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Introduction165One of the key trends observed in this part of thereport is that strengthening local resilience or the capacity oflocal actors to avoid, absorb or recover from the shock ofdisasters through targeted interventions is now recognizedas a vital component of risk reduction. Resilience is closelylinked with access to economic, social, political and physicalassets, and is constrained by the institutional environment ofthe city and its wider political–administrative context.Enhancing social networks of support and reciprocity is oneway of improving local resilience. Legal frameworks can alsobe used to invoke the rights of communities to protectionand access to resources during and after disasters. Alsoimportant is the strengthening of household economiesthrough finance provision and support of livelihood activities.Challenges to the building of local resilience remain;yet, innovative strategies, such as piggybacking risk reductiononto existing local activities, present opportunities.The availability of information on hazards and vulnerabilityenables effective early warning (and its fourcomponents of knowledge, monitoring and warning,communication and response capacity) in the face of disasterrisk. Although significant gains have been made in collatingscientific information on approaching risks and hazards,communicating this information to risk managers in a timelyand appropriate manner has not been easy. It is also importantthat information flows are transparent and clear andhelp to build trust between those communicating and receivingthe information. Where information on imminenthazards has not been available or failed to be communicated,potentially avoidable losses have been magnified unnecessarily.Evidence suggests that the more localized early warningand response knowledge can be, the more resilient thesesystems are in times of disaster. Successful examples ofpeople-centred early warning systems that build communicationsystems on top of existing networks used in everydayactivities exist and are highlighted in this part of the report.The concentration of infrastructure and buildings incities, including their spatial layout, is a key source of vulnerabilityin the face of disasters. However, with adequateplanning and design, capacity for regulation, and commitmentto compliance or enforcement, potential risks in thebuilt environment of cities may be reduced. For instance, afundamental tool for integrating disaster risk reductionwithin urban development initiatives is land-use planning.Likewise, building codes are essential for ensuring safetystandards in components of the urban built environment.Yet, enforcement and implementation of these guidelinesand regulations remain problematic. Particularly challengingis planning in small urban centres where resources arelimited, but population growth (often into new areas of risk)is rapid, and in informal or slum districts of large citieswhere there is limited power to enforce land use. In bothcases, greater inclusion of those at risk in land-use andplanning decision-making offers a way forward. Imaginativethinking to overcome the challenge of land-use planningimplementation has included suggestions that, as well asbeing enforced by law, building codes should operate on asystem of incentives and support for training of informalsectorbuilders.Protecting critical infrastructure and services willinfluence response and reconstruction capacity in the periodafter a disaster has struck a city. The potential for cascadingevents to affect multiple infrastructure systems makes itparamount that critical infrastructure and services areprotected and, where possible, managed independently ofeach other to prevent contagion effects. However, networksof communication and exchange between such services arevital in ensuring a certain minimum level of functioningduring and after a disaster.In the post-disaster period, municipal authorities andlocal governments are best placed to coordinate relief andreconstruction efforts. Partnerships with community groupsand international development and humanitarian agenciesare necessary in pre-disaster planning, which is needed inallocating responsibilities and developing operating guidelinesfor relief and reconstruction. Reconstruction shouldalso be seen as an opportunity to build risk reduction intodevelopment. However, reconstruction programmes mayeven fail to return survivors to pre-disaster conditions.Useful lessons on integrating long-term development goalswithin reconstruction work are emerging from recent disasters,such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Wheredevelopment and humanitarian agencies have workedtogether, as in the involvement of UN-Habitat in the reconstructionof parts of Pakistan following the 2005 earthquake,there are more grounds for optimism.The difficulties faced by national and city governmentsin obtaining funding for risk reduction orreconstruction can (and do) preclude the development ofrelevant policies in these areas. Moreover, national budgetstend to prioritize relief and reconstruction activities.Likewise, much of the funding provided by internationalorganizations and governments for disasters throughbilateral and multilateral channels is mostly for recoveryand reconstruction activities. Some governments do notset aside budgets for relief and reconstruction activities,but rather draw on contingency funds in the aftermath of adisaster. During recent years, however, the value of investingin risk reduction is being recognized and reflected ininternational and national funding for disaster-relatedinterventions. This is partly due to evidence illustratingsignificant cuts in the economic, social and environmentalcosts of disaster where a risk reduction approach isadopted.As in the case of natural and human-made disasters,risks arising from traffic accidents can be prevented and/orminimized through targeted policies and interventions.Transport and urban planning, promotion of safe road-userbehaviour and traffic management are some of the keystrategies for improving road safety. Without building thenecessary institutions and awareness for road safety,however, vulnerability to road traffic accidents cannot bereduced. It is equally important to collect and disseminatetraffic accident data in order to formulate relevant policies,legislation and interventions. An important trend in recentyears is that road safety has gained prominence globally, as isevidenced by extensive international cooperation in thisarea.