Reducing disaster risks 1980–2010: Some reflections and speculations
Through personal reflections on themes covering past experiences, the author considers selected experiences of disaster risk management (DRM) that span 30 years of DRM, and makes some speculations concerning the future, and ponders whether within the selected themes the future looks positive or negative. The observations begin with some memories of the Ocho Rios Conference: a multi disciplinary expedition to examine housing and hazards in Pakistan; issues concerning education and training; and finally the success of a massive reconstruction project of rural dwellings in Pakistan following the 2005 earthquake. Some key questions are considered: the value of community-based risk management; the reduction of short- or long-term risks; the protection of critical facilities; whose reality is being addressed? official neglect of education for DRM; the conditions needed to create highly effective safe reconstruction in rural Pakistan.
Best practice post-disaster housing and livelihood recovery interventions: winners and losers
A review of the recent post-disaster recovery interventions in developing countries shows convergent trends in policies and practices. The World Bank has been in a position to exert its influence on post-disaster housing and livelihood recovery interventions, which has resulted in converging policies and practices. This paper focuses on the nexus between housing and livelihood recovery after disasters, highlighting the importance of rethinking the existing sector-based disaster recovery interventions. Focusing on the case studies of the 2001 earthquake in Bhuj, Gujarat, and 2003 earthquake in Bam, Iran, and drawing on subsequent major disasters in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the article analyses a number of shortcomings in knowledge transfer on post-disaster housing and livelihood recovery. This knowledge transfer has rarely exposed and discussed the limitations of these policies, the gaps in knowledge concerning the impacts of these polices or the lessons learned about recurring problems arising from the int...
Communism and Camorra in Naples
The town of Marano borders Naples' city boundaries to the north. With a population of nearly 60,000, it has its own local administrative structure, although in many ways it is part of the ``greater Naples'' conurbation of close to three million people. One striking peculiarity of Marano is that it is the only town council in southern Italy administered by the far left party Rifondazione Comunista (Communist Refoundation, or RC). This peculiarity is compounded when one considers that Marano has one of the highest concentrations of organised criminal activity (which in Naples takes the name of Camorra rather than Mafia) in the Naples urban area, historically led by the four Nuvoletta brothers – and a far left council administering a highly criminal locality is a highly unusual occurrencein Italy. This article first presents the town of Marano and its history of Camorra activity, before analysing the national politics of RC and the activity of its members in Marano, principally as administrators of the town council. It then concludes with a brief critique of the weaknesses associated with a strategy of traditional Keynesian public sector policies being enacted on a local scale, both in terms of the corruption of local and national government, and the dominance of national and international economic trends which ultimately determine many of the major social and economic characteristics of towns such as Marano.