Abstract
Major impacts on infrastructures due to natural and man-made hazards could result in secondary and additional impacts, compounding the problem for those communities already affected by the hazard. Integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR) philosophies into infrastructure projects has been an important solution to mitigate and prevent such disaster risks, as well as for a speedy recovery after disasters. “Vulnerability reduction” is defined by the research community as an enabler which facilitates the process of DRR. However, there is a research need to identify the most beneficial DRR strategies that would result in vulnerability reduction in an effective way. As part of this main aim, this paper seeks to explore the nature of various vulnerabilities within infrastructure reconstruction projects and their respective communities and to evaluate the DRR practises within these projects. Finally the paper attempts to map the effects of integration of DRR into infrastructure reconstruction on vulnerability reduction of infrastructure reconstruction projects and the communities which benefited from such projects. This study adopts the case study approach and the paper is entirely based on data collated from semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey conducted within one case study (a water supply and sanitation reconstruction project) in Sri Lanka and expert interviews conducted in Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom. Results reveal that emergency preparedness strategies are the most important group of DRR strategies, while physical/technical strategies are also very important. However, none of the emergency preparedness strategies are satisfactorily implemented, while most of the physical/technical strategies are adequately implemented.
Highlights
The study conducted two case studies in Sri Lanka but this paper is entirely based on the first case study conducted within a water supply and sanitation reconstruction project after the tsunami of 2004
The researcher identified a list of suitable post-disaster infrastructure reconstruction projects that have undergone the process of integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR) at different levels
The natural protection strategies are considered as “important” with a mean value of 4.00 and the knowledge management strategies were identified as the least important group of DRR strategies, but still with a average mean value of 3.92, indicating that they too are “important”
Summary
Proximity of water supply reconstruction project to natural hazards Degradation of the environment due to water supply reconstruction project Interdependencies of water supply project with other infrastructure (two or more infrastructures depend on each other) Project participants’ over-reliance upon or ineffective warning systems Project participants’ inadequate foresights regarding new technology for reconstruction Project participants’ limited education (including insufficient knowledge) about disasters Marginalisation of specific project participants (e.g: women) Project participants objection to safety precautions and regulations Dependency and absence of personal responsibility within water supply reconstruction project Minimal support for disaster programmes amongst elected officials Inability to enforce or encourage steps for mitigation within water supply project Over-centralisation of decision making within water supply project Isolated or weak disaster related institutions related to water supply reconstruction Lack of funding for water supply project and lack of resources for disaster prevention, planning and management within water supply project Failure to purchase insurance against potential economic losses of water supply reconstruction project. Project participants’ pursuit of profit with little regard for consequences Project participants’ carelessness/ inadequate foresights regarding designing and reconstruction of water supply project considering consequences of disasters Lack of detailed planning and structural mitigation of water supply reconstruction project Inadequate routine and emergency preparedness
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