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Urban Disasters – Case Studies from Southeast Asia

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Urban Disasters – Case Studies from Southeast Asia Urban Disasters – Case Studies from Southeast Asia Esther Lambert University of Toronto Urban Climate Resilience in Southeast Asia (UCRSEA) Partnership Winter 2015 ! Table"of"Contents" LIST'OF'TABLES!................................................................................!I ! LIST'OF'FIGURES!..............................................................................!I ! LIST'OF'PICTURES! ............................................................................!I ! LIST'OF'BOXES!.................................................................................!I ! INTRODUCTION!...............................................................................! 1 ! CASE'STUDIES!.................................................................................! 5 ! B ANGKOK"F LOODS"AND"C YCLONE"N ARGIS"AT"A"G LANCE! ..................................!5 ! T YPHOON"W UTIP"– " H OANG"M AI"T OWN, " V IETNAM!.......................................! 10! D ROUGHT"– " K RONG"K HEMARAK"P HOUMIN"(KOH"K ONG)," C AMBODIA! ................! 11! C YCLONE"M AHASEN"– " S ITTWE, " M YANMAR!.................................................! 11! T YPHOON"N OCKE TEN/TROPICAL"S TORM"J UANING"– " C HIANGMAI, " T HAILAND!.......! 13! T YPHOON"H AIMA"– " V IENTIANE, " L AO"PDR!..................................................! 15! C YCLONE"G IRI"– " K YAUKPHYU, " M YANMAR! ..................................................! 17! T YPHOON"K ETSANA"– " S IEM"R EAP"(KAMPONG"T HOM)," C AMBODIA!....................! 17! V IETNAM"F LOODS"OF"2008" – " H ANOI , " V IETNAM!..........................................! 19! L AOS"A UGUST"F LOOD"OF"2008" – " V IENTIANE, " L AO"PDR!................................! 20! T YPHOON"X ANGSANE"– " D ANANG, " V IETNAM!................................................! 21! T YPHOON"D AMREY"– " H AIPHONG, " V IETNAM!................................................! 22! O THER"P OTENTIAL"C ASE"S TUDIES!............................................................! 23! CRITERIA'FOR'CASE'SELECTION!........................................................!24! I MPORTANT"F ACTORS! ...........................................................................! 24! L IST"OF"C RITERIA!................................................................................! 26! CONCLUSION!.................................................................................!30! REFERENCES!..................................................................................!31! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Urban'Disasters'– ' Southeast'Asia'''''' List'of'Tables' Table"1:"Climate"Change"Actions"in"Select"Southeast"Asian"Countries"................................................."4" Table"2:"Disaster"Response"for"Bangkok"Floods,"Thailand"and"Cyclone"Nargis,"Myanmar"..................."6" Table"3:"Other"Potential"Case"Studies"................................................................................................."23" ' List'of'Figures' Figure"1:"Number"of"reported"natural"disasters,"world"regions,"1980E2011"........................................"2" Figure"2:"Damage,"Losses"and"Needs"–"By"Province"..........................................................................."15" " ' List'of'Pictures' Picture"1:"An"Internally"Displaced"Persons"Camp,"PreECyclone"Mahasen,"Sittwe"Myanmar".............."12" Picture"2:"Flooding"in"Thailand"after"Tropical"Storm"NockEten"..........................................................."14" Picture"3:"Flooded"Streets"in"Siem"Reap,"Cambodia,"after"Typhoon"Ketsana"....................................."18" Picture"4:"Flooding"of"Mekong"River,"Vientiane,"Lao"PDR".................................................................."21" ' List'of'Boxes' Box"1:"Some"Factors"Influencing"Prediction"and"Response"to"Disasters"in"Southeast"Asia"................"24" ! i ! Urban Disasters – Southeast Asia Introduction This report details the kinds of global environmental change disasters that have affected Southeast Asia over the past five to ten years and the practice of predicting and responding to such disasters. It seeks to understand who the various actors are (pre- and post-disaster) and some of the social, economic, and political factors affecting the region’s capacity to predict and respond effectively. For the purposes of the Urban Climate Resilience Southeast Asia Partnership (UCRSEA), this report focuses on climatological and hydro-meteorological hazards such as typhoons, cyclones, and droughts. Moreover, while biological and geophysical hazards have had a massive impact on Asia and the Pacific, climate-related disasters have caused the most widespread damage. Geological events such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, though not influenced by human activity, their consequences may have tremendous adverse effects on human populations. For instance, earthquake-borne tsunamis cause extensive flooding in low-lying regions. In that sense, what was originally a geological hazard has hydro-meteorological implications. Over the past five to ten years, the Asia and Pacific area has experienced numerous global environmental change disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, cyclones, typhoons, and droughts; thus, challenging the region’s governments and national and regional organizations to develop more strategic, collaborative approaches to improving communities’ ability to recover (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific - UNESCAP, 2013). The Southeast Asia Climate Change Partnership initiative is one such effort, geared towards unpacking the various impacts of climate change on urban residents in Southeast Asia (who are already facing challenges related to rapid urbanization and weak governance) and to creating urban spaces that decrease the vulnerability of such areas to global environmental change. Such actions as the signing of the Declaration on Environmental Sustainability by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the formation of the ASEAN sub-regional climate review 1 Urban Disasters – Southeast Asia meetings hint a desire to take more determined steps towards addressing the issue of climate change (Yuen and Kong, 2009). As illustrated in Figure 1 below, over the past three decades, this region has had the greatest increase in natural disaster occurrence, compared to Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, and Europe. Hydro-meteorological hazards have been identified as the most frequently occurring events with the greatest impact on the region’s population. Over 1.2 billion people have been affected by 1,215 hydro-meteorological hazards, compared to “355 million people exposed to 394 climatological, biological, and geophysical disasters events” since 2000 (UNESCAP, 2013). According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), typhoons and other similar climate-related disasters, though not increasing in number, have been increasing in intensity (2007). Also, populations are increasingly located in high-risk areas such as earthquake fault lines and river deltas and coasts. Figure 1: Number of reported natural disasters, world regions, 1980-2011 (Source: UNESCAP, 2013) The Climate Risks and Adaptation in Asian Coastal Megacities report, which looks at bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, and Manila, predicts an increase in the number of flooding events and the 2 Urban Disasters – Southeast Asia extent of impacts, with the greatest impacts on the poor and vulnerable (World bank, 2010). Approximately 28 per cent of the urban population resides in slums, often located in high-risk zones; thereby, amplifying the impacts of climate changes in these areas (Yuen and Kong, 2009). A 2012 World bank guidebook confirmed that urban flooding is an increasingly serious problem in low and middle-income countries in East Asia, which have burgeoning populations (World bank, 2012; Jha et al., 2012). This is partly due to location, but also a result of the transformations of ecological landscapes and natural hydrology created by urbanization. Many growing urban populations are associated with poverty and inadequate infrastructure, which increase vulnerability to natural hazards (International Institute for Environment and Development, 2009: 5). Research is also showing the adverse impacts of disasters such as drought on agricultural productivity in rural areas (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014). These calamities are forcing people to migrate to urban areas. For example, drought has forced many Cambodian farmers into the Phnom Penh urban area, placing more pressure on health services, infrastructure, educational services, and security efforts (Wight, 2014). Some of the major hydro-meteorological disasters to hit Southeast Asian cities over the past five to ten years include cyclone Nargis (Myanmar) and typhoon Nuri (Philippines) in 2008, the 2011 Bangkok floods, typhoons Bopha (2012) and Haiyan (2013) in the Philippines, droughts, and widespread flooding after heavy rains and tropical depressions. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami was also a major geological disaster. between the Nargis hazard and the infamous 2004 tsunami, over 400,000 lives were lost and there was widespread damage throughout the region (boon & Lai, 2012). Although there have been some progressive national and regional responses to these catastrophes, there are still many social, economic, and political factors affecting the region’s capacity to predict and respond effectively to environmental disasters. The 2011 bangkok floods and 2008 Tropical Cyclone Nargis natural
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