Background paper on disaster resilient cities : Document de travail sur les villes prêtes à faire face aux catastrophes

In light of the diversity of hazards that Canadians face, the many points of urban vulnerability that contribute to losses and in order to reduce the impact of disasters in the future, we must investigate new approaches to the design and operation of Canada's cities. [...] Vulnerability Apart from, and in addition to, the hazard variable, the vulnerability of a community is a key factor in determining the impacts of a disaster. [...] It is determined by a combination of several factors, including awareness of hazards, the condition of human settlements and infrastructure, public policy and administration, the wealth of a given society 5 and organized abilities in all fields of disaster and risk management. [...] Resilience and Sustainability The goal of building resilient communities shares much with the principles of intergenerational equity espoused under the rubric of sustainable development, commonly defined as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987).” In many ways, the decisions we make regarding the [...] Because we can rarely predict the frequency and magnitude of hazard agents, and because the vulnerability of community systems cannot be fully known before a hazard event, cities must be designed with the strength to resist hazards, the flexibility to accommodate extremes without failure and the robustness to rebound quickly from disaster impacts.