Shelter After Disaster (second edition)

This research project  investigated the issues of sheltering after a disaster and published a series of practical guidelines for assisting groups that included UN agencies, governments and NGO’s in 1982.

The study was carried out in two phases: the first from July 1975 to September 1977, and the second from November 1979 to May 1982. During the first phase the bulk of the evidence was assembled and analysed. The second phase of the study saw the development of planning and policy guidelines for emergency shelter provision, and postdisaster housing more generally.

This has been both a difficult and challenging study, for the evidence gathered has clearly pointed out the need for some important attitudinal shifts among the majority of groups providing assistance following disasters. Many conventional and preconceived notions have been questioned and new ideas proposed.

This second edition, published in 2015, is the work of the three original authors of the 1982 Shelter After Disaster guidelines (1982 Guidelines) revisiting the original text and adding new material as necessary based on changes in the shelter sector and its context that have occurred during the intervening 30 years.