June 1 marks the start of the new hurricane season, but throughout Mississippi and Louisiana, public officials have made little effort to include the region’s poorest families and struggling workers in plans to recover from last year’s back-to-back disasters.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the region’s most vulnerable people hardest. They had the fewest resources on which to fall back, yet they are benefiting the least from the billions of federal dollars being spent on the recovery. Without a solid investment in affordable housing for the coast’s working poor, the potential destruction from a new round of storms could undermine the entire recovery process.

To date, nearly half the Mississippi Gulf Coast residents slammed by the storm are excluded from the state’s plan for using $3 billion in community development block grants. Many of them are renters and uninsured homeowners whose dwellings were outside the flood plain. They include children, elderly people, and disabled residents.

Of the 204,000 housing units in Louisiana destroyed or severely damaged by Katrina and Rita, 41 percent of them were occupied by renters. The state’s Road Home plan for $10.4 billion in federal assistance proposes spending 61 percent of that on homeowner-related programs, or $6.3 billion. Affordable housing and rental-related programs, on the other hand, are slated to get just 15 percent of the total, or $1.5 billion.

“To protect people from disaster, you need to protect them from deepening poverty, too,” said Oxfam President Raymond C. Offenheiser. “If the Gulf Coast is serious about preventing future disasters, it should start by making sure there is affordable, safe housing for all its residents. Poor people need to be at the center of every recovery effort.”

Oxfam America is a non-profit organization that works to end global poverty through saving lives, strengthening communities, and campaigning for change. Active on the Gulf Coast for the last 13 years, the agency made a decision after Katrina to launch its first major humanitarian response within the United States.

Since September, Oxfam has provided close to $1 million in grant support to local leaders and community groups, including those in Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, and Plaquemines, Terrebonne, and Jefferson parishes in Louisiana. Oxfam has helped these local partners develop resources that will provide enduring improvements to the infrastructures of vulnerable and impoverished communities in both Mississippi and Louisiana.

Cuba is a case study in successful disaster risk reduction. At the national level, Cuba's disaster legislation, public education on disasters, meteorological research, early warning system, effective communication system for emergencies, comprehensive emergency plan, and Civil Defense structure are important resources in avoiding disaster. At the local level, high levels of literacy, developed infrastructure in rural areas and access to reliable health care are crucial for national efforts in disaster mitigation, preparation and response. Weathering the Storm: Lessons in Risk Reduction from Cuba presents a comprehensive overview of the Cuban model of risk reduction in disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, and explores what may be adapted from this model in other countries. The report focuses on specific recommendations for Central America.

As the emergency response begins to shift to rebuilding destroyed towns and villages, Oxfam International urged national and local authorities to take measures to reduce risk in the earthquake-prone country.

Oxfam staff working in the districts of Pisco, Humay, and Independencia have already observed that some families in affected areas have begun rebuilding their homes. They are using the same fragile materials, such as mud bricks and bamboo, to construct their new homes as before, leaving them equally vulnerable to damage and collapse if another earthquake hits.

“Reconstructing the area in the same way, in the same places, using the same materials, is a recipe for a future disaster. Government authorities must ensure that communities are informed of the basic guidelines on how to rebuild their homes to make them more resistant to severe damage or collapse,” said Jacobo Ocharán, an Oxfam Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist. “As reconstruction begins, people must learn how to build affordable earthquake-resistant structures. Our work in risk reduction in El Salvador has shown us that taking these low-cost measures can help to prevent such destruction from happening again.”

Oxfam is currently carrying out its emergency response providing clean water, sanitation services and other assistance to people in urban and remote rural areas. Once it moves into the reconstruction phase, Oxfam will also take on disaster risk reduction in quake-affected areas, tapping into its experience helping local governments in northern Peru build their capacity to respond to increasingly frequent flash floods caused by El Niño.

The national government’s reconstruction fund, FORSUR, has recently announced that, over the next one to two years, it will be providing 6,000 earthquake-resistant houses for families who lost their homes during last month’s quake, and may be providing subsidies for others to help them rebuild their lives. According to figures released by the government, nearly 45,000 homes were destroyed in the quake, and more than 13,000 were damaged.

“Families who are unable to access government-provided, earthquake-resistant houses will require extra help in learning how to make their new homes much stronger than they were before. Authorities must communicate that simple measures can be taken such as reinforcing mud bricks with straw or other fibers, improving bricklaying techniques and using light-weight roofing materials”, said Ocharán. “Most importantly, seismic experts must evaluate the ground in the region to determine whether part of the population needs to be relocated to sturdier areas.”

Some recovery, but much remains to be done

Efforts to help the population recover have vastly improved over the last month. Most affected families now have access to temporary shelter and community kitchens. However, life remains far from normal. Electricity is gradually being restored in the affected area but water provision in the city is still inadequate. Also, many sewers were destroyed in the urban areas and have not yet been repaired. Students who attend schools that were damaged are waiting for temporary classrooms to be built so they can return to their studies.

Economic activity is resuming slowly. Some fishermen have returned to the seas after repairing their boats. Yet many people continue to hang in the balance. The cotton harvest, which usually starts in late August, has been postponed due to possible irrigation water and electricity shortages. Several other industries have been indefinitely interrupted leaving many people in the region without an income.

Although no major illnesses have been reported, sanitation breaks in affected areas continue to present great health risks. Additional latrines are needed to ensure that public health problems do not develop, as are improvements in hygiene facilities for families living in tent camps and other temporary homes without access to showers.

Oxfam International is working with EMA Pisco, the municipal water enterprise, to provide the population with clean water. Additionally, the agency is working in San Miguel, a shantytown near Pisco where 400 families live. Before the earthquake, they had running water in their homes for only 30 minutes each day. Oxfam is providing them with a 45,000-liter water tank that now allows these families access to water for most of the day. Oxfam has also distributed 200 tents and temporary shelter materials to Humay, Independencia, and Túpac Amaru.

“As the rebuilding begins, we must make sure that communities are better off than before by providing better water systems and ensuring that new homes are more structurally sound than they were in the past. It is essential that authorities involved in the reconstruction engage with the local population to avoid spontaneous rebuilding by families and individuals. People must be aware of how to prevent such a tragedy from happening again,” said Ocharán.

So far 120,000 people have already been displaced by flooding and the cyclone, which is forecast to hit Mozambique on Thursday, could make delivering aid to those people even harder.

“Cyclone Favio could hit regions which are more populated than those recently flooded in west and central Mozambique. Significantly more people could be affected, with more suffering for the 120,000 people already displaced and further difficulties getting aid to those in need,” said Fabio Fussi, head of Oxfam’s humanitarian response in Mozambique.

Weather forecasters expect more heavy rain though to the middle of next week, which may hamper aid efforts already in place. Oxfam has already flown 14 tons of aid to Mozambique and is providing clean water to 6,000 people sheltering in Chupanga, a camp close to Caia, in one of the most affected areas in central Mozambique. The team is preparing to provide clean water to another five camps in the coming days.

Oxfam has also distributed cooking sets, mosquito nets, blankets, buckets and plastic sheeting to build rain covers for 600 families. It is building an average of 12 latrines a day to reduce the risk of cholera.

Oscar Samso, Oxfam aid worker in the Chupanga evacuation camp said: “When we arrived in the camp one week ago there were just four latrines for 2,500 people, and army rescue boats were bringing more and more men, women and children every day. They have been arriving in Chupanga at a rate of 1,500 a day. We have to help them immediately as they couldn’t bring anything with them. Poor families affected by the floods will need aid for at least five months, as they have lost the crops they were due to harvest next month.”

The Mozambique government is responding to the crisis with quick evacuations and improved levels of co-ordination among authorities and aid agencies.

“It is good to see that the Government is taking into account many of the lessons learnt in 2000 and 2001, when the country suffered one of its worst floods in history. We are now facing a very serious disaster that could get much worse, but at the moment the response is saving many lives,” said Fussi.