Dissatisfaction after postdisaster resettlement

Resettlement failure is a continuing concern within the field of postdisaster housing. There is a growing body of literature that recognizes dissatisfaction in many resettlement schemes around the world. However, a systematic understanding of why resettlements do not satisfy their beneficiaries is still lacking. This chapter seeks to fill this gap by offering a model for rationalizing resettlement dissatisfaction, ultimately contributing to the third priority of the Sendai Framework, notably to the development of inclusive policies toward sustainable postdisaster solutions. We used a qualitative case-study approach to investigate this problem. We present the key findings as a graph relating the resettlement phases and the expectations of the affected people to possess a house. According to the identified underlying mechanism, the need to possess a house remains at its peak through the displacement period. Subsequently, during normalization, the willingness to remain in the resettlement declines, leading to dissatisfaction if the resettlement is inadequately managed. Highlights: • Large-scale resettlements fail to harmonize with the communities in the long term. • Human adaptation to new environments depends on fulfilling a set of expectations. • The decline in the desire to remain in the new settlement leads to dissatisfaction. • The host community is also a key stakeholder group in resettlement processes.