A Build Back Better Assessment Tool for Post-Disaster Reconstruction and Recovery

Abstract

Disasters impacts are exacerbated due to vulnerabilities in the physical, social, economic, and environmental conditions of communities. An effective recovery plan with a holistic approach such as Build Back Better (BBB) can reduce a community's pre-existing vulnerabilities and assist in recovering, reconstructing, and rehabilitating by integrating disaster risk reduction measures and introducing resilient practices. BBB was highlighted in the United Nations Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) as a priority for action. A Framework was developed by Mannakkara and Wilkinson (2016) to plan and implement post-disaster reconstruction and recovery in line with BBB concepts, highlighting common issues which were overlooked in the past. Along with Mannakkara and Wilkinson’s BBB Framework, various guidelines and approaches have provided BBB guidance, the information on BBB is not well aligned and has created confusion amongst recovery practitioners preventing successful implementation. Therefore, this research aimed to develop a single practical assessment tool to assist recovery practitioners in planning, implementing, and monitoring BBB concepts in real-time recovery efforts. Upon evaluation, the Mannakkara and Wilkinson BBB Framework and Indicators were adopted as the foundation for developing the BBB Tool as they were the best representation of the BBB concepts at the time of this research. A mixed-method approach was adopted for this research study, where recovery efforts of two case studies, i.e., 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake Recovery in New Zealand and 2018 Kerala Floods Recovery in India, were evaluated using a draft BBB Tool developed from the literature. A quantitative method was used to rate the indicators of the draft Tool, and a qualitative method was used to conduct semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Data was collected from both case studies in two phases. The first phase was used to rate and understand recovery practices at the time of the visit, adopt BBB recommendations for ongoing recovery, and comment on the Tool. The second phase was used to follow up on recovery and any adopted recommendations. The main participants of this study were officials from Kaikoura District Council, New Zealand and Kerala State Disaster Management Authority, India, who were responsible for planning and managing the recovery activities. Content analysis was used to analyse the collected data. The qualitative data validated and triangulated the quantitative data. The assessment showed that Kaikoura had supported their locals in recovering the social and economic aspects and implemented excellent practices for improving the resilience of their built environment; however, they had inadequate institutional arrangements for effective implementation of recovery activities. Kaikoura didn’t adopt any BBB recommendations because of strict government legislation and resource constraints. On the other hand, Kerala assisted their communities in recovering socio-economic conditions and had an enabling institutional environment for implementing the recovery activities; nevertheless, they had average mechanisms in place to improve their built infrastructure's resilience. Kerala adopted four BBB recommendations in the first phase of this research study, implemented two of them in their ongoing recovery and considered one for implementation in their future disaster recovery. The main comments made on the BBB Tool in phase 1, such as the uninformative results section and unclear rating scale, led to the modifications like the addition of line charts, doughnut charts, spider graphs, and instant suggestions and comments for each aspect of the BBB Framework, and defining the ratings of the scale for each indicator which improved overall readability and usability of the BBB Tool. Everyone appreciated the modification and highly endorsed the BBB Tool in phase 2. An online version of the BBB Tool has been developed and published for recovery practitioners to use on the BBB website. Apart from Kaikoura and Kerala, the Tool has been used by disaster management authorities in Jakarta, Indonesia and Salcedo, Philippines, local organisations in New Zealand, development organisations such United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations-Habitat, and various universities across the globe. Besides, a BBB Tool and a guideline for “Building Back Better Post Covid-19” was developed to assist practitioners of the health sector for pandemic recovery, where the local council in the United Kingdom and a provincial department in Nepal adopted these resources to support their pandemic recovery. Overall, the outcome of this research is a straightforward, non-prescriptive, and ideal assessment tool that can be used for planning, implementing, and monitoring post-disaster recovery activities.