The Meaning of ‘Build Back Better’: Evidence From Post-Tsunami Aceh and Sri Lanka

Overall, building back safer might be a preferable tagline to building back better because better has multiple interpretations, many of which caused further problems, whereas safer provides a clearer goal on which to focus for post-disaster settlement and shelter.The 26 December 2004 tsunami disaster around the Indian Ocean provided an opportunity to see if decades of knowledge and experience on post-disaster settlement and shelter could be applied to match the tagline which many groups gave to the post-tsunami reconstruction: build back better (or building back better). This paper uses evidence from field work completed on implementing settlement and shelter in post-tsunami Aceh and Sri Lanka to examine whether or not the theory and practice of build back better were witnessed. Focusing on settlement and shelter, four areas are examined: (i) safety, security, and livelihoods' (ii) how post-disaster settlement and shelter could have an improved connection with permanent housing and communities (the transition to what? question)' (iii) fairness and equity' and (iv) connecting relief and development by tackling root causes of vulnerability. Based on the field work, addressing these four areas is suggested as how build back better could be implemented. Recommendations areOverall, building back safer might be a preferable tagline to building back better because better has multiple interpretations, many of which caused further problems, whereas safer provides a clearer goal on which to focus for post-disaster settlement and shelter.