Week 6: Urban Disaster Risk Reduction

EXCHANGE AND LEARNING: Reducing climate related disaster risk

This week we begin Module 2, that will focus specifically on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), a topic that has been mentioned innumerous times in our discussions to date. As far as possible we would like to try and keep the focus on specific city-level plans and actions, and upon climate related disasters. This week however, in order to fully understand the forces that impact upon city level DRR, we will consider national policies and institutions where appropriate.

The existence or inexistence of national DRR strategies does have an effect on city level DRR, some feel that it is necessary to have a national strategy before developing city level strategies, while other cities develop comprehensive DRR strategies regardless of the existence of a national plan. Our Interview with Dr Alberto Maturana who chaired the Chilean National Emergency Office for 12 years, gives examples of the lack of emergency preparedness due to the fact that the government does not prioritise climate DRR. In this first week we will begin to examine the factors that enable, or impinge, cities to develop comprehensive DRR solutions. Looking at cities in your countries and whether city level climate disaster risk is being addressed due to the existence of institutions linked to the government, or civil society and community movements.

As we have already discussed in Module 1, climate risk and vulnerability are location specific and as such local DRR is an extremely important issue. In conjunction with, or in the absence of government mandated city level DRR strategies, in many cases we see very effective civil society movements significantly reducing disaster risk. The ELLA Brief Disaster Risk Reduction in Urban Areas, attached below, highlights some Latin American examples of civil society and community movements effectively reducing disaster risk.

Often, hazard and risk reduction considerations arise in cities as the result of disastrous experiences. What is more, many times the focus of these efforts is on reconstruction and recovery, rather than risk reduction and management. However, the uncertainty of climate and disaster risk and the increasing vulnerability of urban areas in the global South, arguably leads to the need for cities to develop climate and disaster risk reduction initiatives which maintain a long term vision for improving local resilience. The article attached below; Practical Experiences for Risk Reduction in Bogota, D.C., highlights how city level planning, legal and political actions have been instrumental in the development and standardisation of disaster and risk reduction actions of the city of Bogotá, Colombia.

Thinking about the similarities and differences between your cities and the Latin American examples highlighted in this week’s reading, please focus discussions around the following issues:

1) Does your city have a formal DRR strategy? What do you understand to be the relationship between this and a national DRR strategy?
2) Which actors are most prevalent in DRR in your city?
3) What are the main challenges that your city faces in terms of significantly reducing disaster risk?

Both the author of the ELLA brief, Jojo Hardoy, and Dr Alberto Maturana will be available to answer any eventual questions that you may have.

Extra readings about Latin American cases for any of you that would like to learn more have been placed in the Resource Library.

Please log in to access this discussion's related materials and to add a contribution http://ella.practicalaction.org/learning-alliances-6

Best wishes,

Charlotte Heffer
Moderator
ELLA Learning Alliance on Climate Resilient Cities 

ELLA Brief on Urban Disaster Risk Reduction in Latin America

Practical DRR Experiences from Bogotá

Interview with Dr Alberto Maturana

This week, as we begin Module 2, we will shift our focus to climate related Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in cities. We would like to invite you to read the case studies that have been provided from Latin America, and encourage you to engage with one another in a discussion about DRR in your cities. Drawing out good practices, similarities and differences from cities across our regions.

ELLA BRIEF

January, 2012 

Disaster Risk Reduction in Urban Areas

Urban expansion in marginal city areas increases the risk of fatalities and home devastation when extreme weather occurs. But many Latin American cities are successfully tackling disaster risk, driven by effective urban governance.

In the context of urbanisation, disaster risk increases from badly planned and managed urban development, degraded ecosystems and poverty. The disaster risk reduction (DRR) processes developed in several Latin American cities show the benefits of making risk reduction an integral part of local development. The importance of good information for risk assessment, government-civil society collaboration, and links between local, national and regional levels is also evident.  Latin America’s DRR experiences can offer a wealth of lessons for African and South Asian counterparts embarking on their own urban risk reduction processes.

Key Lessons:

• Embedding disaster risk management within overall development efforts has yielded positive results
• Competent city and municipal governments have been key players in DRR, and their effectiveness has been enhanced when they have collaborated with local communities and civil society
• Support from higher levels of government proved crucial, as many DRR initiatives need coordinated action across government levels and sectors

Practical experiences for Risk reduction in Bogota by

Interview With Dr Alberto Maturana by