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World Reconstruction Conference: Transmission of Knowledge is Key to Build Resilience
May 18, 2011

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

 

May 18, 2011 – The recent massive 8.9-magnitude quake in Japan caused thousands of deaths and a 10-meter tsunami along parts of the country's coastline. Entire cities were swept away. This is one of many recent natural disasters that have increased consistently over the past decades. They have claimed significantly more lives with nearly 260,000 killed in 2010 compared with 15,000 in 2009.

In Japan, many locally and community owned actions shaped the reaction to the disaster. For example, in Kamashi City Junior High School students helped fellow Elementary pupils evacuate the building right before the Tsunami hit and they got to a shelter right in time.
 
In Miyoko city, the population was not hit as bad as the rest of the province and that is because they adapted their land use plan a long time ago: settlements have been moved to higher ground up to nine meters above sea level. There is an old stone monument that says: "Never build a house below this point," and the community respected the command.
 
Given the need for urgent action and to ensure coordination between stakeholders, the World Bank, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, together with other partners, organized a World Reconstruction Conference on May 10-13, 2011. It was held within the Third Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva, Switzerland.
 

open-quotesMany lowcost measures like enhancing capacity of weather forecast and developing emergency plans should be the first target for donors. Return for 1 dollar spent on those actions is between 15-20 dollars. close-quotesKristalina Georgieva, EU commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian aid and Crisis Response

The Conference came at an important time and held an important role. Thousands of delegates from all over the world assessed and shared disaster reconstruction and recovery experiences. They discussed immediate actions as well as new efforts and measures on prevention.
 
"The donors are looking for an implementation plan with responsibilities and detailed actions to allocate funds, while the local governments are looking for funds and finance to develop an action plan for reconstruction," said Gen. Nadeem Ahmad, former Chairman National Disaster Management Authority, Pakistan.
 
It is vital to rebuild and recover in a manner that is sustainable, contributing towards the development agendas and programs of disaster-affected countries.
 
"Many lowcost measures like enhancing capacity of weather forecast and developing emergency plans should be the first target for donors. Return for 1 dollar spent on those actions is between 15-20 dollars," said Kristalina Georgieva, EU commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian aid and Crisis Response.
 
Many speakers talked about the necessity of knowledge exchange and building institutional capacity. That will ensure that funds are not wasted and the affected population is not left additionally burdened.
 
"Prevention and support to civil society and their ability to learn from each other and from generations to generations is one of the priorites in donor activities for disaster risk management,” said Sri Mulayani Indrawati, Managing Director the World Bank. “The Bank can facilitate knowledge exchange and capacity building and this can be put in the Disaster Risk Management package.”
 
"We need to look at the soft side of reconstruction to be successful: education, training, capacity to be built are key!" said Gen. Nadeem Ahmad, former Chairman National Disaster Management Authority, Pakistan.
 
Addressing the issue of capacity building and training, the World Bank Institute (WBI) presented its new Disaster Risk Management program, which offers a new set of capacity building measures: from training to mentoring towards Resilience Action Planning, to practitioners exchange and specific actions in the Regions.
 
In particular, one e-learning course for city officials on Safe and Resilient Cities, urban vulnerability and risk assessment to build climate resilience will be presented to mayors, local governments and Making Cities Resilient campaign partners. The course will be piloted through the UN ISDR’s Making Resilient Cities campaign over the summer and offered to cohorts of city staff who will run vulnerability assessments in different sectors and areas and together will come up with a local resilience action plan.
 
If you have any questions regarding the upcoming e-learning course on Safe and Resilient Cities please contact wbiurban@worldbank.org.