Ramasamy R. Krishnamurthy

Disaster management : global challenges and local solutions

Introduction Disaster Management: An Overview Hazards and Disasters Earthquake Risk Management: Problems and Prospects Tsunami Risk Reduction Flood Risk Management Cyclone Risk: Mitigation and Management Drought Risk Management Post-tsunami Hazards along the Indian Coast Risk and Vulnerability Building Codes and Land Use Planning: Challenges of Development and Enforcement Social Vulnerability: Who Draws the Line? Where and Why? Macroeconomic Management and Sustainable Development Environmental Vulnerability and Disaster Risk Reduction Climate Change Risk Reduction: Decision-making in Uncertainty Financial Management of Disaster-related Economic Losses Disaster Reduction Technology Implementation Technology for Disaster Reduction Disaster Management for Infrastructure Geospatial Information in Agricultural Drought Assessment and Monitoring Multimedia Technology in Disaster Risk Management Training Transferable Indigenous Knowledge in Disaster Reduction: The Japanese Experience Education and Community Education in Disaster Risk Reduction Essentials of School Disaster Education: Example from Kobe, Japan Community Capacity and Disaster Resilience Community-based Disaster Recovery Community-based Disaster Management and Social Capital Designing Resilience: Building Community Capacity for Action Crosscutting Issues Disaster, Environment and Development: Opportunities for Integration in Asia-Pacific Region Impact of Disaster on Poverty and Deprivation Climate Change Adaptation and Human Health: Linkages of Climate, Disaster and Health issues in Vietnam Exposure, Health Hazards and Environmental Risk: Study in Chennai, India Hydrometeorological Disasters and Agriculture Forest Management and Disaster Risk Reduction Rural Livelihood and Disaster Risk Reduction: A Case Study from Central Vietnam Essentials of Urban Disaster Risk Reduction Institutional Capacity in Disaster Management: The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Corporate Sector and Disaster Risk Reduction: A Community-focussed Approach Essentials of Predisaster Recovery Planning The African Experiences of Disaster Risk Reduction Postscript Disaster Management: The Way Ahead Index

The adoption of a climate disaster resilience index in Chennai, India

Results derived from the Climate Disaster Resilience Index (CDRI)-consisting of five dimensions (economic, institutional, natural, physical, and social), 25 parameters, and 125 variables-reflect the abilities of people and institutions to respond to potential climate-related disasters in Chennai, India. The findings of this assessment, applied in the 10 administrative zones of the city, reveal that communities living in the northern and older parts of Chennai have lower overall resilience as compared to the flourishing areas (vis-à-vis economic growth and population) along the urban fringes. The higher resilience of communities along the urban fringes suggests that urbanisation may not necessarily lead to a deterioration of basic urban services, such as electricity, housing, and water. This indication is confirmed by a strong statistical correlation between physical resilience and population growth in Chennai. The identification of the resilience of different urban areas of Chennai has the potential to support future planning decisions on the citys scheduled expansion.

Action-oriented resilience assessment of communities in Chennai, India

Building resilience to disasters is indispensable in cities, like Chennai, India, which are challenged by emerging urban disaster risks caused by impacts of urbanization and higher probability of future disasters due to climate change. In this paper, an action-oriented resilience assessment (AoRA), consisting of 63 actions, divided into 21 parameters and 5 dimensions (physical, social, economic, institutional and natural), is defined which has the objective to enhance the resilience of communities of Chennai to climate-related disasters. On the basis of responses from the selected target group, community leaders (councillors) in the 155 wards, the local government of Chennai is the key stakeholder to implement the proposed actions in the AoRA. However, further findings underpin that a multi-stakeholder approach, involving communities, academia, private organizations and NGOs, is needed to create disaster resilient communities.

Universities and communitybased disaster risk reduction

Education has been there for ages. Need of education for sustainable development is stated in Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 (1992) as follows:Education, including formal education, public awareness and training, should be recognized as a process by which human beings and societies can reach their fullest potential. Education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of the people to address environment and development issues. While basic education provides the underpinning for any environment and development education, the latter needs to be incorporated as an essential part of learning. Both formal and non-formal education is indispensable to changing peoples attitudes so that they have the capacity to assess and address their sustainable development concerns.