Making Cities Resilient Report 2012

CHAPTER 4 | What are local governments doing to build resilience
established. It is coordinated by APSEMO, which leads an interdepartmental team of national counterparts.
Damage assessment uses risk mapping as its starting point. Data gathering is decentralised and covers all
sectors; information analysis and dissemination is then centralised.
Recovery requires collaboration among sectors and stakeholders. Cairns; Makassar; and Albay Province,
have all instituted a framework whereby different stakeholders work together in the recovery. As an
example, Cairns’ city council has a community-support subcommittee that includes the Australian Red
Cross, State Emergency Services, Cairns Regional Council, Department of Communities and Homelessness
and the Salvation Army to support recovery planning (46).
The important point with regard to these activities is that during the recovery period, the needs of those
affected or at risk are heard, that their priorities remain central when developing plans and in decisions
about budgets and spending, and that they have a seat at the table on cross-sector and multi-stakeholder
boards. This is more easily said than done in the chaotic post-disaster situation, although some cities have
made positive in-roads in this regard.
The region of Sichuan, China was devastated by a major earthquake in 2008. The massive reconstruction efforts involved
citizens, with the cooperation of universities and other cities: the result is a vibrant region, with resilient and diversified
rural-urban and urban communities.
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