Inclusive and Integrated Multi-Hazard Risk Management and Engagement of Volunteers to INCREASE Societal Resilience in Times of Climate Change
The INCREASE consortium is a four-year project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The project includes about 20 partner institutions from natural and social sciences, technology, and practice in Iran and Germany.
Scope
We investigate sustainable and systemic improvements of the disaster management and prevention systems in Iran and Germany that have evolved historically and culturally.
Progress
We develop a context-sensitive approach to Integrative Disaster Risk Management (IDRM), create wiki-based resilience reports, vulnerability assessments, among other outputs.
Challenges
Iran and Germany face a variety of different hazards (including COVID-19) that encounter heterogeneous physical and social vulnerabilities at multiple scales.
Objectives
The INCREASE project aims to contribute to Iran’s short-term disaster preparedness, long-term strategic planning, and overall resilience by bridging the gaps between theoretical knowledge, strategies, disaster management plans, capacities and actual practices related to multiple hazards. INCREASE focuses on the two main needs: (A) an integrated analysis and assessment approach to hazards, risks, vulnerabilities, and resilience; and (B) an integrated management approach to emergencies and disasters.
Scenarios
In an iterative and transdisciplinary process between the German and Iranian partners (from science, administration, private sector, emergency services and other end users), the INCREASE project works on the basis of multi-hazard scenarios: contingency planning; severe earthquake; and extreme meteorological events (i.e., heavy rainfall, floods, heat and drought periods). These three scenarios serve as starting points for the assessment of risks, needs, and capacities as well as for the development of the Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRM) framework concept.
Integrated DRM
INCREASE is developing an Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRM) approach through the elaboration of different and specific frameworks, which are then integrated into an overarching framework for scalable and integrated DRM. The process is based on specific social and cultural contextual conditions, risks, vulnerabilities, and needs of Iranian society as well as its disaster risk management systems. To strengthen resilience in Iran, the framework will consider several aspects such as specific risks and hazards, emergency situations and scenarios , different geographical levels, such as local, provincial and national, among others.