16 Inclusive Resilience: Incorporating the Indigenous …
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Navala is one of the top tourism destinations in Fiji. Tourists wanting a glimpse
of authentic Fijian culture and traditions can live in a bure house accommodation
and experience the Fijian way of life. Because of this, tourism has become one of
the major income sources of the people in the villages. The influx of tourists also
boosts their income from small-scale agriculture. Bure homeowners also get income
by offering homestays for tourists. As a result, most of the village residents choose
to stay in the village rather than move to urban centres or agricultural plantations
because they already have a stable income source.
16.2 Cyclone Winston and Its Impacts
Tropical Cyclone Winston is the strongest storm on record to ever make landfall
in Fiji and in the entire Southern Hemisphere. The cyclone was first detected as a
tropical disturbance off Vanuatu on 7 February 2016. It developed into a Category
5 cyclone on 20 February and reached its maximum intensity just before making
landfall on the north-eastern part of Viti Levu. The cyclone brought strong winds
reaching a peak 10-min sustained intensity of 280 kph (APDRC 2016).
The storm caused a massive catastrophe in Fiji (National Disaster Management Office 2016). Over 60% of the Fijian population was affected by cyclone.
Fifteen percent, or around 131,000 people, were left homeless in Winston’s aftermath. Over 9,000 houses were destroyed, 17,000 were severely damaged and 29,000
sustained minor damage. Power and communication systems infrastructures were
also extensively damaged.
A post-Cyclone Winston reconnaissance study reveals the inadequacies of Fijian
housing construction. Predominant failure modes are the lack of a proper lateralload-resisting system, roof tear-offs and window breakages leading to a build-up
of internal pressure within the house, which then leads to collapse (Aquino et al.
2019). Such is underpinned by a shortage in the number of skilled builders in the
country, limited knowledge and compliance to the building code, as well as the
inadequacy in the code provisions for designing against a tropical cyclone as intense
as Winston (Aquino et al. 2018). These studies, however, focused on villages that
predominantly comprise contemporary housing structures and had limited insights
on traditional housing construction.
16.3 Introduction: The Need for Preserving Heritage
Structures Amid Disaster Reconstruction
Traditional societies respond differently in the face of natural hazards (Gaillard
2006b). Some societies have managed to resist changes, while others have recovered
299
Navala is one of the top tourism destinations in Fiji. Tourists wanting a glimpse
of authentic Fijian culture and traditions can live in a bure house accommodation
and experience the Fijian way of life. Because of this, tourism has become one of
the major income sources of the people in the villages. The influx of tourists also
boosts their income from small-scale agriculture. Bure homeowners also get income
by offering homestays for tourists. As a result, most of the village residents choose
to stay in the village rather than move to urban centres or agricultural plantations
because they already have a stable income source.
16.2 Cyclone Winston and Its Impacts
Tropical Cyclone Winston is the strongest storm on record to ever make landfall
in Fiji and in the entire Southern Hemisphere. The cyclone was first detected as a
tropical disturbance off Vanuatu on 7 February 2016. It developed into a Category
5 cyclone on 20 February and reached its maximum intensity just before making
landfall on the north-eastern part of Viti Levu. The cyclone brought strong winds
reaching a peak 10-min sustained intensity of 280 kph (APDRC 2016).
The storm caused a massive catastrophe in Fiji (National Disaster Management Office 2016). Over 60% of the Fijian population was affected by cyclone.
Fifteen percent, or around 131,000 people, were left homeless in Winston’s aftermath. Over 9,000 houses were destroyed, 17,000 were severely damaged and 29,000
sustained minor damage. Power and communication systems infrastructures were
also extensively damaged.
A post-Cyclone Winston reconnaissance study reveals the inadequacies of Fijian
housing construction. Predominant failure modes are the lack of a proper lateralload-resisting system, roof tear-offs and window breakages leading to a build-up
of internal pressure within the house, which then leads to collapse (Aquino et al.
2019). Such is underpinned by a shortage in the number of skilled builders in the
country, limited knowledge and compliance to the building code, as well as the
inadequacy in the code provisions for designing against a tropical cyclone as intense
as Winston (Aquino et al. 2018). These studies, however, focused on villages that
predominantly comprise contemporary housing structures and had limited insights
on traditional housing construction.
16.3 Introduction: The Need for Preserving Heritage
Structures Amid Disaster Reconstruction
Traditional societies respond differently in the face of natural hazards (Gaillard
2006b). Some societies have managed to resist changes, while others have recovered