Indicators for Measuring, Monitoring and Evaluating Post-Disaster Recovery

Principal Investigator: Torwong Chenvidyakarn

Co-investigator: Dr Keiko Saito

Research Assistant: Daniel Brown, Emily So

Sponsor: EPSRC

In collaboration with: Cambridge Architectural Research Ltd, UK; ImageCAT Inc, UK; University of Peshawar, Pakistan; Memorial University, Canada

Monitoring and evaluation of recovery and reconstruction after natural disasters can assist on-going aid effort, provide accountability and guide aid policy. The EPSRC-funded project Indicators for Measuring, Monitoring and Evaluating Post-Disaster Recovery (EP/F015232/1) , (2008-2011) (hereafter the Indicators Project) developed new guidelines which provide a systematic, independent and replicable approach to monitoring and evaluating the post-disaster recovery process. The indicators proposed in the guidelines were tested in case study research of Ban Nam Khem, Thailand which was hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and Chella Bandi, Muzaffarabad, AJK Pakistan, which was struck by the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.

The indicators developed by the Indicators  Project derive from a combination of earth observation using satellite images, ground surveys and interviews with affected populations. They  encompass  a range of physical, environmental, social and economic factors that combine to give an accurate picture of the reconstruction process at specific intervals. The Project  resulted in the publication of a set of Guidelines which were presented at the Word Bank/ GFDRR World Reconstruction Conference in Geneva in May 2011, and subsequently made available to a wide range of stakeholders among them International Organisations (World Bank, UN-Habitat), national governments, and NGOs concerned with relief and reconstruction (International Committee of the Red Cross, British Red Cross, CARE etc).