Disasters and the Small Dwelling Perspectives for the UN IDNDR

This book contains the proceeding of the conferences on Disasters and the Small Dwelling, held at Oxford in September 1990. The 26 papers cover recent experiences of post-disaster shelter and housing provision, review what has been achieved, what needs disseminating and implementing, and assesses what needs further development. The volume thus defines an international agenda to achieve safer low-income dwellings in the course of the 1990s, designated International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction by the UN. It will be essential reading for anyone - whether governmental or non-governmental agency officials, academic researchers, representatives of private industry or consultants - whose work involves analysis, shelter, mitigation and reconstruction programmes for low-income dwellings in disaster-prone areas.

Introduction * Conferences on 'Disasters and Small Dwelling' Opening Speech * Disasters and the Small Dwelling - Process, Realism and Knowledge: Towards an Agenda for the IDNDR * Review of Twelve Years' Experience of Disasters and Small Dwellings * The Global Vulnerability * Materials and Construction Techniques for Disaster Protection * Disaster Prevention and Mitigation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Notes on the Decade of the 1990s * Problems in Post-Disaster Resettlement: Cross Cultural Perspectives * The Socio-Cultural and Behavioural Context of Disasters and Small Dwellings * A View of the Role of NGOs in Natural Disaster Work * Cross Cultural Disaster Planning: The Alice Springs Flood * Disasters and Housing Policy for Rural Bangladesh * Choice of Technique: Housing Provision by NGOs the 1988 Floods in Bangladesh * Floods in Bangladesh: Vulnerability and Mitigation Related to Human Settlement * Earthquake Reconstruction for Future Protection * Hazards, Mitigation and Housing Recovery: Watsonville and San Francisco One Year Later * the Reconstruction of Kalamata City after the 1986 Earthquake: Some Issues on the Process of Temporary Housing * Disaster Aid; Equity First * Introducing Disaster Mitigation in a Political Vacuum: the Experiences of the Reconstruction Plan Following the Alto Mayo Earthquake, Peru, 1990. Wind effects on the Tongan 'Hurricane House' * Disaster Resistant Construction for Small Dwellings in Solomon Islands * Occupant Behaviour * Rebuilding of Fao City, Iraq: A Case of Central Government Post-war Reconstruction * La Zurua: A Unique experience in the Integral Urban Development of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic * Housing in El Salvador: A Case Study * Mitigation Program Selection and Evaluation: Assessing Effectiveness * Assessment of the Iranian Earthquake 10 June 1990: A Field report * Conclusions * Index

The editors, Yasemin Aysan and David Davis are, respectively, Director and Deputy Director of the Oxford Polytechnic Disaster Management Centre, Oxford, UK. The conference was jointly organized by the Oxford Polytechnic Disaster Management Centre and the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, Buffalo, USA.