Disaster Risk in Informal Settlements and Opportunities for Resilience

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Iftekhar Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Disaster Risk

Exploring Network Analysis for Urban Planning and Disaster Risk Reduction in Informal Settlements

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-45
Author(s):  
Vicente Sandoval ◽  
Juan Pablo Sarmiento ◽  
Erick Alberto Mazariegos ◽  
Daniel Oviedo
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Centrality Measures ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Street Networks

The work explores the use of street network analysis on informal settlements and discusses the potential and limitations of this methodology to advance disaster risk reduction and urban resilience. The urban network analysis tool is used to conduct graph analysis measures on street networks in three informal settlements in the LAC region: Portmore, Jamaica; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and Lima, Peru. Authors incorporate risk variables identified by these communities and combine them with prospective scenarios in which street networks are strategically intervened to improve performance. Authors also compute one graph index named Reach centrality. Results are presented spatially through thematic maps, and statistically by plotting cumulative distributions. Findings show that centrality measures of settlements' networks helped identify key nodes or roads that may be critical for people's daily life after disasters, and strategic to improve accessibility. The proposed methodology shows potential to inform decisions on urban planning and disaster risk reduction.

A neglected issue: informal settlements, urban development, and disaster risk reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 731-745
Author(s):  
Vicente Sandoval ◽  
Juan Pablo Sarmiento
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Risk Governance ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
New Urban Agenda

PurposeThis paper introduces the state of informal settlements in Latin America and the Caribbean, and it explores potential relationships between informal settlements and national policies on urban development and disaster risk reduction, especially on how risk governance and disaster resilience are conceived and practiced by governments.Design/methodology/approach17 Habitat III National Reports issued during the preparatory process toward the New Urban Agenda in 2016 are analyzed using statistics and qualitative methods. Some quantitative variables, such as access to drinking water and sewerage in the region, are combined with qualitative data from references to the Sendai Framework and national urban policies in the mentioned reports. Countries in the study include Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.FindingsResults show that the situation of informal settlements in the region is complex and presents two different realities that coexist: one group of countries in which provision of basic urban services poses great challenges for a significant proportion of the urban population, while the other group in which urban informality and precariousness persists despite better statistics. Risk governance and disaster resilience principles are scarcely articulated in existing urban development discourses in the region.Originality/valueThe preparatory process toward the New Urban Agenda allowed to conduct an original updated cross-country analysis and to identify cross-cutting issues on informality, risk reduction, and urban development in the region.

scholarly journals Valuing disaster risk reduction neighborhood interventions in informal settlements of Latin American and the Caribbean

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0242409
Author(s):  
Alejandro Arrieta ◽  
Juan Pablo Sarmiento ◽  
Meenakshi Chabba ◽  
Weiwei Chen
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Life Satisfaction Approach

This study assesses the dollar benefit of a neighborhood approach intervention on disaster risk reduction in small-sized, densely populated, and hazard-prone informal settlements across Latin American and Caribbean countries. We use a life satisfaction approach that assigns a dollar value to gains in wellbeing associated with the neighborhood approach intervention. Our primary data was a survey to a sample of 349 beneficiaries from small towns in Haiti, Guatemala, and Jamaica, and in major cities’ surrounded areas of Peru, Colombia, and Honduras. Out of 14 interventions, we found that community empowerment, physical works in public spaces and urban gardens/food approaches produced a gain of USD1,038 to USD1,241 to individual beneficiaries. Our study suggests a large benefit associated with the neighborhood approach intervention. It also shows that the life satisfaction approach is a promising method for the valuation of non-market and public goods, especially for countries where data on hazards and risks is not available to help monetize risk reductions.

scholarly journals An evidence-based urban DRR strategy for informal settlements

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Sarmiento ◽  
Suzanne Polak ◽  
Vicente Sandoval
Keyword(s):  
Research Policy ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Risk Modeling ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the evidence-based research strategy (EBRS) used to evaluate eight projects that applied the neighborhood approach for disaster risk reduction (NA-DRR) in informal urban settlements in Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica and Peru, between 2012 and 2017. Design/methodology/approach The study covers the first five of the seven EBRS stages: first, identify relevant interventions; second, prepare evaluation questions; third, select evidence sources and implement a search strategy; fourth, appraise evidences and identify gaps; fifth, create an evaluation design to include an extensive literature review, followed by a mixed research method with surveys, focus groups and interviews; disaster risk modeling; georeferencing analysis; and engineering inspections. The last two stages: sixth, apply the evidence, and seventh, evaluate the evidence application, will be addressed in a near future. Findings Even though the reference to “evidence” is frequent in the DRR field, it is largely based on descriptive processes, anecdotal references, best practices, lessons learned and case studies, and particularly deficient on the subject of informal and precariousness settlements. The evaluation allowed a deep and broad analysis of NA-DRR in urban informal settlements, comparing it with other DRR strategies implemented by different stakeholders in fragile urban settings, assessing the effectiveness and sustainability of the various DRR interventions. Originality/value The abundant data, information and knowledge generated will serve as foundation for forthcoming thematic peer-reviewed publications informing evidence-based DRR research, policy and practice, with emphasis on informal and precariousness settlements in particular.

Dynamics of Urban Disaster Risk Paradigm: Looking Through the Perceived Lens of the Residents of Informal Settlements in Khulna City, Bangladesh

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-77
Author(s):  
Mohammad Shahidul Hasan Swapan ◽  
Md Ashikuzzaman ◽  
Md Sayed Iftekhar
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Management ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Urban Disaster

The integration of sustainability principles into disaster management research suggests a shift from traditional expert-driven assessment to a more community-driven process. However, most studies have focused on a generalized and regional assessment of perceived risk. Only a few of them have focused on informal settlements which belong to the most vulnerable communities facing the compound impacts of multiple disasters in urban areas. This raises concerns over the generalization of existing findings as informal settlements may add to spatial heterogeneity in disaster risk assessment. In order to contribute to this knowledge gap, we have surveyed 1,122 households of 93 slums of Khulna city in Bangladesh. We have investigated informal settlers’ perceptions of local and citywide hazard risks and their vulnerabilities from natural and anthropogenic hazards. It is found that low-income households are more concerned about the day-to-day inconvenience (e.g., waterlogging) rather than extreme weather events (e.g., cyclone and storm surge). This is mainly due to the degraded local environment and poor built form of their living places. The mapping of survey responses displays a spatial segregation of perceived disaster risk. The study highlights the importance of adopting spatial and risk-specific disaster preparedness policies and interventions. The results of the study would also be useful for tailoring appropriate disaster management policies to improve community resilience for poverty-stricken areas in developing countries.

Disaster risk construction in the progressive consolidation of informal settlements: Iquique and Puerto Montt (Chile) case studies

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 109-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Paz Castro ◽  
Ignacio Ibarra ◽  
Michael Lukas ◽  
Jorge Ortiz ◽  
Juan Pablo Sarmiento
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Risk Construction

scholarly journals Assessment of adaptation strategies to flooding: A comparative study between informal settlements of Keko Machungwa in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Sangkrah in Surakarta, Indonesia

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tumpale Sakijege ◽  
Junun Sartohadi ◽  
Muh A. Marfai ◽  
Gabriel R. Kassenga ◽  
Samson E. Kasala
Keyword(s):  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Dar Es Salaam ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Structural Adaptation ◽  
Risk Minimisation ◽  
Coping Capacity ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Risk Areas ◽  
Depth Interviews

A large number of informal settlements in developing countries are located in high risk areas(low-lying lands and on river banks). This situation is caused by poverty and the inabilityof authorities to supply planned plots for building to meet demands of the growing urbanpopulations. Informal settlements have, in turn, triggered disaster risks, flooding being just oneof them. As a way of reducing impacts of flooding, residents in informal settlements have resortedto the use of structural adaptation strategies. Despite these efforts, the vulnerability of peopleand properties in informal settlements is increasing. This article aimed to provide an answer as towhy this is the case, by assessing and comparing the technical suitability of adaptation strategiesto flooding in the informal settlements of Sangkrah and Keko Machungwa and recommendingmeasures for improvement. Household interviews, physical observation (visual inspections ofsigns of damage and deterioration), measurements of height of physical adaptation strategies,mapping, photographing, and in-depth interviews were the key methods employed. Generally,in both cases, it was determined that flood mitigation and risk minimisation measures throughstructural adaptation strategies were hardly achieved at the household level, as adaptationstrategies were constructed with little or no attention to acceptable technical considerations.However, when levels of compliance to technical considerations in the construction of houseswere compared between the two cases, they were found to be slightly higher in Sangkrah thanin Keko Machungwa. Residents in Sangkrah demonstrated a slight difference, especially in theuse of reinforced concrete (4.3%) for constructing a building’s foundation, as well as in the useof ceramics (72.9%) to construct the floor. In order to deliver technically suitable adaptationstrategies, efforts need to be directed toward: regulating and controlling the construction ofstructures for adaptation, enhancing individual coping capacity, deployment of a workforcetrained in disaster risk and management and enforcement of relevant urban planning andenvironmental management laws in managing risky areas.

scholarly journals Understanding the nature and scale of risks in Karonga, Malawi

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mtafu Manda ◽  
Elijah Wanda
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
Housing Status ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
Strong Winds ◽  
Unsafe Water

The urban centre of Karonga in Malawi experiences many large and small disasters, including earthquakes, strong winds and floods. Inhabitants also face such everyday risks as unsafe water, poor-quality sanitation and widespread use of dirty fuels within households. However, the nature and scale of the risks are poorly understood. Based on data from 380 systematically selected households in Karonga, this paper explores the frequency and impacts of small and large disasters and everyday risks, finding informal settlements in flood zones to be most affected. Impacts vary according to differences in levels of income, planning and housing status, access to water, sanitation and the type of energy used by households. Attempts to reduce and respond to disaster risk are affected by weak governance structures. The knowledge can create the basis for capacity building at both the community and local government levels.

scholarly journals Informal cadastres as enabling tools for disaster risk management

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 52-73
Author(s):  
Edward KURWAKUMIRE ◽  
◽  
Shelter KUZHAZHA ◽  
Paul MUCHECHETERE ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Domain Model ◽  
Disaster Risk Management ◽  
Development Goals

Disaster Risk Management requires up-to-date land information availed through the cadastre. Informal settlements are often located in disaster prone areas. Having up-to-date land information about these informal settlements is one step towards disaster preparedness and building community resilience in the highway towards sustainable development. This study designs conceptual models using unified modelling language (UML) for an informal cadastre for recording land information pertinent to disaster risk management based on a South African case study. The results demonstrate that land tenure relationships in informal settlements can be mapped using the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM). The importance of disaster information is that it provides communities with information to tackle disasters and improve in their capabilities to handle them. With such information, the disaster risk can be minimised. This study is aligned to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 and 3. The linkage between spatial data, disaster resilience and the SDGs is explored.

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