Improving the seismic resilience of housing in developing countries: time to transform local government building departments

Mitigation should be the key component of DRR in the context of seismic-resistant building construction, and more specifically - housing construction, in developing countries. Although this paper is relevant to many countries some emphasis is given to the situation in Indonesia. Mitigation, the outcome of which is safer buildings, is little more than an idea at present. It is often ignored in favor of easier DRR activities which while commendable, ignore the primary problem – unsafe buildings. After a review of the current situation regarding mitigation of building earthquake damage which highlights an almost total lack of action, the paper reviews recent suggestions to improve what is a very bleak situation. Then some recent drivers for change are explored. They indicate that now is the time to begin making positive changes in local government building departments and the broader building industry. The paper then discusses several examples of where some real progress is being made before concluding with suggestions for ways forward. It is hoped that future papers addressing this topic will be more about reporting on positive, practical actions than offering suggestions.