The effects of disaster damage and housing aid on household recovery following the 1976 Guatemalan earthquake

This paper examines the effects of housing programs, disaster damage, community type, and other social determinants on household recovery following a major natural disaster- the 1976 Guatemalen earthquake. Strong support exists for the conclusion that temporary housing as a form of aid retarded the recovery process while permanent housing programs actually produced net improvement in living conditions

Changes in housing in Guatemala following the 1976 earthquake : With special reference to earthen structures and how they are perceived by disaster victims

This paper reports on what has happened to earthen structures in 26 Guatemalan comunities studies over a 4 year period since the 1976 earthquake. The data were obtained from three waves of personal interviews with 1472 randomly sampled household heads. As a consequence the number of adobe structure and of other earthen structures has been drastically reduced. The peole of Guatemala individually and because of agency housing programs have abandoned adobe as a building material and turned to concrete block and wood. Surviving earthen structures have not been improved substantially and remain with largely the same structural features as before the earthquake. The greatest improvement is in the use of corner posts or columns in the walls but most of these are made of untreated crude logs or lumber, subject to rot and termite damage. Little information on aseismic housing seems to have spread either within the earthquake area or in the unaffected areas surrounding it. A program to spread information on how to use adobe in aseismic designs needs to be conducted along with one to assist citizens to aquire the resources necessary to improve the earthquake vulnerability of houses (AU)

The use of a crossculturally valid level of living scale for measuring the social and economic effects of earthquakes and other disaster and for measuring progress in recovery and reconstruction as illustrated by the case of the Guatemalan earthquake of 1976

This discussion illustrates the utility of a level of living scale for measuring the impact of a disaster and for monitoring the recoveryprocess. Future scale designed specifically tobe cost weigthted can easily employ a different set of items more reflective of the cost of maintaining a given level of living. It is believed, however, that the work in Guatemala demonstrates the utility of using such scales as a maens of obtaining reliable measures of disasters impact and recovery. Belcher has demonstrated in his work that these scales have cross-cultural relevance (AU)

The effects of the 1976 Guatemalan earthquake on earthen houses in Guatemala

This paper reports on what has happened to earthen structures in twenty-six Guatemalan communities studied over a four-year period since the 1976 earthquake. The data were obtained from three waves of personal interviews with 1471 randomly sample household heads. Surviving earthen structres have not been improved substantially and remain with largely the same structural features as before the earthquake.The greatest improvement is in the use of corner post or columns in the walls but most of these are made of untreated crude logs or lumber, subject to have spread either within the earthquake area or in the unaffected areas surrounding it. A program to be spread information on how to use adobe in aseimic designs needs to be conducted along with ane to assist citizens to acquire the resources necessary to improve the earthquake vulnerability of houses (AU)