UN-HABITAT's immediate response to the tsunami disaster of 26 December 2004 focused on the provision of a range of immediate measures. These included emergency and transition shelter, the restoration of critical infrastructure, particularly water and sanitation facilities, and emergency clean-up operations. It also looked into land use planning, and helping survivors find work and rebuild their communities. To achieve an effective recovery, the very first weeks after the disaster were crucial to building the foundations of longer-term sustainable rehabilitation.

All of these activities, initiated immediately after the disaster, were linked to longer-term recovery and reconstruction in affected areas, seeking to leverage investment. Apart from emergency interventions where shelter was the central challenge, UN-HABITAT has worked on broader sustainable recovery that minimises the risk of future catastrophes, for instance, by establishing sound physical planning systems and using appropriate building technologies to protect new settlements from similar threats. These longer-term recovery and reconstruction activities encompass land property administration, local governance and institutional development, and capacity building and empowerment of local institutions and civil society taking into account the concerns of women. They also include economic recovery, strategic partnerships, and disaster mitigation and vulnerability reduction.

At a time of loss and hardship, a hope is that disasters can create opportunities for developing more sustainable communities. The cornerstone of UN-HABITAT’s strategy is to leverage investment in the emergency and recovery phases into the longer-term development of human settlements. Integration of disaster risk reduction is essential to the recovery process, thus creating viable and more secure communities better able to cope with unforeseen disasters in the future.