Indian Ocean tsunami and aftermath: Need for environment‐disaster synergy in the reconstruction process

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview on two specific issues of reconstruction process: environment disaster linkage, and cross‐learning among affected countries. The paper also demonstrates a unique community‐based reconstruction program in three affected countries.Design/methodology/approach – Two approaches are adopted in the paper: one, description of salient features of past reconstruction process, roles of different stakeholders, and vulnerability reduction – human security context. The other part is description of a specific program highlighting its goal, objective, scope and activities. Focus is given on the community‐based reconstruction process with in‐depth analysis, followed by the dissemination of the results to wider communities.Findings – The major finding of the paper is that the reconstruction process should be considered as development opportunity, and should be linked to vulnerability reduction measures of the community, which, in long term, will lead to enhanceme...