The Inverse Care Law is principally concerned with the effect of market forces on health care which create inequities in access to health services through privileging individuals who possess the forms of social capital that are valued within health care settings. The fields of disaster risk reduction need to consider the ways in which inequities, driven by economic and social policy as well as institutional decision-making, create vulnerabilities prior to a disaster, which are then magnified post disaster through entrenched structural differences in access to resources. Drawing on key principles within the Inverse Care Law, the Inverse Response Law refers to the idea that people in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to be impacted and to experience disparities in service provision during the disaster response and recovery phase. In a market model of recovery, vulnerable groups struggle to compete for necessary services creating inequities in adaptive capacity as well as in social and wellbeing outcomes over time. Both the Inverse Care Law and the Inverse Response Law focus on the structural organisation of services at a macro level. In this article, the Inverse Care Law is outlined, its application to medical treatment following disasters considered and an explanation of the Inverse Response Law provided. Case studies from recent disasters, in London, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and Mexico City are examined in order to illustrate themes at work relating to the Inverse Response Law.

Background This project is a case study of postdisaster housing recovery in Christchurch, New Zealand, after the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. Aims In this qualitative study, we analyzed the statutory framework governing the process of postdisaster housing recovery and its impact on local democracy. We also explored the role of communities and the third sector in housing and urban renewal. This aim was to contribute to the development of a critical theoretical understanding of community resilience as an inherently political concept. Community resilience is influenced by causal factors or generative mechanisms that affect the relations between people in a particular social context. Method We completed a narrative synthesis of textual data from the thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with key informants, related policies, media, and fieldwork. Results A centralization of government authority over housing recovery resulted in an erosion of democracy and representative government at a local level. This centralization had major impacts on communities and their voice in the process of postdisaster housing recovery. Communities, however, never relented and worked tirelessly among themselves and with other social sectors to make a positive impact on postdisaster housing and urban recovery against difficult odds and stretched resources. This immense social capital and inspiring sense of community must be fostered and given the opportunity to democratically participate in the development of recovery policy as a key element of community resilience.

This article considers public consultation in the context of New Zealand local government. Although by international standards New Zealand possesses a rich culture of citizen engagement and public consultation (OECD, 2015), the quality of consultation presents itself as a problem to local government, as their efforts have often been perceived as unsatisfactory.