Haiti Earthquake January 2010: What Actions and Policies Can the Government of Haiti Implement to Improve Emergency Management Response

In 2010, Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake that destroyed much of its capital city and the governmental offices that should have guided the response to the disaster. This research focuses on how Haiti can benefit from the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency’s standards for disaster resilience as it works to recover from the earthquake. Unfortunately, Haiti has long been dependent on assistance from non-governmental organizations due to its extreme poverty; its recovery is complicated by the need to integrate disaster assistance and on-going economic and social assistance into its development of a more resilient society

Heritage and Resilience: Issues and Opportunities for Reducing Disaster Risks

This paper examines the unique role of cultural heritage in disaster risk reduction. Itintroduces various approaches to protect heritage from irreplaceable loss and considers ways to draw upon heritage as an asset in building the resilience of communities and nations to disasters. The paper proposes ways forward and builds on the current momentum provided by the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters” (HFA) and the advancement of a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction (HFA2) and the post-2015 development agenda. Cultural heritage is often associated with grandiose monuments and iconic archaeological sites that can hold us in awe of their beauty, history and sheer scale. However, the understanding of cultural heritage has undergone a marked shift during the last few decades in terms of what it is, why it is important, why it is at risk and what can be done to protect it. Cultural heritage today encompasses a broader array of places such as historic cities, living cultural landscapes, gardens or sacred forests and mountains, technological or industrial achievements in the recent past and even sites associated with painful memories and war. Collections of movable and immoveable items within sites, museums, historic properties and archives have also increased significantly in scope, testifying not only to the lifestyles of royalty and the achievements of great artists, but also to the everyday lives of ordinary people. At the same time intangibles such as knowledge, beliefs and value systems are fundamental aspects of heritage that have a powerful influence on people’s daily choices and behaviors. Heritage is at risk due to disasters, conflict, climate change and a host of other factors.At the same time, cultural heritage is increasingly recognized as a driver of resilience that can support efforts to reduce disaster risks more broadly. Recent years have seen greater emphasis and commitment to protecting heritage and leveraging it for resilience;but initiatives, such as the few examples that are presented here, need to be encouraged and brought more fully into the mainstream of both disaster risk reduction and heritage management. These are issues that can be productively addressed in a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction and, likewise, in the post-2015 development agenda

Rehabilitating agriculture and promoting food security following the 2010 Pakistan floods: Insights from South Asian experience

The recent floods in Pakistan have had a devastating effect on the Pakistani population. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA 2010) estimates that, as of early September 2010, more than 20 million people had been displaced by the flood and by some estimates the damage to crops, housing, other buildings, roads, and irrigation infrastructure now reaches $6.5 billion (OCHA 2010).* Recovery experiences from previous natural disasters in Pakistan and throughout South Asia, especially the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and the 1998 flood in Bangladesh, suggest lessons in four broad areas that are relevant for recovery efforts following the 2010 Pakistan flood. First, market and trade policies should be clear, transparent, and consistent, maintaining adequate price incentives so that private trade and imports can contribute to postdisaster recovery. Restoration of private trade (and even promotion of expansion of trade) can enhance both price stability and food security more effectively and at far less cost than otherwise, particularly in the rehabilitation phase. Recovery experiences from previous natural disasters in Pakistan and throughout South Asia, especially the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and the 1998 flood in Bangladesh, suggest lessons in four broad areas that are relevant for recovery efforts following the 2010 Pakistan flood. Second, there is a need for a strong institutional framework to coordinate the large-scale disaster response. Long-term and short-term goals need to be accounted for and integrated into a comprehensive postdisaster response framework. Involvement of all affected stakeholders in the policy formulation is important to ensure representation and participation. Third, recovery efforts should also include support for livelihood security and restoration and ensure inclusion of the stakeholders. In the immediate aftermath of the floods, a provision of compensation based on loss of livelihoods might be necessary to assist affected groups. Alternative strategies for the poor to cope with the loss of income need to be examined (including credit provision) so as to avoid high and unsustainable household indebtedness. Fourth, evaluation of previously implemented projects suggests that focus on not only restoring infrastructure facilities but also upgrading them can lead to enhanced flood resistance as well as a reduction in future disaster loss. In addition, the resumption of normal agricultural activities as soon as possible is vital for the country's recovery. The provision of inputs to affected smallholders is necessary for the resumption of normal livelihood activities. The 2010 Pakistan National Disaster Response Plan incorporates some of these lessons learned from earlier disasters. However, despite the establishment of national and sub-national disaster management authorities, significant challenges to the functioning of this system still remain. Two alternative institutions present themselves as possible vehicles for the delivery of poverty-alleviating interventions and resources—the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) and the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). PPAF uses a participatory and community-based model and comprises a network of more than 130,000 community organizations and groups in 127 districts covering 30,000 villages. This large and established network puts PPAF in a convenient position to reach affected communities in a timely and efficient manner. BISP has a partnership with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) that is being used to provide necessary financial support to flood victims throughout the country. However, there are several obstacles to the successful disbursement of funds through BISP. In particular, because a large percentage of displaced people do not possess computerized national identity cards, these people could be excluded from the income support programs unless a new comprehensive listing is done. Finally, it is important to establish and strengthen disaster response capability so that the country can better respond to recurring natural disasters. Emergency early warning system mechanisms have the potential to substantially reduce casualties and economic losses from disasters, and they need to be strengthened. Likewise, the lessons learned from the relief and rehabilitation response to the 2010 floods should be incorporated in contingency plans for future natural disasters.floods, lessons learned, postdisaster recovery and rehabilitation,

Disaster Risk Management by Communities and Local Governments

This study refers to disaster risk management at the local level. The topic was selected by the members of the Natural Disasters Network of the Regional Policy Dialogue, and was presented during its 3rd Meeting, on March 6 and 7, 2003. The goal of this document is to achieve a better knowledge of the best practices and benefits that disaster risk management represents for Latin America and the Caribbean. Included are comparative case studies of the Philippines, Colombia, Guatemala and Switzerland. Also discussed are strengths and weaknesses of local organizations in decentralized systems and financial services for disaster risk management.Disasters, Financial Risk, Decentralization, Civil Society, Environment, disaster risk management

Urban disaster management : a case study of earthquake risk assessment in Cartago, Costa Rica

Natural hazards pose a threat to population, its goods and the environment. Urban areas are particularly vulnerable not only because of the concentration of population but due to the interplay that exists between people, buildings, and technological systems. Disasters have the potential to destroy decades of investment and effort, and cause the deviation of resources intended for primary tasks such as education, health and infrastructure. Disaster management is therefore an important component of urban planning and management as disasters pose a serious threat to sustainable development. There are basically three very important weaknesses in the way disaster management is currently being carried out. The first relates to the reliance upon hazard zonations alone rather than using risk as input for the selection and prioritisation of mitigation strategies. This is unfortunately in part due to the lack of empirical-historical data on damage and due to the high costs of generating and updating building inventories. The second relates to the reliance upon response rather than a concerted effort in both the pre-disaster and the postdisaster phases. The last relates to the lack of disaster information networks which coordinate efforts amongst the many institutions involved. The case of the Costa Rican city of Cartago was chosen as an example of the challenges that lie ahead in terms of geo-information for urban disaster management. The city provides an interesting case study; it represents a typical example of a medium-sized Costa Rican city that is located in a highly hazard-prone area. Cartago is also representative of a financially constrained local government authority with very basic baseline information where plans are elaborated without proper disaster-related information inputs. The research addresses building and population risk by integrating a hazard intensity map, damage curves derived from historical damage records and a building inventory

Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

THE HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF QUAKE MANAGEMENT POLICY IN CHINA: FROM TANGSHAN, SICHUAN, TO YUNNAN

The earthquake is one of the deadliest natural disasters that hinder economic progress in China. The two biggest 20th century catastrophic quakes occurred in China are Tangshan in 1976 and Sichuan in 2008. Additionally, there are at least four massive earthquakes that struck China in the last five years. Hence, the disaster management is one of the main factor to be seriously administered by the Chinese government, both in the central level as well as to the regional and local level. Therefore, this paper aims to examine some policies issued by the Chinese government in the context of earthquake management and its effectiveness. The discussions on disaster management in China have been deeply explored by Asia Pacific Research Team at The Research Center for Regional Resources LIPI and published under the title of Disaster Management in China: History and Institutional Networks in 2010.Furthermore, the research team also conducted a research on the Sichuan earthquake and published a monograph entitled The Representation of Sichuan Earthquake: State Control, Museum, and The Role of the Army. We conduct both some in-depth interview and literature review concerning the historical process of initiating some earthquake policies, and its practical effectiveness. This paper discusses the disaster management based on various policiesand responses of two contemporary deadliest quake in Tangshan (1976) and Sichuan (2008), and two recent earthquakes occurred in Qinghai (2010) and Yunnan (2014). The paper claims that policies and regulations issued by the government in disaster management in China are successful to some extent though there is a lack of coordination, and some informational gaps in the existing institutions.Keywords: Tangshan earthquake, Sichuan earthquake, disaster management, China