Recovery and reconstruction following major sociocultural upheavals, such as natural disasters and war, result in multiple changes. In addition to loss of life and property, social structures and ways of life are temporarily and sometimes permanently altered. Sources of change are both from within due to loss and damage as well as from the outside through new ideas, relief, and economic aid. Some aspects of change may be viewed positively, as a society measures the benefits, while still other aspects may be worthless or detrimental to the survival of the group.

Because of the magnitude of the 1976 Guatemalan Earthquake, as well as the unprecedented outpouring of disaster relief and reconstruction aid, a longitudinal study funded by National Science Foundation was begun in 1977 (18 months after the event) and extended through 1982 (in selected areas). Chiefly because of financial expense, most research studies of disasters are limited to short-term follow-up studies of several weeks to a year after the traumatic event. However, many scientists have urged the importance of doing longitudinal studies (1–3). This study had as an overall goal, the study of the process of recovery over a five year period post-Earthquake. A quasiexperimental design was used to compare the recovery process in 19 experimental and 7 control sites. The overall guiding research question was: Does a catastrophy or social upheaval stimulate the recovery of the society so that the level of living post-disaster is higher than the pre-disaster state? Level of Living was operationalized to include housing conditions, cost of living, as well as quality of life measures. The results of a specific portion of the 1976 Guatemalan Earthquake Study (as it is popularly called), the urban resettlements, is presented in this paper.