Abstract
Disaster associated with natural hazards can lead to important changes—positive or negative—in socio-ecological systems. When disasters occur, much attention is given to the direct disaster impacts as well as relief and recovery operations. Although this focus is important, it is noteworthy that there has been little research on the characteristics and progress of change induced by disasters. Change, as distinct from impacts, encompasses formal and informal responses to disaster events and their direct and indirect impacts. While smaller disasters do not often lead to significant changes in societies and organizational structures, major disasters have the potential to change dominant ways of thinking and acting. Against this background, the article presents an analytical framework for distinguishing change from disaster impacts. Drawing from research in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, formal and informal changes after the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 are examined and discussed against the background of the conceptual framework. The changes examined range from the commencement of the peace process in Aceh, Indonesia, to organizational and legal reforms in Sri Lanka. The article concludes that change-making processes after disasters need to be understood more in depth in order to derive important strategic policy and methodological lessons learned for the future, particularly in view of the increasing complexity and uncertainty in decision making due to climate change.
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Notes
ADPC and BAPPENAS use the damage and loss assessment methodology developed originally by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which defines damages as the replacement value of destroyed physical assessts while losses are an estimation of economic losses arising from the temporary absence of assests.
Already in 1981, the newly established Coast Conservation Department (CCD) declared a 300-m Coastal Zone under the Coast Conservation Act No. 57. According to this act, any development in that zone requires a permit from the CCD. Every construction without a permit is called unauthorized construction and is by law amenable for demolition by the CCD. In reality, however, large numbers of houses were built in the Coastal Zone without proper clearance from the CCD prior to the tsunami, mainly with the blessings from the politicians in the respective area.
TAFRER, TAFLOL, and TAFREN, which together constituted RADA (Reconstruction and Development Agency), were later on integrated into one organization, the newly established Nation Building Ministry.
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Acknowledgment
We are grateful for the various contributions and the stimulating discussion at the UNU-EHS Expert Working Group on Measuring Vulnerability in Bonn in October 2007, which was the initial starting point for the discussion on how disasters might open opportunities for change. We acknowledge that our conceptualization is still in development and that more empirical studies will have to follow in the future.
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Birkmann, J., Buckle, P., Jaeger, J. et al. Extreme events and disasters: a window of opportunity for change? Analysis of organizational, institutional and political changes, formal and informal responses after mega-disasters. Nat Hazards 55, 637–655 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-008-9319-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-008-9319-2