PREVENTION AND MITIGATION: POSTDISASTERPOSTCRISES MANAGEMENT

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PREVENTION AND MITIGATION POST-DISASTER/POST-CRIS
ES MANAGEMENT
Ricardo Zapata Marti UN 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 also
  as 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
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REQUIREMENTS TO FULFILL OBJECTIVES (Systemic
character of disaster mitigation)
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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, Contd

• 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