Question

3.2. Discuss the significance of Risk Assessment as a step in developing a Disaster Risk Profile. (10)

Answer 1

UNDP defines risk as the probability of harmful
consequences — casualties, damaged property, lost
livelihoods, disrupted economic activity, and damage to
the environment — resulting from interactions between
natural or human-induced hazards and vulnerable
conditions. Risk assessment is a process to determine
the nature and extent of such risk, by analyzing
hazards and evaluating existing conditions of
vulnerability that together could potentially harm
exposed people, property, services, livelihoods and the
environment on which they depend. A comprehensive
risk assessment not only evaluates the magnitude and
likelihood of potential losses but also provides full
understanding of the causes and impact of those
losses. Risk assessment, therefore, is an integral part
of decision and policy-making processes and requires
close collaboration among various parts of society.
UNDP APPROACH
Besides the estimation of potential losses and their
impact, risk assessment allows for the determination of
the acceptable level of risk, defined as the level of
losses that is acceptable without destroying lives,
national economy or personal finances. Once the
current and acceptable levels of risk are determined,
disaster risk reduction plans and strategies could be
revised or developed so that they have the measurable
goal of reducing the current risk to acceptable levels.
For countering existing disaster risk systematically, for
example by formulating a comprehensive DRR policy,
developing land-use plans or putting in place insurance
mechanisms to transfer non-reducible risks, theknowledge and understanding provided by a
comprehensive risk assessment are fundamental.
Furthermore, when the plans are being implemented,
periodic evaluations of risk provide an explicit indication
of progress in risk reduction. They help to evaluate the
effectiveness of disaster risk reduction efforts and
make the necessary corrections to the plans and
strategies.
UNDP SUPPORT SERVICES
Risk assessment is an important component of UNDP
disaster risk reduction projects and programmes.
Examples of the multifaceted activities implemented by
UNDP include:
National and local capacities for risk assessment
The main focus of UNDP’s work is on capacity
development. In the area of risk assessment, UNDP
provides technical assistance on the establishment of
disaster risk assessment and institutional arrangements
at the national level; supports the assessment of
hazard monitoring and mapping capacities and gap
identification; supports local government on risk
assessments for areas of resettlement and recovery
after a disaster; and provides guidance to ensure that
cross-cutting issues relevant to the development
context, like sexual and reproductive health, gender
and HIV/AIDS are included in risk assessment tools
and exercises at all levels.Tools for conducting disaster risk assessments at
both national and local levels
UNDP differentiates between two levels of risk
assessments: national and local risk assessments. A
national risk assessment is a strategic risk assessment
that supports the design of national DRR strategies,
policy and regulations, DRM programming, and budget
allocation. A local risk assessment is an operational
risk assessment for DRR action planning, contingency
planning, pre-disaster recovery planning, and proper
urban planning. UNDP provides specific methodologies
and tools to conduct multi-hazard risk assessment at
national and sub-national levels; guidance on multi-
hazard urban risk assessment in major cities and on
impact assessment of climate change at the national
level; support to its partners on assessing the
capacities of existing departments, identifying gaps,
proposing and helping install mechanisms to address
such gaps; and assistance in the establishment of
community-based disaster management committees to
conduct risk assessment in pilot regions.
Build national disaster observatories (NDO)
A NDO is a sustainable local institution that
systematically collects, compiles and interprets historic
disaster information. A NDO helps the countries to
learn from their disaster history and incorporate that
knowledge into the national DRR strategy and the
implementation of disaster risk management activities.UNDP assists countries apply risk assessments to the
formulation and revision of national, sub-national and
local disaster risk reduction strategies, as well as to
related thematic areas: climate change adaptation and
mitigation; urban development planning; humanitarian
planning and the establishment of early warning
systems. UNDP also helps use risk assessments as
the basis for the design, funding and implementation
of DRR / risk management projects for the
communities.