ABSTRACT
Presently, both natural and man-made disasters ruffle many urban areas impacting life and properties. In India, the effect escalates despite several disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies. The improving adaptive capacity of old public administrative buildings will promote sustainability while keeping city’s critical infrastructure and cultural heritage intact. For example, the east-Indian city of Kolkata on the bank of River Hooghly boasts of numerous heritage buildings from colonial era which are forced to acquire traits of modern offices causing structural interventions, fire and electrical loading, congested approach roads etc. It increases their hazard vulnerability and the buildings may become hazard for the neighbourhood. “National disaster management guidelines: Cultural heritage sites and precincts” of India is the only relevant document in this context. But its preliminary and generic coverage makes it hard to implement for a specific hazard for a specific building typology. Taking Kolkata as a case study and referring to relevant international guidelines and other national policy documents, this paper highlighted the special need for DRR policy making for public heritage buildings facing growing intensity of natural and manmade hazards.
