Sustainability through collective identity and re-building the sense of ”place”

In re-building a sense of “place”, both personal place attachment and a collective feeling of community are important. By extension, the involvement of the community in re-constructing local identities is important. Where communities are involved, Prewitt Diaz and Dayal (for literature see original source document) suggest this is a form of empowerment, as follows: “the reestablishment of ‘sense of place’ is a form of empowerment of the community in moving ahead”, and they argue, it is the most sustainable approach for the long-term. The authors go on to say that from a psycho-social perspective, participatory assessment is most commonly used to help re-establish a sense of place. This is a process whereby disaster affected communities undertake their own local assessments to establish what tangible and intangible resources they have left (e.g. “communal facilities, personal and family buildings, assets and liabilities”), and most importantly, that they then plan the rebuilding of their community, or their “shared vision for the future ‘place’” (e.g. schools, parks, etc.).

Note: See source document for full reference.

Cultural Factors: Norms/values, Customs/traditions/rituals, Individual/collective memory, Local knowledge, Livelihoods, Access and use of infrastructure/services

Hazards: Natural hazards, Man-made non-intentional hazards or emergency situations, Man-made intentional hazards

Disaster Phases: Response, Recovery

Types of Actors Concerned: National civil protection body, Local authorities, Non-active citizens, Government, Red Cross, NGOs, Military, Law enforcement agencies, Healthcare and emergency services, European Civil Protection Mechanism, UN and other international organisations

Recommendations:

• Foster social connectedness and the development of a strong sense of community, as these encourage citizens to help each other in disaster situations