emi

Name of Funding Organization/Sponsor: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) - Jordan

Country and Location: Amman, Jordan

Start Date: April 2007

Completion Date: April 2009

Related Reports and Documents

• Final Report

Project Summary:

The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) partnered with EMI to develop a Disaster Risk Management Master Plan (DRMMP) that will guide local authorities in understanding and reducing the city’s risks to earthquakes and other hazards. The project was developed under contract with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) offices in Jordan and in Geneva through the Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery (UNDP/BCPR) and undertaken in partnership with several governmental institutions of the Kingdom of Jordan, including the General Directorate for Civil Defense (GDCD) and GAM. In addition, a broad spectrum of stakeholders including representatives of national and local institutions, media, academia and international organizations were engaged.

The DRMMP is the analytical model developed by EMI to guide local authorities (cities, local government units, metropolitan governments, and provincial governments) in a participatory planning process by which they can understand their vulnerabilities to hazards, evaluate the physical and socio-economic impacts of these hazards, develop a coherent approach to manage their overall risk, and determine a series of options to reduce the risk given their priorities and implementation processes.  Essentially, the DRMMP is a disaster risk management planning tool and an analytical model for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction at the local level.  The DRMMP model is inspired from Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand: AS/NZS 4360.

This model has been used with great success by EMI in cities such as Istanbul, Metro Manila, and Kathmandu and has been accepted by many international development agencies such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP/BCPR) which supported this particular project.

The DRRMP process is structured into four phases:

1. Preparatory Phase-encompasses securing agreement with local partners (e.g. city administration), identifying stakeholders and creating the overall work organization for DRMMP (including identification of roles and responsibilities) as well as  determining the resources required for the DRMMP process;
2. Analysis Phase- covers understanding and documenting a) current legal, institutional, and organizational arrangements for DRM in the country and city; current DRM practice; individual and organizational competencies and scoping of available data; and b) hazard, vulnerability, and risk through a scientific risk assessment, analysis, and scenario loss assessment ;
3. Planning Phase-consists of structured planning workshops and meetings with a broad spectrum of stakeholders to define and structure the elements of DRMMP and the processes for implementing such plan.  These elements are in the form of recommendations which are validated by relevant implementation agencies and local communities;
4. Identification of Implementation Work Outputs (IWO’s)- IWOs are priority items considered to be the most pertinent and the most feasible to undertake in the immediate term.  These IWOs determine the immediate level of capital investment in DRR to be undertaken by the local government.

Project Components:

Institutional and Legislative Review

The DRRMP process in GAM started with a diagnostic of city’s current disaster risk reduction and management status, which defined the baseline for the project.  The output of this component is the Amman City Disaster Risk Profile.  Documents on the laws, policies and institutional set-up concerned with the disaster risk management in GAM were gathered during the field investigations. Individual interviews were likewise conducted with various agencies, particularly with UNDP and the General Directorate of Civil Defense (GDCD).

Earthquake Risk Assessment

Yarmouk University (YU) is the National Consultant on risk assessment to conduct an earthquake hazard and risk assessment study. This first comprehensive study of its kind for Amman estimated the magnitude and locations of future earthquakes likely to affect the city; the level of ground shaking that these earthquakes would create; and the damage to Amman’s buildings, lifelines and critical infrastructure, as well as the potential human and monetary losses. Based on these technical assessments of earthquake risk, a narrative scenario was developed to effectively communicate the impacts of such a disaster to stakeholders in a non-technical manner. The results from the risk assessment served as input to the development of the Disaster Risk Management Master Plan for Greater Amman.

DRMMP Framework

The DRMMP Framework provides a set goals, policies and recommendations intended to eventually equip GAM and other relevant national institutions with a disaster risk management practice that conforms to the international standards in the field. It was developed on the basis of a process of analysis, consultation, planning and validation of the DRM practice, in Amman and in the country. The development of the DRMMP Framework included a series of participatory planning workshops and meetings with different stakeholders at all levels including representatives of city departments and agencies, relevant national agencies, private sector, academia, professional organizations, among others. This participatory process is an integral part of the DRMMP methodology.

The DRMMP elements are summarized in the form of recommendations that address hazard and vulnerability reduction, preparedness, emergency response and recovery planning, and research and development.  It  includes 47 recommendations grouped into the following elements:

1. Legal, Institutional and Organizational Aspects
2. Emergency Management and Social Mobilization
3. Construction Standards and Practice
4. Building Earthquake Resiliency
5. Land-Use Planning and Environmental Management
6. Training and Capacity Building
7. Research and Development, Knowledge Management, ICT and Human Resources
8. Project Management

Training and Awareness Program

Simultaneously with these phases, the DRMMP process includes competency building and awareness raising activities in terms of specialized training, round table discussions, and advocacy campaigns. Competency building efforts are aimed at ensuring that GAM and other concerned agencies build the necessary technical knowledge and experience to take ownership over the DRMMP implementation process. This is also an opportunity to mainstream DRM tools such as an advanced Map Viewer and other risk communication tools.

Methodology:

EMI carried out three field investigations towards developing the DRMMP of GAM. The first field investigation was focused on two important aspects of disaster risk management within the context of GAM: seismic risk assessment, and legal and institutional frameworks for disaster risk management. A series of workshops and meetings were conducted to introduce the concepts, principles, processes and methodologies of DRMMP. Discussion also took place around the key considerations of the seismic risk assessment study and its initial outputs. One important output of this workshop was the consensus-based revised vision for Amman: “A safe, sustainable and prosperous city with a soul.”

Building from the outcomes of the first field investigation, the second field investigation in August 2008 further engaged local stakeholders in identifying the elements that will constitute Amman’s DRMMP Framework. During the field investigation, the participants revisited Amman’s history of dealing with disasters. They also analyzed the present needs and challenges of the city and came up with steps towards developing Amman’s DRMMP, through a Future Search methodology.

The final field investigation brought in technical staff and researchers from Greater Amman Municipality, General Directorate of Civil Defense, Yarmouk University and EMI for a multi-stakeholder and validation workshop. This field investigation sought to validate the draft DRMMP Framework of Amman and to consolidate the sense of ownership of the disaster risk management agenda to relevant local stakeholders and key government organizations including the Greater Amman Municipality, which is the primary recipient of this work.

Project Key Accomplishments

1. Assessment and analysis of the city’s institutional and organizational arrangements on disaster risk management
2. Hazard, vulnerability and seismic risk assessment and analysis for Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), using both probabilistic and deterministic approaches
3. Mapping and recommendations for risk-sensitive land use planning processes and practices
4. Development of a Disaster Risk Management Master Plan (DRRMP) for GAM
5. Training of disaster management professionals to provide the necessary technical knowledge and experience in implementing the DRRMP process

EMI Personnel Involved (Name, Position/Task Assigned)

• Dr. Eng. Fouad Bendimerad, Project Director
• Ms. Shirley Mattingly, Senior Program Advisor, Emergency Management Expert
• Atty. Violeta Seva, Legal and Institutional Expert
• Dr. Bijan Khazai, Geotechnical and Spatial Analyst
• Dr. Eng. Marqueza Reyes, Project Manager; Urban Land Use Planning Expert
• Mr. Kristoffer Berse, Technical Manager for Knowledge Management

Sponsor Personnel/ Partners

• Mr. Hossein Khalali, UNDP-BCPR
• Ms. Amal Dababseh, UNDP-Jordan
• Col. Waleed S. Al-soub, GDCD, Disaster Department Director
• Lt. Col. Marwan Bader, GDCD, Disaster Department Director
• Eng. Anwar Shunnaq, GAM Special Projects Director
• Mr. Soud Quran, GDCD Project Manager
• Ms. Ghada Al-Sous, GDCD Project Assistant

Contact Person: Dr. Fouad Bendimera, Project Director, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it