The Role of Culture in Disaster Recovery

Claire Rubin shared another great resource, Culture in City Reconstruction and Recovery. While it says "city," I think you can replace the word "city" with "community." Rural areas, for example, also have a sense of place and history that makes for a defined culture. Culture sometimes can be ignored when "do-gooders" from the outside come in and try to help immediately, and do not first delve into the culture of the area trying to recover from a disaster. 

See the description of the publication below:

"As urban growth and development continue at a breathtaking pace across the world, cities are increasingly bearing the brunt of conflicts, crises and disasters, which themselves are growing in number, magnitude and complexity. The convergence of these two trends — increasing urbanization and growing crises — demands an enhanced approach to city reconstruction and recovery, one that puts culture at its heart. Elaborated by the World Bank and UNESCO, this Position Paper outlines one such approach, the Framework for Culture in City Reconstruction and Recovery, also known as the CURE Framework. The CURE Framework is a culture-based approach to the process of city reconstruction and recovery in post conflict, post disaster and urban distress situations that accounts for the needs, values and priorities of people."