Learning to Survive: Disaster Resilience in Developing Countries

Countries around the world are proactively planning to efficiently and effectively mitigate destruction, and maximum resiliency during a natural hazard. Yet, after each disastrous and most often fatal event, governments are learning how to improve their resiliency plans. This paper examines the recovery phase of natural disasters in developing countries by taking a comparative view of the same process in developed countries. The impact of such catastrophic events on our buildings and infrastructure leave communities in a state of reclamation for years. Following such disasters, strategies have been implemented to recover but also to improve the response for future events in both developed and developing countries. To explore lessons learned across these strategies, this paper examines the disaster and recovery efforts of three natural disasters: (1) 2004 Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami that occurred in Sumatra, Indonesia; (2) Hurricane Katrina that occurred in 2005 in New Orleans, LA (United States); and (3) 2010-2011 Canterbury/Christchurch Earthquake sequences that have taken place in Christchurch, New Zealand. The post disaster recovery programs are compared and contrasted, as well as the nature and effect of the disaster on the local communities. This research aims to offer new perspective on the approach to disaster recovery while simultaneously offering engineers a prized role to think beyond the code and evaluate a broad range of perspectives towards engineering solutions for disaster resilience. Lastly, this paper aims to uncover any potential cross-pollination of ideas between developed and developing nations to refine future solutions towards disaster resilience.