Post Disaster Reconstruction

Reconstruction of damaged or totally devastated constructions is an immediate action needed after occurrence of a disaster. Among various reconstruction alternatives, the one which is technically and economically justifiable is what the decision-makers inquire. To determine the economic viability of an alternative, the accuracy and quickness of the used techniques are very decisive. Since in a post-disaster situation acting quickly is the priority, the traditional manual cost estimation methods are not feasible. Based on the previous studies, there is a need for a tool to quickly and automatically calculate the construction cost of the proposed alternatives. This paper proposes an automatic cost estimation methodology and develops a Building Information Modeling (BIM) based decision-making tool to automatically obtain the construction cost of the different construction alternatives for  post-disaster reconstruction. To develop this Application Programming Interface (API), C Sharp (C#) programming language was used and then it was added to Revit environment. In addition, the code was programmed to extract the needed data from RSMeans database. The difference between this code and other existing ones could be due to the high level cost estimations as it uses the quantity of elements rather than computing based on materials and/or detailed design. This tool can be used for decision-making for large number of projects within a very short time. This tool saves time required for evaluation of the feasibility and practicability of different construction options and is a useful decision support tool for decision-makers. Furthermore, by means of this tool, human-based errors will highly reduce and a more efficient and accurate cost estimation will be performed. By modeling the project geometry, the above-mentioned tool determines the number of each element, selects the unit cost for each element, computes the total cost for each element and calculates the final construction cost of the whole project. To validate the developed tool, a residential building case study was selected, and the cost of various design alternatives were estimated. To visually illustrate the application of the developed tool, this process is graphically explained and presented in detail. The main application of this BIM-based tool is when an area is drastically touched by a severe disaster and the constructed facilities are entirely demolished. Under this circumstance, quick rehabilitation of the affected areas is the priority action of corresponding decision makers. Therefore, implementing this prompt tool could assist policy-makers and authorities with immediate decisions and the tool acts as a decision support tool by providing more accurate economic insight to them.

Post-disaster discourses emphasize the importance of community in fostering reconstruction, yet the focus on recovering from a " natural " disaster can obscure the slower-paced disasters of displacement, dispossession and marginalization. The pre-disaster circumstances of Indigenous peoples infl uenced reconstruction after Typhoon Morakot, which devastated Taiwan in 2009, and have shaped the relations in which Indigenous groups are embedded as well as the terms used to represent them. " Community " , already contested in its application within various settings, masks a multilingual complexity in Taiwan. This paper explores how the idea of community was mobilized in post-Morakot reconstruction between 2009 and 2015, drawing on ethnographic research within Indigenous Rukai domains and interviews with various institutions. Taking a historical approach to Rukai experiences in Wutai Township, it discusses how imaginings of community reinforce rather than address risk and vulnerability for Indigenous populations in hazardous landscapes, and how external agencies perceive as self-evident what they mean by " community development " and " needs " .

Using sociological and social science perspectives, this chapter discusses the significance of cultural and religious aspects of disaster resilience and argues that strong religious beliefs in God can be an important component of resilience for victims to survive and bounce back after natural calamities. It examines the various meanings, problems, and major perspectives of the concept of resilience in disaster research. It also explains the role of culture and religion in people’s capacity to deal and cope with natural disasters as well as presents a case study to illustrate the crucial role of strong religious beliefs as a coping mechanism of disaster survivors to overcome the challenges of natural calamities. The study showed how a group of Christian Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) victims in 2009 creatively used their strong religious faith and belief in God as coping strategies to overcome the deadly flood and inhuman relocation and return to normal life. It argues that disaster resilience can be best measured at the individual level and that religious faith can be a potent resilience tool for deeply religious but disaster-prone countries such as the Philippines.

(This draft is submitted to Professor Eslamian last Sept. 2019, Chief Editor of 2010 of UN Handbook for Disaster Resilience)

This is an unpublished essay that I circulated privately in September 2005, several weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck the City of New Orleans.  Having lived in the Big Easy while in college and having made it and its culture and its people an important part of my life, I was aghast at calls by people unfamiliar with the city to allow for its demise.  This was before it became known to the country that the reason that the city was devastated was the failure of its levees to hold and protect the city and not because of many other factors.

Tracking disaster aid after a major event is tricky. But it is something that governments have to do immediately. Transparency and accountability during emergency response, recovery and reconstruction post disaster is a must. The public, media, and the affected communities would always ask "where did all the money go?" For Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines,  it is the classic debate of perceived corruption or the lack of an effective post-disaster communications strategy in the recovery and reconstruction efforts? 5 years after Yolanda, people are still asking where did all the foreign aid go? In the minds of many, they believe that government officials pocketed the billions intended for Yolanda victims. But what is perceived as corruption in the Yolanda rehabilitation and recovery efforts is to a large extent a lack of an effective communications strategy. We all know that a successful post-disaster rehabilitation and recovery is beyond the control of one person. But an effective communications strategy would have helped the government manage expectations and shape people’s perception about the Typhoon Yolanda rehabilitation and recovery efforts.  For a mega-disaster like Yolanda, everyone is asking how much did donors and aid agencies give, where did the money go and what projects were funded and where are they implemented.

This paper presents part of the University UTE of Quito’s post-earthquake reconstruction project “Arquitectura en movimiento en San Josè de Chamanga”, on using UAVs and specifically the drone Mavic Pro 2, as an innovative tool to terrestrial surveying for post-disaster areas. It describes how the provision of a real-time and high-resolution imagery of the remote areas of San José de Chamanga might assist in defining its urban form, map places that today are not accessible and document the local built heritage. Following this logic, the study argues that the mapped data could become a pivotal tool to the creation of an urban/ architectural construction manual that has a dual role: on the one hand, it could provide locals with guides and standards during self-construction, assisted self-construction, and construction with technical assistance. On the other hand, it reveals architectural and urban elements of the researched area.

Dear Colleague,

It is my great pleasure to invite you to participate in the 6th ICT Forum that will be held in October 14-16, 2014 in Nis, Serbia.
Additional information on the 6th ICT Forum is enclosed and can be found at the following website www.ictforum.rpkni.rs.

Marko Stosic

Proyecto para optar a Diplomatura en Arquitectura Pública y Evaluación Social de Proyectos: "Construcción infraestructura de control aluvional en Río Salado para Barrio Relocalización Damnificados inundaciones 25 de Marzo de 2015, sector El Salado, Región de Atacama"

Informe Final Formulación, Análisis Preinversional y Evaluación Social de Proyecto Teórico Infraestructura Hidráulica de Control Aluvional para Río Salado, Provincia de Chañaral, Región de Atacama.

Le 11 mars 2011, au large des côtes de l'île japonaise de Honshu, un séisme de magnitude 9,1 provoque un tsunami qui engloutit 54 des 174 villes côtières à l'est de l’archipel. Les jours qui suivent, plusieurs explosions ont lieu et trois des six réacteurs de la centrale nucléaire de Fukushima Dai Ichi fusionnent, déclenchant une catastrophe sans précédent.

Cécile Asanuma-Brice, chercheuse au CNRS et codirectrice d’un programme international de recherche CNRS sur les post-Fukushima studies, résidente permanente au Japon depuis 2001, était présente au moment des faits. Dix ans plus tard, elle revient sur le déroulé d’un désastre qui se prolonge jusqu’à nos jours.

Dans cet ouvrage, elle analyse les différentes dimensions de la catastrophe, notamment au travers de témoignages qu'elle a recueilli en japonais auprès des résidents, des associations, des administrations locales, nationales et internationales, du Premier ministre, Naoto Kan, en poste au moment des faits, mais aussi via le compte-rendu d’audition du directeur de la centrale nucléaire de Fukushima, Masao Yoshida. Leurs récits dissonants interrogent les modalités de gestion de l’ignorance et du droit à savoir.

Dans des circonstances qui mettent en jeu la vie de millions de personnes, qui régit l’accès à des informations de santé publique ? Qui peut décider de la non-évacuation d’une ville sinistrée ou du relogement des populations dans une ville contaminée ? Pour qui et comment s’organise la reconstruction ? Quelle communication du risque l’accompagne ?
L’ouvrage est une mémoire vive, une analyse scientifique des politiques de relogement des réfugiés, des enjeux des mesures de radioactivité et du suivi psychologique des populations traumatisées.
En Open Edition ici: http://www.editions-msh.fr/livre/?GCOI=27351100129890

Structural housing vacancy and abandonment occur in many circumstances and are phenomena that generally happen when something disturbs the overall ‘equilibrium’of a given area. Urban scholarship has often considered these forms of housing emptiness in relationship to processes of urban decline, suburbanisation, deindustrialisation, financial crises and the collapse of local housing markets (Keenan et al, 1999; Glock and Haussermann, 2004; O’Callaghan et al, 2018). Indeed, in certain contexts, processes of economic and social restructuring have led to declining or collapsing demand, resulting in housing underuse, disuse and eventual abandonment (Power and Mumford, 1999; Couch and Cocks, 2013; Wang and Immergluck, 2019). Far from being natural, these processes are often closely linked to the political economy of uneven development and to the action of discrete actors in the realms of the state, the real estate industry and finance (Coppola, 2019).

Thesis for the degree of candidate of architecture in the specialty 18.00.01 - theory of architecture, restoration of monuments. — The Kharkiv National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture MES of Ukraine, Kharkiv, 2015.
For the first time developed a methodological mechanism by which structured the known forms of translation of architectural professionalism in European culture. It identified three types of architectural schools, "School of Master", "Forge of Staff ", a Regional School of Architecture; and a special phase — "Creative Laboratory of Architecture."
It was studied the socio-cultural background of the Kharkiv region at the stage of prerequisites of architectural school: since the opening of the railway station in the city (1869) until October 1917. In that time here in bare outlines identified areas of opportunity and results in the reproduction of architectural professionalism, partially filled field of Demand / Offers / Outcomes of educational activity. There has been the accumulation of archive of achievements by buildings. It was formed a high cultural level of the urban community.
A special role for the development of a regional school in post-revolutionary years (the second stage) played appointment of Kharkiv as the capital of socialist Ukraine. The city observed the rapid development of the construction industry in the acute shortage of young cadres. With a view to implementing an integrated engineering and artistic training of architects in 1930 was opened the Kharkiv Institute of Civil Engineering. This event completed the forming of the Kharkiv regional school of architecture in its entirety.
Characteristic features of the Kharkiv regional schools are the lack of architectural vernacular as the original base; intellectualism, that grew up on the basis of the oldest educational center; innovative sign and artistic tolerance; the avant-garde of the early stage, as a result of the capital period of the history of the city.

In 1932 Giovanni Michelucci visited Pompeii and Ercolano. The experience of the archaeological site played a key role in the development of Michelucci as an architect. The deepest sense of that lesson learnt in his youth resurfaced after 1944. Involved as he was in the debate on reconstruction, for Michelucci the inseparable relation between society and the city revealed by the remains at Pompeii was an unavoidable inspiration. The writings and designs submitted for the reconstruction of the Ponte Vecchio area (1944-1945) converge towards a new urban vision, one where the memory of the past is distilled in its deepest components and substantiated in the present.

Dans Mouchel (Didier) (dir.), 1945-1962. La reconstruction de la Normandie, Rouen : Éditions des Falaises, p. 168-173
article de synthèse sur l'ensemble des architectes et urbanistes ayant excercé dans la reconstruction normande, leur formation et leur carrière, tant pendant la reconstruction qu'après. Comment ont-ils été choisis, sur quels critères, en 1940 puis en 1944 ? Comment s'est déroulée l'acclimatation des architectes étrangers à la région, majoritairement  parisiens ? Comment était organisée la maîtrise d'œuvre ? Enfin et surtout, quelles furent les possibilités de développer une recherche architecturale innovante ?

This thought piece explores post-war urban reconstruction in Sarajevo from the perspective of the societal process of dealing with the past. In the complicated canvas of urgent reconstruction needs, including housing shortages and infrastructure repair, funding considerations and local and national politics, the paper inquires what is the place of the process of 'coming to terms with this past' in urban reconstruction. It introduces key threads of the multidimensional relationship between reconstruction and dealing with the past for the LSE Cities project Reconstructing Sarajevo. The author coordinated the LSE Cities Programme urban design workshop which originated the publication.

Ten years after the devastating earthquake that hit Bhuj, it is possible to look at most parts of the city and wonder whether indeed there was an earthquake here. Such is the level of reconstruction that has been accomplished. The city has grown, not just in terms of population and spatial extent, but also in terms of its economy and infrastructure. Not too many cities around the world, impacted by similar disasters, can claim this sort of success. Therefore it is a privilege to be presenting this paper, as a person who was closely involved in the planning process which accompanied the reconstruction. The reconstruction of Bhuj was a huge team effort which brought together thousands of people from different walks of life – construction workers, contractors, engineers, planners, administrators, social workers and political leaders. As the leader of a small team which played a crucial role in this massive exercise, there is an inevitable bias in the authoring of this paper.
This paper reflects on the process of planned reconstruction that unfolded in Bhuj and seeks to highlight the role of government in establishing a systems driven approach. The purpose here is to set such an approach apart from relatively ad hoc processes that are in evidence in most post-disaster situations. The rebuilding of Bhuj also demonstrates a balanced approach – one that consistently sought the middle path between contrasting and often competing options like relocation versus in-situ reconstruction. The classical post disaster trade-off – between speed and quality of processes and products – was very much at play in Bhuj too, but the manner in which this trade-off was negotiated is something to learn from. There were mistakes too, and many a missed opportunity. It is useful to sit back now and reflect on these.
This paper draws heavily on previously published papers including the author’s contribution to the recently published Handbook on Reconstructing after Disasters by the World Bank. The only additions/ changes are refined insights based on more experience. Therefore the author offers apologies to those who already familiar with his spiel on Bhuj Reconstruction.

Wars are the most devastating events in the world, and always end up with the destructions of the cities, deaths of several people and demolitions of the buildings. Even a war is completely over, its traumatic traces on people lives stay behind, and an intensive mourning spreads all over the towns like an infectious disease. At this point, along with two choices; replacement with new or replacement with old, architecture may have ability to rehabilitate society by compensating those destroyed in the wars. In both cases architects and city planners try to heal the mourning with canalizing the love of the loss into a new one. This study focuses on the recollective approach; the decision of replacement with old by bringing back to the copies of the demolished buildings into the future with the reconstruction of their replicas. This paper aims to discuss nostalgic attempts in architecture and it's the ability to replace loss memories with the reconstructions of bygone architecture. In this framework, several examples are analyzed and discussed into two categories; 'immediate' and 'ambitious' reconstructions. Consequently, this study emphasizes that after destruction (death) of a building, memory leaves behind in its place. As mourning captures architecture, through nostalgic approaches the building and so its belonging memories are replaced with their copies.

ABSTRACT For the last forty years, remittances have been a lifeline for some Filipinos in times of crisis as well as everyday life. So, it was no surprise when the media and nongovernmental organizations credited the Philippine diaspora with playing a significant role in post-disaster recovery after Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda struck in 2013. While remittances poured in after this disaster, they were differently experienced, had different impacts, and led to uneven post-disaster outcomes. This article highlights the class-based inequalities that structure access to and mobilization of remittances after post-disaster recovery. We compare the experiences of middle- and lower-class households in three communities heavily affected by Haiyan in Tacloban City, Philippines, to investigate who benefitted and who was excluded from remittances in this post-disaster recovery. The findings of the case study shed light on wider issues of poverty, class, and vulnerability in the Philippines.

Phronetic organizational research is an approach to the study of management and organizations focusing on ethics and power. It is based on a contemporary interpretation of the Aristotelian concept phronesis, usually as ‘prudence’. Phronesis is the ability to think and act in relation to values, to deliberate about ‘things that are good or bad for humans’ in the words of Aristotle (1976:1140a24–b12). Phronetic organizational research effectively provides answers to the following four value-rational questions, for specific problematics in management and organization studies: 1. Where are we going with this specific management problematic? 2. Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power? 3. Is this development desirable? 4. What, if anything, should we do about it?

Following seven previous successful editions of this leading conference series on risk and resilience, held in different regions of the globe, this 8th edition of the International Conference on Building Resilience took place for the first time in Portugal, being organized by the University of Lisbon, in collaboration with the Universities of Coimbra and Huddersfield, and held in the premises of the Lisbon University Institute (ISCTE-IUL), between 14 and 16 November 2018.
We feel honoured for having this opportunity of organizing a conference that becomes a reference on the annual calendar of those interested in disaster-related sciences. By bridging the gap between designers, disaster managers, and humanitarian and development practitioners, the ICBR has been promoting a vast interdisciplinary network aimed at strengthening and disseminating a culture of risk and resilience.
We have embraced in 2018 the theme “Risk and Resilience in Practice: Vulnerabilities, Displaced People, Local Communities and Heritages” for the 8th ICBR with the goal of addressing some of the most challenging and pressing issues that concern academia, public administrations, the private sector, civil society and, last but not least, local populations, whom our individual and shared efforts are meant to impact in a positive way. In light of the more than 600 quality submissions (papers and posters) that were received from more than 50 countries, this choice seems to have been particularly inspiring. Indeed, the Conference brought together excellent pieces of research and amazing projects focusing on disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness, post-disaster rebuilding and recovery, humanitarian architecture, gender issues and resilience in general. Complementing the significant set of conference publication outputs (five books and four special issues) this book reunites the half of the participants' papers presented to the conference after reviewed by the scientific committee.

According to the 2018 U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Estimates, Puerto Rico’s population is 3.1 million, having declined 4% since 2017 (3.2 million). This is the first official estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on September 20th, 2017. Since Hurricane Maria, migration has intensified, especially among adults and the children accompanying them (family units), and this pattern shifted the Island’s demographic structure. This declining population has had a series of social and demographic impacts, such as increasing vacancy rates for housing units, lower growth rates in child population, and school closures throughout the Island. In a prior report, we documented the housing crisis and in this study we examine school closures. A total of 265 public schools, or 24%, have closed, and 855 schools remained open in the 2018-2019 academic year. The total number of operational schools has declined from 1,515 at its peak in 2006 to 855 in 2018.

Natural disasters, may cause huge loss of wealth and bring financial problems. It can be felt in the community, city and state level, or persistently can impact an entire country. Regions affected by disaster are often involved with a number of different and well coordinated courses of action. Therefore, it is vital that these complex activities are well planned, subject to thorough consultation and undertaken after effective collaboration with the widest range of members of the affected communities. The broad objective of this research is to analyze the problems and issues related to past project management practice on PDR projects and to propose a Project Management methodology suitable for the implementation of PDR project. The goal of this research is to improve project management practice in PDR project through research output that is relevant to industry and practice needs. The impact of the methodology on project efficiency creates tremendous potential to enhance the value of Project Management services and project delivery.

Humanitarian intervention has increasingly become the prevalent means of providing protection and aid at a global level. Yet alongside its success concerns have been raised that humanitarianism has increasingly become an economic enterprise and a political tool for controlling territories and governing international relations. In The Politics of Humanitarianism authors from a variety of disciplines provide a comprehensive critique of the humanitarian enterprise. How are those on the end of humanitarian action influenced by different epistemologies and applications of international law? What is the complex relationship between values - what humanitarian action is intended to be - and practice - what happens on the ground? Combining international case studies with critical theoretical evaluations, and including chapters on international aid, refugees, childhood and women's rights, The Politics of Humanitarianism offers a timely and critical analysis of the contemporary humanitarian system.

(co-authored with Dai Whan An, Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at Chungbuk National University, Korea)

This article explores the changing values of heritage in an era saturated by an excess of media coverage in various settings and also threatened by either natural or manmade disasters that constantly take place around the world. In doing so, we focus on discussing one specific case: the debate surrounding the identification of Sungnyemun as the number one national treasure in South Korea. Sungnyemun, which was first constructed in 1396 as the south gate of the walled city Seoul, is the country’s most acknowledged cultural heritage that is supposed to represent the national identity in the most authentic way, but its value was suddenly questioned through a nationwide debate after an unexpected fire. While the debate has been silenced after its ostensibly successful restoration conducted by the Cultural Heritage Administration in 2013, this article argues that the incident is a prime example illustrating how the once venerated heritage is reassembled through an entanglement of various agents and their affective engagements. Methodologically speaking, this article aims to read Sungnyemun in reference to the growing scholarship of actor-network theory (ANT) and the studies of heritage in the post-disaster era through which to explore what heritage means to us at the present time. Our synchronic approach to Sungnyemun encourages us to investigate how the once-stable monument becomes a field where material interventions and affective engagements of various agents release its public meanings in new ways.

The following is Part II, section 1 of from my MSc thesis. The thesis is on post-conflict reconstruction and this part lays out the thematic differences between a natural disaster and a complex humanitarian disaster, and the different responses required in the post-disaster (or conflict) phase. The different responses is rooted in the nature off the event (natural disaster compared to conflict).

The four-year siege of Sarajevo decimated the city. Some 11,000 civilians were killed, 60 per cent of buildings were damaged or destroyed, and 80 per cent of utilities were disabled. When the war ended in 1995, a “triple transition” occurred throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH): the simultaneous movements from war to peace, communism to democracy, and market socialism to a free-market economy. International attempts at physically rebuilding Sarajevo met with some success: the visible scars from the war are largely gone and violence no longer plagues the city. But reconstruction is incomplete and legacies of the war hang over the city.

Polls in BiH reveal a deep disgust with politics and institutions, and there are serious issues with unemployment, inequality, and social reconciliation. Nearly 90 per cent of the country believes it is headed in the wrong direction. The residents of Canton Sarajevo do not feel represented by institutions by a margin of 3 to 1, and a vast majority support political change. The triple transition has been fraught with difficulties. Ethnic divisions are wider than ever. While 88 per cent of the population support better interethnic relations, very little tangible has been achieved in the way of reconciliation. The economy is dominated by criminality and corruption, not by accountable open markets.

These problems stem from the narrow approach taken to reconstructing Sarajevo. By viewing the city largely in physical terms, international and national groups failed to restore institutions, curb corrupt practices, and counter nationalist political movements that benefited from the complex political structures created by the 1995 Dayton Accords. While each city and post-conflict situation is unique, assessing failures encountered while rebuilding Sarajevo offer five over arching lessons for future reconstruction.

1) Reconstruction efforts must be planned strategically to include the many sectors and actors involved in the process. In Sarajevo, the lack of coordination between donors, local government, and residents of the city undermined successful rebuilding.

2) Local institutional capacity must be strengthened before reconstruction begins. Many failures in Sarajevo could have been avoided by having the necessary urban planning, administrative, and governance structures organized during the earliest years.

3) Oversight and anti-corruption measures must be implemented from the start. Recipients and donors must create solid control systems, be willing to hold local leaders accountable, and have trip-wires that trigger the withholding of salaries or aid for large-scale corruption issues.

4) Urban reconstruction must be accompanied by economic growth. Sustaining returnees depends upon accessible jobs and economic growth. Policies should streamline business legislation and make starting an enterprise as easy as possible.

5) Reconstruction must be recognized as an ecosystem. Functional reconstruction of merely physical aspects is insufficient to recreate a vibrant city. Policymakers should seek to also use educational, economic, and cultural initiatives to rekindle urban life.