Joint offering of National Institute of Disaster Management, New Delhi and World Bank Institute, Washington.

By 2010 an estimated 50% of the population of developing countries will be living in cities and eight out of ten largest cities of the World will be in developing countries.  Over three quarters of those cities are exposed to at least one natural hazard.  Yet, cities are ill-prepared to effectively respond to such events, and the collective effort to reduce risk from disasters continues to be meager compared to the constant increase in risk caused by urbanization and aging infrastructure.

Safe Cities is part of the comprehensive Natural Disaster Risk Management Program developed by the World Bank Institute with support from WB Hazard Management Unit and ProVention Consortium. This specialization course provides an overview of disaster risk management sound practice for local government policymakers, urban managers, planners, and disaster management professionals. It discusses the inter-linkages of the social and physical parameters of vulnerability of cities with their local government development, organization, and management. It explains the impediments to disaster risk reduction in urban environments and then presents the key concepts of disaster risk management and the role and intervention of local institutions. It emphasizes that disaster risk reduction only takes place when it is inherently integrated within local government functions.
 
Thus, it proposes a model for implementing such integration that is based on the development of a city-wide disaster risk management master plan (DRMMP). It is based on an understanding of the risk parameters and incorporates action plans related to response and recovery, preparedness and awareness raising, mitigation and prevention, and institution building. The course discusses the structural and organizational arrangements for implementation, the resource and training needs, the strategies and challenges in implementation and discusses practical “do’s” and “don’ts” based on past experience, proposing an implementation framework. It establishes that disaster risk reduction stems from coherent policies that are based on a comprehensive understanding of risk, that promote preparedness and mitigation and incorporate the participation of the active agents of the community. Disaster risk management is a concern to the whole community and requires their involvement and contribution. The course provides case studies to illustrate different approaches to disaster risk reduction, the related organizational, institutional and financial parameters, and how these experiments have supported sustainable development goals in different cities.

Language

The language of the course is English.

Course Format

The course consists of self-paced modules, discussion forums, exercises, readings, case studies, tests and learning via interaction with program faculty and peers. Moreover, for each module there are 2 to 3 audio sessions of expert lectures for 40–45 minutes each. The Course materials shall be provided in a CD to each participant.

Course Expectations

Participants are expected to commit 8–10 hours per week in order to gain the most out of this course in addition to:

• Complete the required reading assignments
  
• Participate in all online activities. Participation involves posting a minimum of two messages per week that are substantive in nature. The message can be either a new topic or a reply to someone else's message.
  
• Participants are encouraged to post more often than twice a week in order to be involved more deeply into topics.
  
• Participate in videoconferencing and asynchronous chat sessions (if applicable)
  
• Complete assignments and end of course project
  
• Complete course evaluation at the end of the course

Certificate
Joint certificate from NIDM and WBI shall be issued to all successful participants of the course.


System Requirements of the Course

·   Hardware: Pentium 166 or faster, 64Mb Memory, CD-ROM, Sound Card

• Software: Windows 95,98,ME,NT 4,2000 or XP Internet Explorer 4 or higher, Netscape 4 or higher Microsoft Office 2000 (Word,Powerpoint) Acrobat Reader 5
  

Fee:
Rs.1000 to be paid by Demand Draft to the National Institute of Disaster Management payable at New Delhi 

This specialization course addresses particular concerns of urban managers and planners. It reviews processes, regulations – land use, infrastructure, construction, building codes – enforcement issues and methods essential to reducing exposure to hazards and limiting the physical vulnerability of high density settlements.  

The course consists of presentations, case studies, readings and an end of course exercise. During the course, instructors and facilitators from National Institute of Disaster Management and the World Bank Institute will guide the participants and evaluate the project work. The course consists of one modules and an end of course exercise. The module covers following sessions:

• Session 1: Disaster Risk and its Management in the Context of Local Government
  This introductory presentation establishes the relationship between disaster and urbanization by explaining the elements that determine vulnerability in cities, in particular vulnerabilities related to the built environment, population and institutions.  It relates the vulnerabilities to typical local governmental organizational functions such as urban planning, public works and social services.  It then explains the impediments to disaster risk reduction and their consequences. It argues that decentralization is critical to achieving disaster risk reduction, and that it is the cumulative contribution of all the active agents of a community that reduces risk and develops safer cities within a sustainable development process. 

• Session 2: Principles and Components of Disaster Risk Management
  The session discusses the elements of “sound” urban disaster risk management at the local level. It defines the role of local government in the integration of disaster management within the functional structures of government. The concept of Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRM) is proposed as a model for implementing a systematic and systemic disaster management program for cities (particularly large and complex urban agglomerations). The session also explains the importance of disaster risk assessment (DRA) and discusses the available tools, such as scenario analysis and risk mapping, for quantifying risk and understanding its demands on the community. It discusses the integration of information and communication tools, and how gaps and needs can be evaluated through a “consequence analysis” process, which allows to involve stakeholders and develop a coherent strategy for disaster risk reduction.

• Session 3: Developing and Implementing a City-wide Disaster Risk Reduction Agenda
  This session focuses on the implementation of a disaster risk reduction agenda for a city.  It presents a framework based on four core objectives: coherent public policies, institutional commitment, mitigation and a culture of prevention. The Disaster Risk Management Master Plan (DRMMP) model is provided as an implementation mechanism to achieve these objectives.  DRMMP is driven by the risk parameters developed in disaster risk assessment, that is, by the “demand” from the disaster and not by the available resources. The importance of tools such as information and communication technology in mainstreaming disaster risk reduction within the city’s functions and in communicating risk to stakeholders is further emphasized. The DRMMP assists with capacity enhancement for local governments both in building code development and enforcement, and community preparedness, as well as in retrofitting existing buildings and infrastructure.

• End of Course Project
  
  To meet the course completion requirement the participants are required to submit an end-of course case study/project. The objective of the course project is to apply newly acquired knowledge to build a case study of a natural disaster risk management system in a selected city. In the course project participants should provide a critical assessment of risks present in the city and the specific ways in which the current city disaster risk management system addresses or doesn’t address these risks. The project should be prepared in a case study format. 
  
  

National Institute of Disaster Management, New Delhi, India

This course is offered to a group of to local government officials, policymakers, consultants, researchers and professors of training institutions worldwide, who are interested in development challenges and issues related to natural disaster risk management. Once the course has ended, participants from training institutions are welcome to replicate this training for their staff, for central and local government officials. Donors working in hazard and disaster related projects could also apply to attend the course. Only applicants who attended the Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Framework course will be accepted. 

Best End of Course Project by Amit Tuteja, (PDF file, 47K)
Best End of Course Project by Basudeb Chakraborty, (PDF file, 107K)
Best End of Course Project by Prena Vijaykumar Mehta, (PDF file, 107K)
Best End of Course Project by Samanjit Sengupta, (PDF file, 267K)
Best End of Course Project by Somya Gupta, (PDF file, 250K)