Ted Yu Shen CHEN University of Melbourne, Australia

1. Cultural and spiritual resilience
of religious communities in Sri Lanka after the 2004 Tsunami
Ted Yu Shen Chen PhD Candidate, University of Melbourne

2. My PhD
• Comparison between housing RNGOs
religion > housing > resilience
• RNGO reconstruction approaches:
material + social ++ spiritual
dimensions in recovery and resilience

3. 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

4. Sri Lanka is religious
70% Buddhist 15% Hindu 7.5% Christian 7.5% Muslim
Affected
areas
Source: 2001 Census Govt of Sri Lanka

5. Literature: religion & resilience
* Religious financial resources (Korf et al., 2010, TraDer-Leigh, 2008)
Material * Religious charity and alms giving (Jones, 2009, Askew, 2008, De
Bernardi, 2008)
* Preferential assistance to own religious communities (Gillard
and Paton, 1999, Korf et al., 2010)
* Religious social networks for relief (Airriess et
Social al., 2008, Fisher, 1985)
* Religious social networks for emotional support (Hill and
Pargament, 2008)
* Spiritual counselling and pastoral care (Feldbush, 2007, Harris et
al., 2010, Wilson and Boden, 2008, Smith et al., 2010)
Spiritual
* Positive outlook and explanatory styles for coping
(Shah, 2010, Wortmann and Park, 2009, Tedeschi and
Calhoun, 1995)

6. Question
Do religious cultures make
a difference to people’s
disaster resilience?

7. Case studies
Community Location Village RNGO
Christian Moratuwa Lanciyawatta Habitat for
Humanity
Buddhist Kalutara Lagoswatta Habitat for
Humanity
Muslim Hambantota Great Love Tzu Chi
Village Foundation

8. Material cope
Interviews Social adapt RELIGION
Spiritual
respond
Households RNGO officers Resident focus Community
groups leaders
38 8 4 9

9. Material Resilience
Religious teaching derived attitudes toward
charitable giving
• Muslim ‘Zakat’ – obligatory, 2.5% of income (assist only Muslims)
Muslim ‘Sadaqa’ – voluntary donation (assist anyone)
• Buddhist offering – for monks and temple not poor and needy
• Christian tithing - tithing to support church and church-based
community activities

10. Social Resilience
Religious leadership
• Buddhist monks / Catholic Fathers /Muslim Imams +
mosque committee
Family organisation
• Muslim family clusters vulnerable to single disaster event
Gender roles
• Buddhist and Christian women engaged in community
recovery activities more than Muslim women

11. Spiritual Resilience
Relationship to places of worship
• Buddhist monthly Vesak / Christian Sunday
congregations / Muslim daily prayers
• Rebuilding the Tzu Chi Mosque
Spiritual empowerment
• Immediately after tsunami temples, churches,
mosques opened their doors to survivors
• Many religious people also served tirelessly to help
recover their community, finding ‘greater purpose’ in
life

12. Conclusion
1) religious leadership
2) tradition of social work
Christian 3) financial and human resources
4) Western and wealthy Christian NGOs that provide aid only to
Christians in developing countries
5) decentralised family organisations
6) equal gender roles in community recovery works
1) Religious leadership: Monk-led relief efforts that encourage
compassionate action
Buddhist 2) Decentralised family organisation
3) Equal gender roles
- Lack of Buddhist funding structure for community works such
as post-disaster relief and recovery
1) Mosque committee leadership
Muslim 2) Laws on charitable giving
3) Determination to recover and rebuild to glorify Allah
- Family cluster vulnerabilities and lack of women participation

13. Implications
Source: Gallup Poll - Importance of Religion (Crabtree and Pelham 2009)

14. THANK YOU
Ted Yu Shen Chen
t.chen2@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
Architect AIA, PhD University of Melbourne