The World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery have jointly issued a new publication, “Cities and Flooding: A Guide to Integrated Urban Flood Risk Management for the 21^st Century.” The guide warns that urban flooding is “becoming more dangerous and more costly to manage because of the sheer size of the population exposed within urban settlements.”

In an interview conducted for the UNISDR website, one of the lead authors of the guide, Abhas K. Jha, who leads the World Bank program for disaster risk management in East Asia and the Pacific, discussed the guide’s findings. “If I had to capture the whole guidebook into one sentence I would say ‘get the balance right.’ Often policymakers err on the side of structural measures – hard engineered structures like dams and dykes. They are valuable, but do not solve the problem on their own,” said Mr. Jha.  He went on, “There should be a balance between concrete-in-the-ground, bio-engineering like mangrove plantation and coastal strengthening, and non-structural measures like early warning systems and better land-use planning.” He added, “We need to worry about people and assets in harm’s way for the foreseeable future.”