Disaster-induced disruption of policies for informal urban settlements.

The rapid growth of informal urban settlements (IUS) presents a significant challenge to cities worldwide, particularly regarding disaster vulnerability. Many of their inhabitants are also victims of disaster-induced displacements due to complete loss or government-led relocation programs. The disaster or land-use management policies do not usually tackle the associated vulnerabilities of these informal settlers. Therefore, this research investigates the use case of a disaster-prone city in Colombia, where the policies and their implications at different levels (national to local) are analysed for IUS. To do so, we study the relationship between land use and disaster management policies in the case study of Mocoa in Colombia, examining its 2017 disaster as a disruptor event. The dissection of existing policies and their effectiveness revealed a lack of community engagement in the planning process and in addressing the issues associated with the vulnerabilities of IUS. Conclusions and recommendations are proposed to target community engagement in the planning process after comparing the policies and their challenges before and after the disaster. • Disasters disrupt and reshape disaster management and land-use planning policies. • Mocoa's 2017 disaster exposed outdated urban plan and obsolete mitigation strategies. • Informal settlers suffered the most losses and have not fully recovered yet. • Community resilience and engagement are key when updating land-use policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]