Disaster Risk management

N.M.S.I.ARAMBEPOLA
PROGRAM MANAGER
ASIAN URBAN DISASTER MITIGATION
PROGRAM(AUDMP)

Objectives of the discussion

• Distinguish between disaster management and risk

management
• Explain selected models of disaster management
• Describe the strategies for risk mitigation
• List activities needed for post-disaster
management

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 ASIA IS WORLD’S MOST DISASTER
AFFECTED REGION IN THE WORLD

In Asia

60%
88% every year

50% 46,000 people killed

180 million people affected
40%
USD 35 billion of damage
30%
caused by disasters
20% 34%
C & S America
10% Pacific
Asia
0%
Cyclones Floods Volcanoes Overall

Based on World Disasters Report 1997

Negative Consequences of
Development
¾ Migration of population
to cities

¾ Densely populated
Communities

¾ More people living on

marginal lands ¾ Greater unplanned
settlements due to land
scarcity

¾ High risk due to natural and

manmade hazards

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• Migration of rural population to
urban will demand more
economic activities for creating
more employment
• Create in scarcity of inhabitable
land,value appreciation of
available land,value depreciation
of land in hazard prone areas
• High demand for infrastructure
development
• Create in an un-affordability of
quality construction
• Will lead to likelihood of high
damages and losses Vulnerability
scenario in
the future

• Increased vulnerability to Results due to

Primary hazards such as
high exposure of
earthquakes, floods,
cyclones etc. Infrastructure
• Potential high impact due
to secondary hazards like
urban fire, technological
and other accidents etc
• High environmental
problems and
inconvenience to urban
populations
• More control measures to
save facilities,innovative
design options are needed

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 Climate for investment in infrastructure
and other types of development is not
encouraging in most of our countries
• In most cities problems connected to governance has become normal.In
most cases power sharing is seen with central government.Most areas in
city are controlled by central government.
• Infrastructure facilities are shared by many LGs and CG
• Mitigation initiatives are not acceptable to all.
• Urbanization accompanied by significant increase in the scale of poverty
of urban population has put pressure on city administration.They can not
get revenue from poor but services have to be provided
• Urban poverty disproportionately affects weaker layers and fuels tensions
(such as ethnic and racial tensions),gender sensitivity,less attention to
disable groups etc
• Growth of disparities between affluent and disposed will create different
units such as divided cities within a city

Disaster risk management

• Disaster management can be defined as the
effective organization, direction and utilization of
available counter-disaster resources
• The modern view is that there must be pre-disaster
mitigation measures to avoid or reduce impact of
disasters. Pre-disaster measures to prevent or
mitigate disasters are called Risk Management

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 What is Management?
• Management consists of decision-making activities
undertaken by one or more individuals to direct and
coordinate the activities of other people in order to
achieve results, which could not be accomplished by
any one person acting alone.

• Management is required when two or more persons

combine their efforts and resources to accomplish a
goal, which neither can accomplish alone.

What is disaster risk management?

• Disaster risk management includes administrative decisions and

operational activities that involve
• Prevention
• Mitigation
• Preparedness
• Response
• Recovery and
• Rehabilitation.
Disaster risk management involves all levels of governme nt. Non-
governme ntal and community-based organizations play a vital role in
the process.

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 Traditional model-DM cycle
• The traditional approach to disaster
management has been to regard it as a
number of phased sequences of action or
a continuum.
• These can be represented as a cycle.
Disaster Risk Management

Disaster

Warning

Emergency
Disaster Response
Preparedness

Rehabilitation
Disaster
Mitigation

Reconstruction
Disaster
Prevention

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 Expand-contract model

•In this model, disaster management is seen

as a continuous process.
•There is a series of activities that run
parallel to each other rather than as a
sequence

Fig u re 2
Ex p a nd – Con trac t Mod e l

P re v e n tio n an d m iti ga tio n st ra nd

P re p a re d ne s s
s tra n d Re lie f a n d
Re s p on s e R e c o ve ry a nd
s tra n d R e h a b ilit a ti on s tra n d

CR IS IS

Tim e

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 The Disaster Crunch Model
It is a framework for understanding and explaining the
causes of disaster and adopts a cause-effect perspective. It
is a pressure model. Vulnerability (pressure) is seen as
rooted in socio-economic and political processes.

These have to be addressed (released) for disaster risk

reduction.

The model reveals a progression of vulnerability. It begins

with underlying causes in society that prevents satisfying
demands of the people.

The Disaster Crunch Model

• Population expansion leads to inadequate housing
and land needs. Prices of urban land appreciate.
Low -income people may not be able to afford it.
• Rural – urban migration adds more pressure.
There is thus expansion of urban areas outwards.
The result is ad-hoc urban sprawling

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 The Disaster Crunch Model
• The low-income people may occupy land with low demand that
may be disaster-prone. They may not have the income to adhere to
safe practices and building codes. They may not have proper
sanitary conditions, water supply and other utilities. The local
governments may come under pressure to provide them but would
be unable to do so.
• But these are dynamic communities that grow and change adding
more and more pressure on limited resources. They may show low
literacy rates, lack of awareness of disaster potential or
preparedness, lack of proper health care which decrease strength to
withstand disaster impact, malnutrition, lack of training for
livelihoods, disaster prone housing etc.

The Disaster Crunch Model

• These are unsafe conditions which increase the vulnerability

of these communities. They would have no capacity to face a
hazard event.

• When a hazard event happens these communities would bear

the brunt of impact and their losses would be greater. Their
capacity to recover is minimal

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Fig u re 3
Th e Crun c h Mod el

P rog ress ion

o f Vuln era bi lity
o f a c o mmu n ity

Und e rly ing C au se s

Dyn am ic Pr ess ures

U ns afe C ondi tion s

Vu ln er ab ility DIS ASTE R Hazar d eve nt

Fig u re 4
Th e Re lea s e Mod e l

Com m uni ty
P re pare dn e s s
RIS K Hazar d
REDUCTION Preve nt ion
Hazar d
Mitiga tio n

S afer Condi tion s

Red uc tion s in
Dyn am ic Pr e ss ures

Add re ss Th e Pr og re ss o f S afety
Und e rly ing Ca use s as a r e verse o f the
P rog ress ion of Vuln e rability

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 Risk Management
The process, by which assessed risks are
mitigated, minimized or controlled through
engineering, management of land use practices
or other operational means.
This involves the optimal allocation of available
resources in support of group goals.

The technocratic view for managing the risk

• Problem-Physical vulnerability
• Symptoms as perceived-High death toll and
damages of infrastructure attributed to severity of
hazard,extensive and recurrent rehabilitation needs
• The causes-Uncontrolled characteristics of hazard
events,Physiography of the prone area,Lack of
inadequacy of protective infrastructure,Failure of
forecasting and warnings

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 The technocratic view for managing the Risk

• Improve the protection capacity of infrastructure

• Improve technology,design the structures to resist
• Eradicate bad habits,ignorance through awareness
creation and capacity building of professionals
• Improve forecasting,warning, response
mechanisms,preparedness measures
• Formulate action plans,enact appropriate
legislation,land use control,building standards,risk
mapping

View of the development planners for managing

the Risk

• Problem-Physical vulnerability is a symptom of its economic

vulnerability
• Symptoms as perceived-High death toll and damages to infrastructure
attributed to severity of hazard,extensive and recurrent rehabilitation
needs
• Causes-Land use policies that have encourage rapid population
growth,Land distribution and resource allocation policies,,insufficient
employment opportunities,deterioration of social insurance within the
society

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 View of the development planners for managing
the Risk

• Change the emphasis on structural mitigation programs

aimed at physical protection and the over reliance on
technology solutions.
• Initiate action to reduce the exposure of population to
hazard events through advance planning of land use
• Building up more resources of the most vulnerable sections
of community.
• Create credit facilities,opportunities to borrow
money,create capital investments opportunities
• Promote more initiatives for risk transfer

Human alteration of the natural land features

• It may be contributing to hazards that are more intense and
frequent by disrupting the balance of nature.
• This slide, shows a diagram of runoff in an area with natural land
features that help to reduce the destructive effects of flooding

Source: Mitigation Planning Workshop by Hazard Mitigation Planning Initiative

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 Human Impact on the Environment
Many benefits of a natural landscape are lost or modified as
development takes place.

Source: Mitigation Planning Workshop by Hazard Mitigation Planning Initiative

All disasters are emergencies

Not all emergencies are necessary to be converted to disasters

A paradigm shift has been observed in disaster risk management

in the recent past.

It has started with provision of humanitarian aid.

Now it has grown in to a discipline where
many inputs are required by different professionals.
It encompasses techniques for hazard assessment,Risk
reduction,prevention and early warning,social and economic
interventions,support from health workers
engineers,information scientists and landusers planners etc.
and policy markers and political authorities.
All of them have to contribute to total risk management process.

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 Risk Management Process
• Risk management has three components.
– Risk identification
– Risk reduction
– Risk transfer

• Risk identification has to be done through mapping and using

other available technological options.
• It is usual to allocate risk management to a special body at
national level. Usually it is a National Disaster Management
Organization (NDMO) at national level.Others support should
be obtained within a National Action Plan for DM
• At local level it may be the responsibility of a Disaster
Mitigation Committee, which administers risk management.
This varies in different countries depending on administrative
patterns and needs.

Risk reduction

• Effective risk reduction involves mitigation

measures in hazard prone areas.
• It may also involve overcoming the
socioeconomic, institutional and political barriers
to the adoption of effective risk reduction
strategies and measures in developing countries.

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 Risk Transfer
Effective risk transfer involves different tools such
as insurance,tax policies,special measures focused
on land management.
Organizational structure,policies,legislation etc. is
required for effective implementation of risk
transfer strategies for a country or local
government area.

By managing risk, we may prevent

• Reduce Vulnerabilities
disasters
HOW?
• Understand behavior of
hazards
• Reduce Vulnerabilities
• Reduce the possibility for
exposure
• Increase / Improve Readiness
(Capacity, Capability,
Efficiency, Effectiveness)
• Mitigate the impact of hazards

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ƒ Objective is to achieve sustainability
in development process.
ƒ A conceptual framework for
understanding risk (hazard,
Disaster Risk
ƒ
vulnerability & readiness)
Series of interconnected initiatives
Management
at all levels at all times
ƒ Complex process involving diverse
stakeholders
ƒ Implemented by multidisciplinary
team working with the community
with many vulnerabilities to hazards
through a mutually agreed planning
process
ƒ Call for an attitudinal change in
managing risk.

Where support is needed and what support is needed

•Assist in the transfer of state-of-the-art technology
•Assist in the capacity-building of stakeholders to improve their ability to
identify and treat disaster problems at local government level
•Conduct and facilitate research to introduce innovative and novel ideas to
suit different landscapes and to facilitate demonstrations of their
effectiveness
•Advocate appropriate legal, financial and policy frameworks for urban
disaster mitigation
•Organize regional forums to facilitate discussions, draw lessons and to
provide an analytical view point on areas for improvement as an
independent body
•Clearing house for DRM related information, to collect, collate and
package the best experiences for dissemination
•Technical guidance to establish organized approaches for risk management

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Thank you

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