Managing stakeholder needs and expectations in a post-disaster housing reconstruction scenario

The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, which was a result of the fifth largest earthquake of thelast century, caused great devastation in Sri Lanka, making more than 1,000,000 peoplehomeless. The task of reconstruction after the 2004 tsunami was an onerous challenge to adeveloping country like Sri Lanka, which required the deliberate and coordinated effortsof all stakeholders for effective and efficient recovery of the affected community. Thisresulted in a large number of post-disaster housing reconstruction projects. A wide arrayof stakeholders came together on such projects to execute the final outcome. In theaftermath of early reconstruction efforts, dissatisfaction was expressed by somestakeholders. The areas of criticism included time, cost, quality, coordination withinfrastructure and linkage to livelihoods. Nevertheless, the reconstruction provided anopportunity for the development of Sri Lanka. Thus, the industry sector of Gross NationalProduct before and after the 2004 tsunami stood at 5.4 and 8.0 respectively. This wasmainly due to the growth of housing output. Moreover, several legislations stipulate thathousing is one of the three basic requirements necessary for a standard of living andpersonal security.Accordingly, the aim of this research is to explore and investigate how to identify,classify, capture and address the needs of stakeholders and manage their expectations fromreconstruction projects, in order to deliver effective Post-Disaster Housing Reconstruction(PDHR) in Sri Lanka. In order to achieve the aim, data was collected in two phases.Expert interviews formed the preliminary phase of data collection which was directedtowards identification, classification and exploring the relationships between thestakeholders. Stakeholder Circle ™ (Version 5) software aided the data analysis of expertinterviews. Case studies, the secondary phase of data collection, were used to identify thestrategies required to manage the needs and expectations of stakeholders in PDHR projectsin Sri Lanka. NVivo (Version 8) was used to analyse case study data.This study contributes to knowledge by identifying, classifying and exploringrelationships between stakeholders of PDHR projects in Sri Lanka. In addition it identifiesstrategies to manage their needs and expectations. Accordingly, key success and failurefactors of PDHR are identified based on the phases of the Disaster Management (DM)cycle under four main headings. They are factors attached to the house; institutional and legal arrangements, knowledge and capacity factors, and factors pertaining to tsunamivictims.Furthermore, the conceptual framework that emerged from the literature review, andwhich was refined using data gathered in the expert interviews, evolved into a 'theoreticalframework' once the theory developed in the case study phase of data collection wasapplied. This forms a tool to the effective identification, classification, exploration ofrelationships and management of expectations of the stakeholders of PDHR projects in SriLanka. Gaps in the practical application of the proposed strategies were allied to the areasof sustainable urban development; township planning and declaration of the buffer zone;moving from land administration to land management; enactment of the DisasterManagement Act and empowering Local Authorities; enforcing an incrementaldevelopment programme; intervention planning; lack of guidelines and complexity of thelanguage; mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into PDHR; learning from the past;coordination, communication, consultation and participatory approaches.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral (Level 8)

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Siriwardena, N

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1405571

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1405571