International People’s reports

* People’s Report "Disaster Risk Reduction in the 

   post-tsunami context"

* People’s Report "Homestead Land and Adequate

   Housing in the post-tsunami context"

* People’s Report “Fisheries-Based Livelihoods in the   post-tsunami  

   context”

* People’s Report “Violence against women in the

   post-tsunami context”

People’s Report Disaster Risk Reduction in the post-tsunami context

This People’s report is based on the work of 44 organisations and their discussions with 2,954 tsunami-affected people in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Thailand. The report presents people’s experiences and views in terms of whether they feel safer, if their risk to disasters has been reduced, and whether they feel better prepared to cope with future disasters. It also presents their awareness of and relationship with the various government institutions and NGOs involved in disaster response and preparedness. The report attempts to voice some of the concerns from the people’s perspective and to bring these to attention of policy makers and so facilitate their inclusion in future DRR initiatives.

Download report: http://www.actionaid.org/assets/pdf%5CDisaster%20Risk%20Reduction%20post%20tsunami.pdf

People’s Report Homestead Land and Adequate Housing in the post-tsunami context

The report is based on the work of an alliance of 59 organisations and their consultations with 9,207 people in 98 tsunami-affected communities in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Thailand. This report focuses on the destruction and damage to homes and the experiences and views of affected poor people on the processes and outcomes of relocation, permanent shelter construction and repair in the above countries and their concerns relating to their land. Across all the countries many affected people consulted stated that they did not have access to information regarding land and housing policies, they were not involved in decision-making processes about whether they could remain in their original location on the coast, the relocation site or the design of their future home. This documentation of the people’s perspectives is both to influence policy-makers as well as to draw lessons on crucial issues to inform appropriate guidelines for in-situ housing and shelter interventions in future disasters.

Download report:http://www.actionaid.org/assets/pdf%5CHomestead_Land_and_Adequate_housing_post-tsunami%5B1%5D.pdf

People’s Report “Fisheries-Based Livelihoods in the post-tsunami context”

This People’s Report is based on the work of alliances of 78 organisations and their discussions with 11,806 tsunami-affected people in fishing communities in India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand. It focuses on the lives and livelihoods of small-scale or artisanal fisher folk. The report’s purpose is to understand and present the experiences and views of women and men in the fishing communities in relation to the tsunami response and the state of their livelihoods; their perceptions of the changes and how they respond to them. This documentation of the people’s perspectives is both to influence the policymakers in the post-tsunami context as well as to draw lessons on crucial issues and so inform the appropriate policies and guidelines for livelihood interventions in future disaster responses.

Download report: http://www.actionaid.org/assets/pdf%5CFisheries_based_livelihoods_post_tsunami%5B1%5D.pdf

People’s Report “Violence against women in the post-tsunami context”

This report is based on the work of an alliance of 174 organisations and their discussions with 7583 tsunami affected women in India, Maldives, Puntland (Somalia), Sri Lanka and Thailand. The discussions with the women regarding their experiences and understanding of the violence perpetrated against them in the aftermath of the disaster was juxtaposed to the rights set out in the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). An underlying assumption of the approach and process used in this report is that it is the responsibility of the state to fulfill the fundamental rights of women, even in the aftermath of a disaster. This framework was used to talk to women about their perceptions of their rights and the extend to which these are being fulfilled by the state and other agencies. Discussion with women revealed that whether or not women know of their rights and/or what they are entitled to, the laws, policies and guidelines espoused are not being translated into practice. Throughout the relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction phases, women’s responses indicate that state and non-state actors tend to regard them as passive beneficiaries rather than as equal citizens with equal rights to assistance and capacities to participate. The consistent, persistent structural discrimination against women, which denies them their rights, constitutes violence. For example, discrimination which leads to women’s lack of access to information, participation in decision-making or livelihoods assistance, limits women’s opportunities to recover or to reduce their risk to disasters.

Download report: http://www.actionaid.org/assets/pdf%5CVAW%20Peoples'%20Report%202007.pdf

All post-tsunami People’s Reports can be downloaded
from the ActionAid website: http://www.actionaid.org/main.aspx?PageID=205