Transitional Accommodation for People in Disasters

Abstract

Natural disasters are destructive to lives and properties, and their impacts are beyond human capacity to handle, for example, severe storms and tropical cyclones in April and October. Another example is the tsunami which was a major calamity in 2003 during which over 220,000 lives were taken. The current research endeavor aimed to study the capacity to cope with disasters, and the establishment, administration, and lives in transitional accommodation for people suffering from disasters. Case studies were adopted from three sources, and the study was qualitative in nature employing an in-depth interview with 20 experts in establishing and administering transitional accommodation for people suffering from disasters and medical personnel, and 10 residents. In addition, a non-participant field observation was conducted.

The results revealed that, in terms of the establishment of transitional accommodation for people suffering from disasters, the accommodation was not appropriately designed to sufficiently accommodate people with different needs. Also, the needs of sufferers who are agriculturalists were not appropriately addressed. Furthermore, residents encountered tension from disasters and sharing space with others for an extended period. Some sufferers refused to be relocated to the transitional accommodation, which was located far from their local community. Regarding the administration of the transitional accommodation, practices between the local organizations and communities were still lacking. In fact, it is crucial for them to learn to be cooperative in the relocation attempt. Therefore, to alleviate the impacts of disasters, all sectors necessarily learn lessons from disasters, and acquire knowledge in handling them while also establishing appropriate transitional accommodation.

The current study demonstrated difficulties and challenges faced by sufferers and provided a guideline for establishing transitional accommodation for people suffering from disasters.