Behind the Scenes:
When Disaster Strikes,
Habitat Strikes Back

Two men stand amid earthquake ruins in Kukma, India. Habitat's Disaster Response Office works with families displaced by disaster and helps rebuild their lives.

Living in a flood-prone area in El Salvador, Elsa Hernandez Robles' family had gotten used to raising their hammocks above the occasional one-foot-deep floodwaters of the nearby river. But when Hurricane Mitch struck the region in October 1998 and proved to be the deadliest storm in the Western Hemisphere since 1780, they knew at once that this was different. Pregnant and terrified, Elsa grabbed her parents and her children and all began an uphill race for their lives just as the floodwaters of Mitch washed their house away.

They survived the ordeal, but in several Central American countries that month more than 9,000 people died, nearly a half-million people became homeless and millions more were displaced.

The devastation created housing needs that Habitat for Humanity could not ignore. "We cannot and must not be oblivious to the suffering of those people [whose lives have been negatively impacted by a disaster], and there are various ways we can respond," says Millard Fuller, HFHI founder and president. "Though Habitat is not a relief organization, we come behind the relief people and do the permanent rebuilding."

In fact, in the wake of Hurricanes Georges and Mitch, Habitat launched a special program in the region to expedite its response. By June 2000, nearly 5,000 Habitat houses had been built throughout the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

As a result of that effort, HFHI established its Disaster Response Office in 1999. The department has developed recovery strategies for disaster-affected areas and implemented mitigation and preparedness initiatives.

To date, Habitat's disaster responses have included: building more than 100 houses after tornadoes in Kansas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Georgia; 60 houses after Hurricane Floyd hit North Carolina; more than 700 houses in El Salvador following an earthquake in 2001; providing recovery and mitigation after Typhoon Lingling in the Philippines; and building some 2,000 houses in Gujarat and Hyderabad, India, after earthquakes and flooding.

"Habitat deals with housing, and disaster response is complementary to what we do," says Sara Coppler, director of Habitat's DRO. "But our work is not tents and tarps; rather, we want to help disaster-affected people take their first steps on the road to recovery with a solid roof over their heads."

Not too surprisingly, this intention brings Habitat face-to-face with its latest challenge: How can the organization assist in recovery in the drought-, conflict- and earthquake-affected country of Afghanistan? Initially, working in partnership with established non-governmental organizations in the region, Habitat plans to help rebuild houses by providing building materials and tools. The program will transition into long-term, durable development by assisting in new housing construction.

"We're not throwing tents out of the back of a truck," says Coppler. "Instead, we come in [after the rescue and relief phases], when a disaster-affected person says 'everything is lost, how do we recover?' Then we can help with a solid roof and rebuild from there. That's the exciting part."

To learn more about HFHI's disaster response efforts, visit www.habitat.org/disaster/ or call (800) 422-4828 or (229) 924-6935, ext. 2979.

—Milana McLead