Urban Seismic Risk Mitigation in Asia: Examples from Radius Case Studies

Abstract

As a part of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR: 19902000), numerous projects have been launched on natural disaster reduction. A good level of awareness has been reached at the national, regional and international level for disaster mitigation and management. A significant shift of focus from the post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction to pre-disaster preparedness and planning has been observed. I DN DR is creditable for this very important achievement. As a part of these activities, a project called RADIUS (Risk Assessment Tools for Diagnosis of Urban Areas against Seismic Disaster) has been launched with the financial help of Japanese Government. The aim of this project is to reduce the seismic risk in the cities of developing countries. A unique methodology has been incorporated in this project in order to ensure people participation in the risk reduction activities. In total, nine cities have been selected for case studies, from a total number of fifty-eight cities worldwide. These cities are geographically well-distributed: three being in Asia, three in Middle East-Europe-Africa, and three in Latin America. In the present paper, the achievements of the RADIUS project in Asian cities will be discussed. Three cities are selected in the Asian region from three different geographic areas. Cities are located in the tropical area in Indonesia (Bandung), in the vast country of China (Zigong) and in the landlocked country of Uzbekistan (Tashkent).