Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia

357 Pages·2016·20.601 MB·English

by  Rajib Shaw, Atta-ur-Rahman, Akhilesh Surjan, Gulsan Ara Parvin

Urban Disasters and
Resilience in Asia
Edited by
Rajib Shaw
Professor,
Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies,
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Atta-ur-Rahman
Associate Professor,
Institute of Geography, Urban and Regional Planning,
University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan
Akhilesh Surjan
Associate Professor,
Faculty of Engineering, Health, Science
and the Environment,
Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
Gulsan Ara Parvin
Researcher,
Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies,
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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List of Contributors
Vinayak Adane Professor, Department of Architecture and Planning, Visvesvaraya
National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India
Reazul Ahsan Research Fellow, MIT-UTM Sustainable Cities Program, M assachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Mohammad Shakil Akther Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning,
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Atta-ur-Rahman Associate Professor, Institute of Geography, Urban and Regional
Planning, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan
Michiko Banba Education and Research Center for Disaster Education, University
of Hyogo, Japan
Uttama Barua Graduate Student, Department of Urban and Regional Planning,
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and Research Planner, B angladesh
Network Office for Urban Safety (BNUS), Bangladesh University of Engineering and
Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Ranit Chatterjee Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto U niversity,
Kyoto, Japan
Priya Choudhary Smt. Manoramabai Mundle College of Architecture, Seminary
Hills, Maharashtra, India
Sameer Deshkar Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture and Planning,
Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India
Glenn Fernandez Disaster Risk Management Systems, Asian Disaster Preparedness
Center, Bangkok, Thailand
Ishrat Islam Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Bangladesh
University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Nafesa Ismail Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University,
Kyoto, Japan
Sadasivam Karuppannan University of South Australia, Australia
viii List of Contributors
Jon Kellett University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Huy Nguyen Institute for Social and Environmental Transition, Vietnam
Kenji Okazaki Professor, Kyoto University, Japan
Gulsan Ara Parvin Researcher, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies,
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Krishna S. Pribadi Professor, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia
Bhaswati Ray Assistant Professor, Sivanath Sastri College, Kolkata, India
Rajib Shaw Professor, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto
University, Kyoto, Japan
Kazi Farzana Shumi Department of Business Administration (DBA), International
Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC), Dhaka, Bangladesh
Nitin Srivastava Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto U niversity,
Kyoto, Japan
Akhilesh Surjan Associate Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Health, Science and
the Environment, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
Phong Tran Institute for Social and Environmental Transition, Vietnam
Tho Tran Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University,
Kyoto, Japan
About the Editors
Rajib Shaw
Professor, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University,
Kyoto, Japan
Rajib Shaw is a professor at the Graduate School of
Global Environmental Studies of Kyoto University,
Kyoto, Japan. He has worked closely with local
communities, nongovernmental organizations, gov-
ernments, and international organizations, including
the United Nations (UN), especially in Asian coun-
tries. His research interests include community-based
disaster risk management, climate change adaptation,
urban risk management, and disaster and environ-
mental education. He is currently the president of
the Asian University Network of Environment and
Disaster Management, and the co-chair of the UN
International Strategy of Disaster Reduction (ISDR)
Asia Science Technology Academia Advisory Group.
Professor Shaw has been published extensively in
different journals, books and edited volumes.
Atta-ur-Rahman
Associate Professor, Institute of Geography, Urban and Regional Planning, University of
Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan
Atta-ur-Rahman is an associate professor at the
Institute of Geography, Urban and Regional Plan-
ning, University of Peshawar, Pakistan. He recently
completed his postdoctoral studies on modeling
disaster risk at Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. He is
also a visiting faculty member at the Centre for
Disaster Preparedness and Management, University
of Peshawar, Pakistan. His specialties are disaster
risk reduction (DRR) and environmental impact
assessment. He is currently working with a number
of international organizations on various aspects of
x About the Editors
DRR and supervising research students in the field of disaster risk management.
He is a member of the editorial boards of several prestigious journals and has written
numerous books and research articles.
Akhilesh Surjan
Associate Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Health, Science and the Environment,
Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
Akhilesh Surjan has successfully dealt with issues
of climate and disaster risk reduction (DRR) and
urban environmental management. He served as a
lead author for the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)
of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC). He also served as a contributing author for
the United Nation’s Global Assessment Report on
Disaster Risk Reduction, published in May 2011.
In particular, he focuses on issues surrounding the
sustainability of development and adaptation con-
cerns of emerging cities. Dr. Surjan trained at Kyoto
University in Kyoto, Japan, where he successfully
completed his doctoral study, focusing on resilience
to environment and DRR in the Asia-Pacific region.
Gulsan Ara Parvin
Researcher, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University,
Kyoto, Japan
Gulsan Ara Parvin is a researcher at the Graduate
School of Global Environmental Studies, at Kyoto
University, Kyoto, Japan. She has 12 years of teaching
and research experience at the Bangladesh University
of Engineering and Technology (BUET). She was an
associate professor in the Urban and Regional Plan-
ning Department of BUET. Dr. Parvin was awarded
a postdoctoral fellowship from the Japan Society
for the Promotion of Science to conduct research at
Kyoto University from 2007 to 2010. She obtained
a Ph.D degree from the Urban Engineering Depart-
ment of the University of Tokyo in 2003 and an M.Sc
degree from the Agriculture Conservation and Rural
Development Program of the Asian Institute of Technology in 1999. Her research
interests mostly concentrate on community development, vulnerability and disaster
management for the poor, climate change impact and adaptation, female empower-
ment, and the role of nongovernmental organizations.
Preface
Globally, the intensity and frequency of disasters are on the rise. In urban areas, more
than 50% of the world’s population is living on just 2% of the land surface. Most of
these cities are located in Asia, which consists mostly of developing nations. In these
cities, more than 30% of the residents are living in slums and squatters. Unforeseen
disaster events hit cities and communities in both the developing and developed world,
but developing nations are more vulnerable and suffer more intensely. Numerous cit-
ies have been affected by natural and human-created disasters, with thousands of the
inhabitants either buried under debris or washed away by gushing water. Over time,
urban disasters put unprecedented pressure on city budgets, which must accommodate
emergency response and recovery. Urban centers are the hub of industrial and
commercial activity, so cities function to empower their societies. Wherever disasters hit
urban areas, their severity brought widespread devastation in terms of human losses
and adverse economic consequences and setbacks.
Urban resilience is largely a function of resourceful citizens and governments. The
strong and committed involvement of citizens at the grassroots level can lead to a
resilient city. There are many factors that affect urban resilience, and no two cities are
alike in their inherent capacities. Therefore, building cities that are more resilient to
both external and internal negative factors may bring about more productive economic
returns. It is important to note that mitigation prior to the occurrence of a disaster is
much more effective than picking up the pieces afterward.
This is a very demanding area, which deserves special attention from academia,
government institutions, disaster managers, urban authorities, international govern-
mental organizations, scientific community, practitioners, and other experts. It should
and will be the focus of policy makers, practitioners working in both the public and
private sectors, students, academia, and government officials.
This book particularly highlights several key areas: urban risk, disaster and resilience,
building code and land-use planning, coastal cities, urban expansion, urban rural linkages,
urban microfinancing, food security, risk communication, and private sector involvement.
The text also illustrates some case studies from Asian countries, highlighting experiences
from a number of cities.
This book is geared toward a wide audience. Initially, the target group is students,
teachers, and researchers working in the fields of urban planning, architecture, disaster
preparedness and management, social sciences, and earth and structural sciences. The
chapters draw on evidence-based data from the scientific integration of databases and
feedback on conceptualization, idea generation, field surveying on urban disasters,
xii Preface
and building city resilience. Similarly, disaster managers, field practitioners, decision
makers, disaster-related authorities, and city government staffers are other target
readers of this valuable reference.
Rajib Shaw
Atta-ur-Rahman
Akhilesh Surjan
Gulsan Ara Parvin
About the Book
Urbanization is on the rise and disasters are increasing throughout the world. Asia,
where significant numbers of people still live in informal settlements, bears the brunt
of these developments. Numerous Asian cities have been affected by natural and
human-created disasters in recent years, and there are many examples of innovative
risk reduction approaches designed to improve the resilience of urban areas on the
continent. This book is an attempt to explain some of the key lessons of urban resilience
based on Asian examples. The book, the culmination of years of effort from renowned
urban scientists and other experts, has 20 chapters, some of them highlighting common
issues like coastal management, building vulnerability, urban rural linkage, and
community engagement, and others presenting case studies of different cities highlighting
and linking these issues. This topic is a demanding one that definitely merits special
attention from academia, government institutions, disaster managers, urban authorities,
international nongovernmental organizations, scientific community, and practitioners.
The book will be useful to policy makers, practitioners working in both the public and
private sectors, students, academia, and government officials.
Urban Disasters and Approaches 1
to Resilience
Atta-ur-Rahman1, Rajib Shaw2, Akhilesh Surjan3, Gulsan Ara Parvin4
1Associate Professor, Institute of Geography, Urban and Regional Planning, University
of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan; 2Professor, Graduate School of Global Environmental
Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan; 3Associate Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Health,
Science and the Environment, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia; 4Researcher,
Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
1.1 Introduction
More than half of the world population is now living in urban areas (UN, 2014). The
urban population is increasing at a rapid rate, and it is projected that by the year 2030,
65% of the world’s population will be living in cities, mostly in the developing world
(Sharma et al., 2011). Most of the top 20 cities in the world are in Asia, mainly located
in the developing world. The data reveals that in the developing world, urban popula-
tions are increasing at a rapid pace that poses a series of threats to them. It has been
estimated that in Asia, over 40% of its urban dwellers are living in slums and squatter
settlements. Large cities are particularly vulnerable to a wide variety of hazards, with
the majority of these populations living in high- to moderate-risk zones.
The so-called super cities, including Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, Dhaka, Mumbai, Karachi,
Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok, and Calcutta, have experienced serious incidents of flooding,
cyclone surges, and earthquakes in the past decade (Douglass, 2013). Meanwhile, several
other Asian cities have faced heat waves, droughts, urban flooding, and intense rainfall.
The effects of such incidents have been intensified by climate change. Cities are the hub of
educational and cultural innovation and provide industrial, commercial, and infrastructure
services (Shaw et al., 2009). Such links have positive implications to accelerate both the
economic and political situations. Cities are certainly strong, but they are also vulnerable
to wide range of disasters. This is why the urban authorities are called upon to develop
city disaster risk reduction (DRR) plan(s) to cope, adapt to, or withstand shock, stress, and
disturbances with minimum human casualties and damage (Rahman & Shaw 2015).
The continent of Asia is where the world’s least-urbanized countries are located. In Sri
Lanka, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Nepal, India, Thailand, and Laos,
less than 30% of the population lives in urban areas (UN, 2014). Singapore, Hong Kong,
Qatar, Kuwait, Israel, South Korea, and Japan are among the most urbanized countries,
with over 90% of the total population residing in cities. As a whole, the urban population
in Asia is rapidly increasing compared to other continents. In Asia, in terms of degree of
urbanization, 27 countries have more than 50% of their population living in urban areas.
Of the top 20 megacities in the world, 13 are in Asia—namely, Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai,
Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-802169-9.00001-X
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.