Disaster Risk Reduction

by Pelling, Mark

• ISBN13: 9781844075560
• ISBN10: 1844075567
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-02-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This is a one-of-a-kind book packed with original research and offering an innovative way of thinking about the reduction of risk in rapidly urbanizing cities across the globe. It is a must-have for professional, researchers and policy makers. The book addresses three inter-related themes: the urban environment; urban governance and urban risk and its reduction. Its focus is on Africa, the most rapidly urbanizing world region, but it illustrates global processes. Part one reviews development, urbanization and disaster risk in Africa as a whole, identifies the state-of-the-art for building urban resilience and provides a tool kit for urban risk reduction. It also presents a powerful conceptual framework to analyse and compare disaster risk and resilience in different cities and communities. Part two presents detailed case studies from Algeria, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa illustrating vulnerability to hazards from earthquake to fire in slums, to environmental health hazards, traffic hazards and flooding. Part three looks to the future and outlines a vision for a safer urban Africa based on achieving gains in human security through inclusive governance.

Author Biography

Mark Pelling is Reader in Human Geography at King's College London and author of The Vulnerability of Cities (Earthscan, 2003). Ben Wisner is Visiting Professor, Development and Disaster Centre, Northumbria University and Environmental Studies Program, Oberlin College, USA, and is co-editor of Towards a New Map of Africa (Earthscan, 2005).

Table of Contents

List of boxes, figures and tables	p. ix
List of acronyms and abbreviations	p. xiii
Foreword	p. xv
Urbanization and Disaster Risk Reduction in Africa
Urbanization, Human Security and Disaster Risk in Africa	p. 3
Why Care about Urban Risk in Africa?	p. 6
Conceptualizing Urbanization, Human Security and Disaster Risk	p. 8
Structure of the Book	p. 10
References	p. 16
African Cities of Hope and Risk	p. 17
Introduction: Urbanization in Africa	p. 17
Hazards and Disasters in African Cities	p. 25
The Continuum of Urban Risk in Africa	p. 32
The Accumulation of Risk: Processes that Expose People to Hazard Impact and Make Recovery Difficult	p. 34
Approaches to Urban Safety	p. 37
Summary and Conclusions	p. 39
References	p. 40
Reducing Urban Disaster Risk in Africa	p. 43
Introduction	p. 43
Options for Disaster Risk Reduction	p. 46
Techniques for Urban Disaster Risk Reduction	p. 48
Conclusions	p. 59
References	p. 59
Case Studies of Urban Disaster Risk in Africa
Integrated Disaster Risk and Environmental Health Monitoring: Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana	p. 65
Introduction	p. 65
Methods	p. 69
Environmental Change and the Distribution of Risks and Hazards	p. 69
Some Illustrative Results of the Study	p. 73
Policy Issues	p. 81
References	p. 82
Road Traffic Accidents as an Everyday Hazard: Kisii and Kisumu, Kenya	p. 87
Introduction	p. 87
Urbanization in Kenya	p. 88
Disasters in Kenya	p. 90
Case Study: RTAs in Western Kenya	p. 93
Summary of Findings	p. 98
Discussion	p. 99
Conclusions	p. 102
References	p. 103
Fire Risk in Informal Settlements in Cape Town, South Africa	p. 105
A City of Contrasts	p. 106
Cape Town's Developmental Context	p. 108
The Accumulation of Risk in Informal Settlements	p. 110
Fire Risk in Informal Settlements	p. 112
The MANDISA Project	p. 114
Conclusions	p. 123
References	p. 124
Building Disaster-Resilient Communities: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania	p. 127
Introduction	p. 127
Risk Accumulation	p. 127
Risk Accumulation Processes in Dar es Salaam	p. 132
Disaster Risk Reduction	p. 135
Case Studies	p. 135
Emerging Issues and Coping Strategies	p. 138
Discussion and Conclusions	p. 145
References	p. 145
History, Governance and the Millennium Development Goals: Flood Risk Reduction in Saint-Louis, Senegal	p. 147
Introduction	p. 147
Risk Accumulation and Local Governance	p. 150
Flood-Related Disaster Risk and Risk Reduction Measures	p. 156
Four Case Studies of Local Governance Applied to Flood Risk
Reduction in Saint-Louis	p. 159
Conclusions and Recommendations	p. 164
Note	p. 166
References	p. 166
Disaster Risk Reduction in Algiers, Algeria	p. 169
Introduction	p. 169
Risk Accumulation	p. 170
Earthquake Disaster Risk and its Reduction	p. 179
Conclusions and Recommendations	p. 181
Annex: Estimation of the Earthquake Vulnerability Functions of Masonry Constructions in the City of Algiers	p. 183
References	p. 191
A Vision for a Safer Urban Africa
Towards a Safer Urban Future: Conclusions and Recommendations	p. 195
Science, Politics and Constrained Action	p. 195
Twin Challenges for Governance in Urban Risk Reduction	p. 197
Specific Conclusions and Recommendations	p. 200
A Final Word	p. 209
References	p. 210
Author Biographies	p. 211
Index	p. 215
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