In order to mutually benefit from current findings - also across national borders - around 50 researchers from Germany, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and the Philippines met at the Department of Spatial Planning, Technical University of Dortmund on July 4, 2023. The event focused on discussions of research results, lessons learned, and successful responses to hazard events, especially after floods. Topics ranged from exchanges on hazard and risk and their impacts under different geo-conditions, potential measures for on-site upgrading for those disaster-prone settlements, and strategies for modernization and resettlement. How to implement disaster risk management at different political levels was also on the agenda of the international conference. The full programm is available here.
In Germany, the KAHR project, is addressing the question of how can reconstruction after natural disasters be designed to minimize damage in future events: 13 partners from science and practice including IRPUD, are providing advice and research to support reconstruction in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia after the 2021 flood disaster (see here). In Southeast Asia and China, BMBF is supporting the sustainable development of urban regions through its SURE (Sustainable Development of Urban Regions) funding measure. Among other topics, this measure addresses the issue of how prudent risk management can be created in the event of extreme weather events and natural disasters. The IRPUD project LIRLAP plays here a fundamental role, focussing on three countries in the region.
Adapting reconstruction to natural events such as floods and inundations.
The BMBF-funded project LIRLAP (Linking Disaster Risk Governance and Land-Use Planning) investigates urban risk governance and risk-based land use planning, so to reduce inhabitants’ socio-economic vulnerability and enhance community adaptive capacity for resilience building. LIRLAP project focuses particularly on those disaster-prone informal settlements in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand by collaborating with local residents to establish locally viable climate-resilient upgrading and resettlement strategies.
The LIRLAP research partner Ngo Thanh Son from the Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) presented in his lecture what structural upgrading solutions are focused on in case resettlement is not possible to protect property and livelihood in case of flooding. For instance, it has proven effective to build houses on stilts or to construct the first floor so that it can be flooded through in the event of a flood. In this way, the property can be protected by a stable roof, which can also be used to evacuate the residents. The best possible protection is all the more important here since most of the local population has no insurance.
For the Philippine team of LIRLAP, Prof. Dr. Ma. Sheilah G. Napalang focussed on disaster coping and adaptive capacities of local communities and presented lessons from hazard-prone informal settlements in the context of resilience upgrading in Metro Manila. It is based on extensive fieldwork of the LIRLAP team and revealed the importance of local leadership, formal and non-formal community support systems and social cohesion.
In contrast to many parts of Asia, natural disasters are less frequent in Germany, but they are on the rise, partly due to the effects of climate change. The 2021 floods in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia caused billions of euros in damage. When it comes to rebuilding houses and infrastructure, it is clear how different the approaches are in the various countries, emphasized Prof. Dr. Holger Schüttrumpf, RWTH Aachen and representative for the KAHR project. In Germany, for example, resettlement hardly plays a role in contrast to Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Everyone agreed that even if reconstruction is implemented differently at the local level, the aim everywhere is to make the buildings and infrastructure as resilient as possible to future natural events during reconstruction.
Images: Stefan Andreson
