1. www.unisdr.org/campaign
www.unisdr.org/campaign
“Making Cities Resilient” Campaign
Michele Cocchiglia, UNISDR, 14 November 2013
DRR Practitioners Workshop – Bangkok, 13-14 November 2013

2. What role for Local Governments?
Views from the Frontline report
“A significant gap between national and
local level action. Reports of (HFA)
progress fade as activities get closer to
vulnerable people – overall progress at
community level is very limited“
HFA Mid Term Review:
“Action at local level was consistently noted as in need of
improvement, especially under Priorities for Action 1 to 4”
“Effective action must link regional, national, sub-national,
and local levels”

3. Campaign Launch in May 2010
Global Launch: 30 May
2010, Bonn, Germany
Mayors from all regions
signed up to the
10 campaign essentials
More than 40 signing
ceremonies worldwide

4. +1500
Europe
Central
Asia
380
… local governments participate in
the campaign from over 80 countries
Wildfire idea:
Self motivating – self measuring
Americas
100
Africa
29
Arab
States
69
Pacifc
Asia
10
Over
400

5. Campaign Objectives
 Achieve resilient, sustainable
communities through actions taken
by local governments to reduce
disaster risk
Know More
Invest Wisely
Build More Safely

6. Ten-Point Checklist:
Essentials for Making Cities Resilient
1. Put in place organization & coordination to clarify
everyone’s roles & responsibilities.
2. Assign a budget & provide incentives for homeowners, lowincome families, private sector to invest in risk reduction.
3. Update data on hazards & vulnerabilities, prepare & share
risk assessments.
4. Invest in & maintain critical
infrastructure, such as
storm drainage.
5. Assess the safety of
all schools and health
facilities & upgrade
these as necessary.

7. 6. Enforce risk-compliant building regulations & land use
planning principles, identify safe land for low-income citizens.
7. Ensure education programmes & training on disaster risk
reduction are in place in schools and local communities.
8. Protect ecosystems & natural buffers to mitigate hazards,
adapt to climate change.
9. Install early warning systems & emergency management
capacities.
10. After any disaster,
ensure that the needs of
the affected population
are at the centre of
reconstruction.

8. Partnerships in the Campaign
Building an alliance of local governments with relevant actors -community
groups, academic institutions, business associations, NGOs and CBOs to
ensure participation in planning and decision-making for risk reduction.
 City associations/networks: UCLG, EMI, CityNet, Metropolis, ICLEI
 National Associations of Local Governments
 National Platforms and HFA focal points
 International partner institutions (UN agencies such as UN-Habitat, UNDP,
ILO, WHO, World Bank, UNICEF and IFRC)
 Civil society: Community-based organizations, NGOs, academic institutions,
business associations…
 Some regions have a network, task force or platform focusing on urban
disaster risk reduction (e.g. Asia Task Force on Urban Risk)
 Regional
organizations
 Donors
(ECHO, GFDRR)

9. Wildfire idea:
Self motivating – Self measuring
Involve global, regional and national ISDR partners
(e.g. National Platforms), urban/local partners
(National Associations of Local Governments)
Work with partners in
country for follow-up
Follow-up actions:
provide induction
training / learning

10. The Campaign in Asia and the Pacific
 More than 400 local governments (provinces, cities
districts, municipalities) have signed up
 12 Role Models, 5 Champions
 Three were awarded the 2011 UN Sasakawa Award
for excellence in disaster risk reduction (San
Francisco/ Philippines, Bhubaneshwar/India)
 138,000 schools and hospitals pledged
 Campaign adopted/endorsed by IGOs: ASEAN,
SAARC
 Peer learning events among local authorities
 LG-SAT training and use being initiated (including
training for ASEAN cities)

11. The Local Government Self Assessment
Tool (LG-SAT):
Provide a self-assessment tool and a feedback
mechanism for local and city governments and facilitate
the understanding of gaps and challenges in disaster risk
reduction at the local level.
Complement the national HFA monitoring and multistakeholder engagement process by providing
information and an assessment of the situation from the
local level.
Present a “baseline” and a status report for cities and
local governments that have committed to the Making
Cities Resilient Campaign.

12. 1. Put in place organization & coordination to clarify
everyone’s roles & responsibilities. [HFA 1]
1. Are local organizations (including local government) sufficiently
equipped with capacities (knowledge, experience, official mandate) for
climate and disaster risk reduction?
2. Are there partnerships between communities, private sector and local
authorities to reduce risk?
3. Does the local government support local communities (particularly
women, elderly, infirmed, children) to actively participate in risk
reduction decision-making, policy making, planning and implementation
processes?
4. Does the local government participate in the national
DRR planning?

13. Level of progress per indicator question

14. Sample template online self assessment tool

15. 1.
1. Status will idicate the
process – white
circle=incomplete, black
circle=completed
2.
2. Please indicate your
progress in the different
areas
3. Please discribe the
achievments, the challenges
and next steps
4. As soon as approved by
multi-stakeholder group,
please save submission per
essential
3.
4.

16. Use of LG-SAT: Good Practice Example
Makassar City, Indonesia
• Multi-stakeholder consultations: community councilors and leaders
(workshop); staff of different city departments (focus group
discussion) and other stakeholders (integrated into Growth and
Development Strategy process)
• Results: complete Disaster Management SOP and establishment
of Fast Response Team
• Integrate LG-SAT into Disaster Management Agency’s Strategic
Programmes of 2011-2014
• LG-SAT as strategic data for annual Makassar State of
Environment Report (SoER) and Land Use and Economical
Development Management (RTRW) 2011 – 2031
• Program synchronization of City departments

17. Thank you
United Nations, secretariat of the
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
isdr-campaign@un.org
www.unisdr.org/campaign

18. Feedback on LG-SAT Process & Indicators
Are the indicators comprehensible/self explanatory?
If not, what are the recommendations for improving the
set of indicators (in Bangla)?
How can the Local Government Self Assessment be
rolled-out at the national level? (the way forward)
How could the results of the self assessment be
utilized for disaster risk reduction and development
planning at your city/municipality level?

19. Applying the LG-SAT – Workshop Discussion
1. What was the process undertaken in the reporting,
what changes could you have made?
2. What were the challenges in reporting?
3. Suggestions on indicators/Key questions of reporting?
4. Suggestions for improvement to online tool?
5. Discuss on national roll out mechanism.
Report back on main points of group discussion to all
participants
Plenary Discussion

20. 1. Put in place organization & coordination to clarify
everyone’s roles & responsibilities. [HFA 1]
1. Are local organizations (including local government) sufficiently
equipped with capacities (knowledge, experience, official mandate) for
climate and disaster risk reduction?
2. Are there partnerships between communities, private sector and local
authorities to reduce risk?
3. Does the local government support local communities (particularly
women, elderly, infirmed, children) to actively participate in risk
reduction decision-making, policy making, planning and implementation
processes?
4. Does the local government participate in the national
DRR planning?

21. 2. Assign a budget & provide incentives for
homeowners, low-income families, private sector to
invest in risk reduction. [HFA 1 and 4]
5. Are financial services (e.g. saving and credit schemes, macro and microinsurance) available to vulnerable and marginalised households for preand/or post-disaster times?
6. Are micro finance, cash aid, soft loans, lone guarantees etc available
after disasters to restart livelihoods?
7. Do local business associations, such as chambers of commerce and
similar, support efforts of small enterprises for business continuity during
and after disasters?
8. Are there any economic incentives for DRR actions (e.g. reduced
insurance premiums for households, tax holidays for businesses)?
9. Does the local government have access to adequate financial resources
to carry out risk reduction activities?

22. 3. Update data on hazards & vulnerabilities, prepare &
share risk assessments. [HFA 2, 3 and 4]
10. Has the local government conducted thorough disaster risk assessments for
various development sectors in your local authority?
11. Are these regularly updated, e.g. annually or on a bi-annual basis?
12. Does local government regularly communicate to the community, information
on local hazard trends and risk reduction measures (e.g. using a Risk
Communications Plan) including early warnings of likely hazard impact?
13. Are local government risk assessments linked to, and supportive of, risk
assessments from neighbouring local authorities and state or provincial
government risk management plans?
14. Do communities have access to information on vulnerability, disaster risk
reduction, climate change adaptation measures, forecasts and early warning
etc, in your local authority?
15. Has the local government identified which livelihood (economic) sectors are
the most vulnerable to the potential impacts of disasters?

23. 4. Invest in & maintain critical infrastructure, such as
storm drainage. [HFA 4 and 5]
16. Do land use policies and planning regulations for housing and critical
risk reducing infrastructure (i.e. drainage, flood controls) take current
and projected climate risk and disaster risk into account?
17. Are critical public facilities and infrastructure located in high risk areas
adequately assessed for all hazard risks and safety?
18. Have adequate measures been undertaken to protect these facilities
and infrastructure from damage during disasters?
19. Does your local government have an emergency operations centre
(EOC) and/or an emergency communication system?

24. 5. Assess the safety of all schools and health facilities
& upgrade these as necessary. [HFA 2, 4 and 5]
20. Have local schools and hospitals received special attention for “all
hazard” risk assessments in your local authority?
21. Are all main hospitals safe from disasters and have the ability to
remain operational during emergencies?
22. Do the local government or other levels of government have special
programs in place to regularly assess public infrastructure (especially
schools & hospitals) for maintenance, seismic stability, general safety,
weather related risks etc.?
23. Are regular disaster preparedness drills undertaken in schools?

25. 6. Enforce risk-compliant building regulations & land
use planning principles, identify safe land for lowincome citizens. [HFA 4]
24. Are local government DRR policies, strategies and implementation plans
included within existing land-use and development plans (including
community-based disaster risk management)?
25. Are land use regulations and building codes, health and safety codes
enforced across all development zones and building types?
26. Is there a need to build or strengthen existing regulations (e.g. land use,
building codes etc) to support disaster risk reduction in your local
authority?

26. 7. Ensure education programmes & training on
disaster risk reduction are in place in schools and
local communities. [HFA 1, 3 and 5]
27. Does the local government regularly conduct awareness-building or
education programs on DRR and disaster preparedness for local
community?
28. Does the local government provide in-depth training in risk reduction for
local officials and community leaders?
29. Do local schools and colleges provide courses, education or training in
disaster and climate risk reduction as part of the education curriculum?
30. Are citizens aware of evacuation plans or drills for evacuations when
necessary?

27. 8. Protect ecosystems & natural buffers to mitigate
hazards, adapt to climate change. [HFA 4]
31. Does the local government support the restoration, protection and
sustainable management of ecosystems services (e.g. forests,
coastal zones, wetlands, water resources, livestock, fisheries, riverbasins) to reduce local vulnerability and protection against floods,
drought, landslides or seismic hazards?
32. Do civil society organizations and citizens support the restoration,
protection and sustainable management of ecosystems services?
33. Is the private sector a contributor and supporter of environmental
and ecosystems management in your local authority?

28. 9. Install early warning systems & emergency
management capacities. [HFA 2 and 5]
34. Do local institutions have access to financial reserves and essential
emergency provisions to support effective disaster response and early
recovery?
35. Are early warning centres established, adequately staffed (or on-call
personnel) and well resourced (power back ups, equipment redundancy
etc.) at all times?
36. Are regular training drills and rehearsal carried out with the participation of
relevant government, non-governmental, local leaders and volunteers?
37. Are sufficient amounts of emergency supplies (stockpiles of relief
supplies) available at all times?
38. Are emergency shelters available?
39. Are safe evacuation routes identified, mapped and maintained and well
communicated to the community?
40. Does a contingency plan or a community disaster preparedness plan exist
for all major hazards?

29. 10. After any disaster, ensure that the needs of the
affected population are at the centre of
reconstruction. [HFA 4 and 5]
41. Does the local government have access to resources and expertise
to assist victims of psycho-social (psychological, emotional) impacts
of disasters?
42. Are disaster risk reduction measures integrated into post-disaster
recovery and rehabilitation activities (i.e. build back better,
livelihoods rehabilitation)?
43. Does the Contingency Plan (or similar plan) include an outline
strategy for post disaster recovery needs including assessment
tools, immediate livelihoods rehabilitation etc.?

30. Thank you
United Nations, secretariat of the
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
isdr-campaign@un.org
www.unisdr.org/campaign