Analysing community needs and skills for enhancing disaster resilience in the built environment

![CDATA[A better cooperation among all the stakeholders working towards enhancing the disaster resilience of societies can only be achieved if the expectations or the needs of each stakeholder are understood. In the light of this, this research attempts to outline the needs of communities affected by disasters for the purpose of aligning the needs and skill requirements with the abilities of built environment professionals serving these communities. Skills for professional practice are mainly imparted on individuals by Higher Education Institutions while communities are basically the receiver of all what other stakeholders in disaster resilience have to offer. The two groups are therefore among the main stakeholder groups relevant to the achievement of disaster resilience of societies. The ‘community’ is one of the stakeholders groups identified for a broader study; others are local and national government, NGOs and international agencies, academia and research organisations, and the private sector. However, this paper focuses only of the needs and skills of the ‘community’. Therefore the aim of the paper is to identify and describe community needs and skill requirements for enhancing disaster resilience; this will subsequently be aligned with built environment professional’s areas of capabilities and findings will be recommended for attention and further use. The paper presents the analysis of a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with key members of some communities affected by disasters as well as some of the professionals that participated in the restoration/reconstruction of those communities. Appropriate qualitative data analysis method was used and the eventual outcomes were current and emerging needs and skills of communities related to built environment professionals towards enhancing social, economic, technological, environmental and institutional dimensions of disaster resilience of societies. Responses were structured to the different stages of the property cycle i.e. Preparation, design, construction and use stages of a property development. The importance of collaborative working and effective use and empowerment of community groups and individuals among others were emphasized by the result of the study. Twenty nine classifications of skill and needs were derived after matching specific needs and skills like-forlike. Since it is important for professionals to update and upgrade their knowledge towards enhancing their capabilities and meeting the expectations of stakeholders, this study is a valuable contribution to both theory and practice.]]