Investment in disaster resilience in the built environment

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment

2021

Disaster risk reduction and resilience should be seen as a concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyze and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through reduced exposure to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise management of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events. The major threat emanates from an increasingly interconnected and interdependent social, technical, and biological systems and complex risk landscape. In developing countries, disasters represent a major source of risk for the poor and can potentially destroy development gains and accumulated wealth. It should be noted that while the term "disaster reduction" is sometimes used, the term "disaster risk reduction and resilience" provides a better recognition of the ongoing nature of disaster risks and the ongoing potential to reduce these risks. At a time when climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, disasters will continue to be major impediments to sustainable development so long as the economic incentives are to develop in hazard-prone locations. Integrating disaster risk reduction into investment decisions is the most cost-effective way to reduce these risks; investing in disaster risk reduction is therefore a precondition for developing sustainably in a changing climate. In this chapter, an attempt has been made to simplify our understanding of the core idea and processes involved in disaster risk reduction and resilience with an intention to disseminate it into an ever-expanding community of students, researchers, and professionals. A historical approach has been attempted by way of illustrations and data tabulation. It seeks to increase the likelihood that this chapter is fully taken advantage of at the above-stated scales of interest.

The Risk & Resilience Program at Australian Strategic Policy Institute is a new initiative. It’s focused on examining options for enhancing national approaches to disaster resilience. It includes coverage of risk management and wider mitigation issues central to community safety. This report outlines the goals of ASPI’s Risk & Resilience Program. It introduces several broad areas to be covered and measures to strengthen mitigation, response and recovery options spanning the community, state and federal spheres. The ASPI resilience program will: • promote an inclusive dialogue on ensuring readiness for complex emergencies through better planning and preparation, and considering capability needs for future emergency events • engage practitioner and industry groups (including the civilian services and the ADF) with practical discussions aimed at improving policies and planning • sponsor dialogues, issues papers and research on building resilience into future infrastructure • explore capacity needs for disaster risk reduction in the Indo-Pacific region • research the impacts of climate variability • work to strengthen the resilience of critical supply chains (road, rail, aviation and maritime). We aim to: • develop fresh, innovating thinking about the principles of community resilience • define better measures of resilient functioning across local, state and federal governments • identify investments in disaster mitigation as a significant saving against future disaster recovery costs • propose a National Resilience Strategy incorporating local, state and federal issues in a comprehensive all-hazards, all-agencies context.

Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 2013

Procedia Engineering

Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) emerged as systematic approaches to reduce the impact of climate change on the built environment. However, post 2015 United Nations (UN) disaster management and emergency policies failed to capture the dynamics of hazards, exposure and vulnerability essential for building urban resilience. As part of an ongoing PhD study, this paper aims to identify common principles for DRM and DRR in the context of urban resilience, towards building coherence between the 2015-2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the built environment and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR). The paper adopts a constructivist position to investigate the historical emergence of DRM and DRR in pre-and-post the year 2015. Learning lessons, identifying gaps and future challenges, a correlational study of the three-stage disaster preparedness process of recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction in DRR and DRM is conducted, against the indicators of Target D for the SFDRR, and Goal 11 for the SDGs three main constructs: disaster damage, critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services. The outcomes of this study show the absence of indicators to monitor progress on evolving disasters and underlying risk drivers. A Preparedness Framework is developed in this paper with recommendations to integrate the UN Habitat Urban System Model Approach for urban resilience, and develop risk-resilient DRM and DRR frameworks for sustainable built environments.

Trialog, 2006

2010

World's vulnerability to natural disasters has increased over the last few years. Hence, mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into constructed facilities has taken up an important role in the whole of the disaster management cycle. This paper aims to study the importance of mainstreaming disaster risk reduction in to postdisaster infrastructure reconstruction and the initiatives taken by the relevant bodies in order to minimize the future natural risks in reconstruction of infrastructure. Reconstruction serves to reinforce the society or sometimes even increase the vulnerability of the society. Therefore, investment in the physical infrastructure for disaster management is essential as it can result in reduced loss of lives in case of a disaster, do withstand disasters, reduces the risk of failure and thus contributes to disaster reduction and prevention. However, infrastructure reconstruction programs should aim to change the vulnerable conditions for the development of the country. It is well identified that all critical infrastructure facilities must be designed to a given level of safety from disaster impact. Moreover, such guidelines must be provided to designers and adequate monitoring system be in place. Thus, the routine reconstruction of infrastructure should, for example, incorporate design features that protect them from known hazards. The research reveals strategies used in general and in specific to the infrastructure sectors in addressing the above issues. A comprehensive literature review was carried out on the present situation with regard to above-mentioned measures. This research expects to strengthen the infrastructure reconstruction process by reporting the practical measures taken in reduction of future risks in the posttsunami infrastructure reconstruction of Sri Lanka.

2018

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by ADB in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. By making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area, or by using the term "country" in this document, ADB does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.

2014

This issue of Regional Development Dialogue (RDD) arises out of, and builds upon, the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) International Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Building of Urban Communities in Nagoya, Japan, in December 2012. As Jean D'Aragon's article indicates, there are many characteristics of urban areas which make them either more vulnerable or more resilient to disasters than rural areas. Higher investment can allow more sophisticated structural modifications for earthquakes and other physical measures to increase resilience to various kinds of disaster. The very concentration of investments, activities, people and movement within cities, however, means that the consequences of disasters can be more severe in the scale of damage done and livelihoods disrupted for a given area affected. Furthermore, as much urbanisation occurs in countries with only a few hundred dollars of gross domestic product (GDP) per head, hundreds of millions of people settle outside of the formal systems. The land they occupy and the lack of services provided can increase their vulnerability many-fold over those in formal housing and with formal employment. It was particularly important, therefore, that there should be a workshop and this issue of RDD to focus specifically on urban issues in Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience as UNCRD adds a specifically urban concern to its operations. UNCRD established its Disaster Management Planning Programme, in 1985, as one of its main thematic areas of work supporting efforts towards sustainable regional development in developing countries. Part of its work in disaster risk reduction (DRR), enhancing communities' resilience and reduce their vulnerability to natural and human-induced hazards and disasters, has recently begun to focus on urban areas specifically. As more than half the world's population is now urban and disasters often have more destructive effects in urban areas, this direction is timely and the workshop was one of its first activities.