Manu Gupta, Executive Director of SEEDS - a non-profit organization working in disaster risk reduction and recovery in Asia - is a member of the steering committee of the Making Cities Resilient Campaign. With a technical background in urban planning, he recognises many of the common challenges facing municipal authorities in disaster-proofing their cities.

“One common problem is that most cities don’t have dedicated resources for risk reduction initiatives as it tends to be low on their list of priorities and there is no single allocated budget. But now there is increasing acknowledgement that the effects of climate change are creating huge unpredictability in urban areas. In the past decade, major cities across the Asia Pacific region, including Jakarta, Mumbai, Bangkok and Manila, have suffered unprecedented flooding and this is turning the debate towards where the investment needs to go.”

Linked to the campaign, UNISDR has developed The Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient scorecard, which aims to accelerate implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) at the local level.

It helps municipalities to build a disaster losses database which gives them a clear picture of  loss of life, persons affected, damage to infrastructure and the performance of emergency response. This then translates into shaping priorities for a future disaster risk reduction action plan.

“The process has helped people to understand that risk is everyone’s business and not just the role of emergency services. Authorities recognise that they must consult and engage with outside groups such as NGO’s, civil society and the private sector.” explains Manu Gupta.

“Next steps could be to develop simple low-cost plans that involve communities in clearing drains to prevent flash floods or working in partnership with private sector who need to invest in infrastructure to protect their businesses. They need to ensure their supply chains are not affected when disasters strike.”

Globally, 3,883 cities and towns participate in UNISDR’s Make Cities Resilient Campaign.

Date:

2 Jul 2018

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Asia and Pacific (UNISDR AP)

Themes:

Civil Society/NGOs, Climate Change, Urban Risk & Planning

Countries:

Bangladesh, Mongolia, Nepal