Urban Disaster Risk Reduction

Brief Report on-

2. Select anyone disaster typology and discuss its causes
consequences and implications for development planning.

Submitted by-
Saket Kumar Kirme
(MT20UPL010)

Submitted to-
Dr. Sameer Deshkar
INTRODUCTION

The report aims to study and observe different concepts related

to disaster
and also how the disasters have impacted the humanity.

AIM
To study, observe, and interpret the impact of disasters on
humanity
and challenges they bring in development of any region.

OBJECTIVES
To study Disasters and their impact on humanity.
To find the causes and preventive measures of disasters.

NEED TO STUDY

Disasters are always unprecedented and can happen

anytime and anywhere. They can cause a lot of suffering
and destruction to mankind and loss of lives, economic
downfall, injuries, increased risk of communicable disease.
With proper formulated plan and infrastructure, Disaster
can be prevented and even if it occurs, its aftereffects can
be reduced.
Hence, a deep study of concepts related to disaster must
be done.
2. DISASTER TYPOLOGY -PANDEMIC
A pandemic is an outbreak of global proportions. It happens
when infection due to a bacterium or virus becomes capable of
spreading widely and rapidly.
The disease behind a pandemic can cause severe illness and
spread easily from one person to the next.
In any serious disaster a gap develops between resource needs
and resource availability. In a severe pandemic this gap will be
much worse due to global supply chain disruptions or delays and
the fact that governments and aid organizations will be
overwhelmed responding to all who need assistance at the same
time.

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Influenza pandemics, whether mild, moderate or severe, affect a

large proportion of the population and require a multisectoral
response over several months or even years. For this reason,
countries develop plans describing their strategies for
responding to a pandemic supported by operational plans at
national and subnational levels.

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The COVID-19 pandemic: Impacts on
cities

Air quality-
Major issues revealed by the pandemic-
• Traffic emissions are major sources of pollution in many
cities
• Non-traffic sources of pollution are also important in
some contexts
• In some contexts, COVID-19 transmission/mortality rates
are strongly associated with high levels of air pollution
• Long-term exposure to air pollution can increase human
vulnerability to pandemics.
Major recommendations/implications for post-COVID
planning-
• Greening the transportation and industry sectors can
provide major air quality benefits
• Measures to reduce traffic-related pollution are not
enough to address air quality in all contexts
• As measures designed for reducing some pollutants may
increase
• secondary pollutants, holistic approaches to pollution
Environmental factors-
Major issues revealed by the pandemic-
• Evidence on the association between temperature and
COVID-19transmission rate are inconclusive
• When the wind speed is low, air pollution is likely to
intensify transmission rate
Major recommendations/implications for post-COVID
planning-
• During pandemics, social distancing and other protection
measures should continuously be promoted irrespective
of environmental conditions.
• Improving air quality can contribute to addressing issues
related tocovid-19 and other pandemics both in short and
Urban water cycle-
long term.
Major issues revealed by the pandemic-
• Unregulated human activities have resulted in the
contamination of water resources in many cities
• Drugs used for treatment of COVID-19 patients may
pollute freshwater resources- Lack of sewage treatment
facilities in poor areas undermines the effectiveness of
lockdown measures
Major recommendations/implications for post-COVID
planning-
• Designing regulations to minimize negative agricultural,
industrial, and traffic impacts on water resources should
be prioritized
• Sufficient disinfection of water plants and wastewater
Social impact-
treatment plants and measures such as the prevention of
Major issues revealed by the pandemic-
sewage leakage into freshwater resources are essential to
• COVID-19 has exposed old problems and inequalities in a
reduce human exposure to the virus.
new light
• Inequalities make containment challenging, and may also
lead to further diffusion of the virus
• Enforcing social distancing and other response measures
is challenging in slums
 Major recommendations/implications for post-COVID
planning-
• More inclusive actions towards reducing inequalities and
addressing the needs of vulnerable groups should be
prioritized
• Slum upgrading should be prioritized- Social distancing
policies should be coupled with economic support
mechanisms
Economic impacts-
• Enhancing sense of community is critical for improving
Major issues revealed by the pandemic-
response and recovery
• Homogeneous economiccapacities
structure increases vulnerability
• Marginalized groups are disproportionately affected by
the economic impacts of the pandemic
• Global supply chain makes cities vulnerable to disruptive
events
Major recommendations/implications for post-COVID
planning-
• Diversifying urban economic structure is essential
• Developing relief programs to support vulnerable and
marginalized groups is necessary during pandemics
• Transformation to more local supply chain that increase
sself-sufficiency is needed for dealing with the economic
Governance-
fallouts ofthe pandemic and similar future events
Major issues revealed by the pandemic-
• Absence of proactive planning and emergency plans is a
major reason for failure to respond effectively is some
countries
• Fragmented urban governance erodes response and
adaptation capacities
Major recommendations/implications for post-COVID
planning-
• Long-term visioning and integrated urban governance
enhanceadaptive capacity
• During pandemics, local governments should provide
economic and social support to vulnerable groups
• In addition to top-down initiatives, certain levels of local
leadership and community engagement are critical for
timely response to pandemics
Smart cities-
Major issues revealed by the pandemic-
• Smart solutions have contributed to developing more
effective and efficient response and recovery measures
(e.g., identifying and isolating infected individuals,
reducing human-to-human contacts in service delivery,
etc.)
• Techno-driven approaches have been successful in
containing the virus, but have raised concerns regarding
privacy protection and transparency
Major recommendations/implications for post-COVID
planning-
• Public access to real time and geo-referenced data
enables better response and recovery from adverse
events
• Techno-driven approaches should not undermine privacy
issues and be misused to reinforce power relations
• Human-driven approaches are more suitable for citizen
Transportation-
empowerment
Major issues revealed by the pandemic-
• Combined approaches are better suited for containing the
• increased transport connectivity is a risk factor that may
pandemic, dealing with privacy concerns, facilitating
contribute to the diffusion of infection diseases
coordination and information sharing, and controlling the
• Public transportation may increase the risk of
spread of misinformation
transmission during pandemics
• The pandemic may increase negative attitudes towards
public transportation
Major recommendations/implications for post-COVID
planning-
• Smart mobility restrictions, based on the transmission
risk of different transportation modes, is essential for
containing the spread of the virus
• More attention to minimizing potential public health risks
of public transportation is needed
• Modal shift to cycling and walking offers a unique
opportunity to further promote active transportation
Urban design-
Major issues revealed by the pandemic-
• Density alone is not a key risk factor contributing to the
spread of the virus
• Some cities lack appropriate levels of green and open
spaces to meet outdoor exercise and recreation demands
of their citizens while fulfilling social distancing
requirements
Major recommendations/implications for post-COVID
planning-
• Better access to amenities and public health
infrastructure make high
• density areas less vulnerable to pandemics
• Considering multiple other benefits of compact urban
developments, planners should continue promoting them
• More space should be allocated to pedestrian areas and
open spaces
Preparedness and strategies to tackle COVID-19
Pandemic at Urban level :-

To accommodate work from home situations, we could even

reexamine old urban typologies. Many urban approaches might
increase the protection and defense system of our cities and
avoid high density and overcrowding. Policymakers and planners
should use the current crisis to review planning theories and,
based on the results, they should take a step back in searching
about how past cities are structured.
Expanding horizontally. During a pandemic, the human
proximity of heavily populated cities poses further risks. The
larger the population, the higher the concentration of COVID-19
in cities. Regarding the impact of social distancing, planners and
architects might design according to expanding horizontally
approaches with more available open spaces, which could be
essential to prevent the spread of infections and diseases.
Fewer density cities. Because social distancing measures are
essential to the containment effort, some have blamed the
density of cities for the rapid spread of the infection and
considered suburbs to be the safest places. Urbanization might
take a step back to enhance villages and city suburbs,
particularly with the increased acceptance of digital
transformation.
Decentralization. The pandemic highlights the importance of
distributing
smaller units such as health facilities, schools, and services
across more of the urban tissue and strengthen local centers. As
more and more e-commerce models, the shopping malls may
eventually lose their aspirational value, we would have to
remodel traditional market in mixed use neighborhoods. In
addition, the decentralized network of smaller green spaces will
make it easier for residents to breathe nature that has
important physical and mental health benefits. Decentralization
approach could probably encourage horizontal expansion,
requiring a review of planning theories to maintain sustainable
development and adequate city planning.
Urban farming. It is urgent to rethink how land is used with
landscapes and urban farming integrated approaches . Urban
farming has been recently growing, strengthening self-
sustaining communities to become more resilient to the
Milan in Italy is a good example in the sense that its mayor
has announced that 35 Km of streets will be for cycling.