Damage and Reconstruction Needs Assessment
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Prevention and mitigation: post-disaster/post-crises
management
Session 3World Bank Institute
Ricardo Zapata MartiUN ECLAC
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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