This handbook is designed to guide public sector managers and development practitioners through the process of large-scale housing reconstruction after major disasters, based on the experiences of recent reconstruction programs in Aceh (Indonesia), Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Gujarat (India) and Bam (Iran).

Disaster risk management is essential in the fight against poverty. Disasters can, in an instant, wipe out decades of hard-fought poverty reduction and development gains and push countless households into poverty. Disasters disproportionally affect the poor: Vulnerable and marginalized groups, including women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, are at particular risk. East Asia and the Pacific is the most disaster-stricken region in the world, suffering from small recurrent as well as rare high-impact events. East Asia is rapidly urbanizing, and cities are becoming disaster...