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Tools for Building Urban Resilience
to do what is reasonable in a given context. The practical application of resilience theory is to always be building better systems so that communities are better equipped for the future.
Disaster Management Systems Infrastructural
Institutional
Economic
Key Points • Providing accurate and timely information to decision makers and response units is crucial for saving lives and property. • Recognition of residual risk implies that cities need to continuously improve risk communication, early warning systems, and emergency contingency, evacuation, and recovery planning. • Disaster management systems depend on effective assignment of responsibilities and communication and collaboration between the government, local stakeholders, and the community affected.
Summary Disaster management systems are part of an operational mitigation approach that addresses preparedness and temporary measures to reduce the immediate impacts of disasters. Although locational and structural approaches can reduce the potential for damage from a natural disaster, it is often not possible to eliminate these risks. Given residual risks, there must be operational capability for responding to disasters. While technological advances have made it easier to prepare for and manage disasters, at the heart of any disaster management system is effective cooperation between government, local stakeholders, and the community. Crowd-sourcing and modern applications like Twitter have greatly enhanced response capacity in urban areas; however, authorities must still clearly delineate and communicate responsibilities before a disaster (Acar and Muraki 2011). This type of collaboration requires a robust institutional framework, dayto-day work, and training.
Institutional and Legal Frameworks Urban-focused disaster management should be seen as an extension of local networks, national systems, and even international regional disaster networks. As complex systems exposed to natural disasters, urban areas need to have in place an emergency response framework that aligns with regional and national disaster management systems. The objective is to create systems that are complementary and encourage collaboration between different levels of authority and affected communities. Whether disaster management systems will be effective depends on legislation that delineates rules and responsibilities for preparing for and responding to disasters. Responsibility for geographic and hazard-related areas should be Building Urban Resilience • http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-8865-5