Inclusive Disaster-risk Management Planning

 In today's world, it is not a far stretch for cities to start implementing disaster-risk management planning. As the climate is changing and weather events are becoming more and more severe, cities need to start preparing for what their strategies/infrastructure will be to help with disaster-risk management. 

Floods are not the only things that need to be planned for, besides the recent flooding in Malawi and Pakistan, there were also earthquakes Turkiye and Syria, and Typhoon Mocha in Myanmar.

*The thing about a lot of successful groups/ communities, is communication and being able to vocalize the needs of everyone. This is something that generally gets pushed to the side, until it gets to a point where communities/groups of people have to walk around with signs and posters, with what they need written out on the signs. The voices of people get lost in the community, and generally, the only people who get heard and generally have the power to instill change, are the ones who are not afflicted with the problems of the majority and are separated from the needs of the community. So a plan that can be created by the tips above needs to be an open forum, it needs to give a platform for everyone. 

Here are 3 tips as Pointed out by Sustainable Cities:

1. Recognize the expertise of the local community: Including the local community, particularly women, it allows for a better understanding and firsthand experience with the events that are taking place and what the standards are for when events like these happen. The insight that women have is invaluable when it comes to identifying the critical needs of at-risk neighborhoods, vulnerable households, and individuals. Elder people can also provide great insight into the knowledge of the areas of their towns that are more difficult to navigate, and should also be used as a resource. When it comes to communities, every voice brings in a new perspective and possibly may raise a solution that they have discovered through their own experiences. This is where being a community comes into action, and the respect that people hold for one another, to allow themselves to listen to the people who may not have the loudest voices.
2. Integrate the knowledge of excluded groups in emergency preparedness and response planning and design: As noted above with the inclusion of more voices, especially the voices that understand the needs of the more vulnerable groups of the community, and what would help them either evacuate quickly or shelter in place, this can inform and plan evacuation routes, shelters, and clinics, and what all would be needed there to help care for those communities. 
3. Proactively engage, educate, and mobilize traditionally marginalized groups:  in many situations, disaster survivors are rescued by their neighbors. By educating people and providing people with digital platforms connected to emergency-response units, their roles can be improved. 

I am not sure if this way of creating a plan will work for all communities, especially when they reach a certain size, because voices will be marginalized, and once the forum reaches a size too big people stop talking, and instead just sit back. Definitely, the core idea of these tips holds merit, it's just the execution of getting these opinions, and ideas is where the success of this will come from. By including all voices in something of this importance it creates a bridge to all parts of the community creating a sense of contribution and betterment, which will strength the community.