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

Aftermath of natural disasters : Coping through residential mobility

Most studies of population movement have concentrated on the more developed national and on trends that have not been influenced by man-made or natural disasters. The experience of developing countries in the Cariabean basin,as studies after the Guatemalan earthquake of 1976 and the impact of Hurricane David in the Dominican Republic of 1979, highlights the importance of socio-economic factors in the decision to make permanent migrations after a disaster, regardless of whether the migrant had personally suffered lossses. In many cases the opportunities for personal betterment created by the disaster acted as a catalyst and accelerated a previously-existing trend og migration (AU)

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)

Emergency food programs following the Guatemalan earthquake of 1976

Report summarizes data obtained from interviews of approximately 1100 households to determine household member's perception of food need in the period following the 1976 Guatemala earthquake and to explore the distribution of disaster related foods to households. Questions also about the effects of earthquake on food prices in local communities as well as agricultural production and consumption patterns. Results offer data that is largely opinion or attitudinal and relate them whenever possible to controversy over food distribution. Include lists of sources of food following the earthquake and food received from domestic and international agencies

Changes in housing characteristics in seventeen Guatemalan communities following the earthquake of 1976

Preliminary report prepared on basis of partial analysis of data available from a 3 year longitudinal study of the 1976 Guatemala earthquake. Focus on housing reconstruction process and changes in house types as they relate to future earthquake vulnerability in Guatemala. Examines the social and economic consequences of a major disaster through time, across cultural environments and tests various hypothesis regarding rates of induced and secular social change. The research design incorporates household survey interviews and supplemental ethnographic case histories of various communities. Thorough presentation of data base, sampling techniques and pretest and interview schedules. Extensive inclusion of 38 tables of research results