Sandra Tullio-Pow

Functional clothing for natural disaster survivors

Purpose – Natural disasters, occurring with increasing frequency are mobilizing humanitarian agencies to provide relief response. Current protocols that rely heavily on donated clothing as clothing aid are neither effective nor efficient. The purpose of this paper is to investigate survivors’ clothing needs during the relief phase of a natural disaster in order that current protocol might be improved. The focus is on clothing use from the perspectives of survivors who will wear it, relief workers and aid agencies that will disperse it. Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative study included needs analysis focus groups with survivors, interviews with relief aid workers and senior humanitarian agency administrators. All respondents were residents of and/or impacted by the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. Questions focused on relief aid protocol, clothing needs and mandatory requirements for a design solution. Findings – Data gathered revealed a myriad of design priorities and participants emphasized that ...