southasiadisasters.net July 20142

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

We live in an era ofu n p r e c e d e n t e d

urbanization. Since 2008, for thefirst time in human history,more people live in cities andtowns as compared to thecountryside. Moreover, thenumber of city and towndwellers is expected to swell upto 5 billion by 2030. This greatnumber has huge implicationsfor the risk profile of urbancentres.

As the pressure on the resourcesof urban centres gets escalated,more and more people getpushed into the column ofvulnerability. This issue ofSouthasiadisasters.net focuses onthe theme of urban risk andresilience. This issue has beentitled 'Towards UrbanResilience' as it contains articlesdetailing the efforts made byvarious agencies andorganizations to reduce therisks faced by urban centres.The theme of urban resilienceis also important to focus uponas it is inextricably linked tobroad development outcomes.

Meticulously researched andlucidly written, the articles inthis issue provide the readerwith a broad overview of thebest practices and interventionsapropos urban resilience withspecial focus on Asia.Interesting pieces such as thedisaster risk reduction plan ofShajahanabad in Delhi and thepilot risk assessment ofAhmedabad have been included.This issue is a must read for allthose who are interested in thebroad and ever evolving area ofurban resilience.

INTRODUCTION

The Importance of UrbanResilienceAccording to the

United Nations'World UrbanizationProspects 2014 edition, by2050, 66% of the world'spopulation are expectedto be living in urbanareas. This is an increaseof 120% since 1950, whenonly 30% lived in urbancentres. Over the next 35years, the bulk of thegrowth will be in Africaand Asia. Currently, 40%and 48% of these populations live incities, significantly less than theworldwide average of 54% today.However by 2050, these rates areexpected to grow to 56% and 64%respectively, catching up with theworld average. India, China andNigeria are together expected to makeup 37% of the projected growthbetween 2014 and 2050. Whereas notlong ago the world's largest cities werefound in the most developed regions,today's largest cities are to be found inthe Global South. The fastest growingtoday are small to medium sized cities.

As the world grows increasinglyurbanised, communities,humanitarians, development actors,businesses and markets must adapt tothe scale, density, and diversity ofurban environments. As the populationof a city grows, so does the demand oninfrastructure and services. Particularlyin the faster growing small andmedium-sized cities, this puts pressureon local governments which may nothave sufficient resources to provide forthe rapidly expanding population. Ascities become denser, space is limitedand neighbourhoods are established onhigher risk land. Hoping to takeadvantage of the opportunities that

cities can provide, the poorflock to cities leading tothe emergence of slums.The urban poor areespecially vulnerable,having fewer resources,living and working inareas with lessinfrastructure, greaterhazards and often facingmarginalization by therest of the urbanpopulation and localgovernment.

Urban environments, however, canhold great opportunities in thetechnology and network power it hasaccess to. The concentration of powerand resources, government and mediain urban centres can shine a spotlighton urban challenges. Strong marketsand business hubs can assist urbancommunities to self-recover followingcrisis events. However the complexityof urban systems means that oftenopportunities go underutilised. Moreand more, urban planners, urban DRRspecialists and urban humanitarianresponders are looking at urbanresilience, in other words the degreeto which urban systems andcommunities are able to effectivelyadapt and react to the hazards they face.Approaching urban systems andstructures in a holistic way, urbanresilience allows us to understand theexisting infrastructure, systems andnetworks which help a city mitigate,prepare for and respond to hazards andcrises. With the growing scale, densityand diversity of urban areas, as well asthe immense potential impact thaturban crises can have, urban resilienceis an important approach.

– Leah Campbell,Researcher,

ALNAP

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DRR IN URBAN SPACE

The Urban Resilience Approach

As the word suggests, "UrbanResilience" is the capacity of an

urban center to absorb the shock of asudden or unforeseen disasterprovoked by an event withoutnecessitating massive extra territorialaids and resources to maintain itsurban performance quality. Theseshocks could be of manmade origin(war, social disturbances, invasions,etc.) or of natural causes (tsunami,flood, cyclone, earthquake, landslides,etc.). An event is termed as a 'disaster'only when it causes considerable lossof life and property leading to alowering of the living condition.

The quality of urban resilience or inother words its absorbing capacitydepends upon the managementquality of its governance system, itsresources availability, itsinfrastructural facilities andmaneuverability, the participativedynamics of its citizens and mostimportantly its visions andpreparedness mechanism at all levelsto counteract the disasters andemergencies.

In fact, an urban center is a complexentity of a total system composed ofinnumerable sub-systemsrepresenting different urbanelements and parameters. They areinterlinked and acting in aninteractive manner holding this totalsystem in equilibrium. If any or moreof these sub-systems or their linkageswith the total system is threatenedby an external force or event of highmagnitude such as a disaster, theshock is transmitted throughout theentire urban system triggering a setof chain reactions between them toprevent rupture. If the shock is notstrong enough to break their chaini.e., within their resilient capacity, theurban center can withstand the shock;

failing which the disaster will takeplace.

To counter act the roots of the riskfactors or minimize their effects, weneed to prepare a systemic analysis(cause & effect link) of all its urbanparameters, their strength andvulnerability, their critical resilientcapacity in terms of rupture limit.Such an analysis (SWOT) willdetermine the different measuresnecessary to face both the inherent(fixed) risks factors (geographical andenvironmental) as well as createdones (faulty urbanization, inadequacyin infrastructural provision, pooradministration, etc.). In fact, most ofthe worst disasters we have so farexperienced are consequences ofunmindful anthropogenic activities(urbanization in the flood prone orother risky areas, too near to the sea-shores – especially in the tropicalzones, geologically weak areas,rampant deforestation leading to soilerosion and landslides, etc, & etc).

The magnitude of disaster ismeasured by its impact on human life.However, the majority of our urbansettlements are situated in variousrisk areas and are continuing theirphysical expansion underdevelopment pressure (an increasingproportion of population is becomingurban), pushing these centers togrowing threats of risks. Today, theglobal climatic changes constitute themost vulnerable risk that thehumanity has ever confronted with,leading to consequential effects on allaspects of planetary life system. Wecannot remove our vulnerablesettlements (specially in developingcountries) but we can strengthen theirresilience capacity to minimize themagnitude of disasters.

Today, we possess a good number ofscientific means and knowhows (GIS,forecasting, simulation of scenariosand magnitude of disasters' effects,etc.) to understand, to envision andto modelise these risks and minimizetheir impacts on settlements. Toencounter the disasters and improvethe resilient capacity of thesettlement centers, three basicstrategies are needed to be developed:1) Anticipation and envisioning of

the "causes & effects chain" thatconstitute the total urban systemof the settlement centre.

2) Improve the early warning andpreparedness capacity,infrastructural mobility andgovernance system.

3) Incorporating necessary measuresin the development program torectify the planning errors.

ConclusionTo build up a resilient city, we needto proceed first with a SWOTANALYSIS of its urban parameters;particularly those that are vulnerableto disaster and to determine how tominimize their weakness and toimprove their reactive capacities.Improve the existing resilientcapacity of the sub-systems. Build uppublic awareness to causes ofdisasters and their participatorymechanism to meet disaster situation.Provide effective early-warningmeasures to build up up-streampreparedness actions. Undertakecorrect planning actions to minimizeor eradicate disaster causing elements.

Only through such combined actionscan we improve the resilient capacityof our urban centers.

– Hari Baral, Architect,Town & Regional Planner, Director

ENVITEC Paris, France

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The efforts towards achieving Urban Resilience on global level are stillfacing gaps at numerous levels. Regarding the same issue an exchange

of dialogue took place between AIDMI and McMaster University, Canada.

From the exchange of thoughts it was concluded that to understand thegaps there is a need to document the feedback at three levels, 1. The slumresidents, who are at the receiving end of this cycle, 2. The civil societyorganisations and other social organisation who acts as bridge betweenslum residents and Govt. officials, and 3. The Govt. sector, which isresponsible during the process of making policies. AIDMI helped inexpanding the areas of study and capturing the local voices.

Bridging Gaps in Urban Resilience

RISK RESILIENCE

How Resilient is India's Infrastructure?

Investments in infrastructure areessential for India's economic

growth. But how resilient isinfrastructure in India? Is existinginfrastructure resilient to disasterrisks? Are investments in newinfrastructure addressing disasterrisks? A lot more can be known aboutthis and that may be one reason whythe Prime Minister who chaired 5th

meeting of National DisasterManagement Authority (NDMA) onOctober 28, 2013 talked aboutinvestments in preparedness but didnot discuss resilience ofinfrastructure.

A total $700 million are put aside byIndia with Asian Development Bank(ADB) help to support national effortsto accelerate investment in theinfrastructure that India urgentlyneeds to ensure strong economicgrowth. But is this investmentconsidering resilience ofinfrastructure against disasters andclimate risks? This is not clear toeither national and state disasterauthorities or the victims andvulnerable citizens. Even theinvestors are not fully aware of thisreality.

The Government of India estimatesthat $1 trillion in infrastructureinvestment is needed to achieve

economic growth of 8.4% under its12th five-year development plan, andexpects nearly half of that to befinanced by the vibrant private sector.At the same time one disaster afteranother—floods in Uttarakhand andcyclone in Odisha most recently—cause loss and damage ofinfrastructure. Roads are damaged.Power lines collapse. Bridges are lost.Building disaster risk resilientinfrastructure is yet to attractinvestment amounts that match theneeds. In fact investors do not seemto discuss disaster risk adequatelyeither among themselves or with therecipients of such investment. Limitedmoney is available to developresilient infrastructure features forroad, railway, airport, energy, or citydevelopment. And whatever moneyis available is not disaggregated invarious reports and records as moneyinvested in reducing risk. As a resultwe do not know how much moneyIndia is investing in making itsinfrastructure safer. And therefore itis so difficult to say how resilient isIndia's infrastructure.

Greater care is needed in reviewinginvestments in infrastructure toprotect investments (and citizens)from loss and damage caused bydisasters. All India DisasterMitigation Institute’s (AIDMI) work

finds that this need is especiallypronounced in the North East India;high altitude towns such as Leh inLadakh; coastal district headquarterssuch as Ganjam or Puri in Odisha; andlarge tracks of land that are subject toregular flooding in Bihar and Assam.Several of these states of India haveactive and able state disastermanagement authorities (SDMA). Butthese SDMAs have also not taken upany review to find out how resilientstate infrastructure is.

AIDMI's district level work finds thatproject planning for infrastructureneeds early risk audit in its formativestages of estimating investments.Hazard and vulnerability assessmentneed to be more focused on both, riskof disaster and climate change in theseestimates. What lacks in local levelproject planning is focus on processthat captures risk concerns, riskreduction as a clear goal, and definestargets to build resilience ininfrastructure. There is challenge ofpartnerships and capacities for suchplanning: where are such capablepartners in India? The recent 2013Human Security Conference:Humanitarian Perspectives andResponses Conference, October 24-27, 2013 in Istanbul concluded that tobuild human security for the citizensauthorities must invest more andbetter in infrastructure that protectsand expands human security.

The additional investments ofmillions cannot only accelerateeconomic growth but also protect thisgrowth if the NDMA invites the largeinfrastructure investors to showevidence of their investments beingdisaster risk resilient. Such anevidence will surely shape the agendafor the 6th meeting of NDMA todiscuss resilience of infrastructure.

– Mihir R. Bhatt

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DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

Towards Urban Resilience

Resilience is proving to be ahelpful way of furthering our

understanding of how to improveefforts in disaster management, bothin reducing the scale of impactbeforehand and in providing a betterresponse afterwards. This especiallyappears to be the case in forgingalliances between seeminglydisparate groups, who we know needto work closely together, but for avariety of reasons often do not. Thisfor instance was a key reason for theemergence of resilience as a unitingand readily understandable termbetween the development anddisaster wings of the UK donor DFIDas recommended by the independent2010 Humanitarian EmergencyResponse Review (HERR), andsubsequently adopted by otherdonors and agencies.

Similarly, 'resilience' was used as akey word to bring together urbandesigners (architects, planners andothers) and aid workers at aconference 'Design for UrbanDisaster' held at Harvard Universityin May 2014. At that event, co-hostedby Harvard's Graduate School ofDesign along with IFRC, Habitat forHumanity and Oxford Brookesuniversity, some 150 practitioners,academics – and critics – presentedand debated the practical applicationof resilience in reducing vulnerabilityin towns and cities. Chief among theoutcomes was the need to negotiatebetter understanding among andwithin disciplines: for urbandesigners to consider the importanceof negotiated process and ownershipamong stakeholders from civilsociety; and for humanitarians toconsider the importance of urbanform and fabric – in consideringresponses that engage urbanprofessionals in long-term recovery,and in preparedness planning for

building stronger and safercommunities.

Two important current applicationsof stronger resilience discussed at theconference concerned cash-basedprogramming and 'big data'. For theformer, people affected by disasterget cash to buy goods, therebystimulating markets and reducingtransaction costs in providing aid topeople. This is proving to be quite a'game-changer' – in a recent reviewof the response to the Philippines'Typhoon Haiyan1 a Country Directorof a large international NGOstated,'cash is the number oneintervention besides food and water'.In towns and cities the use of cash isnot hard to understand, and while notperfect – corruption is often cited asissue, though little if any evidencecurrently exists to say cash is anyworse than other sectors - the shift tomore cash based programming israpid. Concerning the use of big data:while five years ago crisis mappingand use of volunteer and technicalcommunities in urban disasterresponse was unheard of, now thishas become central to trackingpopulation movements andproviding usable information, often

in the form of maps, to respondingagencies. An opportunity now existsto improve preparedness planningthrough the application of big datain the work of urban planners andother shapers of towns and cities.

Resilience applied to towns and citiestherefore currently has value, as areadily understandable conceptamong a wide variety ofstakeholders. This is not to ignoredebates about the 'exact meaning', therange of originations of the term(from ecology, engineering andpsychology for example) or whetherit is better to 'bounce forward' thanto 'bounce back'. The chief challengeis to continue to build our collectiveunderstanding of what works best, byreaffirming central themes andprinciples to be found withinresilience that resonate also inp r e v i o u s l y - w i d e l y - f o l l o w e dapproaches such as livelihoods andrights based approaches, given thatundoubtedly in five years time -orless - the humanitarian communitywill have moved on to a new over-arching concept.

– David Sanderson, Professor,Norwegian University of Science and

Technology (NTNU), Trondheim,Norway

A market quickly re-establishes after Typhoon Haiyan.

1 Sanderson, D and Delica Willisen, Z (2014) Philippines Typhoon Haiyan response review, for the DEC and HC. 2014. London and Ottawa.

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URBAN HERITAGE CONSERVATION

Disaster Risk Reduction PlanCase: Shahjahanabad (Walled City), Delhi

Shahjahanabad, or Purani Dilli, wasbuilt by Mughal Emperor

Shahjahan in the period of 1638-1649.And, to present day, it is home to athriving community living in itsnarrow meandering lanes andmagnificent 'havelis'. The Walled Cityis slated for inscription as UNESCOWorld Heritage City under thenomination submitted for 'ImperialCities of Delhi' by Ministry ofCulture, Govt. of India. Assuming itssignificance, a Disaster RiskReduction Plan has been outlined inthe following paragraphs.

1. Risk Assessment and VulnerabilityMapping

Though the Walled City was plannedfor a population of 60,000; 420,000people were living in it in the year1961. It is highly dense with about1500 persons per Ha (pph).Consequently, the residentialstructures were taken over andconverted for non-compatiblecommercial uses resulting inunauthorized construction which hasadded to the vulnerability of thesestructures to fire-hazards and collapseowing to shaking. Many buildings arein a state of dilapidation since neither

the landlord nor tenant(s) are able toarrange for repair and maintenance.Unauthorized electric connectionshave created a tangled web of cablesalong the narrow streets makingthem highly vulnerable to fire.

The area has grown as one of theCentral Business Districts dealingwith about 75% of Delhi's wholesaletrade. Hence, it attracts a substantialshare of floating population whichwill also be at risk in case anyearthquake hits the area. Moreover,damage to business-establishmentsin the area will result in heavy lossfor the City of Delhi and theEconomic Region as well.

Shahjahanabad is rich in both culturaland architectural heritage whichattracts both domestic andinternational tourists. Out of the 170protected monuments listed byArchaeological Survey of India (ASI)in Delhi, 40 are within the limits ofthe Walled City. The communityliving within the Walled City exhibitsunique traditional art and craft.Hence, any damage to the built-fabricwill mean a significant loss to ourcollective Cultural Heritage too.

Delhi Jn. Railway Station is wellwithin the limits of Shahjahanabad;and the New Delhi Railway Stationis next to it on the West. Hence, onaccount of any earthquake the railwayservice will be severely affected.

Seismic Profile of Shahjahanabad,Delhi:Delhi Region has been categorized asSeismic Zone – IV. A study bySrivastava and Somyajulu (cited inIyenger & Ghosh, 2004) mentions thatthe Sonepat- Delhi - Sohna dislocationis responsible for major seismicactivity in and around Delhi.However, there are no major faultswithin 50 kms of the Study Area. Nomajor earthquake has hit the Areasince its inception.

Overlaying of Shahjahanabad overthe geo-morphological map of NCTof Delhi reveals that the Study Areais essentially built on old alluvialplain, since the Walled City was builton the banks of River Yamuna.Similarly, superimposing the StudyArea on the First Level SeismicMicrozonation Map of NCT of Delhireveals that the area exhibitsmoderate to high hazard.

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2. Risk Reduction Plani. Structural retrofitting: Mapping

of structural health of buildingstock need be conducted by theLocal Body (i.e. North DelhiMunicipal Corporation) so as toidentify and classify building-clusters by stages of dilapidationand type of structural solutionneeded. Unsafe building-clustersneed be notified and suitableredevelopment project shall beformulated.

ii. Rent structure of rentedproperties (both residential andcommercial) need be revised sothat the landlord and/or tenantsmay allocate adequate share forrepair and regular maintenance.A revolving fund may be createdby Residents' WelfareAssociation (RWA) and Traders'Welfare Association (TWA) tofacilitate repairs.

iii. Building bye-laws need bedrafted specially for the Area,aligned with the safety standardsof National Building Code andguidelines of Delhi Fire Services.

iv. Services: Water, Drainage,Sewerage, Power andTelecommunication - are thebasic lifeline serviceinfrastructure. For speedyrecovery post-disaster, it isessential that potential damageto these services is minimized.Hence, integrated trunk linesshall be designed to convey thepipelines.

v. Minimizing fire-hazard:Shahjahanabad RedevelopmentCorporation (SRDC) has startedundergrounding of exposedelectric cables. Fire-fightingequipments and water-reservoirsmay be designed at critical areasof the Walled City.

vi. Safe Zones: Open spaces in theCity (Gandhi Maidan oppositeDelhi Jn., Daryaganj, Red FortGround, park in front of JamaMasjid, etc.) may be demarcatedand designed as 'safe refugeareas' where people maycongregate in case any disaster-event. An 'EmergencyEvacuation Plan' need be

Bibliography:2004, Iyenger, I.K.; Ghosh, S. (IISC), Seismic Hazard Mapping of Delhi City, 13th World Conference on Earthquake

Engineering, Vancouver, Canada2010, Delhi Development Authority, Zonal Development Plan for Walled City, http://www.dda.org2012, Dutta, B.K., Bandopadhyay, S., Regeneration of Heritage Urban Space of Delhi, Shahjahanabad, the Walled City, proceedings

of Real Corp 2012, http://www.corp.at

MeasuresSpecial Building Bye-Laws for Shahjahanabad andstringent compliance to itRedevelopment Plan to ensure redistribution ofpopulation and redevelopment of propertiesPreparation of Sub-District Disaster Mitigation Plan

Survey / Mapping of Structural Safety of Built-structures; Declaration of Unsafe BuildingsReform of Rent Control / Tenancy Act (to revise rents)Preservation of Heritage Monuments and preparationregulations for neighbouring developmentAwareness Campaigns

AgencyNorth Delhi Municipal Corporation

Delhi Development Authority, North Delhi MC

District Disaster Mitigation Authority (DDMA – CentralDist.), GNCTDNorth Delhi MC (in association with BMPTC & IIT-Delhi'sCivil Engg. Dept.)Govt. of NCT of DelhiArchaeological Survey of India (ASI), National MonumentsAuthority (NMA)Residents' Welfare Association(s), Traders' WelfareAssociation(s)

prepared indicating adequatesignage, so that the residentsmay safely reach these 'SafeGrounds' within and outside theWalled City. Routes shall bedesigned so as to avoid lanespassing through vulnerableneighbourhoods.

vii. Decongestion: High densityneighbourhoods, vulnerable tobuilding-collapse and fire-hazard, need be decongested.Phased relocation within theWalled City or in neighbouringareas in Delhi needs be planned.

viii. Public Awareness: AwarenessCampaigns and mock drills shallbe organized on regularintervals to developpreparedness.

ix. Disaster Debris ManagementPlan need be prepared for quickrecovery of arterial routes.

To ensure implementation andmonitoring of the mitigationmeasures prescribed above,following action plan need beconsidered.

– Deepanjan Saha,An Architect-Planner, Planning Consultant with Delhi Development Authority, Delhi

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URBAN RISK PROFILE

Disaster Management in India:The Case of Mumbai Floods and Cyclone Phailin

India is located in Southern Asia. Itis the seventh-largest country in the

world by area of 3,287,263 sq km.

The climate of India varies fromtropical monsoon in south totemperate in north, due to its vastsize. India experiences climate fromthree major climate groups- Tropicalwet (humid) climate group, Dryclimate group and Sub-tropical humidclimate group.

India is entirely contained on theIndian Plate, a major tectonic platethat was formed when it split off fromthe ancient continent Gondwanaland(ancient landmass, consisting of thesouthern part of the supercontinentof Pangea).

1. Main Hazards

1.1. The extent of damageexperienced in previous disasters:

Sr. Name of Event YearNo.1 Kangra earthquake 19052 Bihar Earthquake 19343 Bengal Cyclone 19704 Maharashtra Drought 19725 Andhra Pradesh Cyclone 19776 Drought in Haryana &

Punjab 19877 Latur Earthquake 19938 Orissa Super Cyclone 19999 Gujarat Earthquake 200110 Indian Ocean Tsunami 200411 Kashmir Earthquake 200518 Mumbai Floods 200512 Kosi Floods 200813 Cyclone Nisha of

Tamil Nadu 200814 Andaman Islands

earthquake 200915 Cyclone Aila 200916 Flood in Orissa, Karnataka,

Kerala, Gujarat and Andhra200917 Cyclonic Storm Phyan 200918 Cyclonic Storm Jal 2010

19 Cyclonic Storm Laila 201020 Eastern Indian storm 201021 Ladakh floods 201022 Sikkim earthquake 201123 Himalayan flash floods

(Uttarakhand) 201224 Cyclonic Storm Phailin 201225 Assam floods 201326 Bihar Flood 201327 Cyclonic Storm Helen 201328 Cyclone Lehar 201329 Floods (Uttarakhand)

due to cloudburst 2013

2. Selected Disaster Event

2.1. Mumbai Floods, 2005: Theincident of Mumbai floods whichoccurred on Jul 26, 2005. There are 19megacities in the world out of which13 megacities are in coastal areas, 11out of the 13 megacities are in Asia.Mumbai is one of them. Mumbai isidentified as one of the 3 mostvulnerable cities of the world whichwill be adversely affected by climatechange by the IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change (IPCC).

On July 26th–27th 2005, unusuallyheavy rains battered suburbanMumbai and Thane, causing one ofthe worst floods in the history of thestate. The floods were caused by theeighth heaviest ever recorded 24 hourrainfall figure of 944 mm whichlashed Mumbai on 26 July andcontinued intermittently over thenext day. Nearly half of the annualaverage rainfall in Mumbai (2363mm) was received in 24 hour period.

2.1.1Causes of the Flood:i. Unprecedented Rainfall.ii. High tides aggravated the flood

conditions as the water could notrecede from the city.

iii. Urban flash flooding roserapidly within 3-4 hours,submerging roads and railway

tracks. One third of the city gotflooded; the metropolis waspractically cut off from otherparts of the country.

2.1.2 Flood Impact:i. Urban Transportation Systemii. Infrastructure and Amenitiesiii. Economic Impactiv. 5,000 people died in the incident.v. Thousands of animals were

trapped and died in the flood;most of them were floating in theflood water raising concernsabout the possibility of disease.

2.1.3 Immediate Response:i. Hot lines established between

Navi Mumbai, Military andMCGM.

ii. Response time for reachingaccident spot reduced from 15 to8 minutes by commissioning of07 new fire stations and 06Regional Command Centers.

iii. 35 Automatic Weather Stationswere installed.

iv. Over 4,500 beds proposed toadmit patients of water bornediseases in Municipal andgovernment hospitals.

v. Training programs for disastermanagement.

2.2. Cyclone Phailin in Odisha, 2012:Cyclone Phailin made landfall inOdisha, India on 12th October 2012 ataround 9:15 pm local time with windspeeds of around 200 km/hour. Thecyclone was a Category 4 storm(Hurricane Katrina, in comparison,was a Category 3 storm uponlandfall). This was the biggest stormto have hit the Indian coast in the past14 years. Last in 1999, Cyclone 05Bcaused massive devastation, killingmore than 10,000 people anddestroying substantial housing andpublic infrastructure in coastalOdisha.

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2.2.1 Post disaster report: 72 hourslater after Phailin, the official deathtoll is 38 people, less than 0.4 % of thedeath toll from the 1999 cyclone.

2.2.2. Preparedness: Following thedisaster in 1999, Odisha set up theOSDMA (Odisha State DisasterManagement Authority), the firststate agency focused exclusively ondisaster management in India.i. Evacuation exercise and relief

preparations.ii. Involvement of International

NGOs to tackle the cyclone.iii. Mock drills.iv. Community's responsiveness.v. Counsel from UNDP for

coordination and clusterpreparedness.

vi. The NDMA has deployed, theNational Disaster ResponseForce in Andhra Pradesh, Odishaand West Bengal.

vii. Close to a million people wereevacuated to cyclone shelters inOdisha and Andhra Pradesh.

viii. A number of buildings, likeschools, community halls, officecomplexes and other buildingsaway from the effect of expectedstorm surge were identified andpeople were shifted before thecyclone Phailin came.

ix. Central Medical teams' werekept ready.

x. The Department ofCommunication and National

Highways Authority of Indiakept their resources ready to bemoved at a short notice.

xi. NDMA also kept the mediainformed.

xii. Media played an important rolein early warning andcorresponding preparedness.

xiii. Control rooms have been set up.

2.2.3 Emergency Response:i. Community members were

moving to safer locations suchas schools and pucca building.

ii. Several trees have been felled bycommunity members as pre-emptive measures to preventdeath caused by trees fallingover people.

Map showing landfall of Cyclone Phailin. (Source: JRC)

iii. 29 teams of the National DisasterResponse Force have beendeployed in Odisha. The teamshave been equipped withsatellite phones and wirelesssets for communication.

iv. India Red Cross Society (IRCS)has been actively assisting in theevacuation process, andprovided assistance in thegovernment evacuation centres.

2.2.4 Recovery and Reconstruction:Rehabilitation and reconstructionwork have simultaneously started torestore normalcy which is going totake some time.

– Mutum Chaobisana Devi,Architect/Urban Planner, Delhi

COMMUNITY VOICES

Voices from Small and Medium Entrepreneurs of Puri, Odishaon 2011 Floods

During floods there is noalternative source of income.There is no nearby market.Relief can only help but onlyto an extent. How to start mybusiness? How to link up withcustomers? How to replenishworking capital? Should Ispend my time to restart mybusiness or rebuild my home? I had never thought aboutthese before and hardly could plan when disasterstruck. – Santosh Prashti, Jeweller, Madhuban village, Puri

Lack of Invention of newmachineries and inadequateprotective action fromgovernment has put a full stopon handicraft items: Floodsmade this full stop bigger andeverlasting. Without SWADand my SHG it is not possibleto recover on my own.Collective recovery is more likely to be successful.

– Shushma Guru,Hadicraft and Coir Worker, Jaipur village, Puri

(with UNDP support)

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URBAN RISK IN ASIA

South–South Cooperation for Cities in Asia

The coming wave of technologicalinnovations aimed at global

South cities will dominate civicdebates whether people wish it to ornot. Already, futuristic, 21st-centurycities are being built around Asiafrom scratch. I had the privilege ofvisiting a couple of them in 2012 whileresearching the fourth issue of ourmagazine, Southern Innovator( h t t p : / / w w w . s c r i b d . c o m /SouthernInnovator). Each city had adifferent focus for its construction –one was seeking to be an "eco-city"and the other one called itself a "smartcity," focused on becoming a regionalbusiness and technology hub. Bothaimed to use the latest informationtechnologies to make the way Asiancities operate on a day-to-day basissmarter – and greener.

Large information technologycompanies – including India's Infosys(infosys.com) – have their sights seton selling all sorts of technologicalsolutions to common problems ofurban living. This aspiring revolutionis built on two foundations: One isthe Internet of Things – in whicheveryday objects are connected to theInternet via microchips. The other isBig Data, the vast quantities of databeing generated by all the mobilephones and other electronic devicespeople use these days.

Much of this new technology will bemanufactured in Asia, and not justthat – it will also be developed anddesigned in Asia, often to meet thechallenges of urban Asia.

By their nature, cities are fluid places.People come and go for work andpleasure, and successful cities aremagnets for people of allbackgrounds seeking newopportunities. This fluidity puts stress

on cities and leads to the constantcomplaints familiar to any urbandweller – inadequate transport, trafficjams, air pollution, poor housing, anda high cost of living.

If handled well and with imagination,new information technologies canensure Asian cities do more than paylip service to aspirations to improvehuman development. They can makecities resilient places - able to bounceback from disasters, whether man-made or natural.

During the late 1990s, I saw first-handthe pressures placed on one Asiancity, Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar.The country endured the worstpeacetime economic collapse sinceWorld War II while confronting thewrenching social and economicstresses of switching from acommand economy duringCommunism to a free-marketdemocracy. The city's populationgrew quickly as rural economiescollapsed and poverty shot upwards.I can only imagine now how theresponse could have been differentwith the technologies available today.

In 2010, I interviewed one of theeditors of the Cities for All book,

Charlotte Mathivet (http://globalurbanist.com/2010/08/24/cities-for-all-shows-how-the-worlds-poor-are-building-ties-across-the-global-south), and she stressed theimportance of South-Southcooperation to ensuring cities aregood places to live for everyone.

"A lot of social initiatives based onthe right to the city are coming fromthese 'new cities of the South,'"Mathivet said. "The book highlightsoriginal social initiatives: protestsand organizing of the urban poor,such as the pavement dwellers'movements in Mumbai where peoplewith nothing, living on thepavements of a very big city,organise themselves to struggle fortheir collective rights, just as the parkdwellers did in Osaka."

Recently, an Indian restaurantuploaded to the Internet a video ofwhat it claimed to be the first dronedelivering a pizza in an Indian city.While this may or may not be apractical solution to trafficcongestion, the subsequent negativefallout – angry police and publicofficials – from this use of newtechnology highlights the promiseand perils of innovating in the real

Southern Innovator's fifthissue on Waste andRecycling (http://www.scribd.com/doc/207579744/Southern-Innovator-Magazine-Issue-5-Waste-and-Recycling),shows how innovators aretackling the challenge ofimproving humandevelopment on a planetwith finite resources and agrowing population.

southasiadisasters.netJuly 2014 11

STATE RISK PROFILE

Urban Risks in Uttar Pradesh

India is one of the major countries whichwitness natural and human induced

disasters very frequently. Urban areasconcentrate disaster risk due to theaggregation of people, infrastructure andassets, urban expansion, and inadequatemanagement.

Uttar Pradesh is one of the largest statesof India. About 22 percent of states'population resides in urban centers. Thereare 915 towns / cities as per Census, 2011.There has been 30 percent increase in thenumber of towns and cities during 2001to 2011. There are 630 urban local bodiesin the state viz. 13 Municipal Corporations,193 Nagar Palika Parishads, and 424Nagar Panchayats. Out of 13 MunicipalCorporations, 5 Municipal Corporationsfall under high seismic zone, 6 MunicipalCorporations in moderate seismic riskzone, and 2 Municipal Corporations arein low and very low seismic risk zones.The state has been divided into 4geographical regions viz, Central,Western, Eastern, and Bundelkhand.

Western region is more urbanised whileEastern region is flood prone andBundelkhand region is drought prone. Alarge segment of urban population in thestate resides in slums, peri urban areas,squatters and informal settlements. Thesesettlements are often located in lowlaying areas prone to direct and indirectrisks due to environmental degradation,including changes in the climate and lackof basic urban services. The urban poorliving in slums and peri-urban areas andinformal settlements are vulnerable asthey reside in high-risk areas and faultyshelters, having limited access to basic andemergency services. Moreover, overexploitation of ground water resources inurban centers for quenching the thirst ofincreasing urban population, changinglifestyle, and water uses for variouspurposes is cause of concern. Due tounregulated housing and buildingconstruction, lack of proper drainage andsewer network and also ineffectivefunctioning of sewerage system in thestate, urban centers are at high risks. Theblockage and choking in drainage and

sever system leads towater logging and flashflood in urban centers.

Increasing urbanization, expansion ofhabitat into unsuitable vulnerable areas,higher population density, higher housingdensity, vulnerable housing and buildingsconstruction, non engineered unsafeconstruction, and aging buildings andother infrastructure are some of the factorsthat have increased the vulnerability ofhazards and disasters in urban areas.Growing urbanization is posing seriousenvironmental concerns in India in termsof changing land use pattern, increasingcarbon emissions, solid waste generationand its disposal, air and water pollutionand poor sanitation amenities. Majorchallenge for cities in the face of rapidpopulation growth is to maintainsustainability within the social, economicand environmental dimensions. Theaccelerated and uncontrolled urbangrowth has contributed to the ecologicaltransformation of the cities and theirimmediate surroundings resulting inflash floods and water scarcity.Furthermore other factors depending onthe local circumstances contribute to theurban vulnerability, hazards and risks.

Cities are hubs of the intensive resourcedemand, environmental degradation andgreenhouse gas emissions. However,cities may play a critical role in promotinglow carbon development through use ofrenewable energy, energy efficiency,green buildings and mitigating emissionsfrom urban transport. The immediateproblems of states' cities relate toinadequate institutional arrangements forsolid waste management, drainage,sewage treatment and disposal andsanitation services. Thus, it is imperativeto improve the municipal services,particularly sanitation services and urbanlocal governments adopt the integratedurban planning for climate resilience andaddressing the environmental problems.

– Dr. A. K. Singh, Assistant Director,Regional Center for Urban and EnvironmentalStudies (Est. by Ministry of Urban Development,Government of India), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

world of Asian cities (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/b l o g s - n e w s - f r o m -elsewhere-27537120).

Micro electronics arebecoming cheaper and morepowerful by the month.Small businesses armedwith a only laptop computer,access to the Internet and/ormobile phone networks, andcloud computing services,can offer very powerfulbusiness and public servicessolutions. And sharingsolutions across the globalSouth via informationtechnologies has never beeneasier.

The U.S. Pentagon publishedvarious reports and studiesin the 2000s forecasting adark future for cities in theglobal South. As authorMike Davis revealed in hisseminal work, Planet ofSlums (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1844670228/nationbooks08), thePentagon saw thedeveloping world's cities asthe "battlespace of thetwenty-first century." Itimagined sprawling, crime-ridden cities full of povertyand slums and needing tinydrones and robots dartingback and forth, keeping aneye on everything andsuppressing unrest. Thisthreat-based view of futurecities is one to be avoided. Itis possible, through the rightapplication of quick solutionsto the challenges that ariseas cities grow, to turn tocooperation across the citiesof the global South to avoidthis pessimistic fate.

– David South, Editor,United Nations Office forSouth-South Cooperation

(UNOSSC), UK

southasiadisasters.net July 201412

CLIMATE CHANGE IN URBAN SPACE

Possible Heat Action Plans for Small Towns ofIndiaClimate related extreme weather

events are on the rise. Theseevents range from floods anddroughts to cyclones and extremes oftemperatures. Heat waves, thoughextremely deadly and frequent arenot as visible as other extremeweather events. There are projectionsof an increase in the frequency, intensityand duration of these heatwavesacross the world. Unfortunately, theimpacts of climate change areindiscriminate in their effects and arefelt more in the less developedcountries, societies and communities.

There is optimism in the fact thatdisaster preparedness is known to bean effective tool in reducing deaths.Formal evaluations of these plansshow them to be effective andextremely cost effective. Variouscities, especially in the west, haveembarked on building disasterpreparedness plans. We inpartnership with NRDC, helpedAhmedabad to become the first city

in South Asia in having a heat wavepreparedness plan. However, alimitation of these plans is that theyare quite urban focussed as they aretypically implemented through thecity governments. The need of thehour is to have these resiliencestrategies integrated into the disasterrisk reduction framework at all levels-state, city and at grassroots levels.

Just as there is a limitation ofavailable data from tropical countriesthat are more vulnerable, there is lessdata from the most vulnerablesocieties and communities withinthese countries. There are very fewstudies which have documented theeffects of heat waves in small townsand rural areas. This lack ofinformation is compounded by thedifficulty in arriving at statisticalassociations from the low numbersof reported data. Consequently we areunaware of any preparednessstrategies in place for small towns inIndia.

The rapid urbanisation currentlytaking place is in small towns and notbig cities. Of the phenomenal growthin national urban population aremarkable level of growth has takenplace in Class 2, 3 and 4 towns with apopulation of less than 1 lakh. Smalltowns should be a focus ofpreparedness plans as the highpopulation vulnerability, weakinfrastructure and governancestructures as well as low attention inthe national consciousness. Theremay also be unique behaviouralaspects locally which make peoplemore vulnerable to heat morbidity.For example, during an interview ofrural women we discovered that thelack of toilets at home forced womento go out to the fields either duringdawn or at dusk. To avoid visits inbetween they would cut back on fluidconsumption leading to increasedrisk of dehydration and heat strokes.Physical labour based occupationsmay be predominant in workers,their lifestyle requiring them to spendmore time outdoors and weakhousing related infrastructural issues(green spaces, electricity and watersupply) are more common to smalltowns. Thus, possible preparednessplans for small towns need to haverecommendations based on localconditions and practices.

We emphasize on the need forsuitable research in these muchneglected but rapidly urbanisingareas. It is an opportunity to includeresilience planning while the smallercities are taking shape.

– Gulrez Shah Azhar,Priya Dutta, Ajit Rajiva and

Dileep Mavalankar for theAhmedabad Heat Action group

The city of Ahmedabad experienced a particularly hot summer due toheat wave in May-June 2014. The last time when a heat wave struck

the city, then the total number of all cause mortalities stood at 4,462.This prompted the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to drafta Heat Action Plan for Ahmedabad in collaboration with the IndianInstitute of Public Health (IIPH) and the National Defence Research Council(NDRC).

All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) has also tried to contributeto this effort of raising awareness against heat waves by conducting actionresearch with vulnerable communities of Ahmedabad to gauge at thedebilitating impact that heat waves have on such communities. Theobjective of this research is to further knowledge upon the adverse impactsof heat waves on human health so as to advocate a greater uptake of effortslike the Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan by other states and cities of India.

– Kshitij Gupta

Recognizing Heat Wave as a Health Risk

southasiadisasters.netJuly 2014 13

BEST PRACTICES

Cost Effective Green Building Techniques forDisaster Resilient CitiesThe construction industry heavily

depends upon natural resourcesfor the procurement of raw materialsto be used for erecting different typesof structures. Bricks, cement,reinforcement bars all find theirsource in natural elements. But dueto growing global concerns, there isan urgent need to look foralternatives to produce greener andcleaner building materials, whichconsume fewer resources, producelesser pollution and are environmentfriendly. Another very importantaspect being added to this concern isthe disaster resistance capability ofthese materials. A brick which isgreener in production can also bemore disaster resilient. Discussed hereare a few examples in that respect: flyash bricks, compressed earth blocksand rat trap masonry bonding.

i) Fly Ash BricksPulverised ash brick (PAB)technology is a process of convertingindustrial waste materials intoquality building materials. Atpresent, the technology is wellestablished in converting thermalpower plant waste into quality bricks.'FLY ASH' is the extremely fine ash'flying' along with flue gases istrapped in electro-static precipitators(ESP) and is collected. The relativelycoarser ash generated at the bottomof the boilers is mixed with water,made into slurry and pumped intofill sites called ‘ash ponds’.

Advantages of Fly ash brick overconventional bricks:1. Due to high strength, practically

no breakage during transportand use.

2. Due to the uniform size of thesebricks, the mortar required forjoints and plaster reduces almostby 50%.

3. Due to lower water penetrationseepage of water through bricksis considerably reduced.

4. Gypsum plaster (plaster of Paris)can be directly applied on thesebricks without a backing coat oflime plaster.

5. These bricks do not requiresoaking in water for 24 hours.Sprinkling of water before use isenough.

6. These fly ash bricks can bedesigned to be used inearthquake/cyclone proneregions.

7. They have higher compressivestrength as compared toconventional bricks.

8. As there is no baking or kilnrequired, the environmentaldamages are very low.

ii) Compressed Stabilised Earth BlocksThe soil, raw or stabilized, for acompressed earth block (CEB) isslightly moistened, poured into asteel press (with or without stabiliser)and then compressed either with amanual or motorized press. CEB canbe compressed in many differentshapes and sizes. The input of soilstabilization allowed people to buildhigher with thinner walls, which havea much better compressive strengthand water resistance. With cementstabilization, the blocks must be curedfor four weeks after manufacturing.After this, they can dry freely and beused like common brick with a soilcement stabilized mortar. Costs aretoo often limited only to a monetaryvalue. Another important aspect is theenergy consumption involved in thematerial. The production of earth-based materials consumes muchlesser energy and pollutes muchlesser than fired bricks. CSEB andstabilised rammed earth are muchmore eco-friendly.

CSEB are most the time cheaper thanfired bricks. This will vary from placeto place and specially according to thecement cost. The cost break up of a5% stabilised block would depend onthe local context.• Ideally, the production is made

on the site itself or in the nearbyarea. Thus, it will save thetransportation, fuel, time andmoney.

• Well-designed CSEB houses canwithstand, with a minimum ofmaintenance, heavy rains,snowfall or frost without beingdamaged. The strength anddurability has been proven sincehalf a century.

• Requiring only a little stabilizerthe energy consumption in an m3

can be from 5 to 15 times lessthan an m³ of fired bricks. Thepollution emission will also be2.4 to 7.8 times less than firedbricks.

• Produced locally, with a naturalresource and semi skilled labour,almost without transport, it willbe definitely cost effective! Moreor less according to each contextand to ones knowledge!

iii) Rat Trap Bond ConstructionRat-trap bond masonry can be usedto construct a small double storeyedresidential building in load bearingconstruction, using the specificconstruction details which arefollowed in this technique. Theprincipal requirement for rat-trapbrickwork is the availability of goodquality bricks. The following can betaken as guiding principle for strengthof bricks for Rat-trap brickwork.

Advantages of rat trap bonding:• The construction of this type of

bonding uses 25 % less bricks,thus directly saving on the costof material.

southasiadisasters.net July 201414

SAFE CITIES

Important Aspects of A Successful Safe CityApproach

We live in an era ofunprecedented urbanization.

Since 2008, for the first time in humanhistory, more people live in cities andtowns as compared to the countryside.Moreover, the number of city andtown dwellers is expected to swell upto 5 billion by 20301. This colossalfigure will have great ramificationson the evolution of modern cities inthe developing world. Likewise thisnew wave of urbanization will dictatethe exigencies of a safe city.

Since a city is a concrete expressionof the fears, opportunities, aspirationsand inspiration of the people whoinhabit it, evolving over time intotheir social and cultural milieu,therefore it should necessarily

"A city is not an accident but the result of coherent visions and aims."– Leon Krier, The Architecture of Community

1 LINKING POPULATION, POVERTY AND DEVELOPMENT, Urbanization: A Majority in Cities https://www.unfpa.org/pds/urbanization.htm

address the safety needs of its citizens.Unsafe cities are no cities. Put simply,a safe city is one that provides a secureenvironment to all its citizens to liveup to their fullest potential. Thisencapsulating view of a safe citysubsumes a lot of factors such aseffective coordination amongvarious stakeholders, just allocationof resources and equitabledistribution of social costs andbenefits on citizens of different socio-economic backgrounds.

A globalized world has spawnednewer challenges in building safecities. This is particularly true of thedeveloping countries in Asia. For,apart from a burgeoning populationputting pressure on scant resources,

developing countries are also ailedby great institutional challenges. Thefollowing areas should be accordedgreater focus by policy makers andgovernments of developing countriesin Asia to pursue the agenda ofbuilding safe cities.

1. Effective coordination for effectiveresponseA city is composed of severalurban bodies (governance units)that are accountable fordispensing with theresponsibilities of governance.However, the presence of a largenumber of governance units anddepartments complicates theprocess of coordination amongthem. One of the greatest

• The cavity created on everysubsequent course creates betterinsulation.

• Due to lesser use of material, theoverall cost of material and theenergy consumption in theproduct is evidently less.

• Interlocking bond betweencourses creates earthquakeresistant construction.

Thus, major advances have been madein construction techniques which aregreener, cleaner, disaster resilient and

Type of building construction – Span not Recommended compressive strength of brickexceeding 4.2 metres, Roof/ floor loads as per IS 875 Best Practice Minimum allowableLoad bearing, double storeyed More than 50 kg/cm2 40 kg/cm2

Load bearing, single storeyed More than 40 kg/cm2 35 kg/cm2

Infill masonry in frame structure, no restriction Minimum 35 kg/cm2

on number of storeys

cost effective. As we witnesshistorically unprecedented levels ofurbanization, the challenge ofgrowing sustainably can besuccessfully met by leveraging uponthese traditional techniques.Architectural science has offered avision of a resilient and sustainableurban space, it is up to the decisionmakers to implement these solutionsto realise this vision.

– Aditya Jain

References:• http://www.ruralhousingnetwork.

in/technical/rat-trapbond/Design%20and%20Construction

• http://www.earth-auroville.com/maintenance/uploaded_pics/cseb.pdf

• http://www.recoveryplatform. org/assets/publication/UNDP%20India%20Disaster_Resistant_Construction_Practices.pdf

• http://www.ntpc.co.in/images/content/environment/ash_util/2010-11/Fly-Ash-Bricks.pdf

southasiadisasters.netJuly 2014 15

challenges to building a safe cityis to ensure that there is effectivecoordination among variousurban entities during anemergency. The city as a wholemust respond to this crisis.

The All India Disaster MitigationInstitute (AIDMI) acknowledgesthe need of effectivecoordination during emergenciesand has thus designed, developedand reviewed several CityEmergency ManagementExercises (CMExs) since the year2007 in Ahmedabad, Mumbai,Chennai, Delhi and Guwahati inIndia. These city wide emergencymanagement exercises are akinto city wide mock drills wheredifferent urban entities such asschools, hospitals, policedepartment, fire department, etc.train with each other in asimulated emergency scenario.The idea behind this exercise isto promote coordination amongthese entities by giving thempractice well before anemergency. Having successfullyconducted CMExs in manyIndian cities, AIDMI is nowfocusing on preparing standardguidelines for all those interestedin facilitating a city wideemergency managementexercise to protect the citizens.

2. Thorough and ContextualisedUrban Risk AssessmentsVulnerability to various risks canonly be mitigated after theirproper identification andcomprehension. In this end, thereare a lot of urban risk assessmenttools and methods which help inmapping out variousvulnerabilities and risks towhich a city may be exposed to.However, cities differ from eachother in a ways more than one.This makes a standard urban riskassessment redundant. Sincerisks are relative in nature,therefore any assessment or

framework that seeks to identifyand understand such risks needsto be necessarily grounded in thelocal milieu.

In February 2014, AIDMIdesigned and developed anaction research exercise forframing a contextualised urbanrisk assessment for the city ofAhmedabad in Gujarat, India.The unique risks faced by the cityof Ahmedabad and the uniquechallenges faced by the city'svulnerable populations were allincorporated in the assessment.Once the framework forassessment was drafted, data wasgathered from variousstakeholders in the city based onthe lines of the framework. Theanalysis of this data revealed alot of details about the riskprofile of the city. The detailsincluded that not only is urbanrisk dynamic but is also movingacross time in multiple ways.AIDMI has forwarded thefindings of this assessment to keypolicymakers busy with the HFAprocess so that the vulnerabilitiesidentified may be addressedthrough institutional measures.The results will be addressed atAMCDRR in Bangkok, Thailand.

3. Climate Compatible DevelopmentAs urbanization puts pressure onalready distended urban centresdue to waves of people from thecountryside and rural areasmigrating to such urban centres,

cities are faced with the a uniquechallenge. This is the challengeof sustainable development. Toaccommodate this burgeoningpopulation, developing cities inAsia often pursue an agenda ofindiscriminate infrastructuraldevelopment. This only adds tothe vulnerability of the city tovarious risks. This vulnerabilityis further compounded by theadverse impacts of climate change.

To strive for sustainability, citiesshould necessarily pursue theimperative of climate compatibledevelopment. A climatecompatible developmentapproach minimises the harmcaused by climate impacts, whilemaximising the many humandevelopment opportunitiespresented by a low emissions,more resilient, future. Thus, suchan approach is indispensable forbuilding a safe city.

AIDMI has collaborated with theClimate and DevelopmentKnowledge Network (CDKN) togenerate awareness about thisapproach and implement it inIndia for building safer cities.

While there are several other factorsrequired for building a safe city, thethree enumerated above areextremely important and pertinent tothe context of the developing worldin Asia. Focusing on them would leadus closer to building safer cities inAsia. – Kshitij Gupta

AIDMI becomes a member ofthe Sustainable DevelopmentSolutions Network

The All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) is pleased to announceto its readers that it has just secured membership to the prestigious

Sustainable Development Solution Network (SDSN). The SDSN works closelywith United Nations agencies, multilateral financing institutions, the privatesector, and civil society. The SDSN mobilizes scientific and technicalexpertise from academia, civil society, and the private sector in support ofsustainable development problem solving at local, national, and globalscales. AIDMI will now work closely related to the activities of SDSN.

southasiadisasters.net July 201416

Do you wish to receive this publication regularly? Write to AIDMI (bestteam@aidmi.org). The publication will be sent byE-mail. Your comments help southasiadisasters.net remain an effective and informative resource for regional issues of disasterrisk management. Please contribute comments, features, reports, discussion points, and essays about your work. Today!

Editorial Advisors:

Anshuman SaikiaRegional Programme Support CoordinatorARO, IUCN (International Union for Conservation ofNature), Thailand

Denis NkalaRegional Coordinator, South-South Cooperation andCountry Support (Asia-Pacific), United NationsDevelopment Programme, New York

Ian DavisVisiting Professor in Disaster Risk Management inCopenhagen, Lund, Kyoto and Oxford BrookesUniversities

Madhavi Malalgoda AriyabanduInternational Strategy for Risk Reduction (ISDR) –South Asia, Sri Lanka

Mihir R. BhattAll India Disaster Mitigation Institute, India

Dr. Satchit Balsari, MD, MPHThe University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell,New York, USA

T. Nanda KumarChairman, National Dairy Development Board(NDDB), Anand, Gujarat, India

ALL INDIA DISASTER MITIGATION INSTITUTE411 Sakar Five, Near Natraj Cinema, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad–380 009 India. Tele/Fax: +91-79-2658 2962E-mail: bestteam@aidmi.org, Website: http://www.aidmi.org, www.southasiadisasters.net

HIF Funds Three New Projects with DisasterResilience Focus

Disaster insurance for micro-enterprises is among three

pioneering projects to be awardedgrants by the HumanitarianInnovation Fund (HIF).

The successful projects, which willbe run by Massachusetts GeneralHospital, All India DisasterMitigation Institute (AIDMI) andHumanitarian Open Steet MapTeam, will be developing andtesting a range of innovations tohelp save lives and reduce suffering.The projects, who will workcollaboratively with partners, willreceive over £400,000 in total. Thiswas the sixth round of funding sincethe HIF was launched in 2010.

The HIF, supported by the UKDepartment for InternationalDevelopment (DFID) and theCanadian InternationalDevelopment Agency (CIDA),funds projects across the world todevelop and implement innovative

products or services to improve theglobal response to natural disastersand humanitarian crises.

The three projects to receive fundingin this round are:

Open Aerial Map (Humanitarian OpenStreet Map Team)Open Aerial Map aims to be the firstfree, robust, and openly accessibleonline archive of satellite and aerialimagery. High-resolution satelliteimagery is invaluable for disasterpreparedness as ground imagery canbe utilised to create base maps ofdisaster prone areas. During disasters,the imagery can provide situationalawareness to aid interventions.

Strengthening resilience: low costuterine balloon tamponade package(Massachusetts General Hospital)The project will optimise, test andevaluate a device in Sierra Leone tomitigate postnatal haemorrhage – theleading cause of maternal mortality

in this country. The innovationinvolves placing a balloon in awoman's uterus and inflating itwith water to stop bleeding. Theprocedure is highly cost effective asmaterials can be sourced locally andincludes a training package for localhealth workers.

Urbanization and Crises Program(All India Disaster Mitigation Institutewith Harvard Humanitarian Initiative)The project will pilot disasterinsurance for micro-enterprises toimprove the recovery of localmarkets that play a critical role inproviding goods and services tovulnerable disaster-affectedpopulations in urban settings.

More information about theseprojects will be available throughtheir project profiles and bloggingfacility on the HIF websiteshortly.

– AIDMI Team

NEW PROJECTS