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The Urban Transition of Disaster Governance in Asia

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Disaster Governance in Urbanising Asia

Abstract

The increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters in Asia are highly correlated with the rapid urban transition now taking place in this world region. Five types of urban transition effects are identified to explain how the urbanization of disasters calls for fundamental changes in approaches to disaster prevention, response, adaptation and resilience. The effects include agglomeration and the formation of mega-urban regions, spatial polarization in high-risk zones, new forms and magnitudes of vulnerability, compound disasters and the expanding ecological reach of cities. Taken together, they call for a shift from expert-centred disaster management to participatory disaster governance as the framework for society-wide engagement in all phases of disaster experiences and responses. Three spatial scales of governance – neighbourhood, city region and transborder riparian region – are among the most critical to be included in the search for innovations in disaster governance.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The United Nations (2013) finds that direct economic losses over the past three decades in middle- and low-income economies alone totalled more than $300 billion. However, actual costs of disasters are much greater than reported figures indicate (UN 2013). In terms of flooding, from 1970 to 2010 the number of people impacted by annual inundations more than doubled from 30 million to 64 million in Asia. In Asia, 21 million people were displaced by natural disasters in 2012 (DMC 2013; UNISDR/UNESCAP 2012).

  2. 2.

    The Eyjafjallajökull volcanic ash clouds in Iceland in 2010 was one of the most spectacular incidences of an environmental disaster affecting a globalized world as air traffic in most European countries was shut down for six straight days, costing airlines US$1.7 billion in revenues.

  3. 3.

    UNESCAP (2011, 209) defines governance as “the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions, public and private, plan and manage the common affairs of the city. It is a continuing process through which conflicting or diverse interests may be accommodated and cooperative action can be taken”.

  4. 4.

    Cohen and Werker (2008) find that some governments not only underinvest in disaster prevention if they know that they will be bailed out; they also create a racket effect of not preparing for disasters as a way of rent-seeking from humanitarian aid coming with a disaster. Rampant corruption lies at the root of these practices. Devolution of power to local forms of participatory governance is found to be an important, though not sufficient, means to limit these practices.

  5. 5.

    As the mega-urban region of Jakarta has expanded, so has the name for it, beginning in the 1970s with Jabotabek, then Jabodetabek and now Jabodetabek-Punjur to signal its expansion toward Bandung.

  6. 6.

    The gap between low-cost housing provision and demand continues to increase and is now reaching a deficit of 800,000 units (Widoyoko 2007).

  7. 7.

    In the 2007 episode as much as 75 % of the city was flooded, displacing a recorded 430,000 people, mostly poor, from their homes (BBC 2007; Steinberg 2007). Health impacts—diarrhoea, skin and respiratory problems and dengue fever—breakdown of basic urban services and loss of livelihoods lingered long after the floodwaters subsided (Yuniar 2009). Thousands of homes were totally destroyed, and business losses were estimated to total $1 billion (Rukmana 2011). The 2013 torrential rains flooded more than 100,000 homes, left 47 people dead and shut down the entire city of 10 million people for several days (Jakarta Globe 2013). The estimated economic cost of the flood is more than $3 billion.

  8. 8.

    Jakarta DKI (Daerah Khusus Ibukota) is the name given to Jakarta as a special city region with status equal to that of a province.

  9. 9.

    Most large dams are significantly underperforming with reduced holding capacities from silting and thus power-generating ability (Bauer and Rudolph 2001; WCD 2000).

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  1. Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Mike Douglass

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  1. Asia Research Institute National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Michelle Ann Miller

  2. Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Mike Douglass

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Douglass, M. (2016). The Urban Transition of Disaster Governance in Asia. In: Miller, M., Douglass, M. (eds) Disaster Governance in Urbanising Asia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-649-2_2

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