1.9. Condition of Temporary Housing

So, now immediately after the post-Tsunami when I visited the place, the important issues are the food security, you know how to get their rations because they are all after the relief stage when they settle somewhere, so their daily needs, this is where every ration shop is full of queues, every water facility because their infrastructure has been damaged because of the Tsunami, where do they get the drinking water you know and their livelihood is in threat.

After the Tsunami, people faced urgent needs for food and water. Many lost their homes and needed to find new ways to access rations and clean drinking water. Infrastructure like water facilities and ration shops were heavily burdened as they struggled to meet the demands of the displaced population who were now living in temporary locations and needed immediate assistance for their daily survival.

Imagine a community after a severe storm: the grocery stores are empty, and people line up for hours to get basic food supplies while water sources may be contaminated. In such situations, knowing where to get food and clean water becomes the top priority for survival.

So, this is where in the fishermen set up, you have the boat owners, you have the fishermen, you have the traders and everything used to cooperate with each other and they use to work.

Fishermen and their communities relied on a cooperative network for their livelihoods. Boat owners, fishermen, and traders worked together, supporting each other in their economic activities. However, the destruction caused by the Tsunami disrupted this network, threatening their means of income and community support, which were crucial for their survival.

Think of a family restaurant relying on a network of local farms for their ingredients. If a natural disaster damages those farms, the restaurant struggles to operate, and the whole community that depends on the restaurant for jobs faces difficulties as well.

The traditional houses you know and their indigenous knowledge how they oriented their houses, they are climatically efficient, how it suits their livelihood needs.

Traditional houses were built based on indigenous knowledge that made them suitable for the local climate and lifestyle. After the Tsunami, many people lost these traditional homes and had to adapt to temporary housing, which often did not meet their previous standards of comfort or efficiency, posing additional challenges to their daily lives.

Consider how people in areas with heavy snowfall build homes with steep roofs to prevent snow accumulation. If those homes are replaced by temporary shelters that can't handle the snow, residents face issues that didn't exist before.

But one has to look at it but if you look at the evidences if a correct information has been passed down to these places, it took 180 minutes which is about 3 hours to reach to get these waves into the mainstream, you know to the mainland, so if that information has been passed on the right way, we would have saved many lives, we would have at least saved some important assets.

Effective communication during emergencies is critical. It took three hours for vital information about the Tsunami to reach the affected areas. If this information had been disseminated more quickly and efficiently, lives could have been saved, and people could have relocated to safer areas and protected their assets.

Imagine if a fire alarm in a school didn't go off until 15 minutes after a fire started. During those 15 minutes, many students might not escape safely. Quick communication can make all the difference in emergency situations.

There is always a relief stage, there is a rehabilitation stage which goes for a few months and the final is the reconstruction stage. There is a lot of actors working from the government, international NGOs, local NGOs and the community groups which work on these aspects.

Post-disaster recovery generally happens in three phases: relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction. Relief provides immediate assistance; rehabilitation focuses on restoring essential services and livelihood; and reconstruction involves rebuilding infrastructure and homes. Many different organizations and community groups work together during these stages to help affected people recover.

Consider a school building that gets damaged in a hurricane. The relief phase might involve providing temporary classrooms, rehabilitation may include restoring utilities and supplies, and reconstruction would be the complete rebuilding of the school. Each step is vital for restoring the community’s educational resources.

So, I am talking about the transitional shelter. So what they did was an immediate requirement for them as where to live, many of them lost their houses, so many I was visiting Devanampattinam village, the longest fisherman village and you can see that I have taken lot of questionnaires and a lot of semi-structured interviews. They got the tin sheets immediately and they have lived here for about two years.

Transitional shelters, such as those made from tin sheets, were temporarily provided to displaced residents. In Devanampattinam village, many people lived in these sheets for two years. While these structures addressed immediate housing needs, they were not suitable for long-term living and posed challenges for comfort and stability.

Think of a tent used during camping. It's great for a few days, but living in it for two years would be uncomfortable and impractical. Similarly, transitional shelters may not provide the same sense of security and comfort that permanent structures did.

And after the following disaster, the basic infrastructure, the toilets, where do they go for the toilets, where do they get the water services.

After a disaster, basic infrastructure like toilets and water services can take a long time to be restored. The lack of these essential services complicates life for those in transitional shelters, highlighting the importance of addressing these issues as part of the recovery process.

Imagine living in a new neighborhood where the water pipes haven’t been installed yet. You can create a temporary home, but without water access, daily life becomes very challenging.

This is where the time where people have some professional minds come together, they started showing some choices, yes, we provide this option, now you can decide, we try to facilitate you know what they decide. So, different process which starts actually following the transition stage but the most important challenge is not only about it should not be narrowed them only at the built form but one has to look at how this transition stage has to gradually go into the permanent stage.

Community involvement is crucial during the recovery process. Professionals collaborated with community members to provide choices for their housing and living conditions. The transition from temporary to permanent housing must consider the needs and preferences of the residents to ensure their well-being.

Think about how schools involve students in decisions about activities or events. When students feel their voices are heard and preferences are considered, they feel more engaged and satisfied, making the school environment better for everyone.

And there are issues like how this material could be reused in these two years, what are the things we have to address, children schooling, the community's health facilities, community’s livelihood, how they can regenerate and all these, okay. So, these are some of the evidences which I want to bring to the students notice that yes, there are some challenges in the transition phase as well, okay. I hope you understand better. Thank you very much.

During the transition phase, communities faced various challenges including finding ways to reuse building materials, addressing children's schooling, maintaining health facilities, and rejuvenating local livelihoods. These factors are critical for ensuring a successful transition from temporary to permanent living situations.

After a flood, a community might need to creatively use damaged wood from homes to build new temporary schools or marketplaces. Just as finding new uses for old materials can aid recovery, it helps kickstart local economies.

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