Rebuilding After Earthquakes. Lessons from Planners: Fid-Bau Portal

Rebuilding After Earthquakes. Lessons from Planners

G. G. Mader / M. B. Tyler

The publication summarizes the outcomes of the International Symposium on Rebuilding After Earthquakes, sponsored by Stanford University in August 1990. Approximately 40 planners participated, including presenters from Yugoslavia, Armenia, Italy, Algeria, Mexico, and Nicaragua who illustrated parallels between their country's redevelopment experiences following major earthquakes. The document provides advice for planners who face rebuilding of residential and other properties: the need to work across traditional professional boundaries; advice on pre-earthquake steps, such as assuring consistency between plans and development regulations; and the importance of creating the legal authority, structure and plans for future development. The presenters also stressed the value of regional planning and appropriate site planning considerations for temporary housing, and the worth of identifying geologic, seismic, and structural hazards before an earthquake hits. In addition, they addressed social considerations planners should take into account, particularly when confronted with historic preservation issues; homeowners' safety concerns; the disparate effects on small business owners within the older central business districts; and the reestablishment of neighborhoods following the catastrophe.