LEARNING FROM THE PAST POST-DISASTER EMERGENCY SHELTERS

UN report, Temporary Human Settlement Planning for Displaced Populations [1], emphasizes the long-term effects of immediate shelter aid and the impact of emergency shelter. The 'assessments' are performed by specialists, the so called 'shelter experts' who do have knowledge of past practice, and are well-informed about some available solutions, as far as their personal knowledge and experience allows them to. As a central open information source about solutions is not available, fast decision-making on site depends on the personal judgment of the shelter experts and/or relief workers involved. This results in less than optimal shelter solutions in terms of costs and quality. Moreover, the communication process that entails the making of assessments and the taking of decisions by headquarters, based on these assessments, tends to take more time than is desirable. Around 2000, the criticism from the donating population on the spending and quality of shelter relief after disasters began to rise. The suggestions were made that the assessments made by relief specialists in occasions exaggerated the amount of beneficiaries and resulted in exaggerated amount of needed relief items including shelters. Lack of transparency and accountability resulted in rising of the assumptions of possible corruption in the relief system. In response, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan England, commissioned the Humanitarian Response Review (HRR) in 2005 [2], to address failures in the international response to humanitarian crises. The review [2], found that the performance of the UN humanitarian coordination structure, depended too much on the personal qualities and diplomatic skills of the Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator and that the speed, quality and effectiveness of humanitarian responses were inadequate, and that no common basis existed for assessing and comparing levels of need. Funding levels and methods were also found to be inadequate. The HRR report aimed to address weaknesses relating to accountability, predictability and reliability by nominating organizations to act as leaders in areas where humanitarian response gaps had been identified. Under this approach these organizations would then become responsible for specific areas or clusters. In this article we briefly describe what entails in post-disaster shelter aid. We develop and test a virtual meeting place where virtual trainings will be possible. The informative and educational virtual meeting place is to be of assistance for students, researchers, manufacturers, relief specialists, and if applicable the beneficiaries. We explain a new approach for gathering evidence and solutions on demand in post-disaster emergency shelter relief.