Centralized Approach to Risk Mitigation

 

In the developed world, architects, engineers and developers are trained and licensed to produce custom designs that are then executed by skilled crews to enable custom construction of homes and other structures. In the event of a disaster, we mobilize quickly to understand the hazard that attacked and the vulnerability it exploited in our established design and construction practices. Once this is understood, the practice is revised through changes to codes and standards that are then disseminated to current and future technical professionals to allow retrofit and reconstruction of these custom designs. What is important to understand is that this process is supported by a government enacting zoning laws, building codes, permitting and inspection processes, with an established educational system for training of technical professionals in a country with the economic resources necessary to execute these projects. In the developing world, these underpinnings are woefully inadequate or even non-existent, making our traditional approach to remedying exposed vulnerabilities inappropriate.