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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to study the efforts of the 2003 Bam earthquake survivors and their strategy for coping with home loss. Regarding the key role of the sense of place within the recovery process following the disaster, this paper considers the characteristics of lost settings located in a desert area while searching for the factors that made an impact on householders' perception of newly built houses. Design/methodology/approach -On the basis of the field survey, a group of 186 households were selected by the probability sampling method. Accordingly, the random selection of residents was organized within the three defined zones of the city that had experienced different degrees of building damages. Data were collected using a face-to-face communication approach with the target group of owners of self-built houses. Findings -The findings indicate that households tend to arrange the new settings on the basis of their perceptions of home place as well as the experience of loss during the quake. It also confirms that owners' participation in housing reconstruction process within setting arrangement has a significant positive impact on their attitude toward newly built homes. Originality/value -Due to the widespread incidence of natural disasters and in the light of the key role of home place in the existence of human beings and their recovery process, the opportunity for local participation in new housing is highlighted as a means to overcome the challenges faced.

This paper investigates the participatory reconstruction approach as a means of home loss mitigation strategy for coping with disaster among survivors of the 2003 Bam earthquake. It addresses the housing issue using the sense of place measures to understand households' feelings about their lost and new homes. On the basis of a fieldwork survey, the probability method of stratified sampling is applied to select the target group of 186 households. Findings show a significant correlation between expressions of positive feelings about new homes and the degree of participation in reconstruction. By encompassing demographic characteristics with the above terms, the results have been interpreted to identify the deeper aspects of home for those living in a newly built one that differs a lot from the lost one.