9 recommendations to reduce the effect of natural disasters in Latin American cities

In the face of increasingly more intense and frequent extreme natural events, Latin American cities should aspire to be better prepared for contingencies in order to ensure the safety of their inhabitants, as well as a sustainable economic.position. To that end, it is crucial for urban policies to include elements of mitigation and adaptation to climate change and take coordinated and intersectoral measures depending on the particularities of each city, according to “Facing the Risk”, a report published by CAF- Development Bank of Latin America in partnership with The New School’s

Observatory on Latin America (OLA).

The report describes the issues affecting Manizales, Colombia; La Paz, Bolivia; Cuenca, Ecuador; Cubatão, Brazil; and Santa Fe and Pilar, Argentina, exploring the institutional approach to managing resilience and offering nine recommendations for reducing exposure to disasters and improving the quality of life for citizens. 

The document also says that threats that in the past were seasonal and, therefore, fairly predictable (such as droughts and rain) such phenomena are becoming increasingly unpredictable. For that reason, Latin American cities will not only have to analyze historical patterns of disaster going forward, as they will be compelled to learn from other cities’ experience in order to come up with more creative solutions to new threats. 

"We need to design comprehensive strategies and intervention models that address risk management from multiple levels of Government, with special emphasis on the urban environment,” CAF Sustainable Development Vice President Julián Suárez MIgliozzi said. “Getting a better understanding of the role of local management and implementing intersectoral measures are also fundamental elements to create more resilient cities.” 

Although the lessons proposed by the report are not intended as adaptation guidelines for other cities, they can be understood as references for future public risk management policies.

The report recommend that cities: 

1. Take advantage of new risk assessment technologies: Conducting scientific studies may allow to set safety standards in risky areas.
   
   
2. Take a multidimensional approach to vulnerability and the responses to it: Urban and national development must be incorporated into risk management. The mapping of vulnerabilities can contribute to a greater understanding of the risk by identifying areas that require particular attention.
   
   
3. Strengthen learning networks: Cities can employ information webs to exchange experiences and improve decision-making.
   
   
4. Plan for uncertainty: A risk management strategy must be quick to adapt, adjusting its requirements and specifications according to each given situation. Risk management strategies require cooperation and adaptability to ensure their feasibility and sustainability over time.
   
   
5. Think creatively: To tackle an increasingly unpredictable context, cities are turning to creative and unconventional risk management strategies.
   
   
6. Ecological limits are not bound by jurisdictions: Many sources of environmental risk overflow urban borders, which means risk management strategies must only focus on what happens within city limits.
   
   
7. Using early warning systems can save lives: Early alert systems can prevent human and material losses if they are calibrated to respond to different types of threats and if the citizens are familiar with them.
   
   
8. Modernize infrastructure: Investment in infrastructure should not only deal with construction, but also quality control and maintenance. Ignoring the conditions of infrastructure exacerbates natural hazards.
   
   
9. Work with people inside and outside Government: Risk cannot be handled by a single agency and thus response should not be sectoral. Therefore, everyone involved in a city’s administration should partake in risk management.

Case studies for a more resilient Latin America  

Although the cities chosen for the study vary in terms of geography, size, resources and risks, the report shows that, while an effective urban risk management strategy can take many forms, it can offer common lessons for decision-makers. 

• Manizales, Colombia: The city stands out due to its refined technical approach and the wide variety of resilience practices it has deployed for decades. Manizales has carried out different measures through all the phases of their risk management strategy, specifically identification, reduction, management and even transfer of hazards. The study examines the role of risk management in Colombia’s Land Regulation Plan through the use of a probabilistic risk assessment model. This scientific model - which helped produce a more detailed and realistic assessment that allowed the urban development of additional areas - is backed by georeferenced meteorological data from 327 previous events. The report also highlights Manizales’s unique collective insurance model, which aims to protect the city’s poorest in the face disaster, as well as "Guardians of the Hillside," a program carried out by a group of as many as 100 female heads of household who, in addition to removing trash and foliage from infrastructure works, help increase civic awareness related to risk management.
  
  
• La Paz, Bolivia: This case very clearly exemplifies the social construction of vulnerability and risk. La Paz has been through a few natural catastrophes that have determined its risk assessment policy. The city has developed an urban policy that manages risk produced by the combination of natural hazards and the social production of vulnerability and risk. Its urban policy consists of a series of institutional arrangements that seek to combine financial and organizational resources, and two programs implemented by the Municipal Government of La Paz, namely, the Comprehensive Municipal Risk Management Strategy - implemented by the city’s Comprehensive Risk Management Secretariat - and the Real Neighborhoods and Communities Program, running under the town’s Secretariat of Infrastructure.
  
  
• Cuenca, Ecuador: This Ecuadorian city showcases an instance of urban resilience mainly characterized, to a greater degree than the rest of the cities, by its environmental component. Throughout Cuenca’s long history - from pre-Columbian times to the present day - its populations have taken an ecological approach to flooding risks, displaying great awareness and respect for rivers’ ebbs and flows. While conventional strategies for managing urban rivers usually revolve around the use of concrete walls and ducts to control flows, Cuenca has proven to take a more socially-conscious approach to the river’s risks and benefits. Historically and to this day, rivers have had a wide variety of functions, often acting as a point of contact for social interactions. The city depends on the fluvial system not only to manage drinking water systems, but also to generate hydroelectric power. To further the city’s long-term development strategies, it is fundamental to consider the surrounding mountainous region, as it feeds the region’s rivers.
  
  
• Santa Fe, Argentina: This case demonstrates how to capitalize on achievements and International awards in terms of urban resilience. Santa Fe has made significant progress in risk management matters and the creation of a more resilient city. In the last decade, the city’s exposure to flooding has declined, while its poverty, inequality and unemployment indicators show improvements. Such advances are the result of fundamental changes in Santa Fe’s administrative and institutional framework in terms of disaster risk reduction. Although it is an example of how uneven, unplanned urban development schemes foster vulnerabilities and increase exposure to risk, Santa Fe has shown that cities can drive positive change by playing a fundamental role in accomplishing the global objectives of achieving greater sustainability and resilience. Santa Fe’s comprehensive cross-departmental approach to risk management has received ample praise, as the city received recognition by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) in 2010, and acquired the Sasakawa Health Prize in 2011.
  
  
• Pilar, Argentina: Of the14 municipalities that share the Luján River basin, Pilar’s Water Dialogues program - which is administrated by the city’s Urban Planning and Development Under Secretariat - is the region’s most innovative risk management approach. This program deals with risk management by discussing and negotiating with representatives of gated estates, in an effort to mitigate the impacts of flooding along the river basin. For risk management purposes, the Water Dialogues program is carried out with the region’s environmental hazards in mind, as well as the socio-territorial features of Pilar and its institutional and legal framework. The study highlights the different points of view of the various actors involved, and ends with an evaluation of this new urban practice - which includes legal and economic restrictions - and takes political decisions and future challenges into consideration.
  
  
• Cubatão, Brazil: The case of Cubatão illustrates the challenges and difficulties involved in maintaining successful risk management strategies over time. In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which was held in Río de Janeiro, recognized Cubatão as symbol of ecological soundness and a successful example of pollution control. The city’s Pollution Control program, which consisted of an array of technical and community projects, proved successful in controlling the sources of pollution and improving the environmental quality. Such program, however, was not part of a comprehensive strategy for urban planning and development. New polluting economic activities emerging in the city, combined with other social and political factors, gave rise to new dynamics and risks. Without the ability to adapt and respond to such conditions, Cubatão’s risk management strategy was only able to maintain environmental quality within acceptable critical standards.

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