by: Michelle Fox, Director of Art + Communications Shifting our approach Shelter accounts for the highest amount of monetary losses in climate related disasters (Comerio, 1997). Housing is often the single largest asset owned by individuals and families. After a storm or natural disaster, resources are focused on restoring shelters to their previous state of operation—often times rebuilding with little to no modifications to the previous design—simply bouncing back. However, what we have found through our economic analysis in Vietnam and India, is that simple storm resistant construction techniques can be employed to protect shelter from avoidable damages and costs. We argue that investments
By Thanh Ngo and Stephanie Lyons; ISET-International, Vietnam What will happen if a city’s master plan doesn’t address flood risks in the context of climate change? This crucial question is addressed in a Da Nang Policy brief released earlier this year by ISET-International under a project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. The policy brief, entitled “Alternative development pathways: Examining the Da Nang master plan”, explores the implications of Da Nang’s current city master plan and its focus on new and planned growth in the low-lying floodplain, and how urbanization processes have changed the nature of flooding hazards for the city. The brief notes that the plan is likely to lead to
