A Field Research on Damage and Recovery of Fijian Traditional Houses by Cyclone disaster- 7 Community response to housing damages after Cyclone Winston in three rural villages

摘要

The results showed that the community responded to thecyclone in the communities, utilizing resources available withinthe villages (social networks, family links). This was prevalent inthe reconstruction of houses, as community cooperation asutilized in both Navala and Nabuna village. In Navuavua thefamily network was utilized in that regard. The importance offamily link outside the village was also observed in Nabuna, inthe formation of the emergency community, and the importanceof having a disaster fund for ease of burden from families as seenin Nabuna in the housing reconstruction phase. Despite, being farfrom the main town their family links were able to fill in the gapbefore governments assistance arrived. Navala village had themajority number of minimally damaged houses, as the traditionalhouses damages were not as severe as the modern houses in theother villages (Table 2). This may emphasize the need toreevaluate the traditional Fijian houses in terms of disasterresilience as in Navala village. Social networks and reliance onfamily links in Fiji will never disappear and this should only bestrengthened so communities are better equipped to respond andrecovery from any disaster.