Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

111

Prevention and mitigation: post-disaster/post-crises

management

Session 3World Bank Institute

Ricardo Zapata MartiUN ECLAC

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

222

From damage assessment to mitigation

Assessment highlights affected regions, vulnerable groups and sectors, and the intensity of damage Assessment calculates direct damages both with present value and replacement costs; the latter can incorporate mitigation investments The total damage and looses estimated in the assessment can be further disaggregated according to useful criteria :

Total damage to assets and to production, and increased costs or decreased income in the provision of services  Total direct damage and indirect losses  Total damage to public and private sectors

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

3

Why focus on mitigation and prevention?

Prevention and mitigation help save: Lives (by maintaining services and the

resilience of infrastructure) Investment capacity (the opportunity cost of

new investment which must be channeled to reconstruction is not lost)

Face disaster risks proactively, not through curative intervention

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

4

Appropriate level of prevention and mitigation

Satisfy more than reconstruction needs to reduce future risk

Commensurate with severity, strength and recurrence of disasters

Promote policies to better manage risk Include structural, organizational and

financial tools for risk reduction and risk transfer

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

5

How do we implement mitigation

Allocate resources Promote a mitigation culture and consider risk

management and reduction as a productive and profitable investment

Provide training and organize, including at the community level Prevention and mitigation are specific to local, cultural

and social conditions Incorporation of prevention and mitigation into the

culture does not imply imposition by technicians or politicians but negotiation with stakeholders

Ownership of actions is fundamental to building trust Devise early warning systems

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

6

Specific elements of prevention and mitigation

INSURANCE: of public & private property REGULATIONS: safety, land use, zoning CODES: building & fire codes LEGISLATION: local ordinances on safety STRUCTURAL MEASURES: dams, levees, flood control

structures PLANS: contingency plans, fire and earthquake plans EDUCATION: public information, rapid dissemination

of info through mass media, population awareness TRAINING: orientation of local officials, deputized

coordinators, auxiliaries, volunteers, drills & rehearsals RESOURCES: available response units, equipment,

manpower, location, contact nos. & persons

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

7

Case study: coastal reconstruction and mitigation

What is the cause of the disaster?:Identify the role that climate change plays

Who and what will the disaster affect? Properly map the coastal/river infrastructure and vulnerability of coastal communities

How will damages occur? Amass sound knowledge of the processes that can result in damage to coastal/river infrastructure and shorelines, and the efficacy of proposed defenses

How to implement protection against the disaster? Design and construct coastal defense works, emergency relief planning, building setbacks and codes, etc.

How to ensure longevity of defense investment? Properly maintain coastal/river defense works, monitor shoreline movement and residual life of defenses

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

8

Resilience: important for mitigation

Resilience is the ability of an individual or community to withstand external shocks

Social sector recovery & mitigation seeks to put measures in place which balance risk and resilience: Capacity for social mobilization Access to public information Educational levels or knowledge base of the

community A measure of social cohesion Strength of social capital formation Trust of authority Credibility of national/community leaders.

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

9

What are the challenges to prevention and mitigation?

The cost-effectiveness of prevention and mitigation measures is less apparent than in other productive investments:

Benefits are medium- to long-term Benefits are hard to estimate due to unpredictability

of disasters Costs may have to be paid in the short- to medium-

term and can aggravate indebtedness

To correctly value future losses caused by recurring events, must recognize that mitigation reaps benefits in terms of losses not incurred over time

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

10

Incorporating mitigation in the project cycle

Risk reduction: Must be a stated objective in project design

phase Must be addressed in the profitability

analysis, considered not only as investment needed but alsoas a return in terms of losses not incurred

Must be addressed in budgeting provisions Must be part of project evaluation

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

11

The purpose of prevention and

mitigation

Mitigation criteria that have to be negotiated

Incorporated in function

Incorporated in function

Incorporated in function

Low PriorityLow PriorityLow Priority

PriorityPriorityPriority

High priorityHigh priorityHigh priority

Maintain function (services operating)

Save infrastructure (investment)

Save Lives

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

12

Requirements to fulfill objectives (systemic character of disaster mitigation)

Save Lives Save infrastructure Maintain Function (remain operational)

Financial resources Financial resources Financial resources

Management procedures

Management procedures

Management procedures

Specific instruments Specific instruments Specific instruments

Overall policy Overall policy Overall policy

Demand oriented response

Demand oriented response

Demand oriented response

Supply side health response

Supply side health response

Supply side health response

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

13

Negotiating reconstruction: from damage and needs assessment to policy

Methodological problems: needs assessment vs. causal analysis

Operational problems: setting priorities and differentiating emergency from urgency

Policy Problems: resource allocation vs. policy change promotion

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

14

From damage and needs assessment to policy, cont’d

Different priorities, limited resources and competing interests can lead to different opinions about appropriate mitigation measures

Mitigation projects must aim directly at reducing the vulnerabilities estimated in the damage and needs assessment

The success of individual mitigation projects

will contribute to general development goals, not vice versa

Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment

15

How should assessment be used?

Toward comprehensive, participatory and proactive disaster risk reduction

To incorporate risk reduction measures into all development projects

To create risk reduction policies that employ: Economic instruments Financial products (public and private, such as cat

bonds, etc.) Transparent mechanisms