Ex-post environmental and social review of involuntary resettlement housing schemes in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Worst natural disaster recorded in the recent history of Sri Lanka was tsunami 2004. Two third of the Sri Lanka coastline was hit by tsunami wave and took over 40,000 lives and made millions dollars‘worth of property lost. Immediate actions were taken by the Sri Lankan government to recover the lost and damages of the people with the aid from different national and international organizations. About 485 tsunami resettlement sites were constructed in 12 districts in Sri Lanka. After a decade of the tsunami disaster, it is vital to look into the long term impacts of the tsunami resettlement programs implemented in different areas of the country. Although the basic steps followed for the resettlement is same, some of the factors are different from the site to site especially, donor, administrative area and social characteristics of beneficiaries. The criteria chosen to assess the long-term satisfaction of the re-settlers consisted of factors related to site selection, the design of dwelling units and surroundings, material well-being and provision of services and infrastructure, aspects related to social factors and perceptions regarding the resettlement process, neighborhood and social interactions. Creation of opportunities to rebuild is a critical factor that determined the satisfaction and dissatisfaction on the resettlement program. To make resettlement a success story, it is essential to identify the failure factors too. Economic, social, environmental and even physical factors differentiation from region to region has to acknowledge seriously. Sites were selected from the data base of Rapid Environment Assessment survey using stratified sampling method. It was observed that the resettled communities included in the present study are not satisfied in the long-term due to various physical, environmental and socio-economic factors. Mainly Inconvenience to livelihood activities, Beneficiary selection process, Housing planning without considering the cultural and social status of the affected people-, Poor building quality, improper Wastewater management, Infrastructure provision were identified as critical factors that led long term dissatisfaction of affected people and finally abandonment of sites.