Allan Lavell

• PhD.
• Project Manager at FLACSO, Secretaría General

Purpose The interview traces the early discussions in the context of disasters as developmental failures. Design/methodology/approach The transcript and video was developed in the context of a United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) project on the history of DRR. Findings The interview traces the development of disaster risk red...

In the 2020s, understanding disaster risk requires a strong and clear recognition of values and goals that influence the use of political and economic power and social authority to guide growth and development. This configuration of values, goals, power and authority may also lead to concrete drivers of risk at any one time. Building on previous di...

Urban growth is normally associated with progress and human development. Today, over half the global population lives in urban centres. In high-income economies and middle-income regions such as Latin America, over 80% do. Urban development and growth, however, are often also accompanied by increased exposure to hazards, vulnerability, risk, creati...

This field note examines the disaster risk construction process in Lima, Peru. More commonly experienced hazard contexts are considered in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We provide an empirical analysis based on Lima-wide data and using findings from a single case study settlement to illustrate more general conclusions. We attempt to reveal ho...

COVID-19 has seriously affected urban populations worldwide. It comprises a disaster category that accompanies more recurrent or familiar expressions associated with earthquakes, flooding, landslides, subsidence and tsunamis. Despite the differences in these hazard types, the expressions of vulnerability and exposure and their causes are often simi...

Special Issue Information Dear Colleagues, The current climate crisis is manifested in an accelerated increase regarding frequency and intensity of extreme events, such as hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, length sea penetration, strong winds, intense rains, earthquakes, and a pandemic caused by the presence of COVID-19, which has impacted...

Chinese version of FORIN, Forensic Investigations of Disasters Reference: 建议参考文献：A. Oliver-Smith, I. Alcántara-Ayala, I. Burton and A. M. Lavell (2016). Forensic Investigations of Disasters (FORIN): a conceptual framework and guide to research (IRDR FORIN Publication No.2). Beijing: Integrated Research on Disaster Risk. 56 pp.

The present research aims to understand the challenges faced by a Colombian city in the context of multidimensional risk scenarios, given the existing demographic and socio-economic conditions and local perspectives and perceptions regarding socio-environmental risks. The research was undertaken in the city of Barranquilla, northern Colombia. A sur...

Environmental changes have significant impacts on people’s lives and livelihoods, particularly the urban poor and those living in informal settlements. In an effort to reduce urban residents’ exposure to climate change and hazards such as natural disasters, resettlement programmes are becoming widespread across the Global South. While resettlement...

The Barranquilla Metropolitan Area is exposed and often vulnerable to various natural and anthropogenic hazards. The paper’s main objective is to identify the level of understanding that local and regional institutions have of such a multi-hazard scenario, as well as the effectiveness of governance arrangements in minimizing impacts. Research emplo...

The present perspective summarizes and projects the results of a two-day workshop held in 2013 with the presence of 21 known disaster risk specialists from academia and practice. Faced with the disconnect between ever-increasing and even-accelerating disaster losses and the declared progress in disaster risk management (DRM) practice over the last...

Disaster signifies extreme impacts suffered when hazardous physical events interact with vulnerable social conditions to severely alter the normal functioning of a community or a society (high confidence). Social vulnerability and exposure are key determinants of disaster risk and help explain why non-extreme physical events and chronic hazards can...

Disaster risk comprises a continuum, ranging from primary-structural (pre-impact), through contingent (resulting from impact) to future or reconstructed risk (resulting from inadequate recovery or reconstruction practices). At the same time these categories are many times constructed on the basis of existing chronic risk. These different categories...

Les risques de catastrophe suivent un continuum qui va des risques structurels initiaux (de pré-impact) aux risques futurs ou directement liés aux pratiques de reconstruction et à une récupération1 inadéquate, en passant par les risques contingents (résultant directement de l’impact). Ces différentes catégories sont souvent construites à partir de...

This presentation was commissioned by the Regional Policy Dialogue and presented in the meeting Disaster Risk Reduction: Best Practices for Climate-Resilient Coastal Development held in Bridgetown, Barbados on 20 and 21 of October 2011. It discusses the disaster nexus between risk management, climate change and its adaptation in the Caribbean.

The daily media is filled with images of catastrophic events which seem increasingly frequent and violent. In parallel there are a large range of scientific studies, debates in the policy arena, and a growing number of international institutions focused on disaster reduction. But a paradox remains that despite advances in technology, disasters cont...

Los desastres asociados con las amenazas ambientales representan y ponen de manifiesto riesgos fuera de control, aunque también puede vérseles como problemas de desarrollo aún no resueltos. El riesgo de desastre se define como la probabilidad de futuros daños y pérdidas asociados con el acontecimiento de amenazas ambientales, donde los grados y tip...

El objetivo principal del presente documento es el de proponer un marco conceptual sobre el riesgo y los desastres y un enfoque consecuente y relevante sobre la intervención en la problemática, de tal manera que ofrezca un marco de comparación y cotejo en cuanto a propuestas políticas, estratégicas e instrumentales que surjan de forma oficial en la...

This presentation was commissioned by the Natural Disaster Network of the Regional Policy Dialogue for the V Hemispheric Meeting celebrated on June 13th and 14th, 2005. Capacidad institucional para la gestion del riesgo de desastres.

This presentation was commissioned by the Natural Disaster Network of the Regional Policy Dialogue for the V Hemispheric Meeting celebrated on June 13th and 14th, 2005.

Este documento fue comisionado por la Red de Desastres Naturales del Diálogo Regional de Política para la V Reunión Hemisférica celebrada los días 13 y 14 de junio de 2005. El propósito de este trabajo de investigación es analizar la forma en que los países de América Latina y El Caribe han avanzado en el propósito de implementar estrategias y acci...

Many disasters take place in urban areas, affecting millions of people each year through loss of life, serious injury and loss of assets and livelihoods. Poorer groups are generally most affected. The impact of these disasters and their contribution to poverty are underestimated, as is the extent to which rapidly growing and poorly managed urban de...

The Regional Policy Dialogue has commissioned a two-stage research program focused at understanding national, integrated, government-directed systems. This report constitutes Phase I of this project and it is based on: a review of existing literature, three case studies completed by the authors, and consultation with experts on existing practice in...

This presentation was commissioned by the Natural Disaster Network of the Regional Policy Dialogue for the V Hemispheric Meeting celebrated on June 13th and 14th, 2005. Institutional, Legal And Public Policy And Planning Aspects Of Disaster Risk Management.

This presentation was commissioned by the Natural Disaster Network of the Regional Policy Dialogue for the V Hemispheric Meeting celebrated on June 13th and 14th, 2005.

The present study was based on a short and intensive period of field work in four countries (El Salvador, Jamaica, Chile and Colombia) and analysis based on researcher knowledge, secondary sources and long distance consultations in Mexico, Costa Rica and Bolivia.

En el presente documento pretende examinar aspectos que acerquen o diferencien a los países de la Comunidad Andina con base en documentos e información oficial proporcionados por los países y sus representantes sobre conceptos, términos y definiciones y busca identificar una estructura lógica para la definición en el plano conceptual y sugerir un c...