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To cite this article: Souheil El-Masri & Graham Tipple (2002) Natural Disaster,
Mitigation and Sustainability: The Case of Developing Countries, International
Planning Studies, 7:2, 157-175, DOI: 10.1080/13563470220132236
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13563470220132236
Department of Civil & Architectural Engineering, University of Bahrain, P.O. Box 32038,
Bahrain; 2Centre for Architectural Research and Development of Overseas (CARDO),
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
ABSTRACT The application of sustainable development principles to natural disaster mitigation
in developing countries is examined. Three main and interrelated aspects are considered: land-use
planning and policies; shelter design, building materials and construction methods; and institutional organization at local, provincial, national and international levels. These three aspects are
illustrated on the basis of experiences of human settlements in specic disaster situations and of
housing the poor in developing countries in general. Taking into consideration the scale of the
problem and the variety of conditions, the most pressing issues are identied, along with the
different remedies and the major areas for policy intervention. However, transferring these ideas
into implementation strategies, in which creative combinations of solutions, priorities, timeframes
and resources are to be identied, will depend on a particular disaster situation and obviously
cannot be carried out without detailed examination of the circumstances. Adjustments and
changes are proposed to the ways in which human settlements are shaped, grown and managed
in order to ensure harmonious interactions between natural and human systems, so that
vulnerability to natural disasters is minimized.
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Between 1947 and 1980, the average loss of life per event amounted to 32 in
North America and 224 in Europe, while the gures reached 633 in Central
America and the Caribbean, 657 in South America, and 2412 in Asia (Hewitt,
1997, p. 61). Currently, 96% of natural-disaster-related deaths occur in developing countries (Natural Hazards Observer, 2000a, p. 3). Other estimates reveal that
the number killed in disasters is three to four times higher in developing
countries than in the developed ones. The striking difference, however, is in the
number of affected survivors, which is estimated to be some 40 times higher in
developing countries (Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA), 1993, p. 27).
Based on different sources, Berke provides further evidence and illustrative
examples:
The mean annual death tolls due to natural hazards declined by 75
percent or more in developed countries like Japan and the United States
during the 1960s through the 1980s, but increased by over 400 percent
in developing countries like India and Kenya over the same period. In the economically vulnerable East African countries, including
Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, the costs
exceeded over 20 percent of GNP at various times during the 1980s .
In contrast, the 24 billion loss from the 1992 Hurricane Andrew disaster
in South Florida, which was at the costliest disaster in the history of the
United States, represents an almost undetectable proportion of its $6
trillion economy. (1995, pp. 34)
Rapid uncontrolled urbanization and precarious economic conditions are the
two main reasons for the exacerbation of the effects of natural disaster in
developing countries. Urban population has grown from about 1 billion people
in 1980 to 1.4 billion in 1990 and to 2 billion in 2000, and estimates show that this
gure will reach 3.6 billion by 2020 (United Nations, 1989, Table A-3, quoted
by Devas & Rakodi, 1993, p. 2). It is expected that 80% of the worlds
urban population will be in developing countries by the year 2025 (IDNDR,
1996, p. 6). Even more pronounced are the statistics that between 1950 and 2000
the number of cities with 1 million inhabitants has increased by a factor of seven
and that, out of the 15 mega cities in the world, 12 will be in developing
countries by 2015 (Topics, 1999, p. 70). This unprecedented urban growth has
been associated with the sizeable poorer sector of the population. The World
Bank (1989) estimated that around 330 million city dwellers, or 28% of the
developing worlds urban population, fell below the poverty line. The gure
reached 950 million in 2000, representing 49% of the total urban population.
Their housing and living conditions are best described as threatening to life and
health because of serious deciencies in infrastructure and service provision
(Habitat Debate, 2000, p. 6).
The increasing shortage and squalid conditions of housing are the outcomes
of a varied and complex set of causes such as mismanagement, bureaucracy,
and lack of proper institutions, infrastructure and resources. They are also
generated by unrealistic building bye-laws, high building standards and the
exclusion of the target population from planning and implementation processes
(Choguill, 1994, pp. 2528; Cobbett, 1999, p. 1). All these become barriers to the
poor accessing housing units produced by the normal market and make it
impossible for them to acquire shelter in an urbanized world.
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Figure 1. Urbanization, poverty and their effects on the vulnerability of human settlements.
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tutional incapacity, which force people to expose themselves to risks in the rst
place.
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Access to land for the poor could be achieved through various channels in
which government can intervene directly and indirectly. In this regard, Angel et
al. (1983), McAuslan (1985) and Ansari & Von Einseidel (1998) explore urban
land policies and practices and suggest some important policy reforms to
facilitate access for housing the poor in general. In the case of disasters no single
approach can be proposed, but there is a combination of possibilities, which
should be considered in accordance with the types of hazards, costs and benets,
land market and socioeconomic conditions that characterize each situation.
Therefore, it is suggested that these possibilities should focus on the following:
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lessons for upgrading and improving informal settlements and slum areas.
Empowering the poor is imperative in promoting community organizations and
cooperative actions for implementing incremental infrastructure and housing
projects, for reinforcing social harmony and sense of community and for
improving living, environmental and economic situations. Conditionally, sensitive participatory and negotiation processes, adequate access to land, resources
and technical support, and the use of appropriate technology and local materials
are essential ingredients. Strengthening settlements conditions would improve
road networks and provide open areas for public use, which in turn would
improve escape routes and emergency procedures in the case of disaster. For
example, a study in Caqueta, a vulnerable area of Lima, identies illegal
encroachment of itinerants, which blocks access roads and emergency routes. It
also outlines an action plan for re reduction in the informal commercial centres
by preparing evacuation maps, and the organization of brigades and the
handling of re extinguishers, stretchers and rst-aid facilities (Leandro &
Miranda, 2000).
The various approaches, which include the sustainable use of land resources
and the reduction of exposure to hazards, require the political will to intervene
and to invest in land with the goal of long-term sustainable benets. To achieve
this, nancial resources can be generated directly and indirectly by the following:
directing public funds away from building houses towards land development;
collecting taxes on undeveloped sites and implementing betterment taxes on
land which take into account types of usage, benets gained and impacts on
the environment;
mobilizing local resources to be used for housing development and for
managing and maintaining their settlement environments;
encouraging national and international relief and emergency organizations to
invest a portion of their resources in mitigation measures instead of the
present complete focus on relief aid and emergency activities.
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a clear understanding of the land market, including forces which affect supply
and demand, land use and zoning, planning and regulations, land tenure and
registration, as well as the main actors and beneciaries;
a comprehensive set of datagraphic and non-graphicon the urban land
which shows: zoning and land use, quality and quantity of land, geological
and ecological conditions, topography and hazardous areas, land tenure and
registration, and building regulations and standards;
appropriate land-use policies to address three basic inter-linked objectives,
environmental quality, management of natural resources and adequate housing for the poor, in order to facilitate constructive land-development
processes;
a participatory planning practice involving consultations with the people
concerned which would increase the chances of mobilizing the community, its
cooperation and its responsibility for the maintenance and improvement of the
settlements in the long term;
incremental improvements in infrastructure which would require a progressive type of nancial backing, effective land registration, rationalization of
management and employment of appropriate technologies. All these would
lead to reduced costs and increased coverage. Cost recovery could be achieved
through the collection of taxes from private landlords on the improvement of
their properties, as well as by imposing a basic tax on beneciaries of the
scheme on the basis of the improved land registration and tenure;
enhancement of the administrative sector dealing with urban land by improvement of the collection of data about the city, coordination between the
different departments involved, and re-evaluation of building codes, regulations and standards;
development of a deeper understanding of the interaction between human
and natural systems and their environmental and socioeconomic dimensions
not only in hazardous areas, but also in surrounding areas through the shared
ecosystem and socioeconomic networks.
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Type of
natural disaster
Cyclone
Flood
Earthquake
Volcanic eruption
Landslide
workers have remained poor. The Co-operative Society turned this situation
around by means of capacity building of the workers to manage their own
production, and negotiated with the authorities and the credit institutions to
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facilitate the workers to organize their own enterprises. Most importantly, it also
introduced standards for bricks and promoted energy-efcient, environmentally
appropriate production processes, making the local brick industry commercially
viable. Fifty per cent of wood used for brick burning has been substituted and
this gure is expected to increase to 75%. These practices have led to improvements in incomes, resulting in access to education, health and better living
conditions. This demonstrates very clearly that if appropriate approaches are
adopted, it is possible to help communities to improve their own circumstances
(see the web site www.bestpractices.org).
The adaptation of appropriate technology is a vital measure in sustaining
construction activities for the mitigation of natural disasters. Such a technology
is low in capital investments, and simple in technique and management. Also,
it relies on inputs that are locally available, affordable, divisible, and easily
generated and developed in order to maximize the use of available resources
and skills and to improve on existing deciencies and practices. All these
contribute to sound habitat conditions and good environmental quality. The
effective application of appropriate technology can be promoted through the
provision of technical support and incentives for innovation, and the application
of appropriate building regulations and standards. Such an approach would
enable effective production and assemblage of elements, recycling of building
materials, improvement of traditional, local techniques and the strengthening of
the structural conditions of the dwelling. It would also require the development
of appropriate contracting negotiations and applications, site management and
development, labour organizations and procedures, and building regulations
and codes (Nordberg, 2000). Generally speaking, sustainable construction industry activities require a comprehensive knowledge of the following:
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has a major role in providing the right conditions for enhancing the performance
of regional and local authorities. One of the most common problems in developing countries is the centralized systems, which make it impossible for the
decision makers to be closer to communities because of spatial and socioeconomic distance. Moreover, centralization of power has a spatial dimension in
focusing development and resources in the capital, often at the expense of
development in other areas. Therefore comprehensive decentralization of decision making to sub-national and local levels would widely enhance local
initiatives, maximize the use of resources, respond to the real needs of the
people, and build appropriate systems for dening responsibilities and accountability in the administrative system. However, this is not a simple task, as
socioeconomic planning and participation of civil society are still new, but could
be overcome by building consensus and capacity at different levels. This
coincides with the objectives of the City Development Strategies aiming at
addressing socioeconomic planning and spatial developing to reduce poverty
(Barcelo, 2000).
Planning for the mitigation of natural disasters is an open-ended process. It
should be integrated within the general planning process of human settlements
in order to ensure continuity between mitigation and sustainable human settlements. It should also be seen as a part of the national decentralization process.
Therefore, the state should be expected to: enhance technical assistance for
regional and local institutions; provide training for technicians, professionals
and administrators; distribute resources fairly; and develop plans which respond
to the real problems of housing associated with poverty and rapid urbanization.
The state should also create enabling policies, which deal with regulatory
mechanisms, administrative readjustments, economic incentives, and the dissemination of knowledge and information campaigns. Such measures at the
national level would enable the state to adequately respond to issues identied
locally, and to comprehensively plan for national strategies for the mitigation of
natural disasters within the framework of sustainable human settlements. Furthermore, the state should perform its role in guiding outside interventions,
including resources, technology transfer and cooperation at the international
level.
International Level
The inter-linkages between nations through economic, political and humanitarian concerns, and the shared ecosystems, make natural disasters a matter of
international interest. In fact, the global importance of the mitigation of natural
disasters was clearly manifested in the declaration of the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), forging links between
the political, scientic and technological communities. Initiatives such as
RADIUS (Risk Assessment Tools for Diagnosis of Urban Areas Against Seismic
Disasters) for urban seismic assessment and the El-Nino inter-agency preventive
approach aimed at reducing the loss of life, property damage and social and
economic disruption caused by natural disasters (Natural Hazards Observer, 1998).
The gravity of the matter and the necessity of international cooperation encouraged the UN to establish a successor body named the International Agency for
Disaster Reduction (ISDR) to carry on the decades work (Natural Hazards
Observer, 2000c). Its mission is to inuence the decision-making process and to
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increase communities resilience to disaster and to promote a culture of prevention within a sustainable development framework, especially in the case of
developing countries (Natural Hazards Observer, 2000a; 2000c). In the same vein,
the World Bank launched a consortium to provide a global partnership for
reducing the risk of natural and technological disasters (Natural Hazards Observer, 2000a, p. 3). On a regional scale, both La Red in Central America and the
Asian Disaster Centre in Asia and the Pacic work to promote disaster awareness and the development of local capacity building, and to foster
institutionalized disaster management and mitigation policies. Additionally,
NGOs such as FEDEVIVIENDA in Colombia and CEARAH PERIFETIA in
Brazil, which are actively involved with grass-roots organizations and local
communities to tackle poverty, have become regional anchors (Habitat Debate,
2000, p. 19).
International experience in the eld of disaster reduction can no longer
continue to be ignored. In many developing countries, the lack of knowledge,
resources and expertise can be overcome by adequate global cooperation
in tackling natural disasters. However, international technical and nancial
assistance can only be supportive to national initiatives, which have major
responsibilities in reducing the vulnerability of human settlements. The
supportive role of international agencies should be to assist countries in building
mitigation programmes by applying existing knowledge, taking careful consideration of socioeconomic and cultural diversity among nations. This can be
achieved through various channels of cooperation, such as comprehensive
technology transfer, exchange of know-how and mobilization of resources.
International agencies can also focus their efforts on promoting research into
different aspects of natural disaster, on disseminating existing and new information, and on establishing international database and information systems.
Other areas of cooperation could be in fostering scientic and engineering
endeavours for the mitigation of natural disasters, including data analysis, risk
assessment and warning systems. These international agencies can also develop
education, training and evaluation programmes for policy makers and professionals in the eld of natural disaster mitigation (Scott, 1992, pp. 218221).
Conclusion
Horric images of recent disasters, such as Turkeys earthquake of August 1999,
the Venezuela oods and landslides of December 1999, Indias earthquake of
February 2001, and the Mozambique and Malawi oods of March 2001, demonstrate the importance of shifting from post-disaster emergency actions to
pre-disaster mitigation. This shift aims to meet more than one goal, by operating
within the existing socioeconomic, cultural, technical and organizational processes which inuence human settlement growth. Therefore, mitigation of
natural disaster within the context of urban sustainability requires changes and
adjustments in the ways human settlements are shaped, planned and managed.
Resources, technologies and organizational processes should be inextricably
linked to the quality of the environment and to meeting the peoples needs. In
this way, mitigation approaches can combat the real causes of vulnerability, and
prevent and counteract the unnecessary creation of ecological and socioeconomic
problems. This approach would have productive and lasting results, which
would lead to continuity between mitigation and sustainable development of
human settlements. It would require comprehensive land policies to facilitate
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access to land for housing the poor, appropriate house design, building industry
activities that strengthen physical conditions and increase self-reliance and
participation of the community, and institutional reform at different levels to
increase cooperation, awareness and effectiveness. There is no doubt that these
recommendations would have positive impacts on the vulnerability of human
settlements, poverty and uncontrolled urbanization, and ensure that efforts and
resources were equitably distributed and had lasting consequences for future
generations, while the environmental quality needed for the continuity of life
itself would be protected.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Dr Ranjith Dayaratne for his most useful comments
on the drafts of this paper.
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