This issue focuses on ways to tackle persistent flooding and economic vulnerabilities in the agricultural sector for Guyana. In January 2005, extreme and prolonged rainfall caused widespread flooding in Guyana with flood levels reaching over one and a half meters in some coastal villages.
... See More + One of the country's primary water reservoirs and dam, the East Demerara Water Conservancy, serves as a flood control mechanism during the wet-season and a water storage basin providing irrigation during the dry-season. It allows for biannual harvests of rice and sugar, accounting for approximately 27 percent of the nation's GDP. In 2005, water levels in the Conservancy were elevated well above safe operating levels, putting the dam at risk of overtopping and catastrophic breaching. A top priority identified under the Conservancy Adaptation Project (CAP) initiative is the strengthening of the Conservancy and coastal drainage systems to protect the country's key economic and most populated regions. The CAP focused on four main areas: 1) pre-investment studies and data collection for engineering design of works; 2) critical drainage infrastructure investments; 3) institutional strengthening and capacity building; and 4) building national awareness of flood risk. CAP has been a flagship project and launching pad for significant progress in flood risk mitigation measures for Guyana and the Caribbean region. The data generated through the CAP's pre-investment studies are being utilized for a variety of purposes, such as modeling studies, line of sight studies, biomass measurements, 3D building-modeling, further climate change impact studies, visualizations for land-use planning and agricultural production, and open-data sharing platforms. These investments will generate increased capacity to manage water levels in the Conservancy and lessen the high vulnerability of the people and agricultural areas in the region to moderate and extreme climate events.
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The objectives of Improving Disaster Risk Management Project for Mongolia are to identify and explain potential key environmental and social safeguards issues associated with the project and approaches to address the issues.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the project is a technical assistance and does not have direct impact on environmental or social safeguard issues. However, the UB city flood risk management plan, designed under sub-component A.1.3, may in future result into investments that have implications on the environment. Therefore, the Environmental Assessment Policy (OP4.01) and the Involuntary Resettlement Policy (OP 4.12) are triggered. The relevant environmental and social safeguards policies objectives and elements will be part of the planning process, terms of reference for the plan and the capacity building grant activities to the relevant line ministries and Ulaanbaatar city. This includes among others, aspects related to the identification and mitigation of potential environmental impacts and inclusion of the vulnerable and marginalized groups of people in project activities.
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The development objectives of the Improving Disaster Risk Management Project for Mongolia are to improve the disaster preparedness of Ulaanbaatar (UB) and to reduce the impact of dzud on rural livelihoods.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: (1) mapping flood risks by micro zone in order to determine the exact nature and level of risk in different parts of the city; (2) designing and developing database on hazards and vulnerabilities to enable UB to quantify the total risks it faces and subsequently preparing a cost-benefit analysis for prevention and mitigation of risks; (3) designing UB city flood risk management plan and capacity building to enable the city to respond effectively and reduce the loss of lives and assets; (4) reviewing the quality of the work carried out, such as the training and flood risk management plan developed under the project with a view of providing tangible recommendations for the city and project management unit to follow and improve project outcomes; (5) supporting institutionalization of the livestock early warning system (LEWS) within the national agency for meteorology, hydrology, and environmental monitoring (NAMHEM); and (6) designing and piloting a new feed and fodder supply system to allow vegetation to grow to full maturity and be harvested, packed, and stored for the winter, ensuring readily available emergency feed supply for the beneficiary herder households.
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On March 11, 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan's Tohoku region. The Great East Japan Earthquake was the first disaster ever recorded that included an earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear power plant accident, a power supply failure, and a large-scale disruption of supply chains.
... See More + This report consolidates the set of 36 Knowledge Notes, research results of the joint study undertaken by the Government of Japan and the World Bank. It summarizes the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and provides guidance to other disaster-prone countries for mainstreaming disaster risk management in their development policies. It is clear that financial resources alone are not sufficient to deal with disasters and to spur development. Technical assistance and capacity building are equally important. In Japan's case, the project learned how communities can play a critical role in preparing for and coping with natural disasters. Communities can help prevent damage from spreading, maintain social order, and provide support to the vulnerable. Only through technical cooperation can such know-how be passed on to other countries and be adapted to their local circumstances. The chapters that make up the main body of this report are built around the disciplines employed in the traditional disaster risk management cycle. Grouped into seven thematic clusters that track that cycle, the chapters treat structural measures (part 1) and nonstructural measures (part 2) as preventive options. Also covered is the emergency responses put in place after March 11 (part 3) and described the planning behind the reconstruction process (part 4). The handling of risk assessment and communication before and after the disaster are the subject of part 5. Part 6 deals with risk financing, insurance, and fiscal and financial management; part 7 with the progress of recovery and relocation.
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Ratings for the First Phase of Adaptable Program Loan for National Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project for Colombia were as follows: outcomes were satisfactory, risk to development outcome was moderate, Bank performance was moderately satisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: there is existing demand at the municipal level for in-depth and continuous technical support for risk mitigation actions. Instituto de hidrologia, meteorologia, y estudios ambientales, institute of hydrology, meteorology, and environment studies (IDEAM's) work has the potential to contribute to the development of climate risk parametric insurance tools. Such tools can be supported in a follow-up operation, and furthermore, use the successful experience from other countries in that area. An in-depth institutional assessment as well as the preparation of a capacity development plan for unidad nacional para la gestion del riesgo de desastres, national unit for disaster risk management (UNGRD) will help define the institutional and implementation arrangements for a potential phase II. In terms of monitoring and evaluation (M and E), the project demonstrated the limits of a quantitative results framework (RF). It highlighted the critical need to design, from entry, some indicators and or an M and E system that can capture the outcomes produced by the project. There was a good synergy between this International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) operation and global facility for disaster reduction and recovery (GFDRR) grants, targeting specific areas of technical assistance (TA) and delivering extra-outcomes and positive impacts around the project.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR1946 JUN 09, 2014
Ratings for the Natural Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Project for Vietnam were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, risk to development outcome was moderate, Bank performance was moderately satisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: DRM decisions should be made based on perceived risk reduction benefits and a combination of the physical and non-physical solutions in a context of larger integrated river-basin management scale. Existing institutional settings need to be leveraged to implement community-based (CB) DRM activities. Tailored public information and awareness-raising, including gender mainstreaming, are essential for commune participation, accountability, and investment ownership. Operating and maintenance (O and M) budget should be sufficiently allocated through the government annual budget planning cycle conducted in all levels. Strong institutional reform and leadership of the coordination agency is essential for project success and sustainability. Clear institutional arrangements and responsibilities need to be determined before project start. Achievement of the sustainable goal for post-disaster reconstruction should be monitored closely and properly throughout the implementation of both original credit and additional finance (AF). Comprehensive monitoring and evaluation (M and E) framework should be prepared and put in place before the project start.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR3183 JUN 02, 2014
The Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project development of Nigeria has an objective to improve the capacity of Oyo State to effectively manage flood risk in the city of Ibadan.
... See More + The project consists of three main components described in subsequent paragraphs: (i) Flood Risk Identification, Prevention and Preparedness Measures; (ii) Flood Risk Reduction; and (ii) Project Administration and Management Support. The first component assess flood risk in the city of Ibadan, plan risk reduction measures, and finance preventive structural and non-structural measures to enhance flood preparedness. The second component is to ensure flood risk mitigation through structural measures by financing public infrastructure investments for flood mitigation and drainage improvements. The third component will finance incremental operational costs related to the implementation of the project for goods, equipment, staff, travel, and Project Management Units consultant services.
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The welfare impact of a disaster does not only depend on the physical characteristics of the event or its direct impacts in terms of lost lives and assets.
... See More + Welfare impacts also depend on the ability of the economy to cope, recover, and reconstruct and therefore to minimize aggregate consumption losses. This ability can be referred to as the macroeconomic resilience to natural disasters. Macroeconomic resilience has two components: instantaneous resilience, which is the ability to limit the magnitude of immediate production losses for a given amount of asset losses, and dynamic resilience, which is the ability to reconstruct and recover. Welfare impacts also depend on micro-economic resilience, which depends on the distribution of losses; on households' vulnerability, such as their pre-disaster income and ability to smooth shocks over time with savings, borrowing, and insurance, and on the social protection system, or the mechanisms for sharing risks across the population. The (economic) welfare disaster risk in a country can be reduced by reducing the exposure or vulnerability of people and assets (reducing asset losses), increasing macroeconomic resilience (reducing aggregate consumption losses for a given level of asset losses), or increasing microeconomic resilience (reducing welfare losses for a given level of aggregate consumption losses). The paper proposes rules of thumb to estimate macroeconomic and microeconomic resilience based on the relevant parameters in the economy. It also provides a toolbox of policies to increase macro- or micro-economic resilience and a list of indicators that can be used to build a resilience indicator.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS6852 MAY 01, 2014
This issue focuses on emergency evacaution strategies for the people of Haiti. The country ranks as one of the countries with the highest exposure to multiple natural hazards in the world, with 96 percent of Haitians currently living at risk.
... See More + Of the 10 million people living in Haiti, two thirds live below the poverty line, and as a result, lack the capacity or resources to cope with the impacts of natural hazards. The challenge is to design evacuation strategies across different scales, with different elements from shelter facilities to open spaces to access systems that assume a flexible and comprehensive approach to the complex nature of risks in Haiti, and consider the environmental, temporal, social, economic and cultural dimensions. To develop this multi-scalar and multi-dimensional strategy to evacuation and emergency sheltering, the Government of Haiti, in partnership with the World Bank's Disaster Risk Management and Urban Development team, collaborated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Leibniz University of Hanover and the Harvard Graduate School of Design to better understand existing practices to cope with risk and inform an innovative, institutional approach to emergency evacuation systems. A three-stage approach was developed to design a series of hypothetical prototypes and conceive alternative evacuation strategies applicable to, and derived from various contexts across Haiti. These stages include: 1) strategic design research and case-study analysis, 2) pilot conceptualization and implementation methodologies, and 3) results and recommendations for scalability. The government of Haiti is transforming the concept of an emergency shelter from a basic, standalone building to a component of a broader evacuation system that entails geographic, temporal, cultural and socioeconomic factors, vital for decision-making in emergency situations. This new, and alternative thinking dramatically expands the vision of evacuation strategies to increase capacities of people to reduce loss of life, injuries, property damage, and productivity loss, and improve connectivity to the transportation network immediately after a natural hazard event.
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The overall outcome rating of the Disaster Risk Mitigation and Adaptation Project for Albania was judged to be moderately satisfactory. The Bank performance rating was moderately satisfactory and the borrower performance was satisfactory.
... See More + The risk to development outcome was rated substantial. Several lessons were learned. Project preparation was not sufficient, which led to implementation delays in initial years. Establishing a Project Management Team (PMT) at the General Directorate of Civil Emergencies was one of the effectiveness conditions, but it took the Ministry of Interior about one year since project approval to establish the team. Moreover, none of the terms of reference for key studies and consultancy services was developed before project approval. Coordination of multiple agencies, despite the relatively small size of the project was complex with four independent components, each of which was implemented by a different agency. A more effective coordination mechanism should have been carefully thought through at project preparation and managed throughout project implementation. Early on, the Government and the Bank should have paid more serious attention to the operational phases of various project activities to ensure effective operational arrangements after the project is completed. Starting small is a less risky approach as major investments will take place only if the required capacity and other necessary arrangements are in place. Finally, taking a regional approach to disaster risk management was a key lesson of the insurance component. The Albanian government managed to create the framework for reducing its fiscal risk exposure to natural disasters and at the same time secured access to affordable and innovative catastrophe insurance products. A regional approach to disaster risk management can benefit all participating countries by enabling them to reach better quality outcomes at a much reduced cost per country.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR2991 APR 30, 2014
The objective of the Regional Disaster Vulnerability Reduction (APL1) Project for OECS Countries is to measurably reduce vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change impacts in SVG and in the Eastern Caribbean sub-region.
... See More + The Additional Financing or AF will scale up project activities and cover a cost overrun in the SVG Regional Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project (RDVRP). Specifically, the AF will: (i) support emergency recovery and construction activities; (ii) enhance development impact; (iii) increase the number of beneficiaries, including women; (iv) meet an unanticipated financing gap in component one- prevention and adaptation investments and component two - regional platforms for hazard and risk evaluation, and applications for improved decision making; (v) replenish component three, natural disaster response component; and (vi) allocate additional funds to component four, project management and implementation support.
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The paper estimates the effects on presidential election returns in Mexico of a government climatic contingency transfer that is allocated through rainfall-indexed insurance.
... See More + The analysis uses the discontinuity in payments that slightly deviate from a pre-established threshold, based on rainfall accumulation measured at local weather stations. It turns out that voters reward the incumbent presidential party for delivering drought relief compensation. The paper finds that receiving indemnity payments leads to significantly greater average electoral support for the incumbent party of approximately 7.6 percentage points. The analysis suggests that the incumbent party is rewarded by disaster aid recipients and punished by non-recipients. The paper contributes to the literature on retrospective voting by providing evidence that voters evaluate government actions and respond to disaster spending.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS6836 APR 01, 2014
Sri Lanka is highly vulnerable to natural hazards and has embarked on a comprehensive disaster risk management program to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change and to adapt the stock of infrastructure to extreme climate shocks.
... See More + To increase both short-term and long-term resilience, the government is engaged with the World Bank on several fronts. Physical investments will be financed to address short-term infrastructure weaknesses, coupled with a contingent line of credit to safeguard against the immediate fiscal impacts of a disaster. The program comprises (i) the Climate Resilience Improvement Project (CRIP) (US$110 million) to reduce the immediate physical risks and improve the understanding of disaster risks so that future investments are targeted to their best use, and (ii) a Development Policy Loan with a Catastrophe Deferred Draw Down Option (CAT-DDO) (US$102 million) to strengthen the country's fiscal resilience to events. Based on the results of the ongoing fiscal disaster risk assessment, recommendations will be made to strengthen the fiscal resilience of the country. These include (i) improving the administration and execution of budgets; (ii) developing an annual disaster fund to finance rehabilitation following small and medium events; (iii) managing the implicit fiscal liability to support vulnerable populations; (iv) developing sovereign risk transfer instruments; and (v) supporting the development of a private catastrophe risk insurance market.
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