World Disasters Report 2010 - International Federation of Red Cross ...

in informal settlements than in the rest of the city although its quality and coverage are
always limited by what local inhabitants can afford.
Disasters also provide obvious challenges for services: not only do they have to respond
to the emergency but they also have to restore healthcare for displaced people and
those with chronic diseases who need regular treatment and medicines. After the January
2010 earthquake in Haiti, there was much concern about the disruption to treatment
for people living with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Another problem that occurs
when settlements need to be evacuated is assisting people who need help to move.
The provision of efficient emergency services is an essential role of city and municipal
governments in furthering disaster risk reduction.
Many city and municipal governments do risk management at the local level but not
local risk management. They support projects that contribute to aspects of risk reduction
(local organization for prevention and mitigation, reforestation, building codes,
land-use norms, physical protection works and early warning systems) but these do
not as yet contribute to, or become embedded in, local development. Similarly, most
national systems and the international community support some elements of locally
implemented risk reduction but do not address the social vulnerability which defines
levels of disaster risk and which is often associated with prevailing chronic or everyday
risk conditions. Local risk reduction will be a priority for local actors according to how
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