Demand for World Bank disaster risk management services in Latin America has almost doubled to 17 programs in last few years.
Understanding Risk conference has cemented a community of technology innovators working to reduce disaster risk globally.
Innovations include web-based application to improve a landslide prediction model that won Global Random Hacks of Kindness' 'hackathon'.
WASHINGTON DC, June 15, 2010 - Disaster specialist Joaquin Toro's office resembles a fully activated situation room with red marker scribbled planners and charts in every wall, and piles of books and files towering from chairs, shelves, and from his own desk, in a telling reflection of the explosive demand for his unit's expertise and services in Latin America which, he says, have almost doubled in the last few years.
Although Haiti and Chile account for a great deal of this surge in light of their recent catastrophes, demand is booming from many Latin American countries where the risk of natural disasters is high but had never emphasized preparedness before, says Toro, a professorial-looking senior expert working for the Disaster Risk Management arm of the World Bank's Latin American division in Washington DC.
"Demand for our services is off the charts, especially in the last few months, which is a sign that governments are taking seriously managing risk and getting prepared for the possibility of a disaster striking their countries," notes Toro, as he tries to organize some of the files sitting on his desk in preparation for his upcoming trip to Panama where officials have asked the Bank to help set up a pre-emptive disaster risk managing mechanism.
This nip-in-the-bud approach to disasters by government officials is a welcome shift in attitudes that leads to more lives and assets being saved than ever before says Toro, who has been getting requests for help from across the region, including countries with a solid disaster prevention track record such as Colombia, already in discussions to implement its third disaster risk management project.
Others, where disaster risk is historically high, such as Brazil and Peru, and countries in Central America are also working to set up new initiatives or expanding existing ones.
The innovative Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (CAT DDO), which acts as a source of bridge financing if a country declares a state of emergency as a result of a natural disaster, has been used widely in the region. As the first country in the region to adopt a CAT DDO, Costa Rica has been able to draw US$15 million from a US$65 million credit line to respond to the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the Central American nation in January 2009. Mexico was the first country to use the MultiCat program, a flexible catastrophe bond series developed by the Bank that allows for the issuance of cat bonds with multiple perils, regions and countries.
"As we speak we're working to set in motion the disbursement of funds for the Guatemala CAT DDO," says Toro referring to the US$85 million loan approved soon after the Pacaya volcano erupted and tropical storm Agatha caused devastating flooding and mudslides in late May.
The Disaster Risk Management (DRM) program current span of regional activities has placed a premium on vulnerability reduction, from a previous emphasis in emergency response, says program leader Francis Ghesquiere. This approach includes: improving urban planning, infrastructure and building safety; reinforcing drainage systems to reduce floods, storm and health threats; installing early warning systems; conducting public preparedness drills; and taking measures to adapt to the increasing impact of climate change, among other measures.
"In seven years, our program has transformed from a group of 10 emergency response projects to a well balanced portfolio of 17 projects, most of which focused on vulnerability reduction, supported by more than 30 trust-funded activities," said Ghesquiere a noted disaster specialist who recently led the Bank's emergency response in Haiti.
To keep this momentum going and reinforce the importance of risk prevention, the DRM team has been talking to a wide range of actors from the private, public and multilateral sectors, with a view to forming a global community of disaster risk management mavens intent on spreading the word on the benefits of addressing risk in a timely manner.
Understanding Risk Conference: A Global Knowledge Sharing Platform Among their recent successes is the global forum 'Understanding Risk' that brought together in early June hundreds of technical experts and practitioners from around the world with the goal of sharing their experiences and knowledge in addressing natural disasters. Prior to the forum, thousands of people from over 130 countries were engaged for six months in a number of online discussions related to the conference through the event's website: Understanding Risk Community Site. These discussions guided the content of the conference sessions and have helped strengthen the community of practitioners dedicated to disaster risk reduction, organizers said.
"The concept of this meeting stemmed from the idea that bringing people from different backgrounds, but concerned with the same problem, is the best way to spur innovation," said Ghesquiere.
The expert argues that state-of-the-art-technologies are helping communities and governments around the world to get a better grasp of the consequences of unmanaged risk and lack of planning for disasters.
From satellite imagery to 'crowdsourcing' of risk assessment and web-based mapping applications, technology is reducing disaster risk and supporting recovery efforts after disasters strike, as the recent cases of Haiti and Chile demonstrate, says Ghesquiere.
In a matter of hours after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, volunteer developers produced a map of Port-a- Prince that helped assess damages, while devising a people finder application powered by Google that helped locate missing friends and loved ones in Haiti and, later on, in Chile.
But technology cannot work alone and further work is needed to convince government and community leaders that more needs to be done to raise consciousness about the consequences of natural disasters and their ability to disrupt sustained development in the region.
Toro notes that significant progress in disaster risk management has been made in the last few years and that political leaders are more amenable these days to the idea of investing in disaster risk reduction.
Challenges to Managing Risk Persist Still, he sees many challenges ahead to this new mind set.
First, cities are growing fast and haphazardly as a result of increased migration from rural areas, which means that more people are exposed to risk than ever before. In this scenario planning is almost always out of sync with the sudden influx of new urban dwellers, putting a damper on the best of government intentions.
Second, even though investing in disaster risk reduction is currently at the top of the region's development agenda, priorities in developing countries have proven to be very fluid sometimes, moving up or down on the country's to-do list very quickly, argues Toro.
As a facilitating platform, The World Bank is already seeing the fruits of its efforts to build a community around the idea of protecting people better against natural disasters.
Multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and search engine giant Google have already vowed to help make the world a more disaster-resilient place.
UN Assistant Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction Margaret Wahlstrom reminded city leaders of the importance of joining the ongoing My City campaign to reduce global risks at the local level.
"One cannot plan for disasters, but we have to make governments aware and we can certainly prepare a plan and invest in disaster prevention knowing that, for example, the hurricane season comes every year", Wahlstrom said at the closing of the Understanding Risk conference. The initiative is targeting over 1,000 local government leaders worldwide to commit to sustainable development practices that increase their cities resilience to disasters.
In the not so distant future campaigns such as My City would be better carried out by the power of technology in the hands of communities in what has been called 'mass participatory communications'," said Google Geospatial Technologist Ed Parsons.
Parsons argued that mobile devices will play a huge role in collecting information for citizens, leading to a massive transformation in the way people understand and communicate risk.
"We already have in our hands the most powerful computer", he said referring to 'smart' phones that are increasingly becoming powerful tools in disaster scenarios.
Other innovations in the fight to reduce the risk of disasters include software to connect communities on the ground with new technologies being developed in this field. Open source developer competitions such as the Global Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK)'hackathon' have contributed to this end by producing accessible applications, including this year's 'hackathon' winning web-interface Chasm, said Toro.
Chasm is an application for inputting field data to an existing landslide prediction model. Local engineers and technicians in developing countries will now be able to work with residents to diagnose the causes of landslides in the most vulnerable communities and to reduce the risk, Toro noted.
RHoK is a partnership between Google, Yahoo!, NASA, Microsoft, and The World Bank, aimed at spurring innovation through technology on a volunteer basis.
The innovative Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (CAT DDO), which acts as a source of bridge financing if a country declares a state of emergency as a result of a natural disaster, has been used widely in the region. As the first country in the region to adopt a CAT DDO, Costa Rica has been able to draw US$15 million from a US$65 million credit line to respond to the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the Central American nation in January 2009. Mexico was the first country to use the MultiCat program, a flexible catastrophe bond series developed by the Bank that allows for the issuance of cat bonds with multiple perils, regions and countries.
The expert argues that state-of-the-art-technologies are helping communities and governments around the world to get a better grasp of the consequences of unmanaged risk and lack of planning for disasters.
As a facilitating platform, The World Bank is already seeing the fruits of its efforts to build a community around the idea of protecting people better against natural disasters.
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