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Post Disaster Resilience and Recovery: Learning from disasters and creating safer cities
May 25, 2023 @ 7:30 am - 8:30 am
Cities are facing more and more severe weather events in recent years, having a catastrophic impact on communities and their ability to recover. There is an urgent need for cities to better prepare themselves to withstand the adverse impact of these disasters which can enable an effective recovery and minimize losses.
In the Bordeaux region in France, one-fourth of its habitable area is below the river’s high-water line, exposing the Bordeaux Metropolitan Area to a dual risk of flooding from the sea and the river. As in many cities worldwide, in Bordeaux floods have been increasing in frequency and intensity since the 1980s. Meanwhile, cities in the USA have vast experience addressing and recovering from large-scale disasters, having faced and dealt with the consequences of extreme events like hurricanes and wildfires frequently.
Planning for effective post-disaster recovery can help cities set the path for a safer, resilient and sustainable future. It is crucial that we bring together cities to share their experience and lessons learned in their post disaster recovery efforts, and how those can shape cities to plan and build back better.
The fifth session of the Cities on the Frontline Speaker Series 2023, with the support of the Embassy of the United States of America, France, and in collaboration with partners France Ville Durable and the World Bank, will focus on “Post Disaster Resilience and Recovery”.
By bringing together New Orleans and the Bordeaux Metropolitan Region, we’re taking a deeper look at how cities can learn from each other and ensure that everyone, especially vulnerable and marginalized groups, have the ability to recover from severe disasters as well as how cities rebuild and strengthen their systems, policies and infrastructure.
Austin Feldbaum, Hazard Mitigation Director from the City of New Orleans, will join us to share their learnings on recovery and how they reconceived their city’s strategies after disasters. Valérie Sabéran, Climate Risk and Resilience Director from the Bordeaux Metropolitan Area, will share more about how the metropolis is committed more than ever to strengthening their flood management strategy as well as efforts to address climate change and learning from their past experiences with severe flooding.