TRANSITIONAL SHELTER
ESSENTIAL CRITERIA TO BE MET
The following steps are recommended to be followed in planning transitional shelters
following a disaster in order to optimise the matching of needs with the availability of land
and other resources.
• Rapid Assessment of relocation and resettlement issues (excerpts from Rapid
Assessment on Relocation/Resettlement Issues of Displaced Persons due to the
Tsunami compiled by UNICEF in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on
Internal Displacement). See, for example,Protection of Internally Displaced Persons,
produced by Inter-Agency Standing Committee, New York, Dec. 1999; - Interviewers
Guide: Rapid Assessment Procedures (RAP), by Center for Refugee and Disaster
Studies, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Sept. 2000;
- Crisis Response; Rapid Needs Assessment Manual, published by the International
Labour Organization, 2002.
• Analysis of data obtained in order to determine size type and form of the
transitional shelters and settlements.
• Site selection – criteria compiled by Red-R and Practical Action South Asia.
• Developing layout plans – criteria Compiled by Centre for Housing Planning &
Building (CHPB), Red-R and Practical Action South Asia.
• Designing transitional shelters – (criteria compiled by Centre for Housing Planning
& Building (CHPB) and Practical Action South Asia.
Rapid Assessment of relocation and resettlement issues
A rapid assessment (preferably carried out within 10 days) is necessary to support and
facilitate decisions and incorporate the wishes of the displaced persons regarding possible
relocation options.
The objectives of the assessment would be to find out;
• Opinions of displaced person (living in camps and with host families)
• Socio- economic profiles of camp inhabitants.
• Experiences and needs of the families who are hosting the affected communities.
• Assessment of the knowledge and access to information among the displaced persons
on relocation/resettlement issues.
Analysis of data obtained in order to determine size type and form of the transitional shelters
and settlements
The data obtained from the above assessment should be analysed in terms of political, socio-
cultural, economic, technological and numerical terms so that the size, type and form of the
settlement and transitional shelters can be determined.
Conventional analysis tools such as PEST (Political, Economic, Social & Technical), SWOT
(Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) and STEEPLE (Social, Technological,
Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal & Ethical) may be used to analyse the data on
socio-cultural, economic and technological issues. Statistical analysis may be used to analyse
the numerical issues (e.g. to arrive at number of households, number of families,
their size, gender, age groups, number of persons with special needs etc.).
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