Side by side. Sociality and risk perception in temporary houses after the central Italy earthquake of 2016-2017
Abstract as pdf
Corresponding Author:
Claudia Della Valle
University of Padua Italy
claudia.dellavalle@phd.unipd.it
Author(s):
Disastrous events raise issues about the territories and the affected population’s future. Providing adequate housing for displaced persons is both a challenge and a crucial point for any post-disaster policy. The research will focus on the effects of temporary housing solutions assigned to displaced people after the Italian Central Apennines earthquake between August 2016 and January 2017. In this period, the internal areas of central Italy were affected by a series of extraordinary seismic events of varying intensity and duration: from the beginning of the sequence, over 92 thousand shocks occurred, nine of which with a magnitude equal to or greater than 5. The territory hit by the disaster is vast and involves four distinct regions, 10 provinces, 140 municipalities and about 8000 km2, with about 600 thousand residents. The earthquakes caused 299 victims, the destruction of thousands of buildings, dozens of towns, and about 50.000 displaced people.
This contribution aims to introduce the study case, the methodology, and the first results of ongoing doctoral research, extending the one conducted in the earthquake area focused on the post-disaster temporary shelters. Through ethnographic methodological tools and informal interviews, the main objective is to explore the reproduction and the transformation of the models of social interaction in emergency settlements, called SAE areas. Small and medium-sized villages consist of single-family and earthquake-resistant houses, which will offer housing to the displaced population until the end of the reconstruction, then for about 10 years.
The research looks forward to understanding how the brand-new forms of settlement and social aggregation will affect the reconfiguration of social bonds, given the heterogeneity between the SAE villages and the original context of displaced people. The new housing solutions push them to experience more frequent face-to-face interaction and with the challenge of community recovery. Then, the research intends to investigate whether and how the temporary housing solutions can lead to a modification and reconfiguration of the sociality and the perceptions of risk, as significant elements capable of affecting the adaptive abilities, therefore resilient, of individuals, families and local communities.
Disaster recovery in the long-term