The Integrated Disaster Risk Management Fund: Sharing Lessons and Achievements

By Asian Development Bank

The Government of Canada and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) established the Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRM) Fund in February 2013. The Fund was created to advance proactive integrated disaster risk management measures on a regional basis within ADB’s developing member countries in Southeast Asia, specifically, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam. During its operation, the IDRM Fund funded 19 technical assistance projects with both a gender-focused approach to IDRM and that reflect regional solutions that produce cross-border disaster management. This publication discusses the lessons learned from and achievements of the IDRM Fund.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Release date: Oct 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9789292624415

Book preview

I INTRODUCTION

The geographical diversity of Southeast Asia. The region that is most prone to hazard with its highlands, coastal plains, and water bodies (photo by Asian Development Bank).

A. Rationale for the Integrated Disaster Risk Management Fund

The Government of Canada and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) established the Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRM) Fund in February 2013. The Fund was created to advance proactive IDRM¹ measures on a regional basis within ADB’s developing member countries (DMCs) in Southeast Asia (SEA), specifically, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam (refer Map next page). During its operation, the IDRM Fund funded 19 technical assistance (TA) projects, some of them linked, including knowledge-sharing activities,² plus two projects not covered by this review.³

By financing the IDRM Fund, it was the intention of the Government of Canada to support ADB’s DMCs to manage their respective natural hazard risks in line with Strategy 2020.⁴ Among all the regions in Asia and the Pacific, the SEA region is one of the most hazard-prone, with its wide geographical diversity that includes highlands, floodplains, coastal plains and deltas, large river systems and major water bodies, and seismically active faults and volcanic zones. Drought, earthquakes, fires, floods, and tropical cyclones or typhoons impact large areas throughout the region, leaving a financial loss of $91 billion for the period 2004–2014⁵—a figure that continues to grow as climate change, population, economic development, and unplanned urbanization increase. The effects can be seen in damage to physical assets (housing, roads, water supply and energy, among others) and losses (changes in economic flow) incurred by physical assets. The impacts of disasters, such as loss of livelihoods and damage to assets, are often felt the most by the poor and vulnerable population with consequences to their long-term well-being. In short, about one in three to four people in the region experienced different types of losses in the period