For CITIES
Building Resilience in Crisis: Response Lessons from Spain’s Flooding
developed by Picture from USGS, processed by ESA
Crises may create serious issues for municipalities and stop the normal life of their residents for a long time. Recently, we all saw an example of how timely communication can not only change the course of a crisis, making it less catastrophic, but also literally save people’s lives.
The recent floods in Valencia, Spain, exposed serious problems in the sphere of resilience tech that can lead to tragic consequences and deaths. From MISTO team, we extend our deepest condolences to all those affected.
Using the example of Spain, we will look at how the communication and technological aspects of building resilience affect the ability to cope with various kinds of difficulties, and how you can correct the communication strategy with simple notifications to prevent the worst outcome and definitely not put people’s lives at risk.
Valencia Became an Example of How Modern Crises Look
Floodings in Spain, especially in the city of Valencia, were not only devastating and financially costly: but they also took people’s lives and resulted in other tragic consequences, leaving houses and cars in risky conditions.
In Valencia only, the disaster resulted in the deaths of 200 people. Because of this, people located near rivers and other bodies of water were evacuated. In such situations, communication and timely assistance to people are critically important. Sometimes it is a matter of life and health for hundreds of city residents.
Why Resilience Fails in Urban Settings — Key Challenges to Address
And while there may be many areas where resilience tech can go wrong, to effectively combat this it is necessary to highlight the key aspects. Some of the main modern challenges worth mentioning include:
- Efficient coordination between agencies.
Coordination is not easy, it needs to be thought through and supported by technology. Sometimes coordination can be the cornerstone of the situation. However, it is possible and technology can help.
- Lack of Preparedness.
Preparation can be important, and can even save lives. The situation in Valencia showed how, by taking the time to prepare, you can catch not just one crisis aspect, but many at once. And when something goes wrong, you can react not just according to the situation, but at the right moment, possibly preventing problems.
- Outdated Alert Systems.
5G and real-time GPS data may bring great advances to the resilience tech industry, but some alert systems may fail to direct people to safety. This should not be allowed to happen, especially during crises.
The Role of Resilience Technology in Preventing Crisis Escalation
Resilience tech may be an important step in working with sustainability and various types of crises. For example, technologies can guide city residents from unsafe locations using geolocation and similar technologies. The approach may also include localized alerts.
How Cities Can Start Implementing Resilience Tech
There are certain ways cities can become more resilient and more stable, especially by:
- Investing in smart apps and solutions.
- Establishing protocols of cross-agency communication for successful coordination.
- Ensuring public education on responses to crises.
How Technology Like MISTO Can Support Future Crisis Management
MISTO enables us to prevent the serious consequences of small mistakes, and here we can talk about the details of crises. We can consider how and when we respond to a crisis and measure how effective this communication is. Inside the tech solution, you can find as Crisis Response Center features, but a mobile app, that helps to connect with citizens and tourists on the convenient language through the gadget, that possibly have 90%+ penetration – mobile phones.
MISTO enables us to do more thanks to powerful technological support, effective communication, and the experience behind the creation of this solution.
To Sum It Up: How Crises Can Be Handled with Technology
In summary, the tragedy in Spain can show us, all of us who care about the fate and resilience of our cities in the future, what consequences there can be from ignoring simple but extremely important details.
At the same time, over time we can, and even must, learn to cope better with various problems, and certainly not to leave people without communication during a tragedy.
As climate-related disasters become a more common challenge, cities must ensure a more proactive approach, and this is possible thanks to the support of technology, knowledge of quality strategies, and the involvement of specialists, so that even cities that are currently experiencing difficulties can protect themselves.
