Communal resilience is very much a concept of the time. It’s not just the significant insurance gap that puts cities around the world at risk in the event of catastrophe, but also the attitude toward risk itself. Now
Swiss Re has teamed up with the Rockefeller Foundation and Veolia to develop an infrastructure recovery initiative to speed up economic recovery in the aftermath of catastrophic events for cities across the globe.
Brokered by the 100 Resilient Cities initiative, the partnership is designed to support cities worldwide in the areas of climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, infrastructure enhancement and recovery.
By planning ahead for major shocks and stresses, cities not only strengthen the resistance of their vital infrastructure; they can also limit economic interruption; and begin to quickly repair damage without waiting for insurance assessments, payouts, and solicitations for repair proposals.
100 Resilient Cities found that at present cities rarely have financial plans in place to protect critical assets against shocks before they occur, and in the aftermath of such events, cities must determine what is damaged, how it will be fixed, who can fix it and how to fund these repairs, which can take months or years. The initiative aims to dramatically improve and streamline the existing process.
Veolia is a resource management company with significant expertise in water, energy and waste systems, while Swiss Re, brings to the table a deep expertise in understanding, quantifying and pricing risk exposure. Under this agreement, both partners will perform risk assessments of cities, identify their most vulnerable and valuable assets, and work together to build resilience strategies around these assets.
“This partnership is a sign that the private sector better understands what cities need to build resilience, and cities will no longer have to make difficult and often inefficient decisions after experiencing a disaster. They will know what is at risk, how it needs to improve, who will fix it, and where the funds will come from, all which allows them to rebound more quickly,” said Michael Berkowitz, president of 100 Resilient Cities.
“When we joined the 100 Resilient Cities project as one of its founding partners in 2013, part of the commitment was to create a functional toolbox for cities to assess, price, prepare for and mitigate risks. Our partnership with Veolia brings us one step closer to fulfilling that vision, and we're convinced that if we can make it a success, the concept can be scaled and replicated for other cities, and for other services. It's an important step in moving resilience from talk to action," said Agostino Galvagni, CEO Swiss Re Corporate Solutions.
The announcement comes less than a week after president and CEO of Swiss Re Canada, Veronica Scotti, warned that Canadians are suffering from a
disaster myopia, when it comes to disasters like earthquakes.
“’It’s not that bad,’ or ‘it’s not my responsibility’. That’s precisely the sentiment - spoken and unspoken - many have towards earthquakes,” the Swiss Re CEO said. “Otherwise, why would only 4% of residential dwellings in Montreal and 60% of dwellings in Vancouver be insured against earthquake? It stems from a feeling people have that “the big one” won’t happen even though they live in an active seismic zone, or if it does, the government will pay them to rebuild.”
Scotti said that rather than point fingers, we, as a society, need to recommit ourselves to “communal resilience” and construct a “whole of society” approach to managing risks and consequences of disasters.
