Advancing Local Disaster Resilience Strategies: A Transdisciplinary Approach

This study addresses the urgency to re-strategize our local action to prevent future climatic risk as a result of extreme weather events, urbanization, anthropogenic activities in a changing climate. While progress has been made in implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction since its adoption in 2015, no country is on track to achieve the outcome and goal by 2030. Malaysia is not an exception. A holistic approach to multi-scale disaster risk reduction and climate resilience is critically needed to examine new prospective agenda for accelerated action. This study provides a new insight into galvanizing technological advancement, multi-tier partnership and community-led approach to entail more coordinated and programmatic action towards translating resilience thinking approach into risk-informed decision-making. Equipping cities and communities with knowledge and capabilities to manage complexity of risks is a step forward to re-build a resilient society and rejuvenate resilience thinking. UNDRR’s global reports indicated that by providing a 24-hour early warning can reduce the resulting damage by 30%. Therefore, investing in the development of people-centered, end-to-end, multi-hazard early warning system (EWS) is highly regarded to support the 2027’s Early Warning for All agenda. This study highlights smart partnership into co-designing, co-developing, and co-implementing an impact-based EWS for geological risk in Jerai Geopark (Yan, Kedah), towards rejuvenating local resilience strategy through the development of DRR Yan Model and Resilience Living Lab in a national geological heritage area dominated by tourism industry. The key for successful community-led disaster risk reduction (CLDRR) lies in maintaining interest in resilience culture and motivation for local agenda at the grassroot level. We also demonstrate community-led DRR program with a unique localization strategy that addresses dam-related disaster risk. This study acknowledged that 40% of large dams in Malaysia are aging, necessitating new approaches to dam safety. Moreover, regional benchmarking for technological-based sociotechnical systems enabled by collaborative foresight and disaster informatics are a way forward to assess future emerging hazards, systemic risk, and compounding disaster. With good risk governance, evidence-based risk investment, and risk-informed decision making, as supported by all-of-society approach particularly in advancing a new partnership model for the public-private-academia-civil society, this study reports current demands for de-risk strategies that shall be systematically incorporated into decision-making, governance, and investments. The development of new strategies, actions, and initiatives are mutually explored towards inculcating targeted investments related to systemic risk reduction, and mainstreaming urban development planning of unattended risks should be made based on science, coupled by the Local, Traditional and Indigenous Knowledge (LTIK) approach. The de-risk investment efforts often jeopardize by a series of sudden, large-scale geological-induced disaster, resulting into the prolonged economic impacts continues to escalate and underscores the multi-scale investment for DRR agenda at a local level. By adopting a transdisciplinary approach to DRR and forward-looking risk-informed approach, this vulnerable region can further develop its resilience capacity to tackle complex challenges of climate risks. As a conclusion, risk-informed pathway in development planning, and a paradigm shift, can contribute towards promoting equitable and sustainable resilience in geologically risk sensitive regions.