Integrated Disaster Risk Management Research Articles

Progressing the integration of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management in Vanuatu and beyond

The first framework to specifically integrate climate change adaption and disaster risk management was the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific. Despite the intense interest in integration and a very large literature on the topic, this Framework and its implementation has largely escaped the attention of commentators. This paper focuses on the experience of Vanuatu as a start in addressing this gap in the literature. Vanuatu is one of the countries most at risk from natural hazards. We show how Vanuatu is progressing the ideals of integration in practice, in its policy and legislation, its institutional arrangements, and the resourcing it is allocating to integrating disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. We conclude that, at the national and formal level, Vanuatu is progressing well in pragmatically implementing the ideals of integration and the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific. It stands as a practical example for others.

Advances of International Collaboration on M9 Disaster Science: Scientific Session Report

The goal of the Scientific Session: “Advances of International Collaboration on M9 Disaster Science” at the 2nd World Bosai Forum (WBF) in Sendai in November 2019 was to share progress on research projects and findings related to an M9 mega-disaster event, building on outcomes from a March 2019 collaborative workshop on M9 disaster science between research partners from the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS)/Tohoku University, University of Washington-Seattle (UW), and the Research Center for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (CIGIDEN). This paper reports on the presentations during the WBF Scientific Session, which shared updates and outputs of research collaborations from different disciplines, following the themes of risk-based planning, structural engineering, tsunami observation and early warning, and tsunami simulation and probabilistic tsunami risk assessment. This international and cross-disciplinary collaboration has led to the advancement of a number of specific research projects in different fields, as well as a robust network of researchers in the three countries. Based in coastal regions facing similar risks of massive earthquakes and tsunami in Japan, the United States, and Chile, it is hoped that ongoing and future collaboration within this network will continue to advance knowledge of disaster science and international disaster risk reduction.

Stakeholder solutions for building interdisciplinary and international synergies between Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction

The existing implementation gap currently dividing the policy domains of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), can be attributed to institutional barriers; diverging political priorities; inter-sectoral misperceptions and miscommunication; unequal funding sources and varying operational timescales at national, European and international levels. A recurring question raised amongst strategic policy makers tackling climate-related risks in both sectors asks: Can reducing these divergences and seeking new streamlining synergies assist in closing the implementation gap and deliver better integrated Disaster Risk Management (DRM) policies? Specifically, can such synergising action extend to strengthening of trans-border and trans-disciplinary resilience?The ESPREssO Project explores these questions through a two-year stakeholder engagement process-collecting opinion from European CCA and DRR stakeholders, using novel methods such as crisis simulation exercises (serious games), questionnaires, interviews and international Think Tanks to identify mutual barriers and recommend ways both sectors can overcome them. We prioritise the various solutions with stakeholders, drawing on international and intersectoral CCA and DRR perspectives to refine a set of key recommendations for synergising action.Results prioritise the importance of clear communication, maintaining political support and inclusion of the currently under-utilised private sector in positively establishing closer cooperation between CCA and DRR. The benefits of strengthening CCA-DRR inter-sectoral links are explored as essential pathways for better-informing hazard mitigation planning under a changing global climate and in aligning localised and strategic efforts. The emphasis is on working in support of each other, avoiding unnecessary duplication of effort and harmonising competing activities.

Landslide exposure awareness: a community-based approach towards the engagement of children

The purpose of this paper was to draw attention to the need for rising landslide disaster risk awareness directed to children at the local level, particularly in peri-urban mountain areas of Mexico, where high vulnerability conditions and the lowest levels of information and attention are usually found. An attempt to engage children in the co-production of basic disaster risk knowledge associated with landslide exposure founded on a community-based mapping approach was documented for the neighbourhoods of Ayotzingo and Las Moraledas, localities built as post-disaster resettlements, resulting from the disaster of October 1999 associated with rainfall-induced landslides, in the municipality of Teziutlan, Puebla, in Mexico. The performed community-based mapping endeavour is part of the activities carried out within the framework of the ICL-IPL Project “Landslide disaster risk communication in mountain areas.” This approach indicated that analytical capabilities of community-based strategies could be used not only to contribute to the elaboration of hazard maps, but also to highlight the spatial complexity of social and environmental issues that produce and influence landslide disaster risk at the local level. Most importantly, community-based mapping workshops were useful to emphasise the importance of children’s education and participation in disaster risk reduction. In this paper, it is argued that in addition to using maps as quantitative and qualitative tools for depicting the different ingredients and interactions of historical and contemporary processes leading to the social construction of disaster risk, they are a popular and simplified view of the own space of peoples at risk that can be transformed to personal and communal awareness as an initial stage into the understanding of disaster risk and the necessity to transcend disaster response by supporting scientific evidence-based integrated disaster risk management (IDRiM). It was possible to conclude that community-based landslide mapping should be regarded as a cornerstone for landslide disaster risk awareness, favouring the co-production of knowledge by taking into account local contexts. Above and beyond all, it is considered that the sustain participation of children in DRR should be highly valued as a significant means to contribute to the challenge of curbing disaster losses and reducing disaster risk. Furthermore, it should be emphasised that the use of community-based approaches directed to children is obligated for educating the new generations due to the fact that the children of today will be the decision makers and responsible for the disaster risk governance of tomorrow.

Toward quantification of seismic resilience in Iran: Developing an integrated indicator system

In the recent years, the concept of resilience against natural hazards has been developed significantly. Considering the fact that the term of seismic resilience can describe the quality of the urban fabrics to respond and recover after occurrence of a seismic event and existence of required infrastructures for effective adaption; enormous efforts have been paid to the quantification and proposal of comprehensive resilience frameworks. Although there are precious achievements in the literature toward the provision of theoretical background for calculation of resilience as a time dependent vulnerability function; the lack of reliable data to verify these models persuade researchers to the application of indicator systems using descriptors to measure different dimensions of resilience. In this paper, a new indicator system is proposed to quantify the seismic resilience in urban areas focusing on the specific challenges to which the developing countries such as Iran are faced. An AHP based approach has been conducted to identify the most important factors that must be included in the model, as well as, their relative contributions through weighting process. The model utilizing 37 indicators, 13 thematic areas and 5 sectors has been developed and examined by implementation in two selected case studies from metropolitan of Tehran and Kish Island in Persian Gulf. The new model has been verified by comparing its ability to reproduce logical quantified resilience values calculated by an already-developed simple model in the literature. The results confirm the potential engagement of quantitative resilience evaluation as a practical step in the context of integrated disaster risk management.

Localizing Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in Planners’ and Decision Makers’ Agenda: Technical Comprehensive Model, Quezon City, Philippines

Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated portions of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines on November 8, 2013. It caused unprecedented destruction but it also brought about new awareness for urgent and immediate action, not only on integrating Disaster Risk Management in our daily functions but also on addressing Climate Change variation impacts. In response, various stakeholders have made numerous efforts in reducing the country’s risk through crafting laws, statutes and government issuances. However, adaptive and coping capacities of Local Government Units remain very weak, and information on how to assess expected risk and incorporate it in developing local risk sensitive physical and development plans are still not part of the planners’ and decision makers’ agenda. The main objective of this study is to develop a technical Risk Sensitive Comprehensive Land Use and Development Planning Model to mainstream scientific-based risk assessment into the Quezon City Government (the pilot urban area) planners’ and decision makers’ agenda. The Model also comes with a toolkit with eight (8) Guideposts in operationalizing the Model. It is an effective tool and is a foundation to support in achieving imminent 2020 targets of the Sendai Framework, Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals up to 2030.

Holistic Disaster Risk Evaluation for the Urban Risk Management Plan of Manizales, Colombia

Disaster risk depends on both the physical vulnerability and a wide range of social, economic, and environmental aspects of a society. For a better risk understanding, a holistic or integrated perspective was considered when risk was assessed for the city of Manizales, Colombia. This assessment accounts not only for the expected physical damage and loss, but also for the socioeconomic vulnerability factors that favor second-order effects in a disaster. This comprehensive approach allows the identification of different aspects related to physical vulnerability, social fragility, and lack of resilience that can be improved, thus enhancing integrated disaster risk management actions. The outcomes of this comprehensive assessment are currently being used as input to update the disaster risk management plan of Manizales.

Riesgo, Innovación y Desarrollo en un Clima Cambiante: El Papel de las Políticas de Preparacíon para Sequías y Gestión de Riesgo de Desastres en Ceará, Brasil

Droughts are among the most common type of disasters, generating enormous socioeconomic impacts in the world, especially when considering the silent character they have. These phenomena are becoming more frequent, intense and longer lasting, which gives us an idea of ​​what may happen with the accentuation of climate change. This article seeks to provide and overview of the measures and policies addressing drought prevention and preparedness, facing the impacts of climate change, in the State of Ceara, Brazil. This study addresses issues of public policies concerning drought risk management in order to allow a greater understanding of policies and programs, experiences and perspectives by the analysis of the process of elaboration of the Integrated Disaster Risk Management Plan of the State of Ceara, Brazil (PIGRD-CE), as well as of the development of the Early Warning System - Drought Monitor -, while addressing the political coordination, which led to the creation of the Drought Commission (Comite das Secas). As a result, we understand this strategy, concerning drought preparedness, as a tool able to increase the adaptability and resilience of the political process. In this regard, we present the experiences accumulated by the State of Ceara in drought management processes showing a promising potential for replicability in other Latin American countries also subjected to threats that the changing climate may impose, in combination with the analysis of related risks - political/institutional/cultural -, in the development of public policies to draw together the main conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations.

Issues and Options for Adapting Social Protection Strategies to Climate Change Shocks in Bangladesh

Managing the impacts of climate change requires an integrated approach of social safety net (SSN) that brings together risk-coping, mitigation and management/adaptation in the short and long terms. Furthermore such an approach needs to be implemented at national level in Bangladesh due to climate change vulnerability and widespread poverty in the population. In terms of government interventions, this means coordinating and integrating disaster risk management (DRM) programmes, SSN programmes and agricultural development interventions intended for climate change adaptation (CCA). The study has identified both ex ante and ex post mitigation/adaptation strategies with a multi-sectoral integration model with covering line ministries or departments on how SSNs can help rural households respond to more severe and more frequent climate-related shocks that they are facing. The intention is to build synergies with DRM and CCA interventions, for a continuum of responses from relief to SSNs to resilient rural development. The issues and options that addressed in the study may play an important role for designing and implementing social protection (SP) strategies with utilizing the climate funds in Bangladesh. The GO and NGO portfolios along with community based organizations and local leaders should have to work together with climate victims to deliver the most suited SP system in Bangladesh. With considering necessary avenues, some of the existing social safety nets tools like food for work or money for work are to be climate proofed which not only support to the climate poor but also boost the agricultural production in the country.

Dealing with Disasters International Conference (DwD 2013) together with the 4th Conference of the International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRiM 2013)

Dealing with Disasters International Conference (DwD 2013) together with the 4th Conference of the International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRiM 2013)

Spatio-temporal aspects and dimensions in integrated disaster risk management

The concept of risk has been introduced in disaster management since experiences from past years suggested that elements at risk and vulnerability should be increasingly considered within the framework of hazard and disaster management in order to reduce losses (e.g. Commission of the European Communities 2007; International Standards Organisation 2009). A disaster is defined as a ‘serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources’ (UNISDR 2009). The term disaster is thus not used until severe impacts on social systems, including human beings (loss of life) and associated assets (destruction of property), are caused (e.g. Johnson et al. 2006). This view was already promoted in the early stages of the last century (e.g. Queen and Mann 1925; Carr 1932) and is still seen as the key aspect in currently commonly accepted definitions such as the one cited above, which additionally highlights the event-specific exceeded coping capacity of the affected social system. The latter—for example, also identified as criterion in the EM-DAT terminology (CRED 2013)—in fact adds the domain of (social) vulnerability to the disaster concept, as it describes the disaster-specific characteristics of a system in terms of its limited ‘ability to face and manage adverse conditions [...] using available skills and resources’ (UNISDR 2009).

Reflections on Implementation Science

Abstract This paper provides an original formulation of some of the key issues that we think are central to the effective implementation of integrated disaster risk management (IDRM). We tentatively call this focused effort “implementation science”. We define the term implementation science, in this context as a collective enterprise to develop a systematic body of knowledge (facts, empirical evidence, intuitions, insights, experience) on the causes and consequences of natural and human disasters, to analyse them systematically, and to successfully implement the resulting strategies in the prevention or mitigation of losses due to disasters. With this in view, we have identified and discussed in this paper some key elements of implementation science in the context of disaster management, both natural and man-made, based on a comprehensive review of important research and writing in the disaster management field.

Are We There Yet? Reflections on Integrated Disaster Risk Management after Ten Years

Integrated disaster risk management (IDRiM) is a lofty and ambitious goal. It would bridge scales from the global to the local, involving a wide range of actors or stakeholders. It would draw on local as well as outside specialist knowledge, and this external knowledge would come from a wide array of professional and scientific fields from economics and the social sciences to the earth and biological science and engineering, public administration and communication. Above all the word ‘integration’ implies that established distinctions are bridged, such as between planning for development and planning for disaster risk management. This paper argues that over the past ten years some progress has been made in laying out the road map, but that we are not there yet. In fact, the journey has only begun. There have been key events that have motivated people to seek IDRiM such as the Indian Ocean tsunami and Haitian earthquake and their aftermaths. New institutions have been created that have the potential to move us toward IDRiM such as UN-ISDR. Finally, a series of concepts have emerged from many reports, evaluations, and research. These ideas are discussed, and the challenge for the next 5-10 years mapped out.

An alternative approach for planning the resilient cities in developing countries

Twenty-first century cities in developing countries have been facing development challenges as a result of their fast-growing urban populations and inefficient infrastructures, as well as growing difficulties created by climate change. Though concern for integrating disaster risk management approaches into development planning has been expressed in various policy documents and studies, exact methods of such integration at the spatial level are still being deliberated. The concepts of quality of life (QoL) and disaster resiliency are closely linked and their interrelationship is understood from the definitions and concepts developed in different studies. A disaster can have a negative impact on QoL and resiliency for disaster can protect and maintain QoL. This study develops an approach for integrating disaster resiliency into QoL based on new urbanization models, which can be re-orientated towards achieving resiliency. The Quality of Life with Disaster Resiliency (QoLDR) index offers the integration of resiliency issues arising from the urbanization process as well as natural hazards. It also provides directions for altering urbanization and increases adaptability, which results in resilient urbanization.

The Capacity Building programmes of GITEWS – visions, goals, lessons learned, and re-iterated needs and demands

Abstract. It was envisioned that the framework of the German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) should achieve an integral architecture and overarching technical design of an end-to-end tsunami early warning system (TEWS). In order to achieve this ambitious goal on a national and local level, a tailored set of capacity building measures has been started and implemented. The programme was meant and designed to meet requirements and urgent needs considering awareness raising campaigns, technical trainings and higher level education programs. These components have been integrated as complementary modules in order to ensure facilitating the early warning system to be operated, maintained and improved, and that institutions and people in coastal areas will respond adequately and timely in case of future tsunamis. Remarkable progress has been accomplished as well as programs and campaigns are being implemented in regard to a sustainable capacity development conducted by national institutions in Indonesia. Yet, local administrative and preparedness efforts on the Indonesian coastlines are still underdeveloped. This stems from the fact of missing links towards sustainable coastal zone management schemes on a broad local level. Yet, the demand and urgent need for an adequate and integrated disaster risk reduction and management addressing also other hazards in the region of interest is (still) substantial. Given the tragic loss of life and severe damages resulting from the December 2004 tsunami and recent series of severe earthquakes, the need for urgent mitigating action in the imperilled coastal regions of Sumatra and Java remains extremely high. The conceptual Capacity Building framework, its anticipated goals in the beginning of the project and, lately, the finally achieved objectives are promising. A significant contribution for mainstreaming scientific approaches and transfer methodological disaster risk reduction attempts towards other regions exposed to coastal hazards is still pending. Local authorities and researchers in tentative affected regions are now trained and enabled to disseminate and apply their knowledge and planning experience to other coastal regions in the area to help facilitating and multiplying effective disaster management plans and strategies. Yet, the Capacity Building framework within GITEWS also elucidated gaps in the early warning chain so that updated and to some extent re-iterated needs and demands in Capacity Building programs in any future research or development cooperation project are presented and discussed.

A Scientific Challenge for Society under Sustainability Risks by Addressing Coping Capacity, Collective Knowledge and Action to Change: A Vitae System Perspective

This paper points to the need for undertaking field-based, innovative, intellectual ventures to explore a yet-missing scientiÞ c domain of “Implementation Science”. A Vitae System Perspective is proposed to show that seemingly different research arenas are interpreted to share common concerns, hotspots and fundamental issues such as how to manage and realize “more sustainable” society (that is, sustainable management), how to develop a better methodological leverage toward it and what kind of new scientific framework should be further explored. Illustrations are made to link together three seemingly different research frontiers. i.e.,IDRiM (Integrated Disaster Risk Management), CRREM (Con s ict Resolution in Resources and Environment Management), and Kasology (sustainable rural development). Some ongoing scientific challenges by the author and others are introduced and discussed. By referring to interpretively relevant ideas, thoughts and research works, further allied endeavors to enhance “Implementation Science” for sustainable society are called for.

Developing Disaster Risk Science

By reviewing the disaster reduction implementation science system, the necessity of developing disaster risk science is discussed and its preliminary framework is proposed in this paper. At the third IIASA-DPRI Forum on Integrated Disaster Risk Management, Okada (2003) presented the disaster reduction implementation science system, that is, the Networking of Vitae System, and expatiated on the structure, function, and system dynamic issues of integrated risk management. In s uenced by the Vitae System of integrated risk management and based on the disaster system framework proposed by Shi in 1991, the authors examine the three basic components of disaster risk science, that is, disaster science, emergency technology, and risk management. Building upon these discussions, the structure, function, and dynamic system of integrated risk management are further explored, with the understanding that the core of integrated risk management is to optimize development and disaster reduction, to combine governmental and non-governmental disaster reduction actions, to integrate structural and non-structural countermeasures, and Þ nally to form the regional integrated disaster reduction paradigm.

Earthquake Loss Assessment for Integrated Disaster Risk Management

Understanding probable losses and reconstruction costs due to earthquakes creates powerful incentives for countries to develop planning options and tools to cope with risk, including allocating the sustained budgetary resources necessary to reduce those potential damages and safeguard development. A specific catastrophic risk model has been developed to evaluate, building by building, the probabilistic losses and pure premiums of different portfolios, taking into account the seismic microzonation of cities. This model has been used to evaluate the fiscal contingency liabilities of the government and to build an optimal structure for risk transfer and retention, considering contingent credits, reserve funds, insurance/reinsurance, and cat bonds. Lastly, the model allows the evaluation of an exceedance probability curve of benefit-cost ratio, providing an innovative and ground-breaking tool for decision makers to analyze the net benefits of the risk mitigation strategies, such as earthquake retrofitting and seismic code enforcement. This article describes the model and the derived abovementioned tools, using the results of loss scenarios and the strategies implemented in some earthquake prone urban centers.

Designing new institutions for implementing integrated disaster risk management: key elements and future directions

The goal of integrated disaster risk management is to promote an overall improvement in the quality of safety and security in a region, city or community at disaster risk. This paper presents the case for a thorough overhaul of the institutional component of integrated disaster risk management. A review of disaster management institutions in the United States indicates significant weaknesses in their ability to contribute effectively to the implementation of integrated disaster risk management. Our analysis and findings identify eight key elements for the design of dynamic new disaster management institutions. Six specific approaches are suggested for incorporating the identified key elements in building new institutions that would have significant potential for enhancing the effective implementation of integrated disaster risk management. We have developed a possible blueprint for effective design and construction of efficient, sustainable and functional disaster management institutions.

Towards integrated disaster risk management: case studies and trends from Asia

Integrated disaster risk management (IDRiM) is a process for comprehensively and credibly estimating and managing risks from multiple synergistic sources, and, as such, presents a challenge to science and policy communities. IDRiM becomes increasingly complex as human interventions contribute to escalating disasters losses. Over the period 1984–2003, more than four billion people were affected by extreme natural events: between 1990 and 1999 the costs of natural disasters were more than 15 times higher than during the period 1950–1959 (World Bank 2006a). The main factors, or drivers, behind rising economic losses are changes in land use and increases in the concentration of people and capital in high-risk areas, for example, in coastal regions exposed to windstorms, in fertile river basins exposed to floods, and in urban areas exposed to earthquakes (Miletti 1999). There is also mounting evidence that climate change is contributing to rising weather-related disaster events. Observations of long-term and widespread changes in wind patterns and aspects of extreme weather, including droughts, heavy precipitation, heat waves, and the intensity of tropical cyclones, are increasingly linked with climate change (Schonwiese et al. 2003; Emanuel 2005; IPCC 2007). Integrated disaster risk management calls for rigorous risk analyses that integrate multiple hazards and their drivers for estimating potential human, economic and