Post-disaster recovery dilemmas: challenges in balancing short-term and long-term needs for vulnerability reduction

Following disasters, governments often clamor to quickly reduce risk, rebuild communities and restore permanence. The pressure to urgently address complex, difficult decisions can result in reactive policies that may increase long-term vulnerability of affected populations. Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the 26 December 2004 tsunami represents such an example: a hastily designed coastal buffer zone policy has incited massive relocation of affected populations and resulted in social, economic and environmental problems that threaten the well-being of poor coastal communities. We review the impacts of this policy from its inception, days after the tsunami hit the island, until its revision, approximately 10 months following the disaster. We then apply a framework to conceptualize the components of vulnerability within Sri Lanka's coastal, human–environment system and to identify where post-disaster policies should focus to reduce vulnerability of coastal populations more effectively. From this analysis, it is apparent that the buffer zone policy gave disproportionate attention to reducing exposure to future tsunamis and, subsequently, did not address the critical social, economic and institutional factors that influenced sensitivity to the hazard. Post-disaster policies aimed at sustainable re-development should be informed by an analysis of the components of vulnerability that comprise a system and how these can be most effectively influenced during the separate short-term and long-term phases of rebuilding.