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

However, the incentive for owners to retrofit is
very low for an earthquake that may or may
not happen over the next 50 years. The cost
for retrofitting is high and amounts to little financial
return in terms of increased property
value or rental value; furthermore, multiple
owners must agree and the building must be
vacated for several months.
The Greater Municipality of Istanbul
has also started to earmark gecekondu
areas for rehabilitation, under the Greater
Municipalities Law (Law No. 5216, 2004),
which gives authority for the “vacating and
demolishing of dangerous buildings and all
Conclusion
other ‘non-conforming’ structures”. This has
led to forced evictions and massive threats
of eviction across the city, where gecekondu
areas will be bulldozed and rebuilt by the
Mass Housing Adminstration, leading to the
likely displacement of poor urban dwellers.
While relocation into new earthquake-safe
areas is planned, the new houses – even though
subsidized – are too far away from jobs for
most people to afford, so people are left homeless.
Thus rehabilitation may physically reduce
the vulnerability of the built environment of the
city, yet it is dramatically increasing people’s
level of poverty and exclusion. �
Urban vulnerability is generated differently at the scales of the individual, household,
community and city. City-scale investments, for example, in flood drainage may succeed
in protecting core functions but can also generate vulnerability for the poor. In
Delhi, a lack of foresight has led to the construction of storm drains during a housing
crisis and, not surprisingly, the colonization of drains by landless informal settlers. The
drains now generate flood risk among the poor while helping protect the wider city
from flooding. Identifying and reducing vulnerability is no easy task in an era of rapid
urbanization.
Historically, the focus at city level has always been on physical over social infrastructure.
This is beginning to change as city authorities recognize the importance of social
safety nets (including support for the elderly and homeless), access to good-quality
health and education, and implementation of building standards.
The commoditization of urban life means that, in contrast to more rural contexts,
money is required to meet even the most basic of needs – water, food and shelter.
This restricts the ability of the vulnerable poor to accumulate assets and to protect
themselves from hazard. It also makes it difficult to recover from disaster, magnifying
impact where the loss of accumulated assets, such as a dwelling, can set back household
development irretrievably.
However, looking at the trends for the future, we see that increasing urbanization also
brings the potential to reduce the losses from disasters in the long term even though it
may increase disaster losses in the short term. Rapid urbanization, of the kind that is
happening in parts of Asia and Africa, will, in the short run, most likely increase losses
World Disasters Report 2010 – Focus on urban risk
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