Disaster Resilience
Absorb, Adapt, Transform & Build Back Better
MICRO-REALM 01
What is Resilience?
- Ability to resist, absorb, and recover
- Bouncing back from a shock
- Maintaining core functions during crisis
MICRO-REALM 02
Absorptive Capacity
- Ability to take the hit intentionally
- Robust infrastructure (e.g., Sea walls)
- Buffers and coping mechanisms
- Minimizing initial damage
MICRO-REALM 03
Adaptive Capacity
- Ability to bend without breaking
- Adjusting to changing risk conditions
- Flexibility in response and livelihood
- Incremental changes
MICRO-REALM 04
Transformative Capacity
→
- Creating a fundamentally new system
- When adaptation is no longer enough
- Systemic shifts in governance or location
- Managed retreat from coastlines
MICRO-REALM 05
Build Back Better (BBB)
→
- Sendai Framework Priority 4
- Post-disaster recovery as an opportunity
- Not restoring the previous vulnerability
- Upgrading standards during reconstruction
MICRO-REALM 06
The Resilience Curve
- Pre-disaster baseline
- The dip (absorptive phase)
- The recovery (adaptive phase)
- New higher baseline (transformative/BBB)
MICRO-REALM 07
Community Resilience
- Social capital and local networks
- Trust, cohesion, and self-organization
- First responders are always the community
MICRO-REALM 08
Infrastructure Resilience
- Redundancy (Backup systems)
- Fail-safe design
- Ensuring lifelines (power, water, comms) survive
MICRO-REALM 09
Ecological Resilience
- Nature-based solutions (Mangroves, Wetlands)
- Biodiversity acting as a buffer
- Ecosystem recovery post-shock
MICRO-REALM 10
Economic Resilience
₹
- Insurance and risk transfer mechanisms
- Diversification of livelihoods
- Contingency funds and rapid financing
MICRO-REALM 11
Psychological Resilience
🧠
- Mental fortitude and coping mechanisms
- Trauma recovery and psychosocial support
- Community healing
MICRO-REALM 12
The Paradigm Shift
- Managing Disasters
- →
- Managing Risk & Building Resilience