From everyday hazards to disasters: the accumulation of risk in urban areas

Many disasters take place in urban areas, affecting millions of people
each year through loss of life, serious injury and loss of assets and livelihoods. Poorer
groups are generally most affected. The impact of these disasters and their contribution
to poverty are underestimated, as is the extent to which rapidly growing and
poorly managed urban development increases the risks. But urban specialists do not
see disasters and disaster prevention as being within their remit. At the same time,
few national and international disaster agencies have worked with urban governments
and community organizations to identify and act on the urban processes that
cause the accumulation of disaster risk in and around urban areas. This paper summarizes
the discussions from a workshop funded by UNDP on the links between disasters
and urban development in Africa, highlighting the underestimation of the number
and scale of urban disasters, and the lack of attention to the role of urban governance.
It notes the difficulties in getting action in Africa, since the region’s problems are still
perceived as “rural” by disaster and development specialists, even though two-fifths
of its population live in urban areas. It emphasizes the need for an understanding of
risk that encompasses events ranging from disasters to everyday hazards and which
understands the linkages between them – in particular, how identifying and acting
on risks from “small” disasters can reduce risks from larger ones. It also stresses the
importance of integrating such an understanding into poverty reduction strategies.