week 2 Flashcards
structural engineering and disaster management
follows a one size fits all approach, the principles have to be the same, which also means that it can be transferred around the world. a lot of disaster management is done along these lines
all hazards approach
be prepared for any types of disaster. make standard operating procedures for any possible scenarios with rules to be followed without discretion
hard and soft systems
hard: easy, visible, quickly created and measurable outputs related to imagined composite single hazards - such as flood defence walls
soft: long-term, complex, and quantitatively immeasurable outputs which do more to reduce the risk of both future disasters and conflicts
structural vs nonstructural
structural, hard measures –> flood walls, hard or mobile defences, barriers, shelters, camps
non-structural, soft measures –> mostly focused on mitigation: land use planning, flood warning, insurance, flood steps
a paradigm shift is happening in flood management: hard to soft
green engineering
soft: salt marshes, mangroves, coral reefs
mixed: combi of soft and harder measures –> building with nature, climate smart/resilient infrastructure
hard: floodwalls, dams, bigger infrastructural modernisation projects
critiques
- assumption that nature is controllable
- focus on technology, not on socioeconomic effects
- green engineering in cities can lead to gentrification
na-tech
natural disasters can cause damage at hazardous installations, resulting in loss of containment and so called natural hazard triggered technological accidents. natural disasters trigger a technological disasters –> these tech disasters do not have to happen: they are either the result of shabby engineering or shabby regulations
swiss cheese model
causal chain of event model brings in disaster. any safeguard has inherent flaws or holes. a problem lines up when multiple holes line up. underlying factors are created by culture and management –> company, management, society
what is recovery
programs that go beyond immediate relief to assist affected people to rebuild their homes, lives, and services and to strengthen their capacities to cope with future disasters. for the flood-affected, it is preliminary about regaining a sense of home, not so much about the building itself
why is building back the same problem? and key lessons
it might happen again and then the house is not more resilient than last time. rebuilding is what gets funded (same location, materials). this does not increase the resilience. displaced people will come back to the same place: trusted livelihood, social network, and are attached to the place
- a lack of planning means little net-safety gain
- building back the same in the same place reproduces prior vulnerabilities
sphere principles for reconstruction
- sufficient space and protection from threats to health, including structural hazards and disease vectors
- the availability of services, facilities, infrastructure affordability, habitability, location and cultural appropriateness
- sustainable access to natural and common resources
- safe access to healthcare services, schools, social facilities, and livelihood opportunities
why does rehabilitation go wrong so often
- lack of/misguided local stakeholder participation
- not focused on vulnerability
- insufficient development perspective
- state program often focusses on structures and houses, not on everyday items that provide a sense of home
- fraud
- involuntary relocation
- standardized technology driven approach
risk beyond technofix
risk is complex to be only approached as a technical phenomenon and addressed. risk is as much about perception and the management of perception in order to ensure that people undertake action to mitigate the consequences of disasters
what are disasters the outcome of?
either unsafe actions by individuals (active failures) or latent conditions
systems approach to risk
errors are inevetible, they are the causes of the system, bot because of malfunctioning of the system. human conditions cannot be changed, but we can change the conditions in which we work and act. behaviour paradigm focusses on how and why systems fail and how this failure is produced
what do we do in risk management
lowering threats, decreasing chances that a hazard turns into disasters, but also maximising the benefit. you cannot decrease all hazards or mitigate all risks –> what mitigation effort has the biggest impact?
