Construction and Reconstruction

Abstract

Inevitably, safety committees will place most emphasis on preventing disaster. However, they should be fully prepared to speed community recovery if, despite all precautions, large scale damage and destruction take place. Given the resilience of modern settlements, their role within economic regions, speed of population growth, and the psychological impact of abandonment, few, if any, cities are likely to fail to recover from even major future disasters (Kates and Pijawka, 1977). The only significant center permanently destroyed by natural hazard, during the twentieth century, has been St. Pierre, Martinique. Far more typically, survivors rebuild in the same location after the wreckage has been cleared. Certain man-made hazards may make such a response more difficult. On 10 July 1976 an explosion at the Icmesa chemical plant discharged dioxin over some 4000 acres of Seveso, a suburb of Milan, Italy. Even today, 215 acres are fenced off and may never be resettled. In the vast majority of cases, however great the initial shock of devastation, decision makers should waste little time dealing with the unrealistic question of whether rebuilding should take place. Attention must instead focus on how recovery can be achieved as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible. This process of social repair is greatly facilitated if the safety committee has studied potential reconstruction prior to disaster agent impact.

Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shado

The Hollow Men T.S. Eliot (1888–1965)