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The Institute of Public Policy and Development (IPPD) commissioned The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to produce an in-depth study that combines city-level resilience scores with qualitative insight from experts. Covering Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore (which have a combined population of 35m), this project identifies common and distinct risks, from river- and storm-related flooding to landslides, heat waves and pollution haze. A scorecard assessed these five cities across five domains: institutional framework; Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) policy, preparedness and response; economic resilience; societal resilience; and resilience of the physical environment. Based on this scorecard, each city’s level of disaster risk preparedness and the response was ranked as either nascent, emerging, developed or mature.

Recognising that the future of these cities will be shaped by decisions made today, this study’s assessment of cities’ disaster risk resilience creates a foundation for forward-looking disaster risk management (DRM) and urban planning. The key findings from the analysis are:

• Four of the five cities were scored as “mature” or “developed”, indicating strong engagement with DRR, backed up by institutions and regulations. The scorecard shows strong engagement with DRM in all cities, with Singapore ranked as “mature”; Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur ranked as “developed”; and Bangkok ranked as “emerging”.
• Economic and societal resilience are weak across cities. Economic resilience covers factors such as urban poverty and the presence of catastrophe insurance. Cities were categorised as weak overall in this domain, with only Singapore ranked as “mature”.
• Significant gaps exist between policy and practice. The scorecard ranked countries on the presence of DRM instruments on paper, notably institutions and regulations.
• Political support exists, at least in public statements, but remedial actions often focus on hard engineering3solutions. Experts call for more holistic measures, such as disaster-informed spatial planning, greening of existing infrastructure and wetland restoration.
• A wider cast of actors must be assembled to drive the urban DRR effort. The business community and civil society can play an active role in urban DRR by ensuring that their activities do not worsen disaster dynamics, and by contributing their assets, skills and capabilities to resilience efforts.