UN, World Bank launch global competition on disaster recovery, reconstruction

Three international bodies, including the World Bank, have announced the launch of a global innovation competition aimed at showcasing services, products and approaches to post-disaster recovery and reconstruction.

The Global Facility for Disaster Reconstruction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) are the other two organisations involved with this competition, which will showcase innovation in post-disaster services, products and approaches implemented at the local level.

“Local innovative responses have played a key role in determining how well communities coped with a devastating natural event. We want to learn and build on these local experiences and solutions in the wake of natural disasters,” said Mr Zoubida Allaoua, Director of Finance, Economics and Urban Development Department, which houses the GFDRR in the World Bank.

New, innovative approaches have emerged at the local level in recent years to address post-disaster challenges.

Many of these involve a lot of ingenuity, but few resources, such as grassroots balloon mapping for damage assessment, in which communities have used a single camera, helium-filled balloons and string to map their area for less than $150, a media release said.