Making Cities Resilient Report 2012

well as the Mayor of Quito) are working on awareness programmes and training in disaster risk reduction,
alongside other safety issues of violence and road safety. Quito’s ‘my school is prepared’ programme
includes training, contingency planning, and emergency drills (35). Other cities have integrated disaster
risk reduction into education on broader pro-environmental practices. For example, school programmes in
Colombo teach solid waste handling to reduce flood risk (17), and Chacao has an ‘EcoEscuelas’ programme
that addresses environment and risk issues (55). Schools in some cities, such as Cairns and Saijo City, are
integrating risk reduction into the school curriculum to ensure that all children are reached 14 .
Overcoming lack of awareness of disaster risk reduction amongst
professionals and decision-makers
Mumbai, Bhubaneswar, Thimphu and cities in Pakistan identified the lack of knowledge about disaster risk
reduction at all levels as a key challenge to building resilience. To address this, these cities (and others)
offer training to core service professionals and local government workers. Bhubaneswar’s Municipal
Corporation has trained engineers, architects and planners in earthquake vulnerability and response in
order to improve implementation of hazard-resistant building codes and increase the quality of hazardproofing
activities in new and existing structures. The city has also trained volunteers from NGOs working in
disaster risk reduction on hazard mapping. A similar approach has been adopted in Batticaloa, where risk
design and management are now part of the standard curriculum for planners, architects, and engineers.
Box 4.8 : Palestinian university moves risk reduction agenda forward
The An-Najah National University in Palestine held the first Palestinian Urban Forum, which brought
together municipal representatives and local institutions to discuss issues related to safe cities and
disaster risk reduction and review the basic elements necessary to make cities resilient to disasters.
The forum concluded by recognising the need to establish a Palestinian strategy for disaster risk reduction
that encourages municipalities and local governments to join the ‘Making Cities Resilient Campaign’ and
implement the Ten Essentials throughout their work.
The forum also emphasised the need to activate the High Council of Civil Defence; adopt a special fund
for disasters at the national level; and provide training programmes on disaster reduction at all levels and
sites (schools, universities and institutions).
UNISDR and partners have undertaken training sessions for councillors and local government officials in
many cities – and local governments identify the Campaign’s positive role in improving their awareness
of disaster risk reduction principles at early stages of resilience building. UNISDR has also engaged
parliamentarians on this issue, encouraging them to convene discussions on decentralising risk
management capacity and legislative frameworks (see the example of Lebanon below; Bangladesh,
Uganda, Benin are other examples). This in turn has fed into greater political will to develop and enforce
policies to reduce urban disaster risk. Ancona highlighted how their participation in the Campaign has
increased awareness of disaster risk reduction amongst politicians, as well as providing access to
technical information.
14. In Saijo City, the value of regular school-based disaster risk reduction education in seen at the household level, when children home the
information learned at school. Since 2006, risk awareness courses have been held three times a year as part of the ‘12-year-olds disaster
prevention education’ project. Educational field trips about risk – either ‘mountain-watching’ or ‘town-watching’ –help engage the children and
help them to make associations between the classroom and ‘real life.’ (39, 48)
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