Title: Promoting Urban Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation: Making Asian Cities Safer
1 Promoting Urban Disaster Preparedness and
Mitigation Making Asian Cities Safer
- By A.J. Rego Arambepola (ADPC)
- 7th IIASA-DPRI Forum
- Coping with Disaster Challenges for the 21st
Century and Beyond - 20th September 2007 - Stresa, Italy
2Growing Cities at Risk from Natural and
Technological Hazards
- By 2004 half worlds population living in urban
areas - At least 80 of population growth in the 1990s
occurred in urban areas - 17 of the 20 largest cities in the world are in
developing countries - many exposed to EQ,
landslide, flooding hazard - 25 largest cities have over 8 mill. inhabitants
- Average number of victims in disaster is 150
times greater in developing world mega city than
in a developed country mega city - Road accidents, industrial, chemical and
transport accidents are a growing threat
3Cities are vulnerable to disaster risk because of
-
- Rapid urbanization
- Rural - urban migration
- Growing population - already stretched resources
- Poor living standards - build without
consideration of safety (time pressures) in
hazard prone areas - Lack of public awareness to hazards/risks
- Building codes are poorly enforced or
non-existent - Environmental degradation - resource depletion -
lowers resilience
4Cities are vulnerable to disaster risk because of
- (2)
- Increased risk of industrial/technological
hazards - (secondary impacts eg. fire/radiation) - Densely packed housing - health risk
- Disruption to draining channels due to
uncontrolled urban growth - flooding - Inadequate management or provision of services -
waste sewage disposal, clean water access - The poor building informal settlements on low
quality land which are important . banks
5Vulnerability of the Asian Region
Asia is famous for its great diversities and also
for disparities . Half of the total world
population live in Eight disaster prone countries
China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Japan,
Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand
6Top Two Worst Disasters in Asia 2004
- Typhoon Nanmadol, Philippines (November) winds of
220 km/hr - at least 412 deaths - Indian Ocean Tsunami and EQ (December) -
Affecting Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India,
Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives - death
toll at least 212,000
7Top Two Worst Disasters in Asia in 2006
- The 2 deadliest disasters of 2006 were both in
Asia - -Indonesian EQ (May) killing 5,778
- -Typhoon Durian (Philippines, Dec.) killing 1,399
8Earthquake Vulnerability in Asia
9Earthquakes in Asia
- The Pacific rim experiences 90 of all the
worlds earthquakes. - In 1976, China had the most deadly earthquake
ever known. It killed 800,000 people. - More than 50 cities in Asia with a population
greater than 1,000,000 are at significant risk
for an earthquake. - Recent major events are Iran in 2003, Indonesia
in 2004,2005,2006, Pakistan in 2005,
10Flood Vulnerability in Asia
11Flooding in Asia
- The year 2000 saw the worst flooding in 60 years
for Vietnams Mekong Delta region, 40 years for
Cambodia, 35 years for Laos, and in a century for
western Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. - Year 2007 August Floods in India, Nepal and
Bangladesh caused significant economic losses - Recent events in 2007 show major threat is from
flash floods which is evident from Nepal, Bhutan,
Thailand, Philippines
12Cyclones/Typhoon Exposure in Asia
13Cyclones/Typhoons in Asia
- There were 95 major storms in SE Asia and the
Pacific regions between 1980-2000. - Since 1970, cyclones have killed an estimated 1.5
million in Bangladesh. - The October 1999 storm surge in Orissa, India,
affected 15 million people, killed 9,500 people,
destroyed 3 million homes, and left seven million
people homeless. - Recent major events were in Karachci Pakistan in
2007, Vietnam and Philippines in 2006
14Volcano Occurrence
15Volcanoes in Asia
- Of the 16 largest eruptions in the last two
centuries, five occurred in Asia. Three of these,
all in Indonesia, killed 130,000 people. - The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 was the
second largest eruption of the 20th century. - The Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea
are all at significant risk for volcanic
eruptions.
Mt. Pinatubo 1991
16Asian Cities at Risk
- 37 of Asias population lived in cities by
2000 this will rise to 60 by 2025 - More than 50 cities in Asia with a population
greater than 1,000,000 are at significant risk
from an EQ - Rural to urban migration accounts for 64 of
city growth in Asia - Of the 10 largest Asian cities 7 are prone to
multi hazard risks and are awaiting a
catastrophic event
17Making Cities Safer
- Promote household vulnerability reduction
measures - Build capacity of local government emergency
services - Decentralization of resources decision making
- Democratic means of DRR planning
- Build capacity of community/social groups
- Create institutional framework for action
- Enforce appropriate building codes urban
planning guidelines - Hazard assessments - physical/social/economic
- Environmental management
18UN-HABITAT Agenda 1996
- Agenda actions for disaster prevention
- Appropriate laws standards for land use,
building planning - Encourage multi stakeholder participation in DM
planning especially vulnerable eg.
elderly/disabled - Continued mobilization of domestic
international resources for DRR activities - Distribute information on disaster resistant
construction methods for public works etc. - Facilitate voluntary move of people to less
disaster prone areas -ensuring access for all
19UN-HABITAT Agenda 1996 (2)
- Training on disaster resistant construction for
builders/designers/contractors - Upgrade resistance of current infrastructure/criti
cal facilities - Risk mapping and vulnerability assessments
- Community focused vulnerability reduction
programs - Improve information dissemination on potential
hazards - Strengthen technological, scientific
engineering capacity for monitoring -EWS - Decentralization of authority resources to
enable capacity building for greater resilience
20Asian Urban Disaster Mitigation Program (AUDMP)
1995-2004
- Implemented by ADPC in 20 secondary cities of 8
countries- - Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Nepal,
- Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand
- Aim reduce disaster vulnerability of urban
populations, infrastructure lifeline facilities
shelter in Asia - facilitate development of sustainable mechanisms
for disaster mitigation - build capacity of all stakeholders to mitigate
disaster risks - promote replication and adaptation of successful
mitigation measures elsewhere
21AUDMP Project Locations
Safer Cities 12 Demonstration Housing
Construction for Landslide and Flood Prone Areas
(Sri Lanka)
22Why Secondary Cities are a Priority for DRR
Programs
- Secondary versus Mega Cities -
- Greater vulnerability - from rapid uncontrolled
urbanization - High migration rates -greater need for housing
services - Economic growth attracts investment
- In mega cities problems difficult to identify
solutions complex to implement - Greater chance of success measurable change
- More manageable communities simpler
institutionally
23AUDMP Measurable Results
- 5 of 8 targeted city emergency preparedness
response plans written or revised - 95 of the 75 targeted public private sector
professionals working with AUDMP initiated
disaster mitigation training - 43,000 households benefited from AUDMP sponsored
disaster vulnerability reduction activities - 5 regional networks, 209 organizations 1,760
disaster mitigation professionals participating
in AUDMP regional information network -started
with 33 organizations only - In 2002 ADPCs Urban Strategy Asia 2020 expanded
ADPCs outreach from 30 to 100 cities
24Program for Hydro-Meteorological Disaster
Mitigation in Secondary Cities in Asia (PROMISE)
2005-2008 Phase I
- 5 highly vulnerable urbanizing cities Chittagong
(Bangladesh), - Hyderabad (Pakistan), Dagupan (Philippines),
Kalutara (Sri Lanka) Da - Nang (Vietnam) - linked to watersheds, river
basins or at risk coastal belts - Aim to reduce vulnerability of urban communities
to hydro- - meteorological disasters in S SE Asia to
measurably alleviate human - suffering, prevent loss of life, and reduce the
potential for physical and - economic damage through
- City demonstration projects
- Regional national capacity building
- Advocacy for mainstreaming of risk management in
urban governance - Regional network information dissemination
25(No Transcript)
26PROMISE - PhilippinesDagupan City
- Problem reduced capacity of rivers due to heavy
rains, upstream bank erosion clogging channel
transport of lahar material - causing floods (eg.
1990) - Solutions
- Technical Working Group -plan, monitor, document,
train and maintain - Capacity building of community authorities
- Work with stakeholders
- Risk Communication Plan
- Institutional change - Disaster Preparedness Day
(July 16th)
27ADPC Urban Strategy Asia 2020
- ADPC and partners working with 100 cities to
reduce urban vulnerability and build disaster
resilient communities through 4 strategies - Planning and Building Safer Cities
- Emergency Management Response Planning for
Cities - Public Awareness Campaigns
- Knowledge Development Capacity Building
28Specific Action
- How- to resource toolkits that translate
awareness into action - Specific UDRM focussed courses targeted at city
national officials private sector developers - Partnerships with urban authorities regional
city networks (Citynet, ICMA, IULA, ICLEZ) - Safer sister city partnerships network
29Linking Climate Change to Urban Risk Reduction
- Study areas where improvement to governance
structure is needed to enhance resilience of the
poor communities in the urban coastal low-lying
areas - Analyse trends in primary (meteorological) events
and secondary impacts (health hazards, slope
destabilization etc) in built up areas to assess
consequences of sea level rise impact in urban
coastal areas - The scientific community in Asia has not yet
undertaken adequate interest in conducting multi-
sectoral studies to understand prepare
inventories of the climate change impacts on
coastal ecosystems
30Long Term Strategies for DRR
- There is an urgent need to make risk mitigation
one of the essential components of urban
governance and creating policy, legal and
institutional arrangements to ensure safer urban
communities - The city level risk maps, using GPS and RS
techniques transforming the community knowledge
into formal products, can be integrated in other
maps to see the changing risk scenario - Ensure access to information by public
- Urban community based approach to convert the
victimized communities to a resource
31Long Term Strategies for DRR (2)
- Participatory approach for scenario building,
risk assessment action planning can also
generate much needed awareness - Ensuring safer housing shelter, capable of
withstanding hazard events, require quality
assurance of housing construction and
infrastructure as an essential part of urban risk
reduction - Making the private sector partner in development
means it should also shoulder some responsibility
in urban DRR
32Long Term Strategies for DRR (3)
- Activating poor and motivating them to become
resilient against natural calamities is an answer
to the key issue of poverty reduction - Vulnerability reduction should be integrated into
the development process so that it can contribute
to sustainability, empowerment community
resilience - Support the implementation aspects of Hyogo
Framework of Action create more awareness about
HFA - Advocate strongly for decentralization of
disaster risk management functions to local
government sector integrating in other sector
based programs as a routine practice to
facilitate building safer communities - Mainstream DRR into local governance