Abstract
Iterative risk management and risk-sensitive public investment planning are increasingly seen as essential elements of natural disaster resilience. This article assesses the disaster risk facing the hazard-prone Southeast Asian country of Cambodia and discusses its fiscal preparedness and need for proactive disaster risk management. The study provides a bottom-up assessment of flood and cyclone risks to public and private buildings including educational structures, health facilities, and housing and estimates the total direct economic damage to range from approximately USD 304 million for a 5-year return period event to USD 2.26 billion for a 1000-year return period event. These estimates were further analyzed using the fiscal risk due to disasters, which indicates that Cambodia will likely face a resource gap whenever a hazard as large as that of a 28-year return period event strikes. Given the frequent occurrence of disasters and rapid accumulation of capital assets taking place, proactive risk reduction is highly advisable. But interviews with national policymakers also revealed that there are a number of barriers to effective risk reduction and management in Cambodia. The general lack of awareness regarding risk-based concepts and the limited availability of local risk information necessitate a continued and sustained effort to build iterative risk management in Cambodia.
Highlights
Fiscal preparedness for natural disasters and risk-sensitive public investment planning are increasingly seen as essential elements of natural disaster resilience (UNDP 2010; MichelKerjan et al 2013; UNISDR 2013; AMCDRR 2014)
The Cambodian experience of disaster risk management (DRM) illustrates a number of common challenges faced by developing countries that wish to implement iterative risk management
The effectiveness of iterative risk management is viewed with ‘‘high confidence and robustness’’ globally, a useful first step in supporting its progress in developing countries is to clarify the on-the-ground reality that shapes the context for disaster risk management
Summary
Fiscal preparedness for natural disasters and risk-sensitive public investment planning are increasingly seen as essential elements of natural disaster resilience (UNDP 2010; MichelKerjan et al 2013; UNISDR 2013; AMCDRR 2014). An increasing trend among the national and local governments of developing countries is to adopt proactive risk management strategies. Proactive risk reduction investments have been made possible through the use of the Fund for Natural Disasters (FONDEN) in Mexico since 2006 (GFDRR 2013). In the Philippines, the national calamity fund and the local disaster risk reduction and management fund (LDRRMF) have operated actively since 2012 (American Red Cross 2013). Analogous proactive policies are seen as necessary steps to counteract future challenges of climate change, continued urbanization, and economic development in high risk areas of many developing countries (IPCC 2012). Globally there are encouraging trends, response-oriented disaster management is still dominant in many areas of the world, and much work remains to be done to promote proactive risk management
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
