In May 2009, Cyclone Aila left thousands in Bangladesh stranded in flooded villages. Three years later, NGOs continue to rebuild with an emphasis on climate resilience; dykes, elevated homes, and saline resistant crops have been three strategies. See photos from The Guardian. In Bainbara, a village on Bangladesh's southwest coast destroyed by Aila, the new homes being built are cyclone and flood resistant.

Two years after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck Chile, roads have been rebuilt and tourism is picking up but the lack of agreement about how to define potential disaster zones has caused rebuilding in the housing sector to lag. As of December 2011, the Santiago Times reported that "the government still has a long way to go to eliminate the emergency housing and shantytowns around southern Chile that house nearly 3,300 families whose homes were destroyed."The country's head of reconstruction is considering a US post-Katrina model of rent subsidies to move those still in emergency housing to more stable homes.

In Springfield, Massachusetts (USA), eight months after a tornado ripped through the city on June 1, 2011, officials have released the Master Plan for rebuilding the city. Planners incorporated extensive input from the community gathered through a series of 19 public meetings that involved some 2,000 residents.  

Read more about the Summer Institute in China here. 

In its newly released report, Crisis in the New World Order: Challenging the humanitarian project, the international non-governmental organization Oxfam says "despite years of reform" the capacities of UN agencies, Western-based donors, and international NGOs (INGOs) are stretched thin in the face of vast humanitarian crises. It notes that, "the growing number of vulnerable people, the rise in disasters, and the failure to put most fragile states on the path to development, will significantly increase needs."  

While the UN and NGOs' contributions will continue to be vital, Oxfam argues that "the future of humanitarian action lies not in the North, but in the diverse array of local, national, and regional authorities, and civil society and religious organizations in the countries where conflicts continue and disasters strike." Going forward, it is therefore crucial to strengthen and support these organizations, Oxfam concluded.

In January, Oxfam and Save the Children issued a joint report, A Dangerous Delay: The cost of late response to early warnings in the 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa which argued that governments, donors, the UN and NGOs need to change their approach to chronic drought situations by managing the risks, not the crisis.This conclusion affirms the need for comprehensive post-disaster assessment in order to assure that redevelopment is sustainable.