Search results

This chapter examines the manner in which a disaster-affected population of artisanal fishers relocated inland to new sites following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 experienced and adapted to problems of water quality, scarcity, sanitation, and drainage. While numerous studies of conflicts over water tend to focus on issues of equitable access (see Anand, 2011), this chapter seeks to link the problem to the contested priorities driving land and resource use and access. I show how inland relocation negatively impacted households, making it harder to sustain livelihoods due to distance from the coast, while imposing new costs including that of commodified and scarce water, locational deficiencies, and the structural weaknesses of new housing. Placed in a historical context, the problem of water can be seen as an aspect of the long-term problem of ecologically unequal exchange pitting local artisanal fisher communities against an aggressively state-supported commercial fishery sector. The continuity I seek to hone in on is the pattern of imposing costs on fishers while enabling the alienation and privatization of coastal resources. Taking water not only as a vital substance presenting questions of access and quality but also as a problem of drainage and effluence enables a fuller consideration of how the unequal distribution of costs on poorer populations became legitimized in the name of recovery. At the same time, the chapter also highlights the manner in which fishers refused to remain docile subjects of power and used their agency and autonomy in adapting to and sometimes refusing the terms of relocation.

Coastal zones throughout the world have historically been among the most heavily exploited areas because of their rich resources. In coastal countries today more than half of the population lives in coastal areas, and migration from inland areas to the coast is increasing. Climate change has posed new threats to many of the coastal areas with rises in sea-level and the increasing intensity and frequency of coastal hazards. In many countries, coastal areas are narrow strips, located between mountain and sea areas, which are becoming overcrowded, and therefore increasingly vulnerable. Also, hazards caused by climate change are showing an increasing trend, and therefore the cumulative risk in the coastal areas is getting higher.

The term, ‘mixed methods’ is, of course, very broad. In general, though, it is used to describe an approach which combines more than one type of data or more than one type of analysis and, more often than not, refers to research which draws on both qualitative and quantitative data and analyses. This chapter analyses the methods adopted in a two-year study of Sri Lanka's post-tsunami housing policy, showing how quantitative and qualitative data can be triangulated in a variety of ways, and demonstrating the value of qualitative methods in contributing to understanding of different aspects of policy process and impact.

International humanitarian assistance usually arrives quickly following a catastrophic disaster, although it may be slower to remote locations. The international community has developed guidelines to reduce the social and cultural intrusiveness of the aid, assuring that local priorities are followed and the aid facilitates long-term recovery. However, the aid missions are under pressure to act quickly and withdraw because of the expense of operations, and thus, they are less sensitive to local culture and priorities than they might be. This chapter looks at the political context of international humanitarian assistance, including the Hyogo and Sendai Frameworks and humanitarian standards, and the experience in several catastrophic disaster responses in Asia. Levels of satisfaction with recovery, particularly housing recovery, were related to the affected communities’ participation in the decision-making process. Humanitarian aid standards also encourage attention to issues of security, displaced populations, equity in the distribution of aid, the safety of women and children, and other disaster impacts.