Tools, powers and budgets
From the hazard profiles and the descriptions of actions that
may be possible to reduce their effects, it is evident that protection is
complex and needs to be built up through a range of activities undertaken at the
same time. Protection cannot be simply provided by any single authority or
agency. A government cannot provide housing that is wind-resistant for every
citizen in cyclone-prone areas. Governments can and do, however, influence
individuals towards protecting themselves and the rest of the community.
Governments can employ a wide range of tools and use their powers in many ways
to influence the safety of the community. Legislative powers, administrative
functions, spending and project initiation are all tools they can employ to
bring about change. Powers of persuasion are sometimes classified into two
types: Passive and Active. These are summarized below.
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Passive mitigation measures
Authorities prevent undesired actions through controls and
penalties by:
Requirement to conform with
design codes
Checking compliance of controls
on-site
Imposing court proceedings, fines, closure
orders on offenders
Control of land use
Denial of utilities and infrastructure to areas where
development is undesired
Compulsory
insurance
Requirements of passive control systems
a. An existing and enforceable system of control
b. Acceptance by the affected community of the objectives and
the authority imposing the controls
c. The economic capability of the affected community to comply
with the regulations.
Active mitigation measures
Authorities promote desired actions through incentives like:
Planning control
dispensations
Training and education
Economic assistance (grants and preferential loans)
Subsidies on safety equipment, safer building materials,
etc.
Provision of facilities: safer buildings, refuge
points, storage
Public information dissemination and
awareness raising
Promotion of voluntary
insurance
Creation of community
organizations
Active Programs
a. Aim to create a self-perpetuating safety culture
in areas of weak authority or poor ability to comply with existing controls.
b. Require large budgets, skilled manpower and extensive
administration.
c. Are useful in areas of low income, rural
areas or elsewhere where there is no external jurisdiction over land use or
building activity. |
Safety standards, construction codes and building regulations
form part of the normal apparatus that government use to help a community
protect itself. One of the simplest measures for national authorities to take is
to pass legislation for a national building code that requires new buildings and
infrastructures to be resistant to the various hazards prevalent in that
country. Some 40 earthquake-prone countries currently have seismic building
codes for new construction. However, codes themselves are likely to have little
effect unless the building designers are aware of them and understand them, and
unless the community considers them necessary, and unless they are enforced by
competent administrators.
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There is no standard solution to mitigating a disaster
risk. |
The multiplicity of hazards and the different ways of reducing
their various effects on the elements at risk is further compounded by the type
of community powers and budgets available to the decision-makers. There is no
standard solution to mitigating a disaster risk. The construction of large-scale
engineering projects in Japan and other high-income countries to give protection
against floods and volcanic debris flows, is not appropriate to mitigating
similar hazards in developing countries. The enforcement of town planning
regulations, and what is considered an acceptable level of interference by an
authority on individual's right to build, varies considerably from one country
to another, it varies from rural to urban situations and from one community and
culture to the next.
The prohibition of building houses on hazardous slopes may seem
sensible but is unenforceable in cities where economic pressures to locate on
such locations outstrip concerns of illegality. The right of a municipal
engineer to inspect the seismic resistance of a building under construction may
be accepted in major cities of a country but would be objected to in the more
remote villages of the same province.
Q. A distinction is made in the text between
passive and active mitigation measures. What are the arguments for using active
measures over passive ones? Does this hold true for your community and the
hazards that you expect might occur there?
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ANSWER
Although they may cost more to initiate, active measures may
produce better results in some communities because they:
tend to promote a
self-perpetuating safety culture
do not rely on the
economic capability of the affected community
do not rely on the ability of the local authorities to enforce
controls |
