Rethinking construction to reduce disaster risks: what scale of challenge should we prepare ourselves for? – Dilanthi Amaratunga
Unprecedented urbanisation, changing demographics, and changes to our climate and health crisis such as COVID-19, are a few trends driving disaster risk and reshaping the world in which we live and work. In order to tackle these increasing losses, the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction 2015–2030i, endorsed by 187 UN states in 2015, promotes disaster risk reduction practices that are multi-hazard and multisectoral, inclusive and accessible in order to be efficient and effective. The framework also identifies: “a need for all the stakeholders to work more closely to create opportunities for collaboration, and for businesses to integrate disaster risk into their management practices”; and, “a need to promote the incorporation of disaster risk knowledge, including disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery and rehabilitation, in formal and professional education and training”.
In recognition of the interconnectedness between the built environment and the disaster risk in the modern context, the involvement of the construction industry receives growing calls in disaster resilience-building efforts. How can we as a group of construction professionals contribute to the development of a resilient built environment in designing, developing and managing context sensitive buildings, spaces and places, which have the capacity to resist or change in order to reduce hazard vulnerability, and enable society to continue functioning, economically and socially, when subjected to a hazard event?
This lecture aims to provide built environment professionals and other stakeholders with an overview of how disaster risk reduction (DRR) can be better integrated into the work of built environment professionals in the development and management of land, real estate, construction, and infrastructure sectors.
Speaker
Dilanthi Amaratunga a leading international expert in disaster resilience with an extensive academic career. She is a Professor of Disaster Risk Reduction and Management at the University of Huddersfield, UK, and is the Head of its Global Disaster Resilience Centre. She has a PhD in Construction Management (Salford, UK), a BSc (Hons) in Quantity Surveying (Sri Lanka), a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), a Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society, and a Fellow and a Chartered Manager of the Chartered Management Institute, UK.
Dilanthi’s research focuses on preparedness for disaster response, recovery and reconstruction, early warning and communication, disaster resilience cities, and built environment dimensions of climate change and sustainability. Dilanthi is recognised for her career-long impact up until 2023, and is placed among the global top 2% of influential scientists,
according to the report of “Composite Citation Metrics” by Elsevier BV Netherlands and Stanford University, USA.
16th February 2024
cibworld.org
Welcome back to the CIB presidential seminar series that we broadcast from P University and uh as you all know the theme for uh this semester is distinguish women researchers in the built environment and today we have a very special guest a very distinguished colleague Professor dilanti amaratunga let me give a quick
Background before I hand it over to uh Pro Mara for her seminar so dilanti amaratunga is a leading international expert in disaster resilience with an extensive academic career she’s a professor of disaster risk reduction and management at the University of hersfield that’s in UK and is the head
Of its Global disaster resilience Center she has a PHD in construction management from Salford uh BC honors in quantity surveying from Sri Lanka a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors a fellow of the royal geographical society and a fellow of the chartered manager of the chartered Management
Institute also in UK uh the L’s research focus focuses on preparedness for uh Disaster Response recovery and reconstruction uh early warning and communication disaster resilience of cities and built environment dimension of climate change and sustainability dilanti is recognized for her career-long impact up until 20 23
And is placed among the global top 2% of influential scientists according to the report of composite citation metrics by elier and as well as Stanford University in USA as I said we are in for a treat today so please welcome Prof Dante amuka Dante over to you oh yeah thank you very
Much I hope you can hear me yes yes yeah all right okay thank thank you very much Mark for that introduction and also thank you very much for um inviting me to or asking me to do this talk and as I said before I I I quite enjoyed actually
Getting myself prepared to uh this session in reflecting on what has happened during the last uh uh several years for example so just kind of a bsid statement that I want to sort of uh say here earthquakes don’t kill but poorly constru constructed buildings do so this
Actually sort of I will actually explain um uh the statement in in in bit more detail as we as we go along so just to sort of reflect this was actually uh very upto-date statistics from um world economic Forum current risk landscape um Global risk uh
For 2024 um and of course I think it is fair to S of say that we are at at a turning point so you can actually s to see see the number one I I I don’t think um you will uh you will be surprised to
Um see this the number one uh uh risk that we are facing is actually the uh extreme um weather so this was actually published very very recently about about a week ago and then uh uh in terms of uh uh ranking them by civility over the short
To long term as you can s see 2 years uh the the weather events uh is at number two and and if you s consider the 10y year period it is actually at at number one so again um needless to say the the importance of of of disasters in in our
Overall uh um circumstances and uh if you said to take the number of recorded natural hazards uh events from 1900 to 2023 this is actually a very very good data set uh um and I’m glad that I managed to uh locate it so you can actually just to see the
Uh the the trend has been the number of recorded natural hazards uh on the increase from 1900 to uh 202 uh3 and if you s of do the same mapping uh based on the hazard type uh but the statistics are now from 1970 to 2023 you
Can s see the distribution of of natural hazards it it ranges from uh um droughts floods earthquakes and and Other Extreme uh weather events and and and so on and so forth so if you s of actually talk about the disaster losses due to Natural
Hazards of course it is fair to S to say that they are they on the increase so it it it is say it is said that the uh the the disaster loss calculation for 2020 3 again very much up to-date statistics is us do 250 billion uh with more than
74,000 fatalities and uh you can s to see the size of that when I S to say this it is actually roughly equals to the entire GDP of of either New Zealand or or Portugal and thunderstorms in the North America and and Europe uh were more destructive uh than uh than uh before
And also you uh you can actually s of see the insurance figures here us95 uh billion which is actually very close to the 5ye average but it is about the 10e um average so in that sense I suppose the number of disasters and also the disaster related losses are are
Quite quite an important point for us to consider and if you s to say uh the the losses due to uh natural hazards are increasing definitely as as I already emphasized and this is actually kind of a world map uh for for 2023 uh so the earthquake in turkey and
Syria was the uh the 2023 highlight and it was the most devastating humanitarian disaster and also add to that 2023 was the uh hottest uh uh year ever recorded with a large number of regional uh uh Records uh broken as as we all all know so with that in mind I suppose you
Know I just wanted to sort of highlight the current risk landscape which I’ve already I I hope that I managed to give you a kind of a rough idea about it and then I will actually move on to uh the the natural hazards impact on the on the
Built environment and then reflect on on the case uh of the construction sector and then I I I wanted to put forward this notion uh which I I want to identify as disaster resilience for future of construction and how we can actually position drr within the built um
Environment so I suppose this week is actually quite uh uh quite an important one because we actually s of Mark the first anniversary of the uh turkey earthquake but I’m sure you have actually s of then uh have seen this C of media uh media uh um uh Outlets
Demonstrating various points of course you just to sort of reflect uh the in in Turkey uh um during the aftermath of turkey earthquake around 37,000 buildings collapsed with over 200,000 buildings heavily damaged and also sort of around 53,000 lives were lost so but with with within the backdrop of that
You have actually I’m sure you have seen uh uh these uh uh uh uh media cut cutouts are saying um turkey’s earthquakes show The Deadly extent of construction scamps and turkey widens prob into building collapses as as Quake toll exceeds 50,000 so these are actually quite quite quite a frequent
Sightings for us during the last year and again you know I have actually picked up some again some of the some of the points from the from the media you s to say the plan was to actually build 319,000 safe uh homes but having said that the turkey’s construction sector is
Actually struggling uh and and the number of bu uh newly constructed houses are nowhere near this number and also it of it is estimated that overall cost of the earthquake damage to turkey at at more than 103 billion but having said that so far the Reconstruction effort has fallen well
Short of that Mark and critics say that there’s a cause for concern about both the pace and the quality of the Reconstruction so this is actually quite a uh quite an important Point uh uh uh bearing in mind the topic of of today’s um uh talk so in that sense it is
Actually uh uh I I think as far as earthquakes are concerned they are a natural phenomenon just it happen but the consequences of the earthquakes are are are quite administrative in this particular instance better buildings could have saved lives in Turkey earthquakes I think we we all actually believe that
And you can actually s of see this image uh that I actually took a a a screenshot from the from the BBC uh you can see uh either decided the uh uh uh collapsed buildings certain other buildings are still uh uh uh uh you can see uh see
Them clearly but whereas uh uh the one in the middle has has completely collapsed so yes the developers and contractors like likely were negligent perhaps constructing buildings with cheap materials or designs that could not withstand this particular uh 7.8 magnitude um earthquake as we know Turkey is investigating and has arrested
Some contractors but the entire political and economic system is implicated as as we we all know if we should to move on from uh turkey to Indonesia so Paro Indonesia uh earthquake in in 2008 8 18 so this actually sort of had uh I right okay this actually sort of uh
Uh the damage due to paru uh earthquake was uh uh amounting to us650 58 million and it was actually one of the costliest disasters uh to have hit Indonesia in the in the last five years so in the map you can actually sort of see the the
Location of of of Paro uh very close to uh the island of Papa and of course you know more than 65,000 houses hotels and public buildings were damaged or or or destroyed due to uh this particular earthquake and not only that the the the the ponary bridge in paru was collapsed
So you can actually s of see to your left hand side the the bridge uh linking two major islands it is actually a key piece of infrastructure in the city but it was completely destroyed as you can see from the right hand side um image so
I suppose you know one of the uh leading geologist from Indonesia actually commented expect more of the same to be perfectly cynical I think it actually uh summarizes the uh the the impact of this problem and very briefly to S of then reflect on the tohoku earthquake getting
Back to 2011 so again you can actually s of see the map of Japan here and the man main Quake was actually uh uh the uh the nine points at the record scale on the uh it actually occurred on the 11th of March 19 2011 and many government officers and
The researchers actually say toku earthquake is actually Unthinkable and I’ll tell you why so you can actually s to see again the map of uh uh one of the uh Japanese Islands you caner to see and this particular city is actually Mio City so this was actually uh uh the
Height was 7 uh uh 3 m and the F and the first wave was actually 2 minutes and the highest wave was actually after the 35 minutes and this was actually before the uh before the um tsunami and this was after the tsunami so you can
Actually s of see the destruction to the buildings and the infrastructure so another example this is actually uh uh you can actually sort of see in the map the location of the city called Som in um in Japan and this was actually after the after the um um tsunami
So as we all know the the the the the Japanese government actually their preparedness plan plans are are were leading and this is actually what what they actually their typical planning process is they do planning according to three scenarios based on the debts and and people missing destroyed houses and
The economic loss and this is actually what happened uh with the uh 2011 um earthquake so you can actually C to see it actually um passed all the predictions that they did scenario a b and see even totaling together so I think it is fair to say in
That sense the time for establishing solutions to this complex emerging challenges is now and of course uh the UN has highlighted that the more governments the UN agencies the organizations businesses and Civil Society they need to be working together and and need to be better equipped to to
Save uh um uh to mitigate disasters uh when they strike and and to save more lives so if you to move on to the case of the construction sector of course I you need to say I’m stating the obvious here the construction sector is of strategic importance across the world it
Delivers ver the buildings and infrastructure uh needed by the rest of the economy and and and society and not only that the construction value chain includes a wide range of economic activities going from the extraction of raw materials the manufacturing and distribution of Contra Construction Products up to design construction
Management and control of of construction works and and and so and so forth so just to reflect on the on the size of the construction sector so this is actually the snapshot of the construction sector the the market size in 2022 was 473.com and also it consumes uh on the
Negative side 40% of the UK energy half of our water and qu of all the raw raw materials so but having said that despite 20 2023 is economic uncertainty uncertainty the long-term forecast is actually good and and it is predicted that 225,000 additional workers needed to be keep Pace with with with
Demand so again the with that in mind the construction it is also predicted that the construction forecast for the UK uh to increase uh uh to 4766 billion uh until 20 uh 23 and out of that uh the construction of buildings is forecasted to be 239 uh billion uh
Pounds and of course you know very recently published this was published on the 2D of February um two weeks ago uh the policy paper published by the the UK government and it is anticipated that there will be be 660 projects uh and programs across the public sector uh uh
That that are in the PIP Pipeline and also 6464 billion uh pounds planned for investment by 2020 uh 242 um cycle so from the UK uh scenery you to move on to the EU construction sector it is actually a more gradual territory as you can see to see there have been a dip
Due to Corona pandemic the construction output but it is now in in the increase so from the point of view of construction output uh uh the the the construction Market size attained a value of approximately 2,752 billion US in in 2023 these are actually the very latest uh figures and
And it is expected that it will go up to 4 4,233 billion US by 2032 okay how can I actually forget the construction industry in the US bearing in mind the host to this session is actually based there so it it is actually s of said that the market size
Of the UK US construction sector was valued at around $2.1 trillion us do in in 2022 but uh a decrease uh is predicted in the next couple of years but again with an increase in uh uh residential non-residential and non-b building segments uh with a forecast growth again in
2026 so with that what I want to S of okay I discussed about the uh the uh the the risk landscape and then discuss about the uh the the case for the construction sector so how can we actually link the two together so uh the the the
Um uh the point that I want to emphasize here is this concept called disaster resilience for future construction yeah so the future of construction Initiative for example highlighted that there is a compelling need for the engineering and the construction industry to create resilient infrastructure and housing to withstand disruption absorb disturbance
Act effectively in a crisis and recover quickly afterwards so this is actually what the point that I want to put forward in linking resilience disasters and also how we can model the future of construction within that process to do that let’s actually very quickly uh revisit the uh the policy
Context the disasters and the construction how can we bring them together under which policy so very briefly Sendai framework I’m hoping that lot of you have familiar with that with this but if not uh what happened in in 2015 was that recognizing the increasing impact and complexity of disasters and
To strengthen risk reduction approach un membership States actually adopted the Cai framework in 2015 and it is valid until 2030 at the World Congress uh on the RR held in in Sendai Japan that is why it is named as a Sendai framework uh and it was actually
Ratified by the UN General Assembly in June 2015 so these are actually some of the um uh it is not my intention to go through the framework in quite a bit of detail because that itself is is another another lecture but this is actually a snapshot of of of of Sendai framework uh
Principles there is a shift in the in the framework from disaster management to disaster risk reduction that this this is where the the construction context actually very much coming in and also as I have highlighted here preparedness to build back better building better from the start to withstand hazards through proper design
And construction that is actually the point that I want to actually pick up from the syai framework which is directly relating to the construction sector and not only that I’m sure you all are sort of very familiar with the sustainable development goals with the
No No One uh to be um left behind this was actually adopted in New York in in September 2015 uh uh with 193 member states signing uh into that in uh which actually includes 17 sustainable development goals out of which two goals are directly Rel relating to our our
Sector particularly the goal number nine which deals with built resilient infrastructure promote sustainable industrialization and Foster innovation and the next one is is uh the U goal number 11 which actually talks about making cities inclusive safe resilient and and sustainable in addition to these Global agendas if I to take the UK
Examples uh uh the Royal Institution of Chartered surve and and uh Institute of civil engineers the UK they they both have highlighted the need to build first time better and build back better after a disaster this is actually very much uh uh in in in the agenda I have actually
Picked up the UK scenario here I’m sure in most of the countries the situation Remains the Same and also there have been lot of reports uh uh being published since uh since uh uh Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 highlighting uh uh the the importance of post disaster reconstruction so these are actually uh
Uh uh two uh reports that I want I I would like to highlight here and then if you see to move on to the concept of resilient built environment what does it mean how does it look like so this is actually the definition that we actually came up with
Within our Research Center it is actually the design develop and manage context sensitive buildings spaces and places which have the capacity to resist or change in order to reduce Hazard vulnerability and enable Society to continue functioning economically and socially when subjected to a hazard event is quite a mouthful but we just
Try to capture the key components so some of the characteristics of the resent B environment is is listed in this particular slide also for example cap it should have the capability to understand Hazard threats it should have the local and external capacity development uh capability and and it needs to be culturally
Appropriate uh uh methods uh to be used and Technologies and also the infrastructure needs to be protective and they should be able to sort of retr spe Retros speit when when there’s a need and also there need to be response plans temporary shelter and and services
So this is how how I would like to as a snapshot uh want to sort of uh uh uh demonstrate to you the concept of built environment and some of the characteristics of that is actually uh the taking uh uh uh both products and the process of the built environment so
You can actually s to see I would like to actually take this as kind of a system or systems of course the construction is is quite important as you can sort of see in this diagram but not only that you know the developing developing of of the society and the
People and the skills development is is quite important as well and also the next point is actually stimulating the local economy local construction industry need to be very strong and the next point is is facilitating the institutional Capital it is about empowerment and decision making in my
View and also not only that the protecting of natural environment is very very important for example from Mining and deforestation and also nurturing uh nurturing uh which actually links with promoting uh social uh cohesion so this is how I would like to actually uh see the resilience of the built environment
Through products and the processes it’s not only the uh the the the product of the construction but it is actually a combination of so many other aspects as well as I have emphasized in this um in this diagram but it is easy to say but there are very very difficult questions that
We need to to uh be dealing with what scale of challenge should we prepare ourselves for okay let’s actually go back to the 2011 tsunami in Japan so this is actually the kamashi port and you can actually to see I have marked the tsunami break water the the tsunami
Break quar is is is an offshore structure that restricts the inflow of tsunami and storm waves in into into a by narrowing the entrance uh uh uh narrowing the entrance so we we call that sort of a structure as as a Sunami uh uh break water so in kamashi Japan
Break water was uh was in the world records in this particular instance as the deepest structure on the planet the concrete this was actually done out of concrete uh uh it is actually nearly 207 ft deep and was designed to blun an incoming tsunami so this is actually
Where where it is and this is actually uh the crosssection of of of uh um of the tsunami break water and which was actually costed uh costed at 1.6 billion at at the time and this was actually designed uh to withstand one into 100 year year tsunami but the tsunami made short work
Of it as you can to see in 20 when a giant tsunami hit Japan’s North uh Northeast in 2011 the break water comped under the first uh 30 ft high wave leaving kamashi defense defenseless without being able to defend as you can see waves deflected from the
Break water are are very strong and it is suspected uh uh them having contributed to the 60 foot waves that impacted communities North of it so it actually had a knock on effect as as well so if you to move on to H high in in Philippines u in uh the building codes
There were were constructed to withstand 150 kph design but the typhoon hyan actually was at 3 300 almost double so there are some very difficult questions for us to deal with how can the construction industry stay ahead of these natural hazards what scale of challenge should we prepare ourselves for and
Also disaster prevention facility for example I the previous example I I uh I demonstrated the 2011 tsunami Breakwater whether it was designed for one into 100 does it mean that we need to design one for 1 into, years level earthquake but having said that then what is the uh the
Cost versus effect of of of that and also the land use associated with with disasters should people live in Upland or then in that sense the convenience versus safety so there are a lot of difficult questions that we have to be dealing with in uh in in thinking about taking precautions against disasters
Within the construction sector so I I I I take it as kind of mainstreaming drr in construction that is what we need to be doing in most of the development initiatives I think it is fair to say that the option of Designing and building to reduce vulnerability of infrastructure to
Natural hazards has often been ignored I think it is fair to say that because of pursued high cost and also perhaps due to lack of appropriate expertise but having said that it is very very important that we actually consider this in view of increasing disaster risks due
To Growing urbanization and so on and so forth as I uh discussed before so in that sense I think it is fair to say that it is essential to incorporate drr principles uh uh to the construction sector but having said that again investment decisions these are actually some of the
Uh uh points that that we can always use to highlight uh the importance of investment it says that every $1 spends uh to make existing buildings more resistant to wildfires earthquakes floods and hurricanes it is said that dollar six can be saved in property losses business Interruption and health
Problems and also in the same ve it is said that every dollars spent to exceed building codes and make structures more hassal resistant in the future by doing so we can save $4 these are small amounts when you can see but then when you multiply this into
Ions you can s see the difference so in that sense over the next 75 years these measures could prevent up to about 600 deaths and also 1 million injuries and about 4,000 cases of post-traumatic stress disorders this is actually was highlighted by the natural Hazard mitigation saves in in
2017 so only nor what it is is we there need to be changes in order to address this complex challeng changes associated with resilient building the role of the built environment professional needs to change that is what what what what that that is what I want to highlight
Here linking with that uh uh in line with the Royal Institute of Institute of Chartered surve in the UK we actually carried out out some research and then we we published a report in 2022 uh rethinking construction to reduce disaster risk the a guide for built environment professionals this was
Actually uh uh done based on all the points that I highlighted before in terms of increaseing disaster risk the case for construction and how we can actually sort of Link the uh the definitions of uh um resilient built built environment so from that there are some points uh that we
Came up with in terms of uh areas and levels to integrate drr in the construction sector so we have actually divided into five sections here uh the from the point of view of Education uh policy um uh uh policy perspective practice um cross cutting and and research so if you s to take
Very briefly how we can actually uh uh uh integrate Dr in the built environment sector from the point of view of educ ation of course we need to have a multi-stakeholder approach all the stakeholders need to be coming coming together and also multihazard approach the time where we we have to think about
RIS uh hazards in isolation is is long gone we have to think about about holistic approaches in terms of sort of multi uh multi-hazard uh approaches and also symatic risk natural hazards occurring uh at the same time as other hazards for example during the covid pandemic there
Have been lot of natural hazards that that we had to face so we need to be thinking about system systemtic risk and also we need to actually try and address problems from the field by providing localized knowledge and solution to the local context this is very very
Important it is okay to sort of develop policies at the national level but the solutions need to be built at the at the local level and also along with that there there is a definite need to uh update and uptake the built environment professional skills and competencies in in
Drr and in order to do that we can use flexible and customizable um education programs um and and also s of uh we also can actually develop uh open education um resources so in that sense I think it is worth to sort of highlight here uh
I’m I’m I’m aware that CIB under the leadership of Mark there there is an initiative looking into uh this aspect of of uh the uh uh built environment education uh looking into into drr uh which which I’m I’m very happy to highlight here and then the next
Category is actually the policy so for example as you know there are so many policies around us and I highlighted two uh in my talk the Cai framework and the and the um sustainable development goals and of course in addition to that that you have the urban agendas you have the
Climate change agreements and so on and so forth but it is very very important that we get a very deep very good and deep understanding of the policy implications particularly from Global to National and to local and linking with that what is very very important is actually policy
Coherence of course as we know many countries face disasters and climate risk uh but having said that they haven’t got resources and the capacity to deal with these in isolation so in that sense due to the due to these constrained resources and the urgency to protect long-term development games only
A few countries address Dr climate change adaptation and sdgs in an integrated way because of that the policy coherence is very very important we really need to be thinking about about everything together in in a in a in an integrated way rather than uh taking these uh various policies in um in in
Isolation so if you to move on to practice these are some of the recommendations that I want to actually put forward for example built environment professional bodies need to recognize disaster resilience through accreditation at the moment it it doesn’t reflect that clearly or that well so there’s no point of us talking
About the importance of these points but the the professional bodies need to recognize and and um uh um and uh uh accredit uh U professionals through the accreditation uh processes and also disas resilience need to be part of professional ethics and standards as part of the uh the over overall
Construction cycle and also there need to be regulated Frameworks uh uh uh for reconstruction following large scale uh disasters and as I highlighted before we need to be thinking outside the box which is actually the systemic risk approach in that want uh in that sense there is a need for an input
Understanding of systematic and cascading risk uh in all dimensions of exposure vulnerability and Hazard characteristics and strengthening disaster risk governance so this is actually extremely important as far as the practices is concerned for The Bu uh for the built environment sector so uh uh next point from the
Point of view of research there’s a need for us to understand the audience and and device appropriate dissemination mechanism mechanisms for scientific knowledge this is very very important there’s no point of us doing I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be doing Blue Sky research we should do them but
Having said that it is important that we understand the audience and and device appropriate mechanisms and also it is it is very important that we translate traditional outputs into practical methods that can actually be readily integrated uh uh um into construction policies and and and regulations and also said there need to
Be collaboration across disciplines as well as regionally and internationally so in that sense events like this originated in in the US and I’m I’m sitting in here in the UK presenting and of course I can to see that a lot of participants across the go Globe has
Actually logged in so in that sense collaboration across the uh across the globe is is actually ly important and also there need to be coordination mechanisms for science particularly the science based policy uh uh development the policies just cannot be developed without actually having the science science scientific input and
Evidence and also the uh uh the lastly the aggregate of knowledge to improve access and and focus on on quality so I suppose I think it is fair to S to say the volume of built environment research activ ity and Associate outputs uh has rapid rapidly increased in the recent
Past and also in the recent decades but I think it is fair to S to say that none more so than relating to drr and and resilient building so in that sense there is a gap there for us to actually uh further improve this aggregator of of knowledge in this very important
Area and also we shouldn’t forget about the cross cutting themes here uh link research education and practice and also sort of uh the common language that we all can understand needs to be needs to be used so in concluding I suppose you know these are
Some of the points that I uh uh I hope that I managed to actually convey through my talk of course there is growing threat uh posed by natural and human induced HS but within that I think this this notion of disaster resilience for future of construction that I want to actually
Put forward as as as one of the solutions it it is easier for us to focus on short-term Solutions but developing a resilient buil environment is is complex and multi-dimensional as as we discussed already and also s we we should take construction of the built environment
Actually as as a combination of of a product and and a process rather than taking the purely the product perspective and also there’s a need for the construction industry to work more closely with with other stakeholders and to create opportunities for collaboration and for businesses and integrate disaster risk into into their
Management practices so in doing so uh I would like to emphasize the fact that the construction sector must work with governments non-governmental organizations and the public to improve policy and drive the development of more resilient and and sustainable uh C cities those are the in in in very brief
Terms those are the key messages that I hope that you will be able to uh take home uh with you from this uh uh talk thank you very much thank you very much uh this was very informative and uh very nicely done I appreciate uh very much you know you
Bringing together the various needs of uh uh construction industry in terms of you know what improvements we need to make so let me open the floor for questions and uh as as always uh you know I I cannot see everybody so please open your mic and and ask a
Question I’m trying to monitor on my screen here uh okay so while while you’re all thinking about your questions let me let me open the conversation um you know first you you you started off by talking about uh uh you know the turkey earthquake and some of the other
Uh major disasters that we have seen in the recent past and uh particularly you know you are you focusing on the quality of construction and the pace of Redevelopment and I was wondering you know what in through your research and in your thoughts could be done to uh
Enforce Code Compliance and uh uh in the construction industry and what type of changes um do you think we need to consider uh not only in the US or UK but throughout the world as as you mentioned that uh you know we have resilient in infrastructure and the buil-in
Yeah I suppose uh it’s it’s a very very good good point actually uh Mar really speaking I suppose this it getting back to this fundamental point about accreditation in my view I think at the moment I think the construction industry is on one side and then the impact of
Disasters on the other side I just don’t see a kind of a very strong link between the two so because of that I suppose the the construction industry profession need to actually consider the impact of disasters and then to do the design planning and and and the entire building
Uh construction cycle in in in in in incorporating those those into um in into their systems but having said that I think there need to be some form of an accountability process I think this is the lesson that we can actually learn from the turkey earthquake who is
Accountable for for for failures who is accountable for not adhering to uh building courtes really speaking again this these are all linked to the governance of the of the sector what are sort of governance arrangements are there I I think there’s lot to be done
In in that area Mark in in linking the the the construction sector in in with with the drr um uh policies and pract practices in making uh uh the sector more resilient to uh to disaster so really speaking the governance and accountability is is very very important
But I haven’t actually seen anything of that sort coming up as yet but I’m hoping behind the back of turkey earthquake there there will be more uh uh more work in this area including the accreditation of contractors from the point of view of drr practices I I think
That can well be a good starting point in my view I quite agree and it’s not only going to help in the Dr SE but in the general uh safety and compliance throughout the industry as well uh let me see well the floor is open uh anybody
Has question to ask please open your mic and and go ahead hello yes man go ahead please I have two questions first of all a few years ago I remember that read some books uh can you hear me because I can hear my voice and
Yes we can hear you oh I can hear you yes a few years ago I read some books about earthquake design and one of the methods suggested for earthquake for example was to incorporate system symmetry into the building design such as positioning The Columns walls but despite all of the policies that you
Also mentioned we are still witnessing a preference and higher Dem for aesthetic architectural design over earthquake safety my question is that uh how can the required standards be incorporated and give uh earthquake considerations the first priority especially in areas with a higher risk of earthquake or on
FAL lines for example and also my second question is that in populated cities the Urban Design uh hinder evacuation effort during especially emergencies so what can be done for these existing buildings and um the current for example design of the for example cities towns and uh Etc
Thank you yeah if I sort of get get your questions correctly I think uh uh first of all about the about designing and and constructing buildings to withstand earthquakes again as I highlighted it is it is very very resource incentive I think in particularly in the developing world I
Think what is happening is I suppose lot of tenders are are are are given based on the the lowest cost so in that sense that is actually a dilemma as I as I highlighted in in in my talk how can we actually manage with between the cost
Versus uh versus uh cost versus quality versus and and and the the outcome the cost benefit analysis is is quite an important uh Point here so in that sense I think it is it is easier for us to say that we need to be uh designing better
But then having said that the cost associated with that it could could well be enormous so then having that balance is I suppose is is not easy it’s it’s it’s quite easy for us to sort of say it is is important but in terms of putting that into
Practice it is not very very easy so I I haven’t got got an answer to to to that in that sense but having said that uh uh the the the examples from turkey and comparing to the examples from Japan I think you can actually s of see the
Difference whereas in Japan lot of buildings are actually do do withstand the earthquakes but whereas in in Turkey so what what what happened so in that sense in my view I think one of the more uh the the important criteria here is resources but not only that the again the the
Accountability and the governance issue issue comes in whether whether the whether these things are regulated in in in in in different countries so that is actually the the you know my view on on your first question and the second question is I suppose the urbanization and the uh and
And the humanitarian response if I uh uh got your question correctly but again that is why I suppose it is very very important that we do the kind of uh kind of a u scenario mapping and to sort of do drills in terms of sort of particularly for cities which actually are
Situated near on for lines what sort of um um um um evacuation plans that we can actually do in an event of of a earthquake so those things actually can be modeled and and I know particularly in in the US uh cities they they do have
These plans and also in in in Japan and and also in some parts of Indonesia so these things can be we call it preparedness planning so preparedness planning is is extremely important in in in facing uh and and finding Solutions these sort of uh uh situations thank you thank
You thank you MERS that was those are very good questions uh well uh anybody else wants to go next I see many names in the audience that are working in uh disasterous reduction so please open your mic and ask a question if you have okay I have a
Contribution yes please go ahead yes I’m just saying that the rethinking contraction to reduce disaster risk is a very important issue because we are in a global village there may be areas where there are disaster like like happened in turkey and I am in
Ghana I had a friend I lost a friend who died in Turkey the earthqu in Turkey so you may be far away from what is happening but because of travel easy travel and then people travel for conferences for many things you will be affected by a disaster which is
Happening in a very far place or a place where you really don’t think don’t think about so I just want to say that the rethinking construction to reduce disaster risk is quite an important thing to study that’s prepare for thank you thank you that is indeed indeed true yeah sorry go
Ahead can you can you hear me yes we can hear you I think it is actually quite quite an important point that he he he highlighted so I think I I I I fully agree with that point really speaking you I have I have uh nothing nothing new
To add I think what he highlighted is is is quite true yeah that’s right um anybody else uh I have a question yes go ahead M yes so thank you Professor for this presentation uh I my question is that uh did any company contacted you regarding this research uh or did you collaborated
With any company thank you yeah in terms of sort of finding solutions that I described at the end of course we actually collaborated with the Royal Institution of Chartered surveys in the UK um so they they are one of the largest uh construction professional um um um um
Professional institutions in the in the world as as you you you’re probably aware and also I think it it it has sort of membership from Consultants contractors and so on and so forth so we actually collaborated with them and through them we actually got the uh the
Construction industry and and uh uh the the the contractors and so on so forth input in in in carrying out the research yes thank you thank you mad well questions anybody all right while you all are thinking about your second round of questions let me uh put in my question
Here so uh D you know one one of the things that uh we talk about you know when we talk about resilience it it really Al also depends on availability of funds and the capacity of a community uh to build capacity yeah so the the question is that you know what is your
Opinion of what uh poor communities or or lesser endowed communities and countries can do in terms of uh building their capacity and and thereby building their resilience I I I suppose you know that really speaking you’re right Mark the the the capacity building should start at the community level so really
Speaking because at the end of the day they are the ones who actually face the disasters rather than actually the policy makers who are sitting in offices at the national level so developing their their capacities is is really really important so in that sense I supp put the preparedness planning and then
The early warning that is actually very very important I think early this year the UN slogan is actually early warning save lives so in that sense I think it is really really important that uh there are proper early warning mechanisms uh at the local level so that people uh U they’ll actually uh
Get to know if this there going to be a disaster and so on so forth again from the perspective of of multi-hazards also so so I think in S I think capacity building at the at at the uh ground level is is is really important but having said that lot of countries
Actually face lot of issues because again here we are we are talking about capacity building towards disaster risk reduction but lot of countries sadly see this as an additional expense or investment rather than uh uh rather than uh allocating funds for those there’s a lot of funding
Is being done diverted to response and to sort of other other activities so of course indeed Mark the resources is is is is very much an issue but having said that you know lot of countries are doing as much as they can in terms of sort of
Increasing the uh the capacity at the local level by means of uh um um particularly drills for example relating to tsunamis every two years there are sort of global drills are are are being held so that you know people will not forget about how how they need to be
Responding and and so on and so forth so so um um those are some other sort of U very um easy sort of or cost effective I must say uh uh procedures that can actually take place at the at the local level from the point of view of increasing their capacities
Yeah yeah thank you d uh questions uh I can I cannot see everybody so uh you know you have to open your mic and go ahead and ask your questions again please anybody has a pressing question no I think go yeah okay let me ask let me ask a
Question yes go ahead please yes I just want to ask this field of disaster preparedness is it civil engineering is it for the Val or the surveyor is it for the whose whose profession where does it really for in the field of construction professionals if you want to study this
Particular topic what where does it really fall which which area does it fall in want to ask this question so did you did you capture it Mark I I couldn’t hear him properly so did co could you please repeat that question can you can please sorry my
Question is this field of a disaster preparedness which field of study is it for example let’s say for example University of hardfield is it civil engineering is it building surveying or which group of professionals spend time to study um disaster risk and preparedness for it oh it it’s it’s it’s very much
Multidisciplinary uh approach I think we we really shouldn’t be actually thinking about that the problem belongs to either only to civil engineers or to um Architects and so on and so forth we all have have a role to play so it’s very much this field is very much kind of interdisciplinary and
Multidisciplinary aspect and that is why I suppose you know we are working with the the the Medics the historians the uh um the social scientist engineers and so on and so forth because everybody has has a role to play yes yes go ahead please okay um sorry my background is a
Little bit noisy but let me uh if you can hear me yes we can hear you yeah all right my question is uh in a country where you really don’t have uh history of disaster is it really something to worry about in designs for example in Nigeria we hardly have a natural
Disaster like that but again we are open up to the rest of the world through the oceans and the like should it be something we should be worried about from now or should we have to be waiting for the first surprise to happen before we begin to react thank
You it’s a very very good point I think preparing uh preparedness for any uh any Hazard is actually won’t be a waste so in that sense I think being prepared to face any sort of situations instances and circumstances will only s of give you benefit so in that sense I don’t
Think that none of us will should wait until the next disaster strikes I think we really need to be thinking about those and try and take some precautions if at all possible yes thank you I think that’s a very important question for uh perhaps many who are in the audience coming from
Different parts of the world um any other question so the while again while people are thinking about good question to ask let me let me ask my question so I wanted to follow up from you my my my previous question about availability of funds and so on uh another problem that
We have uh noticed uh is that convincing regulatory agencies or funding agencies that uh expenditure in capacity building is important becomes often a challenge uh what what are your thoughts on or or what have you seen to be working in terms of convincing uh Regulators that uh yes it
May be one in 100 event but you need to get prepared now and just building upon what a was saying also earlier about about uh you know disasters in preparation yes I think it’s it’s a that convin that convincing process is not easy Mark I suppose it’s very very as as
As I as we all know um the lot of funding is diverted towards the response rather than the risk reduction or the preparedness front and because of course we can actually s to see why and because when the cameras are around people are very much happy to sort of give away
Things and so on and so forth but whereas this risk reduction you just don’t see that because everything is happening actually behind the scenes so in that sense there there is this dilemma between how can we actually sort of uh um convince the uh the the regulatory authorities and and investors
To invest more but again um you know we have actually at the moment it is actually a study that we are doing um at at at our University in terms of maybe uh incentive schemes that is actually a possibility uh and also sort of in terms of uh uh working
With insurance uh companies so that to say that if they have Incorporated drr principles into their designs maybe that the insurance premiums can be lower than the typical figure so again you know that’s I just gave you as as just one example so incentive schemes actually
Could good work in in in that front and particularly relating to Insurance yes yeah thank you well we have uh just about a minute or so uh left so any any further questions anybody all right then let me take that opportunity to ask my last question and so Dante as you know you
Know we we we have proposed uh and we we work in the interdisciplinarity of infrastructure and uh we have proposed uh you know seven different layers of infrastructure that one needs to be looking at so civil Civic social environmental educational financial and cyber and how resilience in one is
Important as well as resilience in the other for a community to be truly resilient so with with that said and and you touched upon a lot of those issues as well so I wanted to build upon that uh you know you brought up a very important point about uh how do we re
Think construction and what construction industry needs to do to uh reduce disasters but what can the community do in the meantime to uh you know what what type of capacity building do you think the community needs to be thinking about um that would Safeguard and make them more resilient and not necessarily have
To rely on uh you know policies or construction IND yeah it’s a very very good point I think that actually will give people a quick win particularly at the community level Mark I suppose particularly I think looking into the uh uh to to to historical data I think that
And the traditional indigenous knowledge I think that is actually a major major input at the local level so particularly I suppose if you take that Indian Ocean tsunami in some countries of course when with the with the direction of the and and the the strength of the wind they
They apparently and also the direction of uh of of travel of various Birds they knew uh apparently what was coming so likewise but that sort of local knowledge capturing that sort of local knowledge is really really important so going by uh the traditional thinking historical knowledge and also sort of
Like oral histories those are some of the things that can easily be done at the at the community level at at very very minimal cost uh I think you know that is something that we really need to be promoting um and also sort of in terms of sort of nature based Solutions
So again the local communities uh know better than the policy makers about how the nature can can be used or inspired to to provide Solutions in in in meeting or safeguarding infrastructure uh particularly in in coastal areas for example like for example um with with
Mangroves and and and so and so forth so really speaking that local knowledge emphasizing and working on the local knowledge oral histories and the historical uh uh Records is is something that can be done at a at a minimal cost but with great uh results yes well with that said thank you very
Much Prof Mara this has been a wonderful uh knowledgeable uh presentation I truly appreciate you taking time uh I know it’s getting late in the evening in the UK uh Friday evening as yes and and then Friday evening as well so so you know double double thanks uh for that and uh
I want to thank all the audience for signing in as well and really appreciate uh you know folks coming from all over the world to uh listen to some of these important presentations so with that said let’s give a big round of applause to Professor Dante marunga and thank you
Profusely please open your mics if you like and uh thank you very much thank you very much yeah thank you very much Mark and I’m looking forward to seeing you and also s of maybe to S of take this work forward and to S of see how
What else we can can do and what are the next steps yes absolutely we’re looking forward to you visiting us as well thank you very much okay bye everybody have a good weekend all of you bye bye bye bye