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Policy responses to disaster risk207Unconsolidated informal settlements vary in thestrength and character of leadership. Partnerships with localplanning authorities can build procedural rigour and provideadditional legitimacy. Such partnerships can also be a mechanismfor local planning authorities to initiate regularization,which often requires significant land-use decisions to bemade that can allow later provision of critical infrastructure,such as water and electricity.BUILDING CODES,REGULATION ANDDISASTER-RESISTANTCONSTRUCTIONIn 2003, an earthquake in the city of Bingol (Turkey)destroyed 300 buildings and damaged more than 5000others. One of the buildings that collapsed was a schooldormitory, killing 84 children. The dormitory had only beenbuilt in 1998 and was a modern engineered structure. Thefact that this event occurred only four years after theMarmara earthquake reopened the public debate on theprevailing standards and building codes that are applied or(as in the case of the dormitory) not applied. 48Most countries have building codes aimed at ensuringthat construction meets a minimum standard of disasterresilience. In some cases, codes might not be as appropriateas they could be. For example, in Jamaica, losses toHurricane Gilbert in 1988 included 30,235 homes. Highlosses have been blamed on a lack of preparedness in thephysical planning and housing sectors and because the 1983National Building Code of Jamaica was inappropriatelymodelled on UK standards. In contrast to the housing sector,many small businesses were well prepared and were able toreturn to work quickly. 49The United Nations International Strategy forDisaster Reduction (ISDR) 50 recommends that buildingcodes should be:• realistic, given economic, environmental and technologicalconstraints;• relevant to current building practice and technology;• updated regularly in light of developments inknowledge;• understood fully and accepted by professional interestgroups;• enforced in order to avoid the legislative system beingignored or falling into disrepute;• adhered to, with laws and controls based more on asystem of incentives rather than punishment;• integrated fully within a legal system that takes accountof potential conflicts between the different levels ofadministration and government.Box 8.11 Relocation planning in Sacadura Cabral, São Paulo, BrazilIn 1997, relocation was proposed as part of a slum upgrading programme in Sacadura Cabral,São Paulo (Brazil). A densely populated barrio subject to annual flooding was chosen by cityplanners for relocation. A total of 200 families were to be relocated from within thesettlements to allow redevelopment and upgrading of the site.The selection of families to be moved was initially controlled by the planning authority;but this met with much local resistance and was eventually replaced by a more communicativestrategy built around a series of public meetings with communities and their leaders. Relocationplanning was revised as an outcome of these meetings. The new plan included a role for thelocal community in the selection of families to be relocated. An agreement was reached thatfamilies would be housed within 1 kilometre from Sacadura Cabral and be given access to subsidizedcredit. Local people were to lead the reconstruction and upgrading process, with technicalassistance from the local authorities.A particularly innovative aspect of the project that arose from local consultations wasthat the selection of families for relocation was not restricted to those living in areas withinSacadura Cabral to be upgraded. Instead, the whole community was included. Thus, some ofthose who agreed to be relocated were not living in areas to be cleared and upgraded. Therelocation of these families provided space within the existing community for some peopleliving in areas to be upgraded to be re-housed within the community.Source: Olivira and Denaldi, 1999The greatest challenge is enforcing adherence to buildingcodes during construction. Failure to comply with codes is aroot cause of vulnerability in buildings. Too often, perverseincentives make it more attractive for administrators, architects,builders, contractors and even house owners tocircumvent construction standards. This is not simply aproduct of poverty, but, at heart, is a problem of governance.In Turkey, much of the loss of life associated with theMarmara earthquake in 1999 has been attributed to theineffective regulation of construction. In this case, riskgenerated by ineffective governance was compounded byhigh inflation, which meant that few people had insurancecover. Public outrage at this failing led to a protest andreform of the system of building regulation in Turkey.The potential for regulation of building codes to beundertaken by the private sector has been explored in recentresearch. Although it is argued that it might be cost efficientfor a private body to undertake site inspections, it is unclearif a private body would be any less open to the perverseincentives that distort public-sector inspection and enforcement.51 Even where external financing might be thought toprovide additional incentives for oversight and successfuluse of standards, this is not always the case. A recent reviewof World Bank lending during the period of 1984 to 2005found that 60 per cent of projects receiving disaster financingwere damaged by a subsequent event. Of 197 completedprojects with a focus on mitigation – designed to usedisaster-resistant standards – 26 per cent showed flaws indesign, and half had been damaged by a subsequent event.Of the 65 projects in the transportation, urban and waterand sanitation sectors approved between 2000 and 2004 incountries identified by the World Bank as disaster hotspots,only 3 projects included any detailed disaster planning. 52In cities of lower-income countries, but increasinglyalso in large cities of middle-income countries, the highproportion of citizens forced to reside in informal settlementswhere activities operate outside the formal planningand regulatory systems is particularly challenging for build-Failure to complywith codes isa root cause ofvulnerability inbuildings