Building Resilient Urban Communities: The Case Study of Setubal Municipality, Portugal

Abstract

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction provides several guidelines that countries should follow. Still, some scientific papers discussed the limitations, difficulties, and strategies in the implementation of these guidelines. Therefore, the objective of this review is to understand what Setubal has done to cope with disasters, and the practical strategies to mitigate them. To achieve this, several methodological guidelines and Portuguese legal documents were analyzed. The results focus on the top four natural disasters that impacted the study area (landslides, earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods), and the current pandemic of COVID-19. The practical strategies implemented on the territory involve the installation of equipment such as emergency signs and electronic panels that allow the dissemination of information to the communities in real-time. Also, the collaboration with national and international scientists provided new insight to cope with disasters, by bridging the gap between law enforcement agencies, science, first responders, and the practical needs that local stakeholders must solve on the territory. Moreover, Setubal has implemented a variety of practical and innovative measures, and therefore, could be used as a model not only to other Portuguese municipalities but also to other countries.