Ranit Chatterjee

Identifying Priorities of Asian Small- and Medium-Scale Enterprises for Building Disaster Resilience

Abstract Asia is leading the urbanization race compared to other regions of the world. The private sector is one of the main drivers of this growth. The urban areas (largely the coastal cities) pose a major challenge to development gains due to increasing population and unregulated growth coupled with high exposure to hydrometeorological hazards. Past disasters in Asia suggest a greater loss of the private sector in comparison to the public sector. In most Asian economies, small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) make up a major part of the private sector’s investment and are among the highest employment generators. At this point, it can be said that involving SMEs in disaster management is an effective way to reduce the impact of future disasters in urban areas. This chapter looks into the possible involvement of SMEs in urban resilience that is essential for their own survival, drawing heavily from the good practices of Japan and Thailand against the backdrop of recent disasters. In terms of creating a future road map, the following priority areas of actions are identified, based on the lessons learned from the aforementioned case studies and the present risk of SMEs in an Asian context: reducing the risk to infrastructure; securing the supply chain; securing local markets; securing livelihoods and business through financing; strengthening risk insurance; and business continuity planning.

Role of Regional Organizations for Enhancing Private Sector Involvement in Disaster Risk Reduction in Developing Asia

Asia has a large diversity on disaster risks, and role of different stakeholders are different based on the country context. The regional organization (ASEAN, SAARC, APEC) in Asia plays an important role in disaster response and risk reduction by bringing cooperation between private sector and national governments. This chapter provides an overview of regional organizations and private sector involvement, its potentials and challenge in disaster management in the context of developing Asian nations. The case studies of Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004 and Cyclone Nargis 2008 are considered to understand and analyze the role of regional organizations and private sector in various phases of disaster management. The findings from the case studies and various regional legislations lead to specific recommendations, which are; (1) Increase collaboration and cooperation among international, regional, and national level organizations for humanitarian business response. (2) Specific guidelines for private sector involvement. (3) Support information and knowledge sharing. (4) Increase accountability and transparency. (5) Awareness generation.

Public Private Partnership: Emerging Role of the Private Sector in Strengthening India’s Disaster Resilience

The role of public and private sector in disaster risk reduction is emerging as an important area of attention in the post 2015 Hyogo Framework for Action agenda across the globe. In a rapidly urbanizing India, the public and private sectors have been the driving force behind socio-economic development. The present trend of sporadic engagement of the private and public sectors in post disaster relief and response highlights a need for a proactive approach among these entities to make the gains sustainable and build close partnership with the government in preparing and mitigating disaster risk. This chapter tries to look at Public Private Partnership (PPP) as a possible solution to better the disaster infrastructure in India. To develop a better understanding of the role of private sector, their engagement in the past disasters and initiatives are studied. Further, the chapter looks into the post disaster initiatives taken at various levels to make the society disaster resilient. The findings from the analysis of existing legislations and case studies help in evolving a set of recommendations to create a road map for engaging the private sector through PPP for disaster resilience in future.

Understanding recovery process of small- and medium-scale enterprises after 2015 Nepal earthquake and impact on resilience building

Small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in Nepal SMEs are the backbone of Nepalese economy and account for more than 90% of total industrial establishments. Two consecutive earthquakes in 2015 within a span of month caused direct and indirect damages to the tune of 19 million USD to the productive sector. The chapter is based on the fieldwork conducted in January 2016 in the Balaju industrial area of Kathmandu, which was one of the most severely damaged areas in the Kathmandu Valley with an aim to understand the process of recovery covering predisaster conditions, the impact and recovery process and if it is leading to development of resilience for future disasters using Norris Resilience Framework. The findings suggest that a majority of the SMEs follows recovery trajectory while only one follows a resistance trajectory. Further, it is seen that insurance is not a very effective risk transfer mechanism in the postdisaster phase and without any external support structural recovery leads to recreation of vulnerabilities.

Enforcement of Building Construction Regulations in Urban Centers of India

The urban centers in India are experiencing a rapid transformation, both controlled and uncontrolled, supported by the growing economy in the past two decades. However, this rapid urban growth has led to failure of urban authorities to regulate and implement safe building standards and practices, resulting in risk accumulation in the urban centers. Building regulation is an important tool to address the problems of uncontrolled development and increasing disaster risk. In spite of existence of various codes and guidelines (BIS codes, NDMA guidelines, and PWD/CPWD manuals), nothing has proved accountable enough to scale down the magnitude of the vulnerabilities of building stocks. In India, state governments, local bodies (urban and rural), development authorities, special and new town development agencies, etc. are directed to modify, revise, and revamp the existing building regulations, planning, and safety standards in line with the National Building Code (NBC) 2015 with due consideration for the local variations. But implementation has remained a challenge due to weak institutional and financial capacities of the urban local bodies and non-emergence of specified agencies/expertise in the country. The strengthening and capacity building of various building development and regulating agencies with adequate level of expertise for proactive responses need to be supported by the building professionals and builder’s lobby. This chapter highlights the importance of compliance of built structure with national guidelines/standards/codes/manuals developed in the country. Further the chapter highlights various gaps based on four factors: (1) legal mechanism, (2) building code development, (3) implementation, and (4) training and awareness. In order to narrow the gaps, possible solutions like expert pooling among contiguously situated urban local bodies, rapid visual surveys, and financial incentives are discussed in the later part of the chapter.

Urban Food Security in Asia: A Growing Threat

Urban food security is emerging as a dominant area of global developmental policy deliberations. By 2020, more than half of the Asian population will reside in urban centers, and as a result, the demand for food will be high. Characteristically, these urban centers rely on the neighboring peri-urban and rural areas for agriculture-based food products. As these cities seamlessly merge into their peripheral areas, agricultural lands are being converted into urban environments to meet the increasing demand for residential land. This trend negatively impacts the local food supply, resulting in an increasing dependency on the national and global supply chain. Considering Asia’s high vulnerability to natural hazards, its urban centers are exposed to food security threats from both localized and distant disaster events. Thus, strengthening the supply chain and food storage will reduce food security and enhance urban resilience in the process. This chapter focuses on the issues of food security in terms of diminishing urban agriculture land. Comparative analyses of cases from developing urban centers in Asia are discussed in order to highlight the commonalities and differences employed to devise strategies that could enhance food security.

Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies of Japanese Private Sector in Danang City

The increase in frequency and severity of natural disasters due to climate change is leading to huge economic loss across the globe. Considering that the private sector contributes 75–80 % of the total investment in infrastructure projects in Asia, involving them in Disaster management would be essential for economic resilience. Vietnam with its high rate of urbanization is exposed to the risk of various natural hazards. Danang city, in Vietnam has been a center of this urbanization with the national and local government supporting investment in geographically challenged regions from other countries in Medium and Small-scale Enterprises. The Japanese enterprises form a major chunk of these foreign investments in Danang. Considering various legislation and structured interviews with Japanese private sector in Danang, this study concludes that the Japanese Small and Medium Scale Enterprises need further work on the following areas; (1) Legislation for the private sector involvement in disaster risk reduction. (2) Training of private sector employees. (3) Capacity building of private sector.