Local and indigenous knowledge in disaster risk reduction: Analysing multi-hazard housing reconstruction strategies in the Philippines

Abstract

The place-based (“local”) and cultural (“indigenous”) knowledge of communities developed out of their embeddedness in their environments has provided them with time-tested approaches for disaster risk reduction (DRR). However, current DRR interventions often disregard local and indigenous knowledge (LIK) that could contextualise better responses to disaster impacts among affected populations. This thesis examined LIK in housing reconstruction in multi-hazard settings. First, it reviewed the state of knowledge of LIK in DRR scholarship through a systematic literature search, identifying the trajectories of its application to manage disaster impacts. Second, based on a case study in Itbayat, Batanes, Philippines, structural housing performance was quantified among the post-disaster dwellings built by Indigenous households in response to multi-hazard events. First-generation fragility functions were derived for Batanes Province contributing to more localised housing risk assessments in the country. Third, the socio-technical factors influencing multi-hazard housing reconstruction were elicited through interviews and focus group discussions. Factors such as the urgency of reconstruction, risk perceptions, financial capacities, and regulatory barriers on resource extraction affect how households build their dwellings, offering contextual shelter recovery insights. Finally, this thesis culminates with a proposed approach (as applied to the case study) to analyse collective safer construction practices of a residential building portfolio in multi-hazard settings while considering the socio-technical circumstances of the Indigenous community. This approach facilitates multi-hazard housing reconstruction decision-making useful for policymakers to enact safer construction interventions. Overall, this thesis highlights blending local capacities and resources with technical approaches to understand and improve the multi-hazard housing trajectories among Indigenous communities.