Learning Lessons: Making Infrastructure Disaster-Resilient

Abstract

Hazards of nature—floods, earthquakes, typhoons, and climate change—pose growing risks to development. When infrastructure fails during a natural disaster, it can interrupt vital services, magnifying the need for well-functioning systems beforehand (Chang 2009). For example, power failures may disrupt water supply and transport during typhoons. Damaged roads after a strong earthquake can hamper the swift transport of people to safer areas, provision of life-saving medicines and supplies to hospitals, and timely distribution of emergency relief (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] 2012).