Habitat: a matter of life or death in a disaster – opinion

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the vital role of housing policy: Everyone needs a safe and healthy home, especially now that most people have worked from home and had little physical contact. Hygienic practices are also fundamental to preventing transmission and everyone needs access to clean water and a good sanitation system.

When disasters caused by natural hazards, such as earthquakes or hurricanes, occur, losses will be largely concentrated in the housing sector.

In the past decade, at least 7,300 people have died and 55 million have been displaced when their homes were destroyed by these disasters in Indonesia. About 4,000 of the dead were from the 2018 earthquake in Central Sulawesi, when many were buried under their homes.

Worldwide, between 40 and 90 percent of damage to private property has been concentrated in housing since 2000, according to a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment by the World Bank.

A large-scale natural disaster during the current pandemic, when most people are likely to be home, could devastate property and lives.

A home is more than just a shelter. For the poor, it is the most important and perhaps the only asset they possess. It is also where they work or used as collateral for the loan. Millions of people have already lost their jobs during the pandemic; They can’t afford to lose their homes either.

Indonesia is exposed to various natural hazards that are often followed by devastation. Natural hazards don’t have to be a disaster if we prepare ourselves well. In many cases, it was not the earthquake or hurricane that killed people; Done poorly built housing.

Over the years and after many tragic disasters, government housing policies have evolved towards a mitigation rather than recovery mindset through various housing support programs along with compliance with quality.

Unfortunately, many supported homes still do not meet disaster resistance standards.

Post-disaster reconstruction programs, for example, often do not include measures that would dampen the impact of future events. Many homes were rebuilt or repaired below standard.

The government’s reconstruction support budget, quality-based oversight mechanism, and technical assistance were inadequate, resulting in the reproduction of homes that did not comply with safe building codes. Many of them are built in the same hazardous areas as before.

This non-compliance is also found in the regular National Housing Program. In the rush to eliminate the massive backlog in housing supply in the country, the government is moving towards quantity rather than quality. Besides insufficient support and technical guidance that does not fully take into account the diversity of materials and their availability between areas, beneficiaries often use assistance to expand their homes or add aesthetic elements rather than improve structural components.

Poor awareness and understanding of disaster risk plays a role in the way communities perceive the risks and make decisions to invest in the safety aspect of their homes.

The government housing program failed to emphasize a disaster prevention agenda. The choice of housing areas, for example, does not always depend on risk risk mapping. Since title to land is mandatory to qualify for the Housing Improvement Support Program, the government excludes the poor in slums and informal settlements.

The current pandemic should be a moment to reflect on the life and death role that the housing sector plays. Post-disaster reconstruction programs should aim to enable people to rebuild safer homes, rather than simply providing them with any housing.

We must invest in increasing people’s knowledge and ability to build their own disaster-resistant homes instead of giving out the end products. Smarter spatial planning should also be incorporated to avoid returning people to vulnerable areas.

The national housing support program must continue to incorporate resilience components, such as stricter quality-based disbursement mechanisms and more comprehensive risk-based spatial planning, alongside property regulation.

We need to reform the housing construction supply chain, including by updating building regulations, such as home retrofit codes and monitoring systems, followed by integration with appropriate access to financing through government programs and home improvement credits or disaster insurance by the private sector.

In addition, there is a need for a large-scale public campaign on knowledge of disaster risk, both within and outside the education system that encourages communities to turn their awareness into action and reinforce their homes with accessible resources. Thus, not only everyone will have the opportunity, but also be required to strengthen their home.

Too often many housing policymakers around the world remain caught up in the classic model that providing new homes is better than strengthening existing homes. Fortunately, the Indonesian government is not one of them.

However, we need to act faster but more seriously, because natural hazards will not wait until we are ready, knowing that the progress that took years to build can be destroyed in a matter of minutes.

Not only does it strive to build back better, but more importantly, it aims to build better before the next disaster.

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Architect and disaster risk reduction practitioner teaching at Cornell University, USA

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Jakarta Post.

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