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Physical measures are often combined with environmental ones. To
mitigate heat, people in Rio use containers of plants and climbing shrubs to
cover walls and roofs, a measure also found in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Jabeen et
al. 2010). In both case-study areas, trees and other plants are further used as
natural protection against landslides (Wamsler and UmaƱa 2003; Wamsler et al.
2012). Urban residents also use combined physical-environmental measures to
mitigate floods, landslides and water scarcity. For example, they may construct
soak pits to allow rainwater or wastewater to filter into the ground (Gensch
and Sacher 2012), and draw on their local knowledge to determine where and
how to settle (Shaw et al. 2008). To cope with water scarcity, various measures
have been developed: freshwater, for instance, can be channelled off roofs for
household and communal use (Ayers and Forsyth 2009).
Although physical measures are more visible and better documented, there is
increasing evidence that physical and environmental measures often go together
with more socially oriented ones. One related example of communitarian
behaviour found in Rio and San Salvador is swapping rooms with more
vulnerable elderly or disabled people, to give them the less dangerous (less
exposed or more accessible) ones.
In addition, city dwellers reduce vulnerability through economic measures
aimed at increasing household income and income security: for example, taking
low-risk jobs; economic diversification at individual and household levels to
reduce dependence on specific sources of income; 9 and taking jobs outside
their own district to be less affected by local disasters (Wamsler 2007a; SAARC
2008; Jabeen et al. 2010). Economic diversification is vital, since disasters affect
people's livelihoods - even when they do not occur, as pointed out by a resident
of hurricane-prone Caye Caulker, Belize:
'As long as it is expected to hit anywhere around, the tourists are
immediately going to avoid this area for a good two to three weeks, even
if the hurricane has passed. And that does a huge amount of damage to
your revenue and business total. A hurricane affects whether it hits or it
doesn't.'
(Esdahl 2011:14)
More socially oriented measures involve the creation of solidarity and
reciprocal relationships with neighbours and other community members. These
can serve as a foundation for communitarian action-taking, like establishing
local committees for risk reduction, or 'community cleaning days' to reduce
the risk of waste, branches and other items clogging up water channels. Other
socially oriented measures may relate to education, like sending children to
school outside their own district or investing in children's education (Wamsler
et al. 2012).
Further communitarian patterns of social behaviour can be seen when people
organize to get a more powerful voice in lobbying institutions for better services
 
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