Grasping the hydra: the need for a holistic and systematic approach to disaster risk reduction

Abstract

This article stresses the significance of recognising interdependencies between factors determining disaster risk in any attempts to integrate disaster risk reduction in international development cooperation. It bases its arguments on the case studies of four past projects in Sri Lanka and Tajikistan, which are scrutinised using a theoretical framework based on systems approaches. It appears that the results of ignoring interdependencies may (1)cause sub-optimisation problems where the desired outcome is not reached as the factor focused on and/or the desired outcome are dependent on other factors, and (2) make it difficult or impossible to monitor and evaluate the actual effects of international development cooperation projects in disaster risk reduction.