Understanding disasters from a local perspective: insights into improving assistance for social housing and settlement development

Författare

Christine Wamsler

Summary, in English

The damage caused by the worldwide increase in natural disasters is staggering, with the poor and marginalised slum communities being the most vulnerable. This paper analyses the key variables and their causal relations underlying the complex system of risk and disaster occurrence in slum areas in El Salvador. Slum dwellers’ views and knowledge are the focus of this inquiry. A better understanding of what households perceive, experience, and hence need in order to deal with risk and disasters can yield important insights into how to improve

reconstruction and development aid, including assistance for social housing and settlement development. Causal loop diagrams, one of the main tools of systems analysis, is presented as an instrument that can help aid organisations in this process.

Avdelning/ar