Rebuilding after disasters - Rebuilding After Disasters: From Emergency to Sustainability - page 15

Figure 1.5 Prefabricated informal housing. Architects and urban planners
interested in reconstruction have much to learn from the way in which
the informal sector produces buildings for the poor. This informal
sale of prefabricated shacks in the townships of South Africa delivers
prefabricated housing solutions that can be customized and installed
in 30 minutes. Using recycled materials and a simple technology, these
solutions are well adapted to the needs of a sector of the population
for which no architect has been able to produce a viable, large-scale
solution.
earthquakes struck El Salvador in 2001 and Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras
in 1998, the effects of decentralization and the reduction of governmental
responsibility over housing had negative effects on the ability of any public
body to effectively undertake post-disaster rebuilding. 39
This is exactly what a study conducted by Lizarralde in Central America
also revealed. 18 Just after the earthquakes of 2001, the municipality of San
Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador, had the responsibility for rebuilding
housing for thousands of families. Having assumed that responsibility, but
being in constant tension with the right-wing party in office in the central
government, the left-wing government of San Salvador started an ambitious
plan of housing delivery. However, being such a poor city, the planning unit
for human settlements of the municipality was composed of very few senior
officers and a few enthusiastic but inexperienced junior planners; it was
equipped with only a few computers and possessed a couple of old printers
and plotters. Furthermore, the political tension between the two parties (which