported by various organizations. Keywords Disaster risk reduction (DRR) · Climate change adaptation (CCA) · Training · Resilient · Coastal region · Bangladesh

S. N. Nipa (B) · J. T. Oyshi · I. I. Rouf Center for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER), BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: [email protected] J. T. Oyshi e-mail: [email protected] I. I. Rouf e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_14

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1 Introduction Bangladesh is considered one of the most vulnerable countries in the world in terms of natural disasters like cyclone, storm surge, flood, drought, river erosion, salinity intrusion, etc. Simultaneously, the IPCC (2014) has predicted that the occurrence of climatic shocks is likely to become more frequent, intense and severe in the future due to climate change. The signs of climate change have already begun to appear in many locations of the country which ultimately are disrupting the livelihood practices/activities/options of the inhabitants of Bangladesh. Among all zones of the country, the coastal zone is more susceptible to extreme natural events and increasing disasters which may cause damages to properties, infrastructures, agricultural productions, and economic assets and can threaten lives and livelihoods, food security and public health (MoEF 2009). Recently, the country is ranked as the 6th in the Global Climate Risk Index 1997–2016, demarking it as one of the most vulnerable counties suffering from long-term consequences of climate change for last two decades (Eckstein et al. 2017). Children are more likely to face death or injuries than adults during disasters (UNICEF 2007a). Also, young people often face severe damage due to disasters and face difficulties in coping with those conditions. The research conducted by Akachi et al. (2009) revealed that climate change causes more damages to children as they have less physiological and metabolic capacity than that of adults and are more sensitive to climate-related exposure. On the other hand, scholars find that children who are aware of natural hazards can contribute significantly to preparedness, response, and recovery processes of disaster management cycle rather than becoming passive victims of disasters (Anderson 2005; Mitchell et al. 2008; Peek 2008; Morris and Edwards 2008). Moreover, their development and resilience get enhanced when they are taught about adaptation with challenges (USDHHS 2017). On the other hand, involving young people in various disaster preparedness activities increase their mental and physical capacities to cope with disaster impacts (Khorram-Manesh 2017). It is evident that children and young people are capable of generating innovative ideas to manage disasters, reduce vulnerabilities, and enhance capacities to cope with the changing environment (Walden et al. 2009). Moreover, in order to create a ‘culture of risk reduction’, it is essential to actively involve children and youth in disaster risk reduction, i.e., increased awareness and knowledge of disaster threats along with other community members (Morris and Edwards 2008). Local youths often get involved in helping people during disasters by taking part in rescuing, distributing relief, and sharing information. There are numerous cases around the world demonstrating that youths have participated actively in disaster management and made communities more resilient (Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports 2017). For example, during 2004 tsunami, young people played an active role in disaster management. They participated in relief works, took other children to safe places, and cared for them until their guardians were found (UNICEF 2007a, b).

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Moreover, community participation is considered one of the most effective measures for dealing with natural disasters. Bangladesh has already developed a comprehensive and effective disaster management plan as a guideline for local communities and authorities to make them prepared immediately after a disaster occurs. Despite of these initiatives, there is still a need to increase awareness and preparedness on natural disasters at the local level (MoEF 2009). Training and awareness-raising programs for children and youth can play a vital role in this regard. The participation of children and youth in disaster risk management (DRM), i.e. disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures is not new in Bangladesh. Disaster risk management is the application of disaster risk reduction policies and strategies to prevent new disaster risk, reduce existing disaster risk and manage residual risk, contributing to the strengthening of resilience and reduction of disaster losses (UNISDR 2019). Disaster risk reduction is aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening resilience and therefore to the achievement of sustainable development (UNISDR 2019). Different organizations regularly involve children and young volunteers in DRR related activities. As climate change is no longer a myth for Bangladesh, they have also started to involve them in climate change adaptation (CCA) related activities. According to IPCC (2019), the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects. In human systems, adaptation seeks to moderate or avoid harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In some natural systems, human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects. Organizations like ActionAid Bangladesh, BRAC, Plan International, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, UNICEF, Save the Children, etc. have conducted several training programs, involving children and young people to increase their awareness and capacities. However, some of the organizations evaluate the impacts of the training and some organizations do not. While evaluating, only resilience of the participants is assessed, it is not assessed whether the training helped to build a climate-resilient community by proper dissemination of their knowledge. Therefore, it is essential to measure whether the children and youth have become resilient to natural disasters and climate change-induced extreme events and whether they can serve their communities to become more resilient to climate-induced disasters. In this context, the research was conducted in Barisal, Barguna, and Bhola districts of Barishal division to find out the effectiveness of training programs for building disaster resilient communities through the active participation of children and young people.

2 Background Bangladesh is situated in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta with very flat and low-lying topography as two-third of the land area is hardly 5 m above mean sea level (MSL) (World Bank 2011). The southern coastal region of Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable to cyclones, tidal flooding and storm surge occurring in the northern Indian

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Ocean (Ali 1999). On an average, on every three years, the country is hit by a severe cyclone. Predictions show that impacts of climate change will increase in ocean surface temperature and sea-level rise which will intensify the cyclonic storm surges covering an additional 15% of the coastal zone (World Bank 2011). In Bangladesh, the vulnerability of children is higher to climatic disasters (UNICEF 2011, 2016). Disasters cause a socio-economic breakdown, which threatens food security, health, and education of children and makes them more vulnerable. Reports from UNICEF (2011 and 2016) revealed that in many families children are subjected to child labor, trafficking, child marriage, or even sexual exploitation as the families have to struggle to get rid of the disaster impacts. Fothergill (2018) showed that when climatic instability leads to more extreme events, the risks of the youngest members of the societies will also increase. An UNICEF report revealed that the children are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts ranging from direct physical impacts, i.e. cyclones, storm surges, and extreme temperatures, to impacts on their education, psychological stress, and nutritional challenges. Higher temperatures would increased rates of malnutrition, cholera, diarrhoeal disease and vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria. As they have underdeveloped immune systems, they are at higher risk of contracting these diseases (UNICEF 2011). In such context, as children are the most affected by disasters and climate change-induced disasters and often least consulted, they have the right to actively participate in DRR and CCA related activities (Plan-International 2018). Along with children, young people are often severely affected by disasters and can face severe difficulties in coping with unforeseen and traumatic disruptions to their lives (IFRC 2018). Whereas, they also can play an active role in disaster preparedness and response activities (Dhaka Tribune 2018). There are several examples showing evidence that children can make considerable and significant contributions during emergency situations. A UNICEF (2007a, b) study found that in several cases children and youth have responded spontaneously and taken live-saving decisions along with relief and recovery actions. Moreover, they provided health care, psychosocial support, hygiene education as well as helping in reconstruction and planning processes (UNICEF 2007a, b). If children can be mobilized and trained for disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and resilience, they can be considered as valuable resources. Also, to create a culture of risk reduction, it is essential to increase awareness and knowledge of local threats and include children with the other community members in DRR and CCA activities (Morris and Edwards 2008). Therefore, attention should be drawn to engage children in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation activities, and promote their efforts (UNISDR 2009). Children and parents having better interactions through hazard education programs create readiness at home (Ronan and Johnston 2003). Besides, providing knowledge about natural hazards promotes the involvement of children in preparedness, response, and recovery (Fernandez 2012; Morris and Edwards 2008), considering them as a changing force in both developed and developing countries (UNDP 2014). They can promote necessary changes and influence people who have a significant impact on disaster prevention and risk management (UNISDR 2000).

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Involving youth in community-based disaster risk management provides opportunities to empowerment in grassroots level, brings ownership within their disaster preparedness plan, benefit their families, friends, and others of the community as well as to implement different mitigation actions (Pfefferbaum et al. 2018; Omoto and Snyder 1990). This is because youths are generally creative, passionate, and idealistic, which makes them potential advocates for disseminating information (USDHHS 2017), to enhance knowledge and preparedness among family and friends (FEMA 2015), and key agents for social change (Mukhier and Omer 2015). Considering these facts, over the years, the value of young people’s participation in DRM related activities is getting stronger (Walden et al. 2009). Scholars find that children and youth both can actively participate in increasing their community’s adaptive capacity (Pollack 2010; Back et al. 2009; Tanner 2009; Gautam and Oswald 2008). They can share their knowledge with their family members, friends, and society (Shaw et al. 2009) Moreover, they often learn from schools and access information from media and other sources, which makes them more aware of impacts of climate change than adults (Plan-UK 2002). Peek (2008) showed that when children and youth are informed and engaged in a disaster-related measure, they possess the better abilities to protect themselves and others than those who lack information and do not engage themselves in such actions. According to a study by Anderson (2005), excluding children and youth from DRM activities neglects a valuable resource for social contribution as well as threatens their safety and security from disasters. Therefore, they must be involved, trained, and empowered to participate actively in disaster prevention, preparedness, planning, and response efforts. Several organizations in Bangladesh, along with the Government have taken initiatives to provide training and increase the capacities of children and youth in DRR and CCA activities. ActionAid Bangladesh,1 BRAC,2 Plan International,3 Bangladesh Red Crescent Society,4 UNICEF Bangladesh,5 Save the Children in Bangladesh,6 etc. are engaged in increasing capacity and awareness among the young people about climate-induced disaster preparedness, and response through 1 ActionAid

is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) whose primary aim is to work against poverty and injustice worldwide. 2 BRAC is a non-profit organization that aims to achieve large scale positive changes through economic and social programmes that enable women and men to realize their potential. 3 Plan International is a development and humanitarian organization that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. 4 The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society is a member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and committed to the Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement i.e. Humanity, Neutrality, Impartiality, Independence, Unity, Voluntary Service and Universality. 5 The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was created by the United Nations General Assembly which is a Donor organization. UNICEF Bangladesh aims to advance the rights of children, especially those who are unheard and disadvantaged. 6 Save the Children is an international non-governmental organization that promotes children’s rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries.

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creating knowledge-sharing platform. The Disaster Management and Climate Change (DMCC) programme of BRAC along with the cooperation of the Adolescent Development Programme (ADP) of BRAC’s Education Programme (BEP) organized Kishoree-Kishor Convention (KKC) in October 2016 which was held in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, and Rajshahi. The objective of this convention was to aware adolescents about the possible effects of climate change and to orient them on how to face a threat and continue life as usual and facilitate a youth-initiated district-wise disaster risk reduction action plan (Asad 2018). Another climate change adaptation project, conducted by Save the Children, titled as ICCCCA (Integrated Child Centered Climate Change Adaptation) in Bangladesh emphasized child-centered adaptation and engaged children in risk assessment and planning levels. Through this project Save the Children in Bangladesh got remarkable success by giving a basic idea to children and youth on CCA and eco-friendly environment, their roles and responsibilities, and including them in local disaster management committees (Islam 2018). ActionAid Bangladesh organized training in Patharghata and Barguna titled “Search and Rescue Training 2017” which also focused on adolescent girls’ roles in DRR and provided them training on active participation in search and rescue activities during and after a disaster. Through the training, the participants gained knowledge and training on DRR and were able to disseminate their knowledge in society to help others (Hossain 2018). In respond to vulnerabilities to climatic disasters and to promote community participation in DRR, Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM)7 and Concern Universal Bangladesh8 conducted the “School Bridges” project for building of capacities of students. The project provided training on leadership, search and rescue, community-based disaster reduction, early warning, and shelter management, and empowered student bridges’ voices, awareness and strengthen coordination (Hossain 2009). UNICEF Bangladesh is involved to train children and youth about DRR and CCA and has organized several workshops and training in Barguna, Barisal, and Bhola districts where the participants prepared work plans on DRR and CCA. UNICEF Bangladesh assess the impact of their project regularly to check its effectivity (Jalil 2018). Governmental organizations (like, Barisal Divisional Commissioner office), as well as Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) (i.e. UNICEF Bangladesh) are active in the Barishal division for working on DRR and CCA activities, engaging enthusiastic children and youth groups.9 7 Dhaka

Ahsania Mission is a non-government development organization and provides services towards unity, peace and development of social and spiritual life for the human community in general and for the disadvantaged and suffering humanity, in particular. 8 Concern Universal (CU) is a UK based development and emergency relief organization established in 1976 which works for eliminating poverty and inequality. 9 Consisting of children and youth of different ages. Most of these groups were created by District Commissioner Office and UNICEF Bangladesh (as Youth Net, Kishore Kishoree Club, Union Shishu Parishad, Jamuna Kishoree Club, Shefali Ilisha Club, Bokul Ilisha Union, Debating Council) in order to raise awareness on different existing and emerging issues, like child rights, skill development, disaster risk reduction and climate change related activities. Apart from that, some groups are parts of different independent organizations, (i.e. Jubo Red Crescent Society) which are actively

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Consequently, the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER)10 of BRAC University, in association with the Barisal Divisional Commissioner (DC) office and UNICEF Bangladesh jointly organized trainings in three coastal districts of Bangladesh (Barisal, Bhola, and Barguna) in order to increase capacity and knowledge on DRR and CCA of the local children and youths in 2017. In total 105 participants (35 from each district) were selected through evaluating their interest and willingness to serve the community, abilities to work for the community to make them resilient, and previous work experiences in the community. The age of selected participants was ranged from 14 to 23 years.11 The training module was prepared through extensive literature review to understand the vulnerability of Barisal division, existing and possible risk reduction strategies and adaptation measures. This research aims to fill the gap of evaluation impacts of this training program to check its effectiveness after a certain period.

3 Methodology 3.1 Data Collection Techniques This research employed literature review, questionnaire survey, key informant interview and focus group discussion for collection data. The questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain information about disasters; previous knowledge on DRR and CCA; activities to make the community more resilient to climatic disasters and status of training knowledge utilization and resilient status of the participants and community as well. All the trainees (105) participated in the survey. Moreover, five key informant interviews (KIIs) were conducted to acquire information about initiatives of different NGOs, INGOs, and other organizations which have programs focusing children and youths. Key informants were chosen from BRAC, UNICEF Bangladesh, ActionAid Bangladesh and Save the Children in Bangladesh. Additionally, six focus group discussion (FGDs) sessions were conducted in three Upazilla (sub-districts), i.e. Barisal Sadar, Bhola Sadar, and Barguna Sadar. Each FGD session consisted 10– 12 participants. The FGD participants were randomly selected from the beneficiary communities. involved in disaster warning and relief works. Moreover, independent local youth clubs/groups and volunteers from Rover Scout groups are involved in the several awareness raising and relief distribution activities. 10 Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER) established in 2011. C3ER gives special attention to research in the area of adverse impact of climate change on health, food security, poverty and livelihood, displacement and migration, loss and damage assessment, renewable energy, negotiation process, technology transfer, education and awareness, etc. C3ER also gives training on Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation for the most vulnerable, including women, children, youth and the poor. 11 The children and youth in this age group were selected because their assessment result is good compared to other participants.

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3.2 Data Analysis Under this study, the results of the literature review and KII were compiled in the background and discussion sections. Besides, GIS was used to produce a study area map by using Arc GIS 9.10 software. The results from the questionnaire survey were analyzed by Microsoft office (MS excel program) to analyses the themes, and the compiled results were presented in the results and discussion sections.

3.3 Study Area Three southern coastal districts of Barisal division—Barisal, Bhola, and Barguna districts were selected as study areas for the research (Fig. 1). The southern part of Bangladesh adjoining the Bay of Bengal is known as the “coastal zone” which is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change as most of the climatic disasters (i.e., cyclone, storm surge, coastal erosion, sea-level rise) are most likely to generate from the Bay of Bengal (Ali 1999). Due to sea-level rise, almost 7500 ha of land in Bangladesh have been submerged over the past 30 years (FIP 2017). The IPCC report (IPCC 2007) further indicates that the chances of cyclonic storm surges and related coastal floods in Bangladesh will likely become more severe as tropical cyclones will increase in intensity in the future. Over the last 53 years, the country has faced at least 12 major tropical cyclones leaving 479,490 people dead (Dhaka Tribune 2017). Being very close to the coast, Barisal, Bhola, and Barguna districts are susceptible to climatic disasters. In recent years, cyclone Sidr-2007 took 3363 lives and one of the most affected districts was Barguna (Davidson 2008). Cyclone Aila-12 2009 hit 15 Southwestern coastal districts of Bangladesh and killed 150 people causing damage to over 200,000 houses, Barisal and Bhola were two of the districts that suffered most from the disaster (Roy et al. 2009). To reduce this vulnerability Barisal, Bhola, and Barguna districts were selected for conducting training programs for children and youths to make them resilient along with their communities.

4 Results and Findings 4.1 Disaster Occurrence and Experiences The survey found that, majority of the participants had experienced natural disasters during the past ten years (Fig. 2). Among the mentioned disasters, the cyclones 12 Tropical

Cyclone Aila hit Bangladesh on May 25, 2009. It devastated parts of Sunderbans and drowned inhabitated islands of the delta.

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Fig. 1 Study area (Field survey 2019)

were more frequent as seven cyclones, namely Sidr-2007, Nargis-2008, Aila-2009, Mohasen-2013, Komen-2015, Royanu-2016 and Mora-2017 were identified from the survey. Along with cyclones, other disasters like floods, waterlogging, storm/tidal surge, lightning, river/coastal erosion, salinity intrusion and excessive fog also occurred in the area.

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Fig. 2 Disaster occurrence in the study area (Field survey 2019)

The survey data revealed that, in Barishal, Barguna and Bhola, respectively 57, 40 and 35% participants actively participated in different response and rehabilitation activities during and after a disaster. They mainly helped the disaster-affected people to go to the safe shelter and participated in relief work. Also, they were engaged in rehabilitation, repairing works, and removing the uprooted trees. According to the participants, signs of changed climate can be noticed in the study area. They have noticed an increase in climatic disasters (flood, cyclone, drought), temperature, erratic behavior of rainfall (continuous rainfall and untimely rainfall), lightning and fog. A change in seasonal patterns has been noticed also (e.g. presences of autumn season or spring season are hardly felt) (Fig. 3).

4.2 Previous and Present Knowledge on DRR and CCA Among the participants 46% from Barisal, 49% from Bhola, and 36% from Barguna were aware of DRR and CCA. However, they did not have any in-depth knowledge on these issues. They mentioned names of several organizations or Programme, i.e., Barisal City Corporation (BCC),13 Union Parishad,14 Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA)15 UNICEF Bangladesh and Youth Net as their sources of knowledge about DRR and CCA. Moreover, they regularly get knowledge also from national newspapers, TV programs and social 13 Barisal City Corporation is a self-governed municipal administration in Bangladesh that administers and oversees development and maintenance works in the city of Barisal. 14 Union Parishad is the smallest rural administrative and local government units in Bangladesh. 15 YWCA is an INGO movement of working for the empowerment, leadership and rights of women, young women and girls.

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Fig. 3 Evidence of climate change recognized by respondents (Field survey 2019)

media. However, they never receive any formal training focusing on disaster and climate change impact, DRR and CCA measures and the role of youth on these issues before this survey was conducted. Figure 4 shows a comparative status between the condition before and after the training. It was observed that though participants were aware of vulnerability, they were not informed enough about exposure and sensitivity. After attending the training, the children and youth gained better understanding about vulnerability, exposure, and sensitivity which include basic concepts and components of DRM, difference between hazard and disaster, concerns of DRR and CCA, the difference between DRR and DRM, and CCA strategies and pre and post-disaster work, but after attending the training, they got to know it. Trainings also provided them context-specific knowledge about climate change, disaster risk reduction, and adaptation options. Moreover, they became aware of different disasters (i.e., cyclone, flood, drought, lightning, river/coastal erosion, salinity intrusion) and their impacts on different sectors (i.e., agriculture, water, health, biodiversity, fisheries) along with the risk reduction and adaptation strategies. Participants also became able to identify the most vulnerable groups (i.e., women, children, elderly, disabled, pregnant women) during disasters and their specific necessities. These knowledge and awareness helped to get involved as disaster ambassadors and contribute to enhance overall resilience level.

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Fig. 4 Comparison between previous and present resilience status (Field survey 2019)

4.3 Preparation of Work Plan After receiving the training, the participants of three districts prepared a work plan for DRR and CCA, which was planned to be implemented within a year (Table 1). This work plan has potentials to help participant’s families, vulnerable groups, i.e., school-going children, adolescents, women, disadvantaged groups (slum dwellers) and elderly people. According to the participants, the youth and children can play an active role in implementing the work plans through different clubs and groups, collaborating with the other stakeholders (Table 2).

4.4 Status of Training’s Knowledge Utilization The research showed that the majority of the participants have started to utilize their gained knowledge for the wellbeing of their family, friends, and society (Fig. 5). 84%, 80% and 85% participants respectively form Barisal, Bhola and Barguna disseminated their gained knowledge on DRR and CCA. Information regarding impacts of climate-induced disaster impacts on agriculture, water, health, fisheries, livestock,

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Table 1 Summary of work plan in Barisal, Barguna, and Bhola (Field survey 2019) Activities

How these activities will be executed

Dissemination of DRR and CCA knowledge

Rally in school Courtyard meeting Arranging drama/debate Conducting classroom-based sessions

Raising awareness among family, friends, neighbors, and school-going children on DRR and CCA

Group discussion with influential and community people

Participation in DRR or CCA measures

In association with GOs, NGOs, INGOs, UzDMc and community people.

Tree plantation programs Measures for solving the waterlogging problem, i.e., cleaning of drains Delivering warning message before and during disasters Search and rescue operations Relief distribution Strengthening the river embankments Repairing roads and/or embankments after disasters Excavating rivers and canals Raising base platforms of tube wells and houses Arranging safe drinking water in saline-prone areas Providing first aid to the disaster victims

Table 2 Work plan implementer and assistance required for implementation (Field survey 2019) District

Work plan implementer

Assistance required for implementation

Barisal

Youth Net, Kishore Kishoree Club, Union Shishu Parishad, Jubo Red Crescent Society

UNICEF Bangladesh, Local NGOs, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, Bangladesh Forest Department, Ward council, City Corporation, Senior Citizen Groups, Community people, Government Officials

Bhola

Jubo Red Crescent Society, Union Shishu Parishad, Kishore Kishoree Club, Jamuna Kishoree Club, Shefali Ilisha Club, Bokul Ilisha Union

UNICEF Bangladesh, Union Parishad, NGOs, District food office, local government, coastal people, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, community people

Barguna

Kishore Kishoree Club, Union Shishu Parishad, Jubo Red Crescent Society, Debating Council of Barguna, Rover Scouts, Barguna Youth forum

UNICEF Bangladesh, Union Parishad, District Food Office, Community People, Donor Organizations, Doctors, Media, Students, Influential Local People, Teachers, Social Workers, Local NGOs, Government Officials

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Fig. 5 Utilization of training’s knowledge (Field suvey 2019)

biodiversity and children and strategies of DRR (like, storing dry food items and valuables in underground chambers before cyclones, producing climate tolerant crop varieties, protecting wetlands, planting trees strategically, planting less water consuming trees, like, mango, jujube, harvesting rainwater and staying at home during lightning) are shared with community people. Besides, 89% participants from Barisal, 85% participants from Bhola and 87% participants from Barguna have actively participated in DRR or CCA measures, such as, they engaged in tree plantation and homestead gardening, raising awareness on the importance of tree plantation, cleaning drains, promoting the practice of rainwater harvesting in saline-prone areas, raising awareness about heatstroke, etc.

4.4.1

Status of Community

During FGD sessions, more than 60% of people of three districts (Fig. 6) mentioned that they had gained knowledge on DRR measures from the trainees, which helped them to become aware of different disaster impacts and knew how to fight back with disaster impacts. Reactions of three participants from FGD sessions are mentioned below: Participant 1: A 37 years old housewife from a slum area in Bhola Last year we faced a strong storm with frequent lightning…. A man got hit by lightning and died. At that time neither me nor anyone from my community had much idea about lightning…. Few days later, while a group of youth came to our slum for talking about importance of safe drinking water, what to do during cyclone, importance of tree plantation and many more issues, I showed interest to know about lightning. They explained it using pictorial graph and advice to stay at home whenever we will see dark clouds in the sky…. They disseminated information regarding lightning impacts and mitigation measures…Later I also disseminated this information to others.

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Fig. 6 Resilient status of the community (Field survey 2019)

Participant 2: 19 years old male student from Barishal One day a group of youth came to my school in a form of awareness building campeign…, they discussed about various disasters, their impacts, strategies to tackle, climate change, adaptation strategies and other related issues, using big posters, pictures and books… I got to know clearly why our area is more vulnerable in terms of climate induced disasters and what we can do in this situation…I think it was very helpful for me, because, now I find myself more capable than previous time to fight against cyclone… Now, I know the necessity of storing dry foods whenever cyclone comes… I regularly share this information with my family members and especially to those relatives who lives close to sea, so that they can store food and can take all essential actions for being prepared for cyclones.

Participant 3: 40 years old male farmer from Barguna Because of saline-water intrusion in our area, crops do not grow properly… A group of children and young people came to meet us and talked about climate change and its probable impacts. They told me that the frequency of cyclone has been increased due to climate change which is one of the main reasons of saline-water intrusion problem in our area. I was also shocked, when they said that the crop production of our area will be reduced more in near future as a result of sea level rise. I was totally unaware of this issue. Then they suggested some salinity tolerant crop verities, i.e. BRRI dhan47 which can be cultivated in this condition. After cross-checking this information from local agriculture department, I have started to cultivate salinity tolerant crop verities…

5 Discussion The survey results showed that in pre-training condition, few participants used to get involved in disaster-preparedness activities. Similarly, few of them had exposure towards DRR and CCA strategies. After attending training sessions, the participants

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gained essential knowledge on DRR and CCA, got ideas about possible roles of children and youth to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts. Participants prepared work plans on DRR and CCA through which they are able to disseminate knowledge among their family members, friends, and community members. They take parts in different activities like tree plantation, solving water logging problems, delivering early warnings before and during disaster events, raising plinth of tubewells and houses, relief works, repair and rehabilitation, and arranging safe drinking water in their respective localities. These work plans were implemented through different organizations and clubs, formed by the local children and youths supported by government organizations, NGOs and INGOs. Pfefferbaum et al. (2018) showed in their research that involving children and youth in community-based disaster management benefits their family, friends, and others in society. This study showed that the majority of the participants in each districts utilized their gained knowledge for the wellbeing of their family, friends, and community members. Comparing the condition of the participants before and after the training, it is evident that the training has acted positively to enhance capacities for DRR and CCA. The case studies revealed that the students shared their knowledge within their communities and made them aware of issues like lightning, preparedness before cyclones, and salinity intrusion, as these are common hazards, usually experienced in the study area. For example, the community got to know from the participants that to be safe from lightning, one should avoid open space during a dark and dense cloudy period (The Daily Star 2018a). The communities were also advised not to go out during thunderstorms. In this way, the participants of the training effectively disseminated their knowledge to make a disaster-resilient community. The training not only benefitted the participants and their close ones, but it also helped to increase the resilience of other community members.

6 Conclusion The study portrayed that training can be effective as it can make communities better prepared for facing climate-induced disaster impacts. It was also evident that the children and young people of the Barisal division, i.e. Barisal, Bhola, and Barguna districts are highly enthusiastic and eager to work for DRR and CCA as there are a good number of children and youth-based groups currently working at the community level. Also, some of the participants had primary knowledge on DRR and CCA which they got form training and workshops organized by different organizations. Though some of the participants have received some orientation training on DRR, these are not comprehensive. Also, most of the participants did not have proper knowledge and training experience on CCA. So, the provided training was beneficial for them to make plans to adapt to the changing scenario of climate. Some issues were evolved from the FGD, KII, and field observation, which is needed to be solved to make the results of the training more effective in future. As climate change will increase the frequency of disasters in the study area, the

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number of training on CCA should be organized more by the Government, NGOs, INGOs, and others. The findings of the study also identified some issues related to the training structure. The training that is given at the local level needs to be modified according to local adaptation measures, and the contents of the training should be easily understandable to the trainees. During the literature review, it has been identified that several organizations have provided training on DRR and to some extent, on CCA also. However, there is a lack of assessments of the impacts of these training programs on the participants and the effectiveness of such programs. The training programs should be evaluated and assessed, and proper documentation should be maintained to improve training contents to make those more effective. So, along with a work plan, there should be a monitoring plan so that the progress of the actions can be monitored properly. Government, NGOs, INGOs and other organizations can also monitor their activities. This research has been undertaken after five months of providing training by C3ER to evaluate the interim effectiveness of the training. There should be follow-up research to understand the effectiveness of training after a longer period, especially after implementing all strategies mentioned in the work plan. That follow-up research will be able to portray a better picture of effectiveness of the training program.

References Akachi Y, Goodman D, Parker D (2009) Global climate change and child health: a review of pathways, impacts and measures to improve the evidence Base. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, Florence Ali A (1999) Climate change impacts and adaptation assessment in Bangladesh. Clim Res 12:109– 116 Anderson WA (2005) Bringing children into focus on the social science disaster research agenda. Int J Mass Emerg Disast 23(3):159–175 Asad MA (2018, 8 December) Training on DRR and CCA Back E, Cameron C, Tanner T (2009) Children and disaster risk reduction: taking stock and moving forward. Retrieved 2018, from www.childreninachangingclimate.org Davidson S (2008) A review of the IFRC-led shelter coordination group Bangladesh cyclone SIDR response 2007–2008. Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, Dhaka Dhaka Tribune (2018, November 13) Retrieved from www.dhakatribune.com/: https://www.dhakat ribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2017/09/15/5-ways-young-people-can-help-tackle-climate-change Dhaka Tribune (2017, May 30) 12 major cyclones from the past. Retrieved November 12, 2018, from www.dhakatribune.com: https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/environment/ 2017/05/30/major-cyclones-bangladesh/ Eckstein D, Künzel V, Schäfer L (2017) Global risk index 2018. Germanwatch e.V, Bonn FEMA (2015) National strategy for youth preparedness education. Empowering, Educating and Building resilience. Washington, DC: US Department of Homeland Security Fernandez G (2012) Youth participation in disaster risk reduction through science clubs in the philippines. Kyoto University, Kyoto FIP (2017) Forest investment plan. Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh Fothergill A (2018, November 13) Oxford. Retrieved from www.naturalhazardscience.oxfordre. com: http://naturalhazardscience.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389407.001. 0001/acrefore-9780199389407-e-23

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Gautam D, Oswald K (2008) Child voices: children of Nepal speak out on climate change adaptation. Retrieved from www.childreninachangingclimate.org Hossain MS (2009) Student bridges: concept paper and implementation guideline. Concern Universal and Dhaka Ahsania Mission Hossain T (2018, August 19) Training on DRR and CCA IFRC (2018, November 13) Retrieved from http://www.ifrc.org: http://www.ifrc.org/en/newsand-media/opinions-and-positions/opinion-pieces/2011/international-day-for-disaster-reduction —why-the-worlds-youth-are-key-to-reducing-the-impacts-of-disasters IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability: summary for policymakers. IPCC, Geneva IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part B: regional aspects. In: Barros VC (ed) Contribution of working group II to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (p. 688). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA IPCC (2019, September 1) Retrieved from ww.ipcc.ch: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/ 2019/01/SYRAR5-Glossary_en.pdf Islam T (2018, August 16) Training on DRR and CCA Jalil MA (2018, August 27) Training on DRR and CCA Khorram-Manesh A (2017) Youth are our future assets in emergency and disaster management. Bull Emerg Trauma 5(1):1–3 Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, G. O. (2017) Engaging youth volunteers in disaster risk reduction and environment management. Government of India Mitchell T, Haynes K, Hall N, Choong W, Oven K (2008) The roles of children and youth in communicating disaster risk. Child Youth Environ 18(1):254–279 MoEF. (2009) Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Morris KN, Edwards MT (2008) Disaster risk reduction and vulnerable populations in Jamaica: protecting children within the comprehensive disaster management framework. Child Youth Environ 18(1):389–407 Mukhier, Omer M (2015) Why the world’s youth are key to reducing disaster impacts. Int Feder Red Cross Red Crescent Societies IFRC Omoto AM, Snyder M (1990) Volunteerism and society’s response to AIDS. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 16:152–165 Peek L (2008) Children and disasters: understanding vulnerability, developing capacities, and promoting resilience—an introduction. Child Youth Environ 18(1):1–29 Pfefferbaum B, Pfefferbaum RL, Van Horn RL (2018) Involving children in disaster risk reduction: the importance of participation. Eur J Psychotraumat Plan-International (2018, November 12) Retrieved from www.plan-international.org: https://planinternational.org/emergencies/disaster-risk-reduction-drr Plan-UK (2002) Children and disaster risk reduction. Plan-UK Pollack E (2010) Child rights and climate change adaptation: voices from Kenya and Cambodia. Retrieved 2018, from www.childreninachangingclimate.org Ronan KR, Johnston DM (2003) Hazards education for youth: a quasi-experimental investigation. Risk Anal 5(23):1009–1020 Roy K, Kumar U, Mehedi H, Sultana T, Ershad DM (2009) Initial damage assessment report of cyclone AILA with focus on Khulna District. Unnayan Onneshan-Humanity Watch, Nijera Kori, Khulna Shaw R, Takeuchi Y, Shiwaku K, Gwee Q, Fernandez G, Yang B (2009) 1-2-3 of disaster education. Kyoto University, Kyoto Tanner T (2009) Children communicating climate and disaster risks. Institute of Development Studies, UK

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The Daily Star (2018a, April 23) Retrieved November 19, 2018, from www.thedailystar.net: https://www.thedailystar.net/country/9-ways-save-yourself-lightning-strikes-bangladesh-thunde rstorm-met-office-1566607 The World Bank (2011) The Cost of adapting to extreme weather events in a changing climate. Bangladesh Development Series Paper No. 28 UNDP (2014) UNDP youth strategy 2014.2017. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), New York UNICEF (2007a) The participation of children and young people in emergencies. UNICEF EAPRO, Bangkok UNICEF (2007b) climate change and children. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), New York UNICEF (2011) Children’s vulnerability to climate change and disaster impacts in East Asia and the Pacific. UNICEF, Thailand UNICEF (2016) learning to live in a changing climate: the impact of climate change on children in Bangladesh. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Bangladesh UNISDR (2000) United nations international strategy for disaster reduction UNISDR (2009) UNISDR terminology on disaster risk reduction. United Nations, Geneva UNISDR (2019, September 1) Retrieved from www.unisdr.org: https://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/ terminology USDHHS (2017) NPRSB-NACCD joint youth leadership report. US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Washington DC Walden D, Hawrylyshyn K, Hall N (2009) Children on the frontline: children and young people in disaster risk reduction. Plan International, World Vision, London

Ms. Nipa is a Lecturer and Coordinator (Training) in the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER) of BRAC University, Bangladesh. She obtained her MSc degree in Geography and Environment from Jahangirnagar University and another MSc degree in Disaster Management from the University of Dhaka. She has more than eight years of research experience in the sector of climate change, disaster management, environmental and water resource management, policy review and analysis, project management, proposal writing, and GIS mapping. Ms. Oyshi works as a Research Associate in the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER) of BRAC University, Bangladesh. She obtained her BSc degree in Civil Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Currently she is enrolled there in its MSc on Environmental Engineering program. She has expertise in the fields of environmental engineering, policy review and analysis, stakeholder analysis, river modeling, GIS mapping and Environmental Management, etc. She was involved in research works on vulnerable communities of coastal areas, char lands, and haor areas of Bangladesh. Mr. Rouf works as a Research Associate in the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER) of BRAC University, Bangladesh. He obtained his BSc degree in Environmental Management from Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB). Currently he is enrolled there in its MSc in Environmental Management program. He has expertise in the fields of climate change adaptation and mitigation, disaster management, and livelihood development. Moreover, he has been involved in project planning and proposal writing, project development, report writing, project management and monitoring, etc.

To ‘Float’ or ‘Not’: Cases of Amphibious Housing and Their Impacts on Vulnerable Communities of Jamaica Iftekhar Ahmed

Abstract Jamaica is ranked twentieth in the 2016 World Risk Report as a country exposed to multiple hazards. Among these, tropical storms, hurricanes and floods hit Jamaica most frequently. Recent studies associate the higher frequency of storms and flooding in Jamaica with impacts of climate change. Four types of flooding affect Jamaica: flash floods, riverine floods, tidal floods and ponding. During flood, common options are either to build walls to keep the water out, build elevated houses or evacuate. None of these is a sustainable permanent solution. Affordable amphibious housing is a proactive solution that enables people to remain in their communities of origin with a safe and healthy living environment during flood events. An amphibious house is one option that sits on the ground for majority of the time, with the capacity to float on the floodwater, and then returning to its exact original position when the flood recedes. After the severe flood of 2009 in Jamaica, CARIBSAVE, a non-governmental organization (NGO), undertook the amphibious housing project in selected local communities of Jamaica so that people do not need to evacuate. Through structured and critical analysis of selected case study communities of Jamaica, this chapter tests a measurement matrix to evaluate impacts of the project on the communities. Preliminary findings show that amphibious housing is effective and considerably less expensive than the other options. Keywords Amphibious houses · Coastal areas · Climate change adaptation · Disaster risk reduction · Flooding · Jamaica

1 Introduction A large part of the Caribbean is in vulnerable low-lying coastal areas and river deltas, making them some of the most disaster-prone areas in the world, with the most marginalized communities. Jamaica, the small island state, ranks 20th in the 2016 World Risk Report (Jeschonnek 2016) as a country exposed to multiple hazards I. Ahmed (B) Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 I. Chowdhooree and S. M. Ghani (eds.), External Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_15

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(Table 1). Among these, tropical storms, hurricanes and floods hit Jamaica most frequently. Within the last few years, the effects of climate change on Jamaica has become more evident. It has resulted in more severe hurricanes and increase in heavy rainfall and flooding. The island has the second highest economic risk exposure to two or more hazards according to the 2008 update of the Natural Disaster Hotspot study by the World Bank (Dilley et al. 2005). Recent increase in the intensity and frequency of climate-related natural hazards such as escalating rainfall variability, hurricanes and floods combined with fragile ecosystems and coastal zones, and an agriculture-dependent economy all contribute to Jamaica’s overall vulnerability to climate change. Historical record of floods and updated data on frequency of flooding in Jamaica confirms that the recent increase is associated with impacts of changed climate. Four types of floods affect Jamaica and the wider Caribbean: flash flood, riverine flood, tidal flood and ponding. Floods affect physical assets, used for economic production and/or services, on the costs of raw materials and inputs to economic production, on the subsequent costs to businesses, and thus on overall wider economic competitiveness and employment patterns in the sub-region at local and global level. Other losses include, effects on health (food and water borne diseases), infrastructure damages, water scarcity, impacts on urban biodiversity, effects on tourism, and cultural heritage and additional secondary effects on agriculture and total ecosystems (ODPEM 2008). Under the circumstances, climate change adaptation has been considered at policy level and is one of the outcomes of the Vision 2030 Jamaica-National Development Plan. It has been realized that there is little option but to take proactive adaptive measures. On a similar note Smith observes, “Given the cluster of uncertainties that darken the future, the precautionary principle dictates that we should be preparing now for a more hostile environment and change building practices accordingly.” (Smith 2010, p. xi) Stern (2006, p. 40) states, “investing now in adapting to future climate impacts will be considerably more cost-effective than taking emergency measures after the event.” Housing is the most urgent of the basic building typologies, as it mostly affects the quality of every human life. Housing deserves special consideration, as it is intergenerational. Building houses close to water bodies has always been culturally preferred due to the ease of movement, agriculture and scenic views, despite of the risk of flooding and erosion. Floating habitats existed in various vernacular cultures since ancient times, for example Malay houses on stilts (Hack et al. 2010). With technological advancement, building that adapts to rising water could be assumed as only the next logical step. During a flood, common options are either to build walls to keep the water out, build elevated structures or evacuate, none of which is Table 1 Natural disasters and population data per square kilometer in Jamaica, 1900–2007 Country

Area (km2 )

Disaster/100 km2

Population

Population/km2

Jamaica

10,831

0.397

2,804,332

259

Source Maynard-Ford et al. (2008)

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a sustainable solution in the context, as seen in recent floods of Jamaica (Roadways in Western Parishes Flooded 2010). Globally, there has been a growing awareness of the limitations of traditional flood-mitigation strategies, which only attempts to contain/control the overflow of floodwater. Even the houses on stilts that traditionally existed in various cultures, sometimes fail once floodwater cross the estimated limit, resulting catastrophic consequences. There is the added risk of being complacent and developing behind flood barriers. On the other hand, floatable or amphibious housing is an affordable, non-defensive and proactive flood mitigation strategy that considers a flood prone region’s historic cycles of flooding and works in synchrony with nature (Treehugger 2009). Those allow water to flow rather than obstructing it, thus preventing force evacuation during flood events and provide safe and healthy living environment. Amphibious housing that can rise and fall with levels of floodwater, simultaneously offers a sustainable disaster resilient solution and a new way of life. To adapt, it needs to shift from the attitude of conquering nature with technology to the attitude of adapting to it. Olthuis and Keuning (2010) explain that compared to all the common approaches to flood mitigation (such as building barriers or houses on stilts) the key advantage of amphibious housing is that, being on water, it is naturally sustainable and doesn’t alter the site permanently. Measuring community resilience1 is recognized as an essential step towards reducing disaster risks and being better prepared to withstand and adapt to a broad array of natural disasters. This study analyses the impacts of disaster resilient amphibious housing during floods with selected case studies from Jamaica. Through structured and critical analysis of selected case studies from Jamaica, this chapter aims to explore the perceptions, reactions and expectations of local communities to these interventions.

2 Research Methodology The study adopts selected indicators from each components of Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC) to measure the impacts of the project on communities. The BRIC is a refined version of the Disaster Resilience of Place (DROP) model that was developed at the Department of Geography and Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute, University of South Carolina, USA, in 2008 (Winderl 2014). The BRIC provides a conceptual framework measuring and analyzing communitylevel resilience to natural hazards through using a set of indicators for evaluating ecological, social, economic, institutional, infrastructure and community competencies (Winderl 2014). Baseline characteristics provide a sustainable framework that 1 Community

resilience is a measure of the sustained ability of a community to utilize available resources to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations (Chandra 2018). Housing being one of the key components in any community, housing condition and its ability to withstand potential disasters is automatically a part of community resilience.

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considers the impacts of implementations of programs, policies, and interventions that foster resilience. BRIC can be used as an initial baseline for monitoring existing attributes of resilience to natural hazards, also to determine the specific drivers of resilience for specific places and to monitor improvements in resilience over time. As measuring all the indicators of the BRIC were beyond the scope of the study, few indicators (as detailed in section Community response to affordable amphibious housing project) from each category were selected for using in this study. Additionally, physical component was added for its relevance to the project as it sheds light on the physical elements of the amphibious housing project. As BRIC is a qualitative method, the resilience components in combination with intervention categories were measured against five resilience categories (Table 4) as well as their impact on communities. Here the impact qualitatively indicates the benefits or changes that are consequences of the external interventions; in this case, how the amphibious housing has affected the communities with medium- to longterm community-level change. To find out the community response to the selected indicators, qualitative methods such as unstructured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted to study two selected flood-prone communities of Jamaica as it facilitated reaching the core issues with more complex questions compared to quantitative methods. Qualitative methods involved assessing the key issues of resilience in the studied communities. It also fostered a sense of ownership and allowed for a deeper examination of the situation. Unstructured interview was conducted as it allowed the interviewees to be more relaxed, and thus more forthcoming. It also had the added advantage of pursuing a topic that is not directly related to the formal list of questions, but that might be important or even crucial to the issue. Additionally, focus group discussion sessions were conducted where the group members did not know one another, so that social pressures did not influence them.

3 Amphibious Housing as a Solution: Technology and Cases The recent design and development of the ‘amphibious house’ has the potential to play an important role in the future of flood adaptation. The amphibious houses are innovations in hydrological living, developed over the past decade to tackle the problem of flooding and create opportunity to live in a place with a high risk of water damage. Pioneered by the Dutch architects, the idea is to convert crisis into opportunity through this innovation. The idea is to live with water and not against it and overcome the constraints of flooding and challenging the ‘accepted’ norm of living on dry land during floods. Forty-six floating houses were developed to tackle the recurring problem of flooding in the Nederlands, which impacts the low-lying areas in every few years. The project was implemented on a Government-designated

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flood-overflow plane in the Maasbommel area near the Maas River of the Netherlands (Pötz and Bleuzé 2009). An amphibious house is an option that sits on the ground for most of the time, with the capacity to float on the floodwater, and then returning to its exact original position while the flood recedes. Amphibious architecture allows an otherwise-ordinary structure to float on the surface of rising floodwater while the amphibious foundation retains the connection to the ground by resting firmly on the earth under usual circumstances. The houses that can be elevated can be made amphibious. The philosophy of floating architecture is not to fight against nature, rather co-exist with it. Typically designed from single to double storied, the ‘amphibious house’ has a split-level design with a living room facing on the lower level and bedrooms at the upper level. This part is made of wood to make the houses light and easier to float when required. Those are not floating per se, rather those have an innovative foundation that enables those to float and rise with the changing water level. They consist a low ceiling basement with watertight-hollow concrete box that works as an underwater air buoyancy chamber2 helping the house to keep afloat during a flooding condition. In normal conditions, the foundation sits on dry land. However, when the river swells to flood level, the house can float up with the water table and withstand a rise of up to 5.5 m, which covers beyond the normal flood conditions. When the floodwater subsides, the houses return to their original position. Six heavy iron posts (5.5-m-long) are sunk into the bottom to withstand the strong currents of the floodwater and secure the house (about 300 m2 in plan). Flexible pipes adapted to move with force of water, keep the house connected to building services and utilities like electrical, water and sewer lines. This solution is used to maintain constant energy supply for the houses to remain habitable. The houses give the residents opportunity to cope with flood, instead of evacuating or being devastated. It is an idea to convert yesterday’s houseboat into tomorrow’s hydrological design. As the technology is adopted and refined, current costs of foundation are expected to fall dramatically. For example, field study in Bliss Pastures and Port Maria, Jamaica shows a floating house of an approximate size of 200 m2 with sustainable recycled materials costs in the range of $2000–$3500, which is affordable. For smaller structures, ensuring stability remains a challenge. If the base area of the building is small compared to its height, the floating structure becomes slightly unstable.3 This issue needs to be resolved for floating residences to become more acceptable socially. More recently, disasters like the Japan Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina have forced the architect community to think ‘out of the box’ to design for disaster struck areas. Morphosis Architects designed the prototype prefabricated float house for the ‘Make it Right’ Foundation. The affordable house was developed for the Hurricane Katrina 2 Air

buoyancy chamber is an enclosed section of a floating structure that contains air, generally trapped inside an airtight space (which can be a basement) to help the structure maintain buoyancy. 3 When a floating structure increases in height, the centre of gravity goes higher. When the height of the structure increases until the centre of gravity and the metacentre (intersection between the working line of the righting force and the symmetry axis) are in the same position, the result will be indifferent balance and an unstable structure (Mestemaker 2012).

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struck flood prone lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. The flood-safe house is flexible to float with rising water levels so that it remains afloat even during the most severe floods. The design can be used in any flood zone throughout the world (Ergodesk 2009). The most commonly used material for floating foundations at present is polystyrene. It is either mixed with or encased in concrete when used in floating foundations; as has been done in the foundation of the Float house by Morphosis Architects, where polystyrene was used encased in concrete. While this may be the most commonly available material for floating foundation, polystyrene is considered hazardous for health during both production and use. There is opportunity to invent more sustainable materials for floating structures.

4 Flooding in Jamaica: Limitations of Existing Mitigation Measures The overall increase in greenhouse gases (GHG) has been significant, especially over the past 50 years (UNISDR 2012). Flooding is one of the primary hazards, representing about 40% of all natural hazards in the world. With anthropogenic climate change, frequency and intensity of flood events are increasing all over the world. Unfortunately, a small share of only 1% of disaster and development aid goes to disaster risk reduction (UNISDR 2012). In Jamaica, 96.3% of the national population, 94.9% of the national territory and 96.3% of the GDP are vulnerable to multiple hazard events (GFDDR 2018). Among tropical storms, hurricanes and floods, floods are the most frequent. UNEP predicts severe impacts of some highly frequent disasters that hit Jamaica as shown in Table 2. The country becomes even more vulnerable by a weak building code and its enforcement along with already existing heavily debt-burdened economy. Flooding is a recurring natural hazard in Jamaica which continue to worsen every year with growing impacts of climate change and rising sea level (Prevention Web 2010). About 120 Jamaican rivers flow to the coast from the mountains, contributing the creation of numerous low-lying and flood-prone areas. The communities in these areas are especially vulnerable to these flooding. The data from 2002 and 2010 shows the severity of flood damage. About 2553 homes and 41,656 people were affected in these disasters (Prevention Web 2010). Of the existing strategies of flood disaster mitigation relocation strategies failed historically, mainly due to lack of proper logistical support in a poor economy. Under these circumstances, a serious re-examination of possible alternate options to construct in flood-prone areas was considered from the turn of the century. A fresh outlook to existing conditions and disaster management strategies were taken. Amphibious construction already practiced in various parts of the world was considered as a sustainable solution to the problem.

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Table 2 Examples of projected impacts and challenges on selected sectors by the ‘climate driven phenomenon’ (Wilbanks and Sathaye 2007) Disaster types

Impacts

Tropical cyclones and storm-surges Damage to coral reefs; power outages cause disruption of public water supply; increased risk of deaths, water and food-borne diseases, disorders, potential for population migrations, loss of property, flood and wind casualties and damages, economic losses, transport, tourism, infrastructure (e.g., energy, transport), insurance; problems with land use/population density in flood-prone areas, flood defenses, institutional capacities; increased vulnerability in storm-prone coastal areas; possible effects on settlements, health, tourism, economic and transportation systems, buildings and infrastructures; coastal areas, settlements and activities, fixed infrastructure, insurance sector Extreme rainfall and riverine floods Erosion/landslides, land flooding; problems with land use/population density in flood-prone areas, flood defenses, institutional capacities, settlements, transportation systems, infrastructure; possible effects on settlements, health, tourism, economic and transportation systems, buildings and drainage infrastructure; coastal areas, settlements and activities, regions and populations with limited capacities and resources, fixed infrastructure, insurance sector and flood plains can be affected

5 Common Mitigation Techniques: Community Response According to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) (www.odpem.org.jm) of Jamaica there are two types of flood mitigation measures in the country: Flood control structures and Non-structural flood control measures. Table 3 shows their salient features and relative strength/weaknesses: On the other hand, houses on statically elevated or elevated platforms or stilts (Fig. 1) is ineffective as it detaches the homes from ground contact thus disrupting the spatial continuity in communities. In addition, with further rising sea levels with global warming, flood levels can be even higher making a flood mitigation strategy that relies on a fixed static elevation ineffective. Considering the most severe cases of floods over the next fifty years, the water may reach heights beyond the levels that were anticipated during the time of construction of the houses.

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Table 3 Types of flood mitigation measures in Jamaica (ODPEM 2008) Flood control structures Type of structures

Key features

Strength/weakness

Check dams

Constructed with rocks and mortar or concrete, of variable height and width

Only useful to stabilize riverbed slopes and prevent soil erosion. They are very costly, and their design and construction require careful planning

Retaining walls

Built with rock/concrete block structures built on steep slopes anywhere in the watershed, where the erosion of the base foundation threatens lands and/or homes

Challenging to build in diversified topographic conditions. Expensive to build

Bunding

Flexible structures of variable thickness and length, composed of galvanized wire mesh, stone, wild-cane and riverbed materials

Bunding is used to prevent bank erosion and landslips and to protect agricultural lands from being flooded. Not useful for residences

Sauarage /Gabion/Mattress groynes

Saurage groynes are long, cylindrical, slightly flexible structures of variable thickness, composed of wire and rocks. Gabion/Mattress groynes are long, flexible structures of variable thickness, composed of wire and rocks

Only useful for foot of banks along small, slow-moving streams or riverbanks, where there are signs of undermining and threats to permanent structures. Not useful for residences

Levees

Constructed of clay or earth fill Have proven quite effective for material with some structural smaller communities, not very modifications effective for larger communities

Flood walls

Require very little space and are often used to protect cities and developed areas

Even though they are low maintenance, they are expensive to construct

Channel Alterations

Reduce floods by deepening and widening the channel by cutting meanders

Sometimes these works can have undesirable effects, by aiding the sediment transport process

Detention Ponds

Ponds placed on and off-side, can minimize the damage to downstream structures by reducing peak flows

Has to be considered in the design of downstream protective structures. Highly expensive

Non-structural flood control measures Flood Plain Regulations

Flood plain regulations Effective in terms of land-use designate flood-prone areas and planning. Restricts evacuation limit their use to those rate of the residents compatible with the degree of flood-risk (continued)

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Table 3 (continued) Flood control structures Type of structures

Key features

Strength/weakness

Reforestation and Crop Rotation

Attempts to prevent further deforestation and to establish large-scale reforestation in the upper catchment areas

Though widely used, the measure is too slow to implement

Flood Warning Systems

Flood warning systems include several rain gauges located in areas where maximum amounts of rainfall can occur

Attempts to provide maximum lead time for the evacuation of the residents whose property is likely to be affected. It is a passive mitigation measure where only evacuation is possible

Flood Plain Hazard Maps

The location of flood control structures depends largely on the information provided by Flood Plain Hazard Maps

Provides a basis for assessing the priorities for supplementing existing programs; for constructing or upgrading flood control structure and for preparing new schemes to protect life, agro- industrial lands, houses, buildings, etc. Takes long time to implement

Fig. 1 House on stilts in Jamaica (Field-study 2019)

6 Communities of Flood-Prone Areas in Jamaica The field study was conducted in two flood prone vulnerable communities of Jamaica: Bill Pastures and Port Maria (Fig. 2) were selected as case study areas as they are particularly vulnerable to inland flooding and meet the necessary criteria of the research. These two communities have several houses with buoyant foundation retrofits. A brief overview of the communities and their concerns are given here:

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Fig. 2 Map showing locations of the two case study areas. Source Author, based on (Nations Online 2019)

6.1 Case Study Area 1: Bliss Pastures Bliss Pastures is a small city with a few rivers near Wakefield, Trelawny Parish, Jamaica. According to the 2011 Census of Population and Housing of Jamaica (Statistical Institute of Jamaica 2017), Wakefield has 1089 housing units with 1141 households. It is highly vulnerable to flooding, especially flash flooding in its low-lying and flood prone areas. According to Jamaica’s National Meteorological Office, during the heaviest rainfalls ten to twenty-centimeter water accumulates in the area. Despite being one of the world flood prone areas in Jamaica, the residents continue to inhabit there due to their financial inability to leave. The communities are highly vulnerable to regular cycles of flood and drought, accompanied by heavy rainfall for 2–3 months. According to Jamaica’s National Meteorological Office (ODPEM 2008), one of the key factors of heavy flooding in the area is the water from the overflowing water bodies that gets the soil over-saturated, making it incapable of absorbing more water. Moreover, due to a lower topographical position, Bliss Pastures floodwater collects in the community after passing through other areas. The common impacts of heavy flooding are inundated roadways, huge landslips and fallen trees (Flood fear—Rains from Richard expected to pound Ja 2010). Unstructured interviews and focus group discussions with the community members revealed that the residents are advised to be prepared for raised water level and be ready to move quickly to high-elevated locations. The community is particularly vulnerable in public health during severe floods as the pit latrines overflow causing serious health hazards. During most floods, the worst affected residents must evacuate from their houses and take shelters at governmental facilities such as schools and depend on emergency supplies. It often takes more than a month for the flood water to recede, making return to regular living condition even harder. There have been

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cases where the flood victims considered the flood risks to be too high and permanently left the locations. Historically, during the heaviest floods, there have been occasional casualties. During the most severe floods water rises nearly to the roof level of houses, there have been cases where single and two-storied houses tumbled by flood, killing and injuring people. Common impacts are severe damage to major roads, making few parts of the community inaccessible, damage of private properties and flattened crops on some farms, animal casualties, affecting the livelihood of the community members. The heaviest flooding occurred in 2009, in the heavy rainy season, and forced more than 120 persons to evacuate their houses in Bliss Pastures, many leaving behind some of their personal belongings, as water levels rose in the low-lying community (Roadways in Western Parishes Flooded 2010). In the focus group discussions, community members shared that relocation to higher grounds that are relatively safer is not realistic even with monetary compensation, food, and new land offered by government; mainly due to high cost of building new houses. It is expected that there will be another severe flood soon. The community members, worried about the impacts of future floods are interested in the prospects of retrofitted or newly built amphibious houses. However, they are concerned about Government’s involvement in any such project and the accompanying corruption, sidelining the community interests. Another key issue of large-scale intervention is land ownership; currently many of the residents do not own their land; they either rent or squat on Government/others’ lands. This makes new construction partially challenging. Many of the residents are skeptic about new construction or even intervention, mainly due to corruptions at administrative level and other malpractices. Also, consequently they are apprehensive about supports, received from any new organization/agency

6.2 Case Study Area 2: Port Maria Port Maria is the capital of Saint Mary Parish, located on the north coast of Jamaica near Outram River, about 55 km north of Kingston. According to the 2011 Census of Population and Housing of Jamaica (Statistical Institute of Jamaica 2017), Port Maria has 2577 housing units with 2794 households. The city has a population of approximately 7500 people. The communities sited directly on the riverbank and living adjacent to the river are particularly vulnerable to minor and severe flooding due to Outram river that flows to the Caribbean Sea. The economically challenged communities are inundated in regular heavy rainfalls. Flooding occurs even without rainfall, as the river levels are high, making the grounds overly saturated. Serious floods occur every two years, with about 4–5 minor floods in between. The last major flood occurred in February 2015 (Flood fear—Rains from Richard expected to pound Ja 2015). The problems are like Bliss Pastures. Along with damage to property, crop and livestock, flood poses serious public health threats. The overflowing pit latrines cause serious health threats such as ringworm, fungal infections and grunge itch. Flooding also brings mosquitos to the community. The risk persists

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even when the floodwater recedes. Another problem is the humid conditions due to oversaturated soil. Subsequent flood happens before the houses are dried up from the last flood’s water, causing lasting damages to properties such as mold and fungus infestations. The residents have to relocate during flood; it sometimes takes up to six weeks for them to come back to their home, greatly disrupting the people’s lives (Turner and English 2015). Historically, major floods occur during June–September, with occasional ones in November-December. With global climate change the level of floodwater is rising every year (ODPEM 2008). The government offers very limited help other than restricting to sell land of the area and providing limited financial assistance. The government argues that the residents are ‘voluntarily’ exposing them to the risk when in reality the marginalized communities have little choice but to live here, as they cannot afford to acquire land and build new houses elsewhere (Turner and English 2015).

7 The Affordable Amphibious Housing Project Affordable amphibious housing existed in vernacular cultures since ancient times (Hack et al. 2010). Contemporary examples of amphibious housing exist in the Netherlands, Thailand, in several countries of North America. In Old River Landing, Louisiana, USA amphibious housing has been successfully attempted for more than three decades. Studies show that they have been more reliable and more convenient compared to houses with permanent static elevation (Ergodesk 2009). On an average, a contemporary amphibious house with similar technology used in amphibious houses of the Netherlands usually costs in the range of US $300,000– $400,000 (Mestemaker 2012). Naturally they are not a sustainable option for lowincome people vulnerable to flooding in Jamaica. Under the circumstance, several researchers considered retrofitted amphibious houses as an alternate. The initial target was to provide a design solution to retrofit existing houses at an affordable price which was below US $5000. The target was to produce a prototype suitable solution for the flood prone areas of Jamaica which can be potentially applied to other parts of the world in various vulnerable conditions (Turner and English 2015). CARIBSAVE, an NGO with long background of working with several low-income communities across the Caribbean, collaborated with a team of researchers from University of Waterloo, Canada led by Scott Turner and Elizabeth English to find a sustainable solution for amphibious houses. The first part of the field study was to identify the communities that were highly vulnerable to flooding and having a dialogue with them to find out the nature of their vulnerability, existing capacities to handle them and creating a databank of their natural and fabricated environment. They conducted an extensive range of survey to understand Jamaica’s existing housing types, construction materials and methods of construction, neighborhood pattern, life style, social system and cultural preferences in the communities (Turner and English 2015; CARIBSAVE Partnership 2012).

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The second part of the field study was to decide strategic design strategies of amphibious housing, suitable for the selected communities. The issues covered in this phase discussed both design, technical and social issues such as existing social capital in communities, architectural and engineering issues and overall urban planning decisions. The aim was to further develop on the designs, developed by the Buoyant Foundation Project team (What is a Buoyant Foundation? 2018). Several notable refinements were required to suit the local conditions with consultation with a local civil engineering consultant who understood local conditions and construction possibilities. The floating technologies already used in Louisiana as discussed earlier, were integrated with local vernacular building typologies and construction techniques as the context of Louisiana is very similar to the Jamaican context as they belong to similar climatic region. While Louisiana has a humid subtropical climate, the areas studied in Jamaica has a tropical climate quite like Louisiana. From the outset, the team (consisting member of CARIBSAVE and researchers of University of Waterloo) decided that new construction would be too expensive, and prototypes should be developed to retrofit existing houses. The primary focus was to research already practiced buoyancy strategies used in amphibious houses in projects of Louisiana and to find the most economically and technologically suitable option for the local context. In the next step, expert of hydrology and fluid dynamics vetted the selected systems for their stability under potential flood conditions in varying conditions. From a range of options, the collaborative research team chose a sustainable vertical guidance system that could resist any lateral horizontal movement of the houses during severe floods. Finally, a team of researchers/designers at the University of Waterloo,4 based on the data and analysis provided by the local engineering consultants, developed a set of design solutions, sustainable for the local communities (Fig. 3).

8 Design Strategies to Retrofit From the outset, a solution was required that would be low-cost and replicable for the local communities. The design retrofit with cost-effective and locally available materials and local construction practices was used to convert existing regular houses 4 a.

The team of researchers at the University of Waterloo consisted graduate research students and was led by Scott Turner and Dr. Elizabeth C English. b. Scott Turner is a Project Manager at the Buoyant Foundation Project, Ontario, Canada. During the Affordable amphibious housing project, he was a Graduate Student at the Department of Engineering - Architectural Studies of University of Waterloo. His research interest includes water and its relationship to architecture and infrastructure. He specializes in floating structures with a focus on amphibious housing in North America. c. Dr. Elizabeth English is an Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture of University of Waterloo. Dr. English’s current research focuses on developing amphibious foundation systems as a flood mitigation and climate change adaptation strategy that supports the preservation of traditional housing forms and cultural practices. She is working on projects for indigenous and indigent populations in south Louisiana, the Canadian North, Jamaica and Vietnam.

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Fig. 3 Top—schematic drawing of components of a retrofitted amphibious house in Jamaica, bottom left—during dry and bottom right—during flood conditions (Field-survey 2019)

to amphibious houses in the communities of Bliss Pastures and Port Maria. The typical Jamaican houses are built using pier-and-beam construction system with wood joists and beam platforms on the foundation piers of either concrete masonry unit (CMU), a standard size rectangular block or timber. It should be noted that the retrofit was only possible in the houses with elevation above grade making retrofitting assembly of a buoyant foundation possible. Slab-on-grade5 was not considered as it is not possible to retrofit. Assembly of a retrofit is similar in principle with buoyancy elements below the existing floor structure, a connection of structural substrate to the floor with a vertical guidance system to restrict lateral movement during floods. It was essential to reinforce the existing structures to various degrees, as they would be exposed to strong lateral forces of floodwater. The buoyancy elements were secured using marine plywood strapping, placed perpendicular to the floor joists. The existing joists were secured with sill beams with galvanized steel hurricane ties (Turner and English 2015). 5 Slab-on-grade

is a type of floating slab foundation where the concrete slab that is to serve as the foundation for the structure above is formed from a mold set directly into the ground. The concrete is then placed into the mold, leaving no gap between the ground and the structure.

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As the community of Bliss Pastures were more economically challenged, costeffective, safe and structurally sound materials and techniques were used. While in Port Maria, more traditional yet cost effective approach was employed. As Styrofoam would be too expensive in the local context, recycled 5-gallon jugs were used for buoyancy as they are inexpensive, easily available and the residents could fit it by themselves (Turner and English 2015). Galvanized steel ‘chicken wire’ cages were used to frame the jugs in modules of 3 wide and 4 deep. They were affixed to the marine plywood strapping installed below and perpendicular to the floor joists. In Bliss Pastures, each house required 370 jugs, giving 6990 kg of buoyancy which was 30% more than calculated buoyancy to float the house during floods (Turner and English 2015). In Port Maria, regular buoyancy blocks composed of expanded polystyrene was used below the existing floor structure (Fig. 4). A plywood structural substrate was used to reinforce the existing structure and support for the buoyancy blocks. To prevent lateral movement readily available timber telephone poles were used. This enabled the houses to rise, float and descend during floods. It should be noted that, depending on availability and convenience, wire mesh “cages” containing recycled jugs or expanded polystyrene (EPS) were used. As labor cost is considerably higher in the first process, the decision of buoyant technology should be context sensitive. EPS on the other hand has a simpler construction technique. Research showed that while the first technique is ecologically sustainable, the second one is 65% less expensive. The construction costs for the amphibious retrofit foundations (including labor and materials) varied in the two communities. In Bliss Pastures it cost $2414 USD ($90.24/m2 ) on an average while in Port Maria it cost $3765 USD ($93.81/m2 ) on an

Fig. 4 Retrofitted amphibious houses of Bliss Pastures and Port Maria (Field-survey 2019)

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average. Voluntary labor, if available, reduced the cost partially, $1199 USD for the Bliss Pastures and $2064 USD for the Port Maria. For a permanent house, the costs are affordable for the residents. Moreover, if one considers the cost and hassle involved in relocating and repairing flood damage, retrofit buoyant foundation provides an economically sustainable low-environmental impact solution (Turner and English 2015). A key goal of the amphibious house project was to ensure that the construction is simple enough so that the residents themselves can replicate it in future. For the amphibious housing to be a sustainable housing typology the capacity building in the local communities for flood-resilient housing was crucial, as continuous external intervention by NGO and others were not realistically available. Field study shows that there have been other cases of post disaster intervention by the agencies and gradually amphibious housing technology is becoming an acceptable, innovative and sustainable flood mitigation solution.

9 Community Response to Affordable Amphibious Housing Project Focus group discussions and interviews with studied communities show that they are economically challenged, poorly educated and underprivileged. Most of the residents live below local poverty line (US$ 1.90 per day since 2015, (UNDP: Poverty In Jamaica At 14.5% 2017)). Whatever limited asset they have, they do not want to expose those to the theft and destruction by floods. As such, leaving their houses unprotected during the floods is one of the toughest things they are forced to do. The fact that amphibious houses, letting them stay at their houses, works as a big positive force in its favor. A critical factor is the prevailing government corruption and resultant lack of trust on any government endeavor. As NGOs and other external bodies have already executed the amphibious projects, there is an inherent trust involved. The response from the two communities studied for the affordable amphibious housing project can be summarized under seven types of components. Those are briefly discussed here: a. Ecological Components As the amphibious structures can maintain an elevation that is always above the surface of the water, the long-term degradation of permanent static Elevation (PSE) due to soil subsidence can be avoided. Moreover, the vertical guidance posts (VGPs) has the flexibility to be extended in case of the early predictions for expected flood level is exceeded. Green space, undisturbed land and forested land cover remains very similar to regular habitats. Due to existing ecological condition, there is minimal wetland loss and the amphibious projects are very similar to regular housing projects in this respect.

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b. Physical Components As the houses on stilts (Fig. 1) have a permanent static elevation (PSE), they are highly vulnerable to damage when exceptional flooding occurs, and they exceed the anticipated elevation calculated during design. As the amphibious houses have the capacity to adapt to variable flood levels, they can cope with even the most severe flooding and rise according to the water level. Unlike houses on stilts, elevated to fixed level, amphibious houses have the flexibility to accommodate varying levels of floodwater. Community response shows, this gives them a good level of compatibility with existing urban fabric and walkability between buildings. Another advantage is the clustering of the structures. Generally, the amphibious houses are clustered in such a way so that they can enhance safety of the overall housing infrastructure. The elevated houses detach the residents from street level, requiring long flights of stairs or elevators (for differently abled persons) which the communities studied cannot afford. The amphibious houses have the natural advantage over houses with permanent static elevation being close to the grounds. c. Infrastructural Components As most of the residents live in their own houses, shelter capacity is high. As a limited number of existing houses has been retrofitted, residents living in other regular houses often relocate to their neighbors in the amphibious houses. Nearly about half of the community can relocate to the amphibious houses and the shelter capacity doubles during flood events. As evacuation is not necessary during floods, evacuation potential for the amphibious houses is very low. Most of the houses were constructed during the last two to three decades; as such, they are eligible for retrofitting with potential lifespan of about two to three decades left in them. During floods, the residents can avail smaller water transports such as boats to continue with their regular lifestyle. d. Institutional Components A formal hazard mitigation plan prepared by local authorities is not available in studied cases. There are very few structures in the localities which can be used as flood shelters during floods. The amphibious housing partially solves the problem in the community, as only a small portion of existing houses has been retrofitted as amphibious. Collectively, the community faces the challenges of flooding in a basic informal participatory process. However, the municipal expenditures to support this is at bare minimum level. e. Economic Components The most important economic component of the project is the comparative advantage of retrofitting or even new construction as compared to monetary damage of regular houses caused by floods. Compared to ordinary construction, an amphibious system (new/retrofitted) involves costs of various degrees (generally in the range of 5 to 10%) mainly due to the need for a more elaborate foundation system. On the other hand, the cost of an amphibious system is much lower than houses with

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PSE, as it requires the replacement of the entire foundation system as no retrofitting like amphibious houses is possible. Retrofitted amphibious houses only supplement the general load-bearing system. They use components to resist lateral movement with vertical guidance allowing buoyancy to provide uplift during floods; those are comparatively less expensive, especially with recycled materials. Retrofitting with recycled materials includes placing new steel channel reinforcement for sill beam which is added to the existing sill beam to make the retrofitting capable to withstand forces of flood water (Fig. 3). Steel double angle ‘T’ beams with secondary steel framing is used to support buoyancy blocks. Finally, telescoping vertical guidance posts are placed on the outer periphery of the existing piers so that can move up and down with the flood water keeping the house in its original location. The cost analysis shows that on an average amphibious foundations cost around 1/3 to 1/2 of the cost of PSEs. However, the damages caused by floods cannot be calculated or predicted; but it is generally greater compared to cost of construction. The impact of floods damages on livelihood is generally severe in all scenarios as crops and livestock get affected. Comparatively, a damaged house makes the situation even worse. Thus, amphibious houses provide a better alternative. f. Social Components One of the most serious threats of flooding is disruption of the residents’ quality of everyday life. For safety of their asset and property, it is common for the male family members to stay behind while the women and children relocate to safer places, sometimes with relatives. There is a general dissatisfaction involved with staying with relatives for long term as they find it humiliating. The safety, health and wellbeing of minimal disruption of regular lifestyle during floods are a big relief for the communities. g. Community Components One of the main challenges of flood is relocating the elderly and other differently abled persons. Amphibious housing provides a greater degree of accessibility during normal conditions while offers the choice for the elderly and differently abled persons to remain at their homes. This helps to maintain social order and cohesion. Compared to PSE houses, amphibious houses help to maintain sense of place in local communities. One of the key factors that can trigger a positive change in communities is the development of affordable house, hence increasing home ownership. The increased home ownership helps to create communities rooted in place with enhanced social capital. As the residents do not need to evacuate, amphibious houses help to keep social connectivity even during flooding conditions. Overall, a stable community that is grounded in place increases residential density, attracts more investment in various sectors that further enhances the communities’ prosperity. This in turn increases livability in the communities with increased security and lesser crimes.

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Thirty-six houses were retrofitted in several phases of the project. On an average, each household residing in the retrofitted houses had 8–10 members. To find the community response to affordable amphibious housing project, a sample size of 80 respondents was drawn from the affected population of about 400 who were users of the retrofitted houses. Other members of the community were not included due to lack of first-hand experience of using amphibious houses during floods. The sample size was adequate considering the project was still in its early stage. The residents were asked about the state of the various issues (as indicators) under the seven components (Table 5). Here the seven resilience components (six adapted from BRIC and one introduced in this research) were used as benchmark to measure against intervention category, resilience category and impacts on community. Their qualitative responses were analyzed and synthesized according to intervention category, resilience category and impacts on community in vertical columns. The intervention category, introduced in this research was required as various elements of the amphibious housing project demanded to be identified whether the nature of intervention was minimum, medium, high or not related in a few cases. The five resilience categories (Table 4) has been developed by GOAL (2015) who defines resilience “as the ability of communities and households to anticipate and adapt to risks and to absorb, respond and recover from shocks and stresses in a timely and effective manner without compromising their long term prospects”. The manual highlights resilience ability to address the root causes of vulnerability which exacerbate the impact of hazards. It also notes that resilience building can facilitate a transition from humanitarian response interventions to long-term development Table 4 Various resilience categories (GOAL 2015) Level Category

%

Description

1

Minimal resilience 0–20

Little awareness of the issue(s) or motivation to address those. Actions limited to crisis responses. Unsafe for any emergency, no physical space to evacuate to

2

Low resilience

21–40

Awareness of the issue(s) and willingness to address those. Capacity to act, knowledge and skills, human, material and other resource(s) remains limited. Interventions tend to be one-off, piecemeal and short-term. Prepared for small scale emergencies, community members can house themselves in more secured community evacuation shelters

3

Medium resilience 41–60

Development and implementation of solutions. Capacity of act is improved and substantial. Interventions are more numerous and long-term

4

Resilience

61–80

Coherence and integration. Interventions are extensive, covering all main aspects of the problem, and they are linked within a coherent long-term strategy

5

High resilience

81–100 A ‘culture of safety’ exists among all stakeholders, where DRR is embedded in all relevant policy, planning, practice, attitudes and behavior

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programming (GOAL 2015). According to the manual, the toolkit can be used to determine levels of resilience as shown in the Table 4. As a part of the interview, participants were also asked to qualitatively express their opinion about the housing project. The responses ranged from satisfactory, neutral and dissatisfactory. This provided a perspective that was community specific. For example, in few indicators, the response was satisfactory even though the resilience category was medium. The results are shown in the Table 5. Those provide a preliminary understanding of the impact of the amphibious retrofit project on community at the post implementation phase. As the Table 5 shows, of the seven components, few were more significant for the amphibian housing project compared to others. For the local communities, physical, economic, social and community components were more important. While there were mixed responses (in terms of resilience level) for physical components, there were higher level of resilience responses to the other three. This probably was since the physical components were yet to be further developed for a greater level of satisfaction of the users. Comparatively, responses to the intangible elements as noted in social and community components were more satisfactory as the amphibious housing project enables the community to stay at their location and continue with everyday life instead of being displaced and relocated. The relationship of intervention category with the resilience level is not always simple as in many indicators, minimum interventions have resulted higher level of resilience and satisfaction.

10 Conclusion Common approaches to reduce flood risks at city scale include building barriers like embankments, dams, revetments, flood walls in flood prone zones. But this kind of infrastructures may cause for further damages and devastations. Not only barriers fail to realistically cover the whole flood prone zones, there is also the possibility of floods, exceeding the predicted level, leading to unanticipated failures, shattering the false sense of safety, as seen in the recent breach of Swar Creek dam of Myanmar in August 2018, when flooding in 85 villages displaced thousands from their homes (Naing and Slodkowski 2018). As discussed in Table 3, of the two types of flood mitigation measures at community level, one displaces residents from their locations and the other uplifts them from the ground level, disrupting everyday life. There is a great need to shift the attitude from conquering nature with technologies instead of adapting to it. As the findings show, the amphibious houses have potentials to allow to live with nature as those enable vulnerable communities to be flood-resilient at a modest cost. The additional benefit is the do-it-yourself nature of it and the fact that the communities can be easily trained to make their houses amphibious. It fosters capacity building for enhancing resilience, ensuring self-sufficiency at community level. Climate change adaptation and flood mitigation with amphibious housing is effective and considerably less expensive than the other available options. It is effective in both regular and severe flooding conditions.

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Table 5 Community response to affordable amphibious housing project (Field-survey 2019) Resilience component

Intervention category

Resilience category

Level

Impacts on communities

Soil erosion

Minimum

Resilience

4

Satisfactory

Green space/undisturbed land

Minimum

Medium Resilience

3

Satisfactory

Forested land cover

Minimum

Medium resilience

3

Satisfactory

Wetland loss

Not related

Medium resilience

3

Neutral

Compatibility with existing urban fabric

Minimum

High Resilience

5

Satisfactory

Walkability between buildings

Medium

resilience

4

Neutral

Clustering of the structures

Minimum

Low resilience

2

Dissatisfactory

Safety of housing infrastructure

Minimum

High resilience

5

Satisfactory

Community emergency response from its own resources

Medium

Medium resilience

3

Neutral

Adequacy of water supply, sanitation, first aid, sleeping, food storage, electric power, latrine/W.C., per 20 persons

Medium

Low resilience

2

Dissatisfactory

a. Ecological components

b. Physical components

c. Infrastructural components Shelter capacity (rental vacancy)

Medium

Low resilience

2

Dissatisfactory

Evacuation potential (arterial miles/mi2 )

Minimum

Medium resilience

3

Satisfactory

Housing age (built since 1970–1994)

Minimum

High resilience

5

Satisfactory

Recent hazard No mitigation plan (yes/no)

Low resilience

2

Dissatisfactory

Flood ready participation (yes/no)

Medium resilience

3

Satisfactory

Low resilience

2

Dissatisfactory

d. Institutional components

Yes. Medium

Municipal expenditures Minimum (fire, police, emergency services) e. Economic components

(continued)

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Table 5 (continued) Resilience component

Intervention category

Resilience category

Level

Impacts on communities

Effect on livelihood

Minimum

High resilience

5

Satisfactory

Savings in construction

Maximum

High resilience

5

Satisfactory

Quality of life

Minimum

High resilience

5

Satisfactory

Safety, health and well-being

Minimum

High resilience

5

Satisfactory

Social order, cohesion and community interaction

Minimum

Resilient

4

Satisfactory

f. Social components

g. Community components Previous disaster experience (PDD, yes/no)

Yes. minimum

Medium resilience

3

Dissatisfactory

Social connectivity (yes/no)

Yes. minimum

High resilience

5

Satisfactory

Sense of place (born in state and still live here)

Minimum

High resilience

5

Satisfactory

Social capital

Minimum

High resilience

5

Satisfactory

The study tests a measurement matrix for discussion and evaluation of the flood disasters in the case study communities. The initial conclusion is that the indicative components used in this study were partially adapted from other established disaster mitigation measurement models. There is a scope to develop a more evolved measurement model involving further refinement and calibration that will be more suitable to the local context and will assist to compare and evaluate community preparedness. Findings of this study sheds light on the achievements of the project with prospects and possibilities of larger scale interventions in the future. It should be noted that, this study has been a preliminary effort that sheds light on the community response at a basic level. Future research must involve larger number of communities to measure their accuracy involving experts and community feedbacks.

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I. Ahmed

Winderl T (2014) Disaster resilience measurements

Dr. Ahmed is an Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture of BRAC University, Bangladesh. He is trained in Architecture and Urban Design. His research interests include sustainable urban development. He worked as a Research Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Asian Cities, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore in projects such as ‘Benchmarks, Best Practices and Framework for Sustainable Development and Cities’. He has authored two edited books and many refereed publications.