Safer Homes, Stronger Communities : A Handbook for Reconstructing after Natural Disasters

Abstract

Safer homes, stronger communities: a
 handbook for reconstructing after disasters was developed to
 assist policy makers and project managers engaged in
 large-scale post-disaster reconstruction programs make
 decisions about how to reconstruct housing and communities
 after natural disasters. As the handbook demonstrates,
 post-disaster reconstruction begins with a series of
 decisions that must be made almost immediately. Despite the
 urgency with which these decisions are made, they have
 long-term impacts, changing the lives of those affected by
 the disaster for years to come. As a policy maker, you may
 be responsible for establishing the policy framework for the
 entire reconstruction process or for setting reconstruction
 policy in only one sector. The handbook is emphatic about
 the importance of establishing a policy to guide
 reconstruction. Effective reconstruction is set in motion
 only after the policy maker has evaluated his or her
 alternatives, conferred with stakeholders, and established
 the framework and the rules for reconstruction. As
 international experience and the examples in the handbook
 clearly demonstrate, reconstruction policy improves both the
 efficiency and the effectiveness of the reconstruction
 process. In addition to providing advice on the content of
 such a policy, the handbook describes mechanisms for
 managing communications with stakeholders about the policy,
 for improving the consistency of the policy, and for
 monitoring the policy's implementation and outcomes.