Challenge
Disasters caused more than 3.3 million deaths and US$2.3 trillion in damage (in 2008 US dollars) between 1970 and 2010. A recent World Bank/United Nations (UN) report Natural Hazards, UnNatural Disasters: the Economics of Effective Prevention found that large cities already exposed to cyclones and earthquakes may more than double their population by 2050. If cities are well managed, disaster impacts need not increase, but the projected increase in numbers of people living at risk in cities highlights the challenge ahead. Furthermore, the report finds that economic development and population growth are expected to result in increasing damages from extreme events and that, without policy change, these costs are expected to triple to US$185 billion annually by the turn of the century. Climate-change induced tropical cyclones could add between US$28 billion and US$68 billion to annual damages by 2100.
Approach
DRM was universally endorsed as a development priority through the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) in 2005. This framework is a compact of 168 governments and international organizations, including the World Bank and the UN, focused on building resilience to disasters for all nations. The HFA has three strategic goals: to integrate DRM in development policies, strategies and planning; to strengthen institutions responsible for DRM at all levels, and; to build a culture of disaster resilience in response and recovery operations. In line with these goals, the World Bank is responding to the growing demand from its clients for assistance after natural disasters and support to prepare for future disasters and reduce risks, including those resulting from climate change. This response is based on the knowledge that - if done right - preventative measures not only save lives, they are cost effective too. The establishment of GFDRR has leveraged the Bank’s role, leadership, and performance on global knowledge creation, innovation and partnerships in DRM.
Results
- Through innovative instruments and investment, IDA assistance has provided critical support for countries exposed to adverse natural events. For example, the world’s first regional disaster financing facility, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) - which includes IDA countries among its members - was established in 2007 to provide access to short-term liquidity for Caribbean governments in the aftermath of disasters. In addition to technical assistance in the establishment of the facility, the World Bank financed the cost of joining the facility for a number of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, including Haiti, and contributed to the Multi-Donor Trust Fund, which served as the initial supporting capital for the facility. Within two weeks of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, CCRIF transferred US$8 million to provide immediate liquidity to the government.
- Following the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, the World Bank (IDA/IBRD) committed about US$1 billion to recovery and reconstruction efforts. Achievements include the provision of timely shelter support to 550,000 people and the reconstruction of more than 400,000 earthquake-resistant houses.
- PDNA is increasingly an internationally accepted standard for government-led needs assessment. In Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, the assessment served as a blueprint for international cooperation in the reconstruction effort, drastically reducing the coordination burden on the strained resources of the Haitian Government.
IBRD Results Highlights:
- In middle-income economies, IBRD loans have enabled high-risk countries to assess and manage disaster risks comprehensively. In 2005, the Bank supported Colombia with a US$260 million loan to strengthen the capability of the national disaster risk management system in about 1,000 municipalities. The second phase of this program started in 2006 with an additional US$80 million loan to support the city of Bogota to strengthen its capacity to manage disaster risks and reduce vulnerability in key sectors. Results of this project include the resettlement of 5,000 households living in high-risk areas to permanent housing in safe areas; retrofitting of 201 schools and kindergartens to seismic-resistant standards between 2005 and 2008; and the reduction of the population at risk in public buildings from 575,000 to 252,000.
- IBRD loans have also assisted in the sustainable and disaster-resilient recovery of disaster-affected communities. The World Bank is supporting China with a US$710 million IBRD loan to restore infrastructure, health and education services in several counties and municipalities in Sichuan and Gansu that were damaged or destroyed after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Although the project runs to 2014, construction of 26 hospitals and clinics in Sichuan is already underway. In Gansu, three wastewater treatment facilities, two wastewater pipelines and one water supply pipeline are under construction. Six schools are being constructed and will be open before the next school year begins, while one damaged high school, Hui County High, was re-opened in March 2011.
- The Catastrophe Risk Deferred Draw-down Option (CAT DDO) is an IBRD innovation that allows countries to access liquidity immediately after a disaster. Since the start of CAT-DDO operations in March 2008, Colombia, Guatemala and Costa Rica have drawn down funds from the instrument, in payouts of US$150 million, US$85 million and US$24 million respectively. These payouts have provided fast, flexible funds to governments to enable them to respond quickly to the needs of their affected citizens, and to reduce dependence on donor aid and borrowing.
Partners
In the disaster-prone countries, the World Bank often plays a role in coordinating donor efforts both in ex-ante investment and ex-post assistance for reconstruction and recovery. The World Bank develops partnership through technical and financial assistance to national governmental and non-governmental agencies tasked with the challenge of protecting their country from the threat of disasters. The GFDRR is a partnership financing mechanism co-chaired and hosted by the World Bank that aims to mainstream disaster risk management into development policy and programs, before and after a disaster. The partnership includes 38 country governments from developed, emerging and developing countries and seven international organizations.
Increasingly, partnership is taking on new and innovative forms, including through ‘volunteer technical communities. These expert communities apply their skills to some of the hardest elements of the disaster risk management process, like mapping risk and identifying mitigation options. The GFDRR Labs hosts the Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK), a public-private-people partnership, which includes the World Bank, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Hewlett-Packard (HP). RHoK brings together 150 government, private sector and civil society partners supporting the initiative at a local level around the globe.
Toward the Future
Building on success, the World Bank as a global institution commits to provide timely, cutting-edge DRM knowledge and expertise to partner countries, and to continue to mainstream DRM across all sectors of investment. Through the GFDRR partnership, outreach to a more diverse set of DRM partners is ongoing and must increase, including with the private sector, regional organizations and civil society.
IDA has stepped up its support to manage disasters and disaster risks, both ex-ante and ex-post. The Crisis Response Window (CRW) has been institutionalized in IDA16 to assist low-income countries to respond better to disasters and adopt preventive measures to minimize the adverse consequences of future catastrophes. This funding window is a major step forward and provides greater availability and predictability of additional concessional assistance for post-disaster recovery and reconstruction in low-capacity, high-risk countries. IDA and IBRD will increase support for innovative and customized financial solutions for both low- and middle-income countries that build fiscal and economic resilience to natural hazards.
Beneficiaries
Counting DRM in Lives Saved: “I still remember Cyclone Sidr in 2007,” said Hasina Begum, Headmistress of Paschim Napitkhali Primary School in Barguna, Bangladesh. “There were warnings, but nothing could really prepare us for what happened. Cyclone Sidr hit my hometown, Barguna with ferocious intensity. Powerful gusts of winds and heavy rainfalls frightened the helpless people, many of whom had left their homes and possessions to seek the protection of cyclone-shelters, like my school.”
The Paschim Napitkhali Primary School, a non-descript two storied building played a life-saving role in 2007, when Barguna and other coastal regions were hit hard by the storm surge of over 5 meters (16 ft). Initially established by Hasina’s father, the school was later rebuilt and converted into a school-cum-cyclone-shelter. During the year, the primary school bustles with children – but during cyclones and other natural disasters, the building doubles up as a shelter. In 2007, this cyclone-shelter alone had helped save more than 800 people.
With the effects of climate change likely to increase the frequency and severity of natural disasters, Bangladesh needs to adapt to increased uncertainty and be prepared. With this in mind, around 700 cyclone shelters are in the process of being constructed or upgraded with better designs with support from the World Bank to protect the country’s coastal population. Approximately 480 kilometers of embankment are also being repaired and reconstructed through the same initiative. Hasina’s school-cum-cyclone-shelter received funds to repair portions of the wall and the ceiling, which was badly damaged in the 2007 cyclone.
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