Housing Reconstruction in Disaster Recovery: A Study of Fishing Communities Post-Tsunami in Chennai, India

Disaster recovery after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 led to a number of challenges and raised issues concerning land rights and housing reconstruction in the affected countries. This paper discusses the resistance to relocation of fishing communities in Chennai, India. Qualitative research methods were used to describe complexities in the debate between the state and the community regarding relocation, and the paper draws attention to the dimensions of the state–community interface in the recovery process. The results of this study highlight the effects of differences in the values held by each of the stakeholders regarding relocation, the lack of community participation, and thereby the interfaces that emerge between the state and the community regarding relocation. The failure to establish a nexus between disaster recovery and the importance of a sustainable livelihood for fishing communities severely delayed housing reconstruction.