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Background
By 2010 an estimated 50% of the population of developing countries will be living in cities and eight out of ten largest cities of the World will be in developing countries. Over three quarters of those cities are exposed to at least one natural hazard. Yet, cities are ill-prepared to effectively respond to such events, and the collective effort to reduce risk from disasters continues to be meager compared to the constant increase in risk caused by urbanization and aging infrastructure.

Safe Cities is part of the comprehensive Natural Disaster Risk Management Program developed by the World Bank Institute with support from WB Hazard Management Unit and ProVention Consortium. This specialization course provides an overview of disaster risk management sound practice for local government policymakers, urban managers, planners, and disaster management professionals. It discusses the inter-linkages of the social and physical parameters of vulnerability of cities with their local government development, organization, and management. It explains the impediments to disaster risk reduction in urban environments and then presents the key concepts of disaster risk management and the role and intervention of local institutions. It emphasizes that disaster risk reduction only takes place when it is inherently integrated within local government functions.

Thus, it proposes a model for implementing such integration that is based on the development of a city-wide disaster risk management master plan (DRMMP). It is based on an understanding of the risk parameters and incorporates action plans related to response and recovery, preparedness and awareness raising, mitigation and prevention, and institution building. The course discusses the structural and organizational arrangements for implementation, the resource and training needs, the strategies and challenges in implementation and discusses practical “do’s” and “don’ts” based on past experience, proposing an implementation framework. It establishes that disaster risk reduction stems from coherent policies that are based on a comprehensive understanding of risk, that promote preparedness and mitigation and incorporate the participation of the active agents of the community. Disaster risk management is a concern to the whole community and requires their involvement and contribution. The course provides case studies to illustrate different approaches to disaster risk reduction, the related organizational, institutional and financial parameters, and how these experiments have supported sustainable development goals in different cities.

Course Format
The course consists of self-paced modules, discussion forums, exercises, readings, case studies, tests and learning via interaction with program faculty and peers. Moreover, for each module there are 2 to 3 audio sessions of expert lectures for 40–45 minutes each. The Course materials shall be provided in a CD to each participant.

Course Expectations
Participants are expected to commit 8–10 hours per week (per module) in order to gain the most out of this course in addition to:
• Complete the required reading assignments
• Participate in all online activities. Participation involves posting a minimum of two messages per week that are substantive in nature. The message can be either a new topic or a reply to someone else's message. Participants are encouraged to post more often than twice a week in order to be involved more deeply into topics.
• Participate in videoconferencing and asynchronous chat sessions (if applicable)
• Complete assignments and end of course project
• Complete course evaluation at the end of the course

Certificate
Joint certificate from NIDM and WBI shall be issued to all successful participants of the course.

System Requirements of the Course
Participants must have access to computers with the following specifications:
• Hardware: Pentium 166 or faster, 64Mb Memory, CD-ROM, Sound Card
• Software: Windows 95,98,ME,NT 4,2000 or XP Internet Explorer 4 or higher, Netscape 4 or higher Microsoft Office 2000 (Word, Powerpoint) Acrobat Reader 5

Objective
This specialization course addresses particular concerns of urban managers and planners. It reviews processes, regulations – land use, infrastructure, construction, building codes – enforcement issues and methods essential to reducing exposure to hazards and limiting the physical vulnerability of high density settlements.

Agenda
The course consists of presentations, case studies, readings and an end of course exercise. During the course, instructors and facilitators from National Institute of Disaster Management and the World Bank Institute will guide the participants and evaluate the project work. The course consists of one modules and an end of course exercise.