Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction: Structuring a Smart Disaster Risk Management Plan for Effective Safety and Security of Citizens

About the Conference 

Transforming cities into cities of the future involves deploying new technologies that drive smart city innovation. The development of smart cities across the globe is spurred by governments’ increased infrastructure and ICT spending in the implementation of technologies for a wide range of city services such as healthcare, traffic, police, fire, citizen services, electricity, water and municipal operations. According to industry reports, the global smart city market is valued at US$1.565 trillion in 2020 and over 26 Global Cities are expected to transform to Smart Cities in 2025. It is also estimated that within the same timeframe, there will be more than 40 to 50 billion connected devices that will transform the way we live and work.

This Marcus Evans organized event featured three streams over three days - Stream One: Smart Governance, Stream Two: Smart Mobility, Stream Three: Smart Urban Design and Development – targeting both international and Korean public and private sector.

About the Tech for DRR session 

On day two under Stream One on Smart Governance, UNISDR ONEA-GETI brought its Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction seminar series to the conference to present on “Structuring a Smart Disaster Risk Management Plan for Effective Safety and Security of Citizens”. The presentation introduced approximately 40 local and national government and business sector participants from Korea, Africa, Asia and North America to the basic concepts of disaster risk reduction, the impact of natural and climate hazard related disasters in numbers, the case for reducing risk, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Climate Agreement and the Agenda 2030 global policy frameworks.

The session emphasized, in particular, Sendai Priority 1 on understanding risk and Priority 2 on strengthening governance to manage disaster risk, and the means of implementation that calls to promote the use and expansion of thematic platforms of cooperation, such as global technology pools and global systems to share know-how, innovation and research and ensure access to technology and information on disaster risk reduction. The UNISDR Making Cities Resilient global campaign and its Ten Essentials for Resilient Cities were presented with cases from cities that highlight how to identify, understand and use current and future scenarios using real-time data to assess safety and security.

‘Essential 2: Identify, Understand and Use Current and Future Risk Scenarios’ was illustrated by sharing the case of several US cities using automated data feeds via Google Open Streetmap to assess long term flooding and sea-level rise risk to city infrastructure and buildings via the Vizonomy platform.

‘Essential 6: Strengthen Institutional Capacity for Resilience’ was illustrated by the South Korean case of using smart mobile and web applications that alert citizens, increases their awareness, and engages them to report hazard risks in their communities.

‘Essential 9: Ensure Effective Preparedness and Disaster Response’ was illustrated by the use of early warning apps such as in Accra, Ghana, where a flash flood warning app designed by Dutch company Royal HaskoningDHV uses real-time data via a mobile phone, and in the UK, where a company called Shoothill makes a flood guage and early warning platform available to UK citizens. Also in the UK, a platform built by national mapping agency (Ordinance Survey/OS) features both static open data (Environment Agency/OS) and live data feeds (Met agency and others + public social media) to respond to shocks such as flood, storm and fire. And in Jakarta, Indonesia, “Petajakarta” is a real-time flood response management system using crowdsourced platforms in the control room. 

Outcome

Overall, participants improved their knowledge of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development Goal innovations, including the shift from disaster management to disaster risk management, the governance role of States at national and local levels, complemented by engagement of all relevant stakeholders, and the opportunities and calls for technology innovation to support the required activities to meet the Sendai Framework global targets and Sustainable Development Goals. City planners, local authorities, start-ups and business persons were also introduced to the global Making Cities Resilient campaign, its Ten Essentials, and some of the current technologies in use to serve the needs of participating cities.