Chile's path to reconstruction: a follow-up to Chelsea

Chelsea's piece from last month discussing Chile's progress towards national recovery from the 2010 earthquake came to my mind recently as I was reading this article from Tierramérica (Eco-Reconstruction still an impossible dream for Chilean village).

In her post, Chelsea focuses on the need for improved funding and focus on the psychological recovery process and post-traumatic stress outcomes arising in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. The Tierramérica article provides a fantastic companion to this theme, highlighting the structural causes preventing physical recovery and likely impeding psychological and emotional recovery.

In the case study of Boyeruca, a coastal village located south of Santiago, progress towards reconstruction has been impeded by government bureaucracy and political favoritism--a situation that clearly follows the same path of FEMA's efforts in New Orleans. A focus on inappropriate metrics of construction and immediate outcomes has prevented the government from providing a sustainable, long-term path for the residents of Boyeruca, who continue to live in a state of limbo and uncertainty.

For these communities to recover, it is imperative that a viable structural solution be found to address their physical needs for housing and safety, without these needs met it is unlikely that they will ever be able to emotionally recover from these events and regain the sense of stability that they once had.