A Special Initiative

 

Title:  World Institute for Disaster Risk Management (DRM)

Sponsor:  Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and ProVention consortium of the World Bank

Directors:  Fred Krimgold and Juerg Hammer 

DRM is a network for applied research, implementation and dissemination in the field of disaster risk management. It is an initiative of the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in conjunction with the ProVention Consortium of the World Bank.

Every managing executive in the public or private sector has a duty to ensure appropriate risk management in his area of responsibility. Hazardous events of natural or technological origin can happen anywhere and at any time. It's never too early to integrate risk management into corporate governance - but it may often be too late.

DRM marshals resources for collaborative activities in applied research, research applications and professional practice to reduce disaster risks in vulnerable communities throughout the world.

The objective of DRM is to enable people to anticipate disasters and take action to protect life and property, and to ensure sustainable social and economic development. Its activities include supporting the pursuit of an optimal balance between disaster risk reduction, risk-sharing mechanisms and management of residual risks in the face of limited resources.

DRM achieves its aims by filling knowledge gaps, providing a clearing-house for information, building know-how, mobilizing resources and forging partnerships with governments, private enterprises, international agencies and NGOs.

DRM works with a wide range of international organizations and institutions whose common objective is disaster risk reduction for public safety and sustainable development.

Even when reliable and cost-effective technologies are available for early warning, disaster prevention and mitigation, many governments, especially in developing countries, lack an adequate institutional framework in which to apply them.

Natural and technological disasters often cause substantial damage to life and property, infrastructures, cultural heritage, and the ecological basis of life. Indirect losses in terms of business interruption, loss of production, and loss of services often exceed losses due to direct physical damage. Developing countries are affected more severely, often suffering a dramatic decline in GNP.

DRM Update:   Disaster Management for Critical Infrastructure

The increasing complexity and interconnectedness of energy, telecommunications, transportation and financial infrastructures pose new challenges for secure, reliable management and operation. No single entity has complete control of these multi-scale, distributed, highly interactive networks, or the ability to evaluate, monitor, and manage them in real time. Historically, primary emphasis in disaster management has been placed on the performance of inhabited structures, the failure of which would pose direct risk of life loss or injury. As understanding of secondary disaster damage and indirect economic losses improves it becomes evident that survival and rapid recovery of networked infrastructure service systems is critical to reducing the impacts of both natural and technological disasters.

This project will provide tools for evaluation of critical infrastructure vulnerability and approaches to risk reduction. A general characterization of complex network systems will be provided as well as the framework for analysis of vulnerability of such systems. Reference will be made to recent experience of critical infrastructure failure in disasters in both developed and developing countries. Distinction will be made between the opportunities for risk reduction in the design and construction of new systems and those available for risk reduction in the retrofit of existing systems.

Social and economic consequences of critical infrastructure failure will be illustrated from various disaster events and approaches to estimation of direct and indirect losses from infrastructure service failure will be discussed. Expected scale and distribution of losses related to infrastructure failure will be related to costs of strengthening and other strategies for risk reduction.

Because critical infrastructure systems in disaster-prone developing countries are often the subject of international investment and lending, standards of design, construction, maintenance and operation should be introduced and maintained as routine practice. While many infrastructure systems have been owned and managed in the public sector there is a strong movement toward privatization and reduction of public regulation. Maintenance of appropriate standards of reliability for critical services poses new challenges in market economies. The balance of public interests in reliability of service (including disaster survivability) and market pressure to reduce price is problematic.