Cultural issues of community resettlement in Post-Disaster Reconstruction projects in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Resettlement is identified as a fundamental stage in Post- Disaster Reconstruction (PDR) projects, which has proved to be crucial in determining successful or unsuccessful performance in terms of community culture. Currently, Sri Lankan PDR projects are in more severe condition due to various challenges faced by the government while providing the resettlements. Good coordination between organizations involved in resettlement and the affected communities is still hard to achieve. This problem has led to socially and culturally inappropriate resettlement outcomes, which are criticized by the affected communities. Therefore, this study intends to address the community cultural issues that were emerged in the post disaster resettlement projects in Sri Lanka. Since the community culture in Sri Lanka is different from other countries, this study should be carried out by following a proper research methodology that has the capability of addressing the research problem in detail. The investigation has been carried out by examination of the cultural issues of post-disaster resettlement projects, which have severely affected for the unsuccessful outcomes of PDR projects. Tsunami and landslide resettlement projects have been selected as the two case materials. The community cultural issues in each case have been discussed with the experiences expressed by the disaster affected community and the professionals involved in the resettlement projects. The findings disclosed in detail that majority of disaster affected communities were not satisfied with resettlements due to various cultural issues related to cultural factors like ethnicity, religion, social environment, natural environment, livelihood and lifestyle. Therefore, proper consideration of those cultural factors by resolving the identified cultural issues may direct the resettlement of Sri Lankan PDR projects to achieve successful outcomes in community cultural perspective.