The role of disaster knowledge management in improving housing reconstruction outcomes: with particular reference to Postearthquake reconstruction in Pakistan

Purpose Rural building practices, especially in developing communities, are often plagued by inadequate local construction knowledge and a limited understanding of the best building practice guidelines. This has contributed significantly to compounding the effect of significant catastrophic events. The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential impact of disaster knowledge management (DKM) on improving housing resilience and makes particular reference to the 2005 earthquake in rural Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach Our research uses a comprehensive literature review that involves a qualitative approach to research aimed at understanding the 2005 earthquakes, their impacts, reconstruction challenges and DKM. Conventional published journals, articles, previous case studies and books were included. But importantly, to take in relevant local information, the review also took in published government reports, disaster mitigation policy documents, national and international NGOs publications, conference proceedings and news articles. More than 80 research papers and conference proceedings over 21 years, from 2001 to 2021, were analyzed in eight major online databases. These include Google Scholar, Science Direct, Research Gate, Scopus, Jstor, Springer, Emerald and Semantic Scholar. Findings The investigation identified that DKM has an important role to play in capacity building and technical knowledge transmission relating to seismic guidelines aimed at improving housing resilience. Consequently, a theoretical framework was developed, focused primarily on the post-2005 rural reconstruction mechanism and the identification of key challenges to disseminating seismic guidelines effectively in relation to rural construction practices. Originality/value This paper makes an original contribution by developing a DKM framework via the identification of key challenges that need to be addressed, in relation to rural construction practices, generally, but particularly in the Pakistan context.