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288Towards safer and more secure citiesWhere inappropriatedevelopment has ledto the accumulationof disaster risk,retrofitting can offera way of improvingthe resilience of acity’s buildingsIn slums …incentives toimprove the safetyof buildings areparticularly limitedin oversight and demand-side pressures, such as a desire formodern over indigenous design, even when indigenoushousing has been proven through experience to offer disasterresistance, or of a desire for cost-cutting, even when thisknowingly leads to the exclusion of disasterresistant design features.Professional bodies have begun to develop guidelinesfor good practice in designing disaster-resilient critical infrastructureand this offers a great potential for informationexchange and refinements, in practice, to reduce risk. Anexample is work by the Pan-American Health Organization(PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), whichoffers guidelines for promoting disaster mitigation in newhealth facilities. Many of the recommendations would applyto other infrastructure. The goal of these guidelines is toincorporate risk reduction tools within project cycles, includingpre-investment activities, project design, constructionand maintenance. 30Future pathways for building resilience in the citythrough designing disaster-resilient buildings and infrastructureinclude tools for better integrating disaster risk withinproject management; efforts to engage with the public torethink housing design choices; and support by internationaland national agencies, as well as the private sector, forpartnerships with artisan builders to promote good practicein disaster-proof construction locally.Aid agencies and construction oversightMultilateral and bilateral development aid agencies can influencethe location, timing and content of investments ininfrastructure through their stated policy priorities.However, these agencies often do not have their own guidelinesor engineering standards and procedures with which toensure that investments are disaster resistant. Rather, thisservice is decentralized and local standards and practices areBox 12.9 City government support for retrofitting: TokyoMetropolitan governmentTokyo is highly exposed to earthquake hazard. Many neighbourhoods in the city are denselybuilt, with wood being a common building material. Consequently, fire risk is high and hascaused large losses following urban earthquakes. To reduce risk, a Promotional Plan for aDisaster Resilient City was formulated in 1997. The plan aims to strengthen the resilience ofTokyo’s buildings through retrofitting and the redesign of urban neighbourhoods. It has threeimportant components:• The designation by the Tokyo Metropolitan government of areas for redevelopment intodisaster-resistant zones has made it possible to subsidize retrofitting for fire safety.Financial assistance is available for the retrofitting of old wooden lease apartments.• As a basis for planning and retrofitting, the Tokyo Metropolitan Earthquake DisasterCountermeasure Ordinance and the Tokyo Metropolitan Earthquake Disaster PreventionPlan call for a diagnosis of the earthquake resistance of public buildings constructed before1981. This will include fire stations, police stations, schools and hospitals that will need tofunction as bases for information, rescue and relief in the event of a major earthquake.• The Building Earthquake-Resistance Diagnosis System provides a consultation service forprivately owned buildings.Source: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Bureau of Urban Development, undatedused. Aid donors rarely become involved in design. This isespecially so in indirect investments such as social investmentfunds, where detailed budget decisions and designcriteria are generally set at the national level.Given the high profile of schools and health serviceinfrastructure during urban disaster events, and particularlyduring earthquakes, the lack of oversight in constructionthrough social investment funds suggests an area for futurepolicy consideration. There is also scope for agencies toprovide some momentum for international comparison andreform of local building standards where these are not appropriate.A recent review of donor behaviour observes thatpublicly constructed infrastructure is exempt from buildingcodes in many countries. 31 Where codes are followed, theyare often inadequate, particularly in multi-hazard contexts.Donors usually view the responsibility for constructionstandards as resting with governments.RetrofittingWhere inappropriate development has led to the accumulationof disaster risk, retrofitting can offer a way of improvingthe resilience of a city’s buildings. Opportunities for retrofittingare often constrained. Despite the small marginalcosts of retrofitting in most instances, where works areperceived by owners to be unduly disruptive, they areunlikely to be entered into voluntarily. Similarly, if costs ofretrofitting are considered to be high in relation to perceivedrisk, voluntary action will be limited. Where building ownersare not prepared to retrofit buildings, tenants have littlepower and are often denied rights to invest in the upgradingof the property they rent. This includes tenants of privateand public landlords. In slums lacking landownership, incentivesto improve the safety of buildings are particularlylimited.Retrofitting has been encouraged by insurance companiesby offering incentives such as reduced premiums, or thestick of only insuring those properties meeting basicstandards of construction. Municipal governments may alsooffer advice, technical support and sometimes grants toencourage private owners to upgrade building safety, and canintegrate retrofitting within urban plans for disaster management.This is most likely to be undertaken where localauthorities are contemplating urban redevelopment schemesin which disaster risk reduction has been integrated.Retrofitting is being tackled on three fronts by the TokyoMetropolitan government (see Box 12.9). 32Whereas the Tokyo Metropolitan government hastaken a spatial planning approach to retrofitting, Quito(Ecuador) has followed a sectoral path. The NationalPolytechnic School in Quito has undertaken an evaluation ofschool construction standards in the city. Many designweaknesses were revealed in this study, which led to arevised code of standards for schools that have now beenclassified as critical facilities. 33Indigenous buildings