Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
sound structures and environmental protection; social
,
moving from reaction to pre-
paredness; economic, by tackling poverty so that disasters do not make the poor
worse-off; and political, by reducing inequalities and protecting rights during the
crisis and in the aftermath. A third guide came from a review of the characteristics
of a safe and resilient community (Arup
2011
) from the International Federation of
the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which built on previous work by Twigg (
2007
).
This proposed six main characteristics (Knowledge and Safety, Organizations, Con-
nectivity, Infra-structures, Economic Opportunities and Managing Natural Assets)
as the key summary elements to improve risk reduction. These categories general-
ized field work that had been carried out on risk reduction in 30 communities in
several South Asian countries, which had identified 3000 relevant factors to aid
resiliency. Finally, substantial research by the UNISDR (Blackburn and Johnson
2012
) and parallel agencies have produced a global snapshot of how local govern-
ments can reduce the risk of disasters from natural events by following the
Ten Es-
sentials for Risk Reduction.
All these topics and reports have led to substantial progress in understanding natu-
ral hazards but have different contents and emphases, and have created overlapping
lists of what are considered to be the major approaches to risk reduction strategies,
which does not help comprehension. To clarify the situation Fig.
9.2
combines, re-
organizes, and extends previous key principles, to provide a basic framework of the
major categories of ideas and policies in creating greater resiliency. This consists
of four primary domains, namely: the
Context or Background
conditions of the
settlement or region; the
Initial Knowledge
of the hazard risks and vulnerabilities;
the
Needed Improvements
, which describes the various features, physical and hu-
man, required to reduce risk and strengthen disaster preparation; and the
Aftermath
,
the basic stages in the recovery from a natural hazard disaster. A series of basic
Fig. 9.2
Major approaches to making cities more resilient
