Valuing community processes, culture, technologies and materials - Vivek Rawal

"Despite acknowledging that communities have demonstrated wisdom, we have done little to validate traditional materials and technologies." - Vivek Rawal, India

There have been many achievements since 2004. We have much improved capacities with legal-institutional framework, skilled and experienced human resources, infrastructure, resources and most importantly determination and commitment to mitigate disaster risks and be better prepared. While we share our areas of strength and achievement, we should also recall a few points for reflection

1. Environment, Development and Disaster mitigation are closely linked but usually we have pursued a path that puts them in conflict. It requires rethinking of our current developmental discourse not merely a limited discussion on disaster recovery and mitigation.

2. The processes of pre-disaster preparedness and post-disaster recovery are determined by the socio-cultural character of the communities and governance in the region. Its within such governance frameworks, we need to move towards empowering communities for safety, mitigation and recovery. In general, tsunami recovery processes were limited in its process of community empowerment. Of course there are positive examples and we need to deliberate why such examples were few.

3. While we have some examples of having pursued community centric rehabilitation, we also have examples of dis-regarding the community processes in some cases. After tsunami in 2004, we had various different approaches to recovery in different states and union territories. After 10 years, we can get a different perspective. We need to relook at the reconstruction taken up in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and derive lessons of future. Self-reflection on the nature of rehabilitation pursued  in A & N islands particularly, will help us evolve a more community centric approach. 

4. We have hardly given space to people's own technologies and materials in mainstream housing processes or disaster recovery processes. Despite acknowledging that communities have demonstrated wisdom, we have done little to validate traditional materials and technologies even though they continue to enable communities to manage their lives in a much more dignified manner than our other modern solutions.