Synopsis
How can structural engineers contribute towards disaster mitigation? The charity REDR (Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief) has recently moved its focus towards increasing community resilience, one of the growing number of organisations to emphasise the importance of providing society with the skills, means and infrastructure to withstand (rather than simply recover from) future disasters. Structural engineers possess core technical and managerial competencies which should be applied to disaster mitigation to improve resilience to disasters around the world. We can therefore contribute to disaster mitigation by considering a systems view of resilience when delivering buildings and critical infrastructure, and by transferring knowledge to improve capacities at all levels of the supply chain.