Opportunities and challenges in risk resilient recovery

In the post-disaster context, following the initial shock of the disaster, returning lives and livelihoods to normality becomes a primary concern of the affected communities and nations. Traditionally, this has been known as recovery phase, where "normalcy" referred to the same situation as when the disaster occurred. Recovery is defined as "Decisions and actions taken after a disaster with a view to restoring or improving the pre-disaster living conditions of the stricken community, while encouraging and facilitating necessary adjustments to reduce disaster risk" (www.unisdr.org), This process of "Recovery" from the impact of disaster must be across various sectors, namely shelter, infrastructure, healthcare services, agriculture, economic and social rehabilitation. Recovery from disasters is increasingly being regarded as an opportunity to build to a higher standard of disaster resilience, preferably even integrating structural and non-structural mitigation measures for future disasters.