Social issues and post-disaster recovery: A qualitative study in an Iranian context

Social problems before the earthquake

Social problems before the earthquake increase vulnerability and significantly delay people’s return to normal life. Most of the participants believed that factors such as poverty, inequality, and unemployment were the main factors that increased their social vulnerability and created problems in returning to their normal life in an efficient manner:

… the problems and challenges that we had before the earthquake are still with us and make our lives more difficult. Now, the condition for people who did not have a good financial situation before the earthquake is worse than others and they still couldn’t get back to their normal life. (Participant No. 4; resident, man, 65 years old)

Participants believed that people who had physical, social, and personal vulnerabilities did suffer the most losses incurred by earthquake:

… people who did not have a good financial situation, or had suffered more losses, or had lost one of their close relatives are having more difficulties and should be protected … (Participant No. 21; rescuer, man, 38 years old)

Negligence of vulnerable groups

Neglecting the vulnerable groups was another subcategory extracted from the study. Results showed that certain groups had not been considered in distribution of goods, nor had their specific requirements been considered. Women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities were among the groups who, according to the participants, were greatly neglected. This issue led to intensification of social confusion and delayed rehabilitation. Rescuers had the best views and experiences concerning negligence of those subgroups. One rescuer (a man, 26 years old) explained,

… we were in a village to distribute basic hygiene items to women. However, women felt embarrassed to receive them from us, because we were men. Finally, at our return, many of them thanked us and stated that these items were more important than rice, food and etc.

And one of the female participants said,

… most of the times, the relief goods were distributed in a way that we couldn’t get them. Because men were stronger and could get more goods, but women, the elderly, and the others who did not have such power couldn’t get them. Sometimes we were embarrassed … (Participant No. 5; resident, woman, 42 years old)

Focus on reconstruction and negligence of rehabilitation

Another subcategory extracted was focus on reconstruction and negligence of rehabilitation. People, authorities, and the recovery services focused solely on reconstruction with little attention to rehabilitation needs of the people. This led to intensification of social uncertainty and confusion in the earthquake-stricken areas, as explained by one of the participants:

… the government has done its best to reconstruct the houses, and this has not been completed yet and most of the houses are incomplete; but, unfortunately, no attention has been paid to agriculture, husbandry, employment, and mental and social issues. (Participant No. 19; resident, man, 66 years old)

Even the people from earthquake-stricken areas concentrated only on reconstruction and did not attend to other aspects of recovery - just like the government. In this regard, one of the participants said,

… but here, people are merely preoccupied with the houses. If the houses are completed, people can get back to their normal life. We are only busy with reconstructing our homes and working. Therefore, we cannot do anything else. We urge the government only to take the reconstruction seriously. If they complete our houses, we will be relaxed … (Participant No. 10; resident, man, 52 years old)

Vulnerability due to wasted assets

Wasting of people’s critical assets was another derived issue that led to social vulnerability. Specifically, some people were forced to sell their cattle at low prices after the earthquake, because they did not have adequate barns and shelters necessary to take care of their livestock. These assets were very important in getting back to normal life later, yet most of the people were not able to make up for the loss even after some months because they could not afford the higher prices of cattle.

One of the participants explained the situation as follows:

… since infrastructure had been destroyed and there were no facilities, people were forced to sell their cattle. Many people came here and bought our assets. We waited a month for a barn and when they didn’t build it, we were forced to sell our cattle. Dealers took advantage of our situation and we were forced to sell our assets at a very low price … (Participant No. 2; resident, man, 28 years old)

Loss of properties and assets caused people to think the earthquake had seized everything they had, and consequently, they lost all hope of getting back to normal life. Conditions had changed in such a way that shortly after the earthquake, people thought they could not revive their lost assets. For example, one participant said,

… of course we want to get back to our home; but how? We do not have anything. I had 10 cows and was forced to sell them in those days, and now having those cattle is like a dream, which cannot be achieved. These small houses and high prices do not let us buy even two cows … (Participant No. 14; resident, man, 34 years old)

Disruption of roles and responsibilities

One of the concepts related to the social consequences of disasters was disruption in social roles and responsibilities. For example, one of the groups that received some new roles in addition to their routine roles was women. One participant (a 52-year-old man) explained the situation as follows:

Our women have difficulties and problems. They had more problems and now that’s going to be worse. They have to take care of their kids and help us to reconstruct the ruined; we have problem in supplying drinking water and they have to walk a long way in the cold weather to fetch water. They have to warm water with these pans to take shower; they had no such problems before the earthquake.

The disruption of social roles in other categories, including men, have also been reported:

… It has been long time; we are trying to construct our home. We like to get back to our routine jobs, but we cannot do agriculture and any other jobs before building the house.

Employment uncertainty

From participants’ viewpoints, one of the social aspects which is influenced by disaster is employment. One of the participants (a 34-year-old man) described the situation as follows:

… in winter, we wove rugs and carpets. It was our seasonal job. But they are ruined. Now we need a job to make money to get back to our ordinary life. We have some skills, but the situation is not prepared for using the skills and restoring the job.

Another participant (a 30-year-old man) reported the condition of returning to work after the disaster as follows:

After that I had no hope and motivation to go back and continue. The earthquake took everything from me. My house was destroyed. I became an unemployed person.

Disasters left people in uncertainty and affected their ability and motivation. One of the participants explained his situation as follows:

… before the earthquake we were all busy with our everyday life. We knew what to do, where to go, what we were looking for … but despite this long period after the earthquake, we just spend days and nights and think about all of our troubles. We feel that we do not know what we are doing, where we are going, and finally what will happen to us. We are tied up in these troubles and unfinished affairs. Our Houses are ruined; agriculture and husbandry are destroyed. Finally, we will be forced to leave here. (Participant No. 8; resident, man, 40 years old)

The influx of nonnative population

Earthquakes usually lead to decline in population of the stricken area, but in some cases we have seen an increase in population after the earthquake. In this study, the influx of nonnative people and also those who reside only seasonally in that area was another issue complained about by the participants. One of them described the situation as follows:

… for example, before the earthquake we were about 90 households and now we are 120 households. Some of them lived here permanently and the rest who lived seasonally came and settled here only to receive services. Ironically, most of those who have completed the foundations of their house are not permanent residents. While I have been always living in this village, I have not yet completed the foundation of my house … (Participant No. 16; resident, woman, 29 years old)

Another participant expressed the situation as follows:

One of our main problems was the migration of people from different areas to here. Unfortunately, after the earthquake, people from different regions came here to get the services distributed by the government and organizations. As these newly coming people have had a relationship with permanent residents, so we could not object to their presence … (Participant No. 3; resident, man, 57 years old)

Reconstruction without considering the culture

The fourth subcategory, the lack of consideration for local and cultural requirements of reconstruction, led to many unforeseen problems in recovery. One of the important aspects of reconstruction which caused dissatisfaction and uncertainty in people’s lives was neglecting the requirements of rural houses. In other words, architecture and the interior design of the reconstructed houses did not meet the needs of rural people in earthquake-stricken areas. They were shelters suitable for towns and in many cases had no bedrooms, barns, stables, and so on. The reconstruction itself was very important and satisfying for people, but lack of attention to the cultural aspect of reconstruction was one of the main concerns which led to social uncertainty. A participant argued that they had particular problems with those houses:

We need large rural houses. We usually have many guests and this size is insufficient. They have built us civic houses. These houses maybe suitable for county dwelling clerks, but is not enough for us. The houses they built have no bedrooms, and no place for carpet weaving. Husbandry and agriculture have been also neglected. As you enter the village these houses look beautiful, but if you put yourself in my place you will see these houses are like a cage … (Participant No. 14; resident, man, 34 years old)

Top-down paternalistic approach

Results strongly support the idea that even in minor issues of recovery, people were not asked for their ideas and input, nor were they asked to participate in reconstruction and other aspects of rebuilding. Most of the plans were based on a top-down approach. It caused people to feel dissatisfied and to not have the sense of ownership and belonging, regardless of the efforts in trying to help them. In this regard, one of the participants said,

… only during the first days after the earthquake people helped each other, and then we just received relief goods and people played no role. We were all waiting for the Red Crescent and other institutions to come and help us … (Participant No. 9; resident, man, 60 years old)

Another participant explained the situation as follows:

… the situation is not like before at all. They only built us some 60 sqm houses and now they want us to go and live in them. We have to tolerate this situation, but have no sense of ownership to these houses. These houses cost us a lot and we were forced to sell everything (to complete the construction of houses) … (Participant No. 11; resident, woman, 58 years old)

Undermining of trust

Another extracted subcategory was undermining of trust. For various reasons, a kind of distrust was formed between the earthquake-stricken people and the government, and also between benefactors and the government before and after the disaster. According to the participants, these conditions paved the way for confusion and social uncertainty:

… if the government had nothing to do with us and just had provided us with benefactors’ reliefs, we would have had no problem and everything would have been good. The government seized all the money and relief goods of benefactors’ and gave us some loans in turn. Instead of enjoying an aid from the government, I am now in debt and I have to give a loan of 250 million Rls back to to the government. (Participant No. 15; resident, man, 50 years old)

In addition, there was another kind of distrust between benefactors and the government that led to special problems; in fact, the donations were distributed by benefactors and these distributions were neither targeted nor organized. A participant described the situation as follows:

… We must accept the facts that many people do not trust government agencies. However, why not to trust is another matter. In fact, the government agencies should consider why people tend to directly aid and distribute the donated goods by themselves. It is necessary to survey why they do not deliver their aids to the government agencies … (Participant No. 21; psychologist, man, 38 years old)

In addition to the abovementioned problem, benefactors tend to act upon emotions and sometimes are affected by ostensible arrangements of affected area and the people. One of the participants described the situation as follows:

Unfortunately, benefactors treat quite emotionally so that they deliver their aids to the easy-to-reach villages or people who pretended to need much more aid. In Iran, in the early stage of disaster recovery management, aids of donors and organizations responsible for disaster management are like a flood. They suddenly come and goes, and if it is not effectively managed, that can led to waste of aid. (Participant No. 20; resident, man, 27 years old)

Undermining social networks and creating self-centering

The third subcategory of social capital ignorance was the undermining of social networks and creation of self-centering. According to some participants, this matter was a significant obstacle to community effectiveness and a potential successful return to normal life:

… during the first days after the earthquake, people helped each other and they especially rescued many victims by helping each other. Unfortunately, as time passed and especially during the reconstruction of houses and receiving relief goods, people just thought of themselves and tried to get more goods … (Participant No. 7; resident, man, 41 years old)

Inefficiency of local nongovernmental social institutions

According to the results, inefficiency of the nongovernmental social institutions had left the government alone with the responsibility of recovery and caused various problems for people who were trying to get back to normal life. Inefficiency of institutions such as local councils and associations caused challenges for people in providing assistance and communicating with governmental institutions. From the viewpoint of participants, intermediary institutions could facilitate the rescue efforts, make them more goal-oriented, and prevent financial waste. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that competency of intermediary institutions is also an important factor; if people do not trust them or if they are incompetent, then their effectiveness is lost. One of the participants explained the situation as follows:

… in some areas we don’t have any intermediary institutions that play an active role in post disaster recovery and in other areas there were problems in relation between people and these institutions. From my viewpoint, since the recovery efforts should be mainly done by these people and their systems, their competency is important. Their incompetency was one of the problems in some areas which made recovery more difficult and goods distributions more inequitable … (Participant No. 18; resident, woman, 49 years old)

Social cohesion and social division

Another extracted subcategory that emerged was a social phenomenon of social cohesion and social division in some areas. Through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and observations, the researcher pursued this issue at various times in the study setting. The issue was that in one area, the earthquake and its ramifications forced some residents to part with their previous (now demolished) houses and build new ones in places that were somehow distanced from the ex-village fabric. This matter has caused some social alienation and division within the once-integrated village. Even some close relatives were forced to stay in the ex-village and form new social networks, but ruined buildings made them upset and annoyed.

A participant described it clearly as follows:

… In one village about 80% of the buildings had been destroyed and 20% remained safe. Those who lost their buildings completely migrated to a new location and others were forced to stay in the old village. This condition caused a state of social division among the village residents and interestingly enough both groups had a sense of loneliness … (Participant No. 22; health worker, man, 44 years old)

In another area, the situation was reversed and a new state of social cohesion was formed among the affected people so that the two initially separated villages merged and formed a new integrated village after the earthquake. It is noteworthy that reconstruction of this village, in comparison, was somehow better and faster:

… before earthquake, Valiloo (name of village) was made up of 2 distinct parts called Up and Down Villages, but 15 months after the recovery phase the residents of these two villages denied their previous location and claimed to be integrated. Meanwhile, before the earthquake, they were strongly proud of their independence, and even in some cases conflicted with each other. (Participant No. 27; community recovery service provider, man, 42 years old)