Abstract

In this chapter, we aim to contribute practical and applied understandings of structural measures implemented for wildfire disaster risk reduction (DRR) in post-disaster recovery projects in Chilean informal settlements. Our qualitative research addressed such measures established in the recovery phases following two disasters: the 2014 Great Fire in the city of Valparaíso and the 2017 Fire Storm in the town of Santa Olga. In both cases, reconstruction was based on a multi-scalar approach considering the territorial, neighborhood, and housing levels. The involved public agencies implemented diverse recovery measures with different purposes, yet most focused on housing provision. Furthermore, we identified five critical aspects: (1) the lack of preliminary wildfire information; (2) the underdevelopment of the multi-scalar approach; (3) weak multidisciplinary approaches and community engagement; (4) the need to establish the risk-tolerance level to facilitate decision-making about retrofitting, reconstruction, or relocation strategies; and (5) the lack of continuity of maintenance in the recovery processes. Overall, this study brings new understandings that advance the theory and practice for wildfire recovery projects in contexts of informality, highlighting the importance of wider consideration in spatial decisions of wildfire information and DRR, meaningful multidisciplinary approaches, real community engagement, and continuous maintenance of measures.