Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

Mitigating the impacts of disasters
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In conclusion, education can:
• Provide a sense of continuity and normalcy after disaster.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and a number of NGOs, such
as Save the Children, are already active in this field.
• Challenge preconceptions about who is most at risk and
who can reduce risk in the community. In particular,
education can challenge gender and age stereotypes.
• Reach out to the 325 million children worldwide who
live on the street or work full time and have no contact
with formal education.
Some progress in meeting these challenges and a potential
mechanism for sharing lessons learned will come from the
ISDR 2006–2007 World Disaster Reduction Campaign:
Disaster Risk Reduction Begins at School (see Box 12.18). 78
Driven by an understanding that every school that collapses
killing children or destroying resources was once a development
project, this campaign aims to inform and mobilize
governments, communities and individuals to ensure that
disaster risk reduction is fully integrated within school
curricula in high-risk countries and that school buildings are
built or retrofitted to withstand natural hazards.
Including the private sector
The private sector is a major actor in shaping the opportunities
and risks of urban life. Public–private partnerships and
foreign direct investment have increased the stake and
responsibility of international capital in urban infrastructure
provision and economic development. Despite this growing
influence, there is little evidence of a proactive engagement
with disaster risk reduction among the private sector that
goes beyond charity donations for recovery. Even this is by
no means to be taken for granted. The generosity of many
businesses following the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 has
been followed by doubt among business donors over the
transparency of relief and reconstruction mechanisms
managed by non-governmental and governmental actors
alike, with potential for a backlash against donations for
disaster response and recovery.
The business case for involvement in disaster risk
reduction is largely built upon corporate social responsibility.
The most active industrial sector is insurance, with a
growing number of companies going beyond offering advice
to providing financial incentives and training for safe
construction and disaster response. 79 There are also a small
number of global engineering and urban planning companies
that have provided services as part of a corporate social
responsibility package during reconstruction. Arup, an
engineering firm, for example, provided urban planning
expertise to the Government of Turkey following the
Marmara earthquake in 1999. Twenty experts worked for six
months to develop a city master plan. The experience also
enabled planners from Turkey and overseas to exchange
ideas on reconstruction in an earthquake-prone region. 80
The majority of recorded cases of corporate support come
from the US, with some examples from the Philippines and
the Caribbean. 81 There is clearly great scope for privatesector
involvement in cities outside these areas.
From a business perspective, successful prevention
activity can reduce risks to operations, suppliers, trading and
customers, and reinforce good will towards a company. One
of the most important ways in which business could
contribute is by working to reduce vulnerability among atrisk
populations within their sphere of influence.
Responsible business practice can include putting in place
measures to protect employees, their homes and families
from the effects of disasters. Business relationships also
provide a level for change. Giving preference to suppliers
who themselves follow a corporate social responsibility code,
and endeavouring not to leave suppliers in the event of
temporary disruption following a disaster event, are
examples of the kind of positive engagement with risk reduction
that corporations could be encouraged to consider.
The corporate social responsibility case for disaster
prevention is held back by a lack of empirical evidence.
Analysis is needed of the impacts of disasters on business, of
the contribution that business involvement can make to
disaster prevention, and of the costs and benefits of that
involvement to establish the most effective actions that
businesses can take.
Strategies for encouraging corporate social responsibility
for risk reduction might include partnerships between
business and humanitarian actors. Where this relationship
already exists, there is some evidence that business has
recognized the strategic value of supporting risk reduction.
Examples of partnerships include:
• TNT and Citigroup working in partnership with the
World Food Programme;
• Nike and Microsoft in partnership with the UNHCR and
the IFRC;
• UPS in partnership with CARE;
• FedEx in partnership with the American Red Cross;
• Ericsson in partnership with the United Nations and the
IFRC; and
• DHL in partnership with the OCHA and the UNDP.
Small- and medium-sized businesses are also becoming
involved, often through their local chamber of commerce or
other local business associations. 82
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Increasing numbers of urban dwellers have to live with the
threat and experience of natural and human-made disasters.
Often, but not always, disaster risk is greatest among the
poorest. This chapter has examined core pathways through
which resilience to disaster risk is, and can be, strengthened
in cities. There is a good degree of overlap between these
routes to security and also with pro-poor urban development
and urban policies that aim to reduce the environmental
damage of urbanization.
For all aspects of disaster risk reduction, inclusive and
participatory strategies and policies can offer scope for build-
…there is little
evidence of a
proactive engagement
with disaster
risk reduction
amongst the private
sector…
The business case
for involvement in
disaster risk reduction
is largely built
upon corporate
social responsibility