State-of-the-Practice in Urban Disaster Risk Management

Disaster risk management (DRM) is a set of processes, planning actions, policies and legal and institutional arrangements aimed at managing, and eventually reducing the effects of hazardous events (natural or man-made) on the human and physical assets of a community, and minimizing the impacts of these hazards on the delivery of essential services to the population. These policies and actions take place at various levels often at the community level (e.g., neighborhoods, associations, etc) to escalating levels of government (district, municipal, provincial, and central). They can be formal or informal, public or private; however, their effectiveness is highly correlated to the level of coordination that actually takes place during the course of their implementation. DRM should also be recognized as a professional practice, requiring its own processes, trained professionals, experience and culture. In developing countries DRM can be considered as an emerging practice, often in needs of experience, investment and maturity, and which will take time to be operational and effective.