Natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, cyclones, and landslides could physically damage water supply and sanitation (WSS) facilities and suspend operations due to emergency events such as inundation of facilities, sedimentation of reservoirs, and a loss of electricity supply. This could pose a cascading effect across interconnected infrastructure systems, which could cause both direct and indirect economic impacts.
While more investment is urgently needed to improve basic water and sanitation access in developing countries, maintaining or enhancing the resilience of new and existing / aging infrastructure to natural disasters especially in the context of climate change and variability is also critical for a sustainable economic growth.
The World Bank Disaster Risk Management Hub, Tokyo and Water Global Practice are jointly conducting case studies on Japan and developing countries to capture climate and disaster-resilient practices adopted by WSS utilities. The knowledge product developed will be integrated into the World Bank’s global study on resilient WSS services. The project will inform a knowledge exchange and dissemination workshop, wherein Japanese experts will share their innovative ideas, advanced practices and experience on resilient WSS services.
