Disaster risk reduction using acceptable risk measures for spatial planning

Abstract

Population growth and scarcity of prime land, combined with more frequent natural disasters, lead to higher vulnerability of people and infrastructures. To minimise future losses, the exposure to risks should be reduced. Spatial planning has an important role in disaster risk reduction, through better management and allocation of land. This paper presents a new method to incorporate disaster risk reduction in spatial planning, using acceptable risk measures. The method has been tested in the coastal city of Semarang, Indonesia, which is suffering from an on-going threat of enhanced land subsidence. Findings from the case study reveal the benefit of incorporating disaster risk reduction in spatial planning.

Keywords:

• disaster risk reduction
• spatial planning
• acceptable risk
• local government

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the Regional Development Planning Agency of Semarang City, the National Land Agency and the GeoRisk Project for providing the necessary data. However, the views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not represent these agencies.