Doctoral Dissertation Research: IMEE: Disaster Recovery, Social Capital, and the Sri Lankan Context: A Comparative Study of Two Communities in Batticaloa

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

This research project will analyze recovery processes and outcomes in two communities in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka: one predominantly Tamil/Hindu community and one Muslim community. This area suffered the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and the civil war in Sri Lanka, and provides an opportunity to understand the interaction between complex humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters. Within a context of insurgencies and "small wars" around the world, increasing disaster losses, and global environmental change, both nations and the international communities are faced with the challenge of providing disaster assistance in the context of ongoing humanitarian crises. This research will result in practical lessons regarding disaster recovery in areas affected by armed conflict. It will also contribute fundamental knowledge to the efforts to build a theory of community recovery from disasters which should increase community resilience around the world. The research focuses on three community-level recovery outcomes: social recovery; infrastructure and built-environment recovery; and the extent to which risk reduction measures have been incorporated into the recovery process. The study will investigate the impacts on recovery of three broad sets of factors: pre-existing conditions; disaster impacts; and post-disaster conditions and recovery-related interventions. Using the knowledge gained through earlier NSF-sponsored fieldwork, the co-PI will conduct exploratory and open-ended interviews with district and local leaders, live in each of the two study communities and participate in everyday community activities, and explore local recovery dynamics, with a specific emphasis on the ways in which recovery challenges were influenced by experiences in the civil war. In addition to community members, the co-PI will interview local, district, and national government officials and individuals involved with relevant relief and recovery projects, such as representatives of non-governmental organizations. The findings from this project will be integrated into University of Colorado undergraduate curricula.