| Summary: |
Following major disasters, it is evermore recognised that while their occurrence is often inevitable, reducing the associated risk through prevention measures should be a primary concern. Regions with a significant percentage of non-seismically designed buildings and where there is room for improvement in urban planning are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards. As such, ITERATE aims at disaster risk reduction in Algeria through prevention measures. Indeed, Algeria is exposed to a number of natural hazards, such as earthquakes, floods, draughts, and forest fires; all posing a great threat to both human lives and local economies. In particular, earthquakes can have a devastating impact, as has been shown by past events in the northern
part of the country like the El Asnam 1980 Mw 7.1 and Boumerdés 2003 Mw 6.8 earthquakes. In 2004 the country adopted the Law on Prevention of Major Risks and Disaster Management and the National Scheme for Land Use Planning, demonstrating its political will to promote disaster risk reduction (DRR). New seismic design regulations were also adopted, while in 2012 the National Delegate for Major Risks was established. The accomplishments in legislative and higher administration level have not, however, been followed by an equally successful integration of the new regulations at the local level. Limited resources and capacities, lack of cross-sectoral coordination and, mainly, awareness among several stakeholders have impeded the full implementation of the conceived policies. ITERATE intends thus to diminish these obstacles through an improved framework for seismic risk assessment that can be replicated to other natural hazards, making use of a geographical and scientific privileged combination of expertise in Algeria, Portugal and Italy. The knowledge of CRAAG (DZ) in seismic hazard will be fine tuned with real exposure and physical & social vulnerability models, building upon the experience of IUSS (IT). A user-friendly web-based  |
Summary
Following major disasters, it is evermore recognised that while their occurrence is often inevitable, reducing the associated risk through prevention measures should be a primary concern. Regions with a significant percentage of non-seismically designed buildings and where there is room for improvement in urban planning are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards. As such, ITERATE aims at disaster risk reduction in Algeria through prevention measures. Indeed, Algeria is exposed to a number of natural hazards, such as earthquakes, floods, draughts, and forest fires; all posing a great threat to both human lives and local economies. In particular, earthquakes can have a devastating impact, as has been shown by past events in the northern
part of the country like the El Asnam 1980 Mw 7.1 and Boumerdés 2003 Mw 6.8 earthquakes. In 2004 the country adopted the Law on Prevention of Major Risks and Disaster Management and the National Scheme for Land Use Planning, demonstrating its political will to promote disaster risk reduction (DRR). New seismic design regulations were also adopted, while in 2012 the National Delegate for Major Risks was established. The accomplishments in legislative and higher administration level have not, however, been followed by an equally successful integration of the new regulations at the local level. Limited resources and capacities, lack of cross-sectoral coordination and, mainly, awareness among several stakeholders have impeded the full implementation of the conceived policies. ITERATE intends thus to diminish these obstacles through an improved framework for seismic risk assessment that can be replicated to other natural hazards, making use of a geographical and scientific privileged combination of expertise in Algeria, Portugal and Italy. The knowledge of CRAAG (DZ) in seismic hazard will be fine tuned with real exposure and physical & social vulnerability models, building upon the experience of IUSS (IT). A user-friendly web-based platform (WBP) will be set up by FEUP (PT), putting together, in the open, all the necessary information on the different risk components, as an integrated tool for decision making. Different public and private stakeholders in Algeria will be involved in risk awareness raising and training initiatives, in a true collaborative effort, optimising existing and newly developed tools for increased resilience. |