Twelve innovative projects will share a US$10 million competition pool to tackle flooding in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. The partnership between the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) and Z Zurich Foundation of Zurich Insurance, will see grants of up to US$1m awarded to teams offering innovative solutions to issues affecting flood-prone communities in the Horn of Africa and South and Southeast Asia. Almost 400 initial Challenge entries were whittled down to a final 12 solutions considered to have the greatest potential impact. Successful teams span the globe, with winners from North America, Europe, South and Southeast Asia, and the Horn of Africa. They will tackle issues on the ground in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, with solutions ranging from flood-resilient roads to amphibious homes and protective coastal greenbelts.
The University of Waterloo project is headed by Dr. Elizabeth English of the School of Architecture, with two other UW team members: Dr. Brent Doberstein of Geography and Environmental Management, and Dr. Carrie Mitchell of the School of Planning. The team will pilot the use of low cost amphibious houses, used in flood-prone areas of Louisiana, USA for decades, by adapting the design for the local communities in the Mekong Delta.
Work is already underway on the project. Dr. Doberstein confirmed that “the team has already identified recipient communities in the Mekong Delta, and the project will build one or more prototype amphibious houses before the June-October rainy season when flooding is likely to occur across the Delta”. Prototype houses will monitored throughout the flood season, and interviews will be held with housing beneficiaries to better understand how amphibious housing operates during the Mekong’s flood events. Several undergraduate and graduate UW students will be involved in various phases of the project, helped to research housing design, amphibious housing community acceptability, and flood risk reduction themes. The project will also feed into three interconnected amphibious housing events held in June 2017: a Student Design Workshop, the 2nd International Conference on Amphibious Architecture, Design and Engineering (ICAADE2017), and an amphibious housing Policy Workshop. Details for all three of these events are found at: www.icaade2017.org or via email at info@icaade.org
The Water Window Challenge is backed by a US$10 million commitment from the Z Zurich Foundation to ensure a range of locally-informed, technologically savvy flood solutions are given the opportunity they need to succeed - or fail - quickly. Those which demonstrate real change will be looked at for rapid scaling to benefit as many people as possible in multiple locations.
David Nash, foundation manager at Z Zurich Foundation, said: “For the last four years, Zurich has embarked on a journey to help communities build resilience through our Flood Resilience Program, combining the insurance sector's risk management expertise with grassroots community engagement. “Currently 87% of disaster-related funding is spent on relief and recovery. Our goal is to instead shift funding towards resilience building pre-event. The Water Window Challenge is a prime example of this and works to find innovative solutions to recurring flood problems, allowing communities to eventually thrive in the face of floods.”
Luca Alinovi, executive director of the Global Resilience Partnership, said: “Flooding is the number one natural hazard, accounting for 47% of all weather-related disasters. It causes more damage worldwide than any other natural disaster and causes some of the largest economic, social and humanitarian losses. Over the last 20 years, flooding has affected more than 2.3 billion people, 95% of whom live in Asia. Clearly, this is an issue which is crying out for a different approach. “Traditional humanitarian relief approaches will be activated after a flood and provide emergency food, housing and infrastructure. Development actors phase in post the initial crisis and try to rebuild local and national infrastructure assets before the next disaster strikes. This cycle of disaster, recovery, repeat does not build long term stability or prosperity. “GRP believes that a resilience approach, where we not only look to pre-empt shocks and support people to persist through crisis, but actively seek to transform crisis into opportunity, is the only way for long term poverty alleviation.
