Relocation as a disaster risk reduction strategy

Planning to relocate community members due to disasters is always a last resort.

However, it is a reality in areas where people are forced from their homes every year due to disasters.

Planned relocation is a process in which persons, or groups of persons, move away from their homes or places of temporary residence and get settled in a new location where they are provided with the conditions for rebuilding their livelihoods.

Planned relocation takes place within national borders and is undertaken to protect people from risks and impacts related to disasters, including the effects of climate change.

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Planned relocations can be undertaken at individual, household or community levels.

Broadly, relocation, which encompasses moving from one place to another in search of new and safe places to live, is not a new phenomenon. In recent times, planned relocation increasingly features as a recognised policy tool in relevant global policy frameworks such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-30.

Planned relocation takes cognisant of two essential elements, thus re-location, which implies the physical movement of people from one place to another; and re-settlement, which refers to the re-establishment of lives and livelihoods following the physical movement.

This means that planned relocation should go beyond the provision of housing infrastructure; instead, must rebuild lives and livelihoods.

When planning relocation, it is imperative to identify the people or groups of people that will be affected by the relocation. The common error is to focus on one group, which is the ones to be relocated.

In essence, while individuals, families and communities who are being relocated will always be part of the affected population, others to be affected, depending on circumstances, include members of the host communities and people who choose not to relocate.

Further, there are those who may suffer indirect impacts from the relocation process such as members of nearby communities, who may lose access to essential services, or business owners, who may be negatively impacted by changes in pattern of commerce. Accounting for people and groups of people that will be directly and indirectly affected by the planned relocation contributes significantly to a successful relocation exercise, as their needs are incorporated in the overall relocation programme.

Though not absolute, planned relocation can either be proactive or reactive.

Proactive relocation, which is also known as anticipatory planned relocation, is undertaken before a disaster occurrence and aims at reducing the exposure and vulnerability of populations to natural hazards.

Reactive relocation, on the other hand, is undertaken after a disaster occurrence and aims at providing a durable solution to existing disaster displacement. As earlier stated, this classification is not absolute as households and communities that may be relocated under proactive relocation may also have experienced disasters in the past.

Community engagement is key to ensuring smooth planning and implementation of a planned relocation.

Affected people need to be provided with full information and accorded a meaningful opportunity to participate throughout the process.

People are more likely to agree to being relocated when they understand that, based on evidence, there is no other option realistically available to protect them and that the relocation project will be properly planned and implemented with their involvement. In addition, they need assurance that they will be supported.

In conclusion, planned relocation, as a disaster risk reduction strategy, is usually the last resort.

It is tricky as the relocatees do usually have issues such as strong cultural or religious attachment to places they have always called home, concerns and fears about the risks associated with the new place, local leadership uncertainty, reduction in the level of community cohesion and social interaction, loss of social support networks, among others.

Therefore, identifying all persons or groups of persons affected by the planned relocation and ensuring meaningful engagement throughout the process is key to smooth planned relocation. Irrespective of the context, planned relocation is widely recognised to have elements of relocation, which is the physical movement of people, and resettlement, which is the re-establishment of the lives and livelihoods post-physical movement.

For a planned relocation project to be successful, it must address both elements. This means that planned relocation should go beyond building houses and must, instead, rebuild lives and livelihoods. This write-up has been adapted from Planned Relocation in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change: A guide for Asia Pacific National Societies, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.