Why Aren’t We Making Our Homes Safer with Henk Ovink?

January 17, 2023
68. Why Aren’t We Making Our Homes Safer with Henk Ovink?

After seeing how close Hurricane Ian came to hitting Tampa it seemed like a great time to reach out to Henk Ovink. Henk is a Dutch special envoy to the United Nations and a flood expert. In 2015, he was appointed as the first Water Ambassador of the Netherlands. He is responsible for advocating water awareness around the world. He was part of President Obama’s Task Force for rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy struck the northeast part of the country in the fall of 2012.

Here are some important moments with Henk from the podcast:

At 4:18 What should people in Tampa be doing to prepare after seeing the damage from Hurricane Ian?

At 13:41 How do people in Sanibel Island Florida go forward after such a monumental disaster?

At 16:44 Why aren’t more people building like they did in Babcock Ranch, Florida?

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/henk.ovink/ 

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/henkovink  
 

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Here's the link to the trailer for the documentary film I'm making: Built to Last: Buyer Beware.

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Transcript

George Siegal: 0:00

Thank you for stopping by the Tell Us How to Make It Better podcast. After seeing how close Hurricane Ian came to hitting Tampa. It seemed like a great time to reach out to Henk Ovink. I met Henk when we were making my documentary film The Last House Standing. It took us over a year to coordinate scheduling the interview, but he was such an important part of the film. Henk is a Dutch special envoy to the United Nations and a flood expert. In 2015, he was appointed as the first water ambassador of the Netherlands. He's responsible for advocating water awareness around the world, and he was part of President Obama's task force for rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy struck the northeast part of the country in the fall of 2012. He has some important things to say about how Tampa and other cities need to be ready for a hurricane like Ian. I'm George Siegal and this is the Tell Us How to Make It Better podcast. Every week we introduce you to people who are working on real world problems and providing actual solutions. Tell Us How to Make it Better is partnering with The Readiness Lab, the home for podcasts, webinars and training in the field of emergency and disaster services. Henk, thank you so much for joining me today. I appreciate your time.

Henk Ovink: 1:14

Hey George. Good to see you. Uh, I look forward to our discussion.

George Siegal: 1:18

Yeah. Now, when, uh, I interviewed you in, uh, St. Petersburg a few years ago, we were talking about Yeah. Uh, doomsday scenario for Tampa, Florida. Hurricane Ian was the poster child for doomsday scenario for us. What are your thoughts on what you've seen happen with Ian? Um, overall, what, have you had a chance to take a look at that?

Henk Ovink: 1:41

Yeah. So, um, you, there, there are different ways to look at this. Eh, one is that, There, there it comes again. Another hurricane. Uh, we, we saw many, and we will see many, many more. Eh, the oceans are heating up. Our climate is changing. Uh, we know that the, uh, the frequency and the intensity of these events will only grow. So Ian was no surprise, uh, uh, to that. Second, Ian was the most deadliest storm since, what was it, the thirties, so close to 90 years. Uh, and this is of course terrible. Uh, cuz these disasters are not abstract events. They hit most often, the most vulnerable, first and foremost. Their homes, their livelihoods, but also take away the lives of friends and family, uh, and that in the aftermath of such a storm, such a hurricane, we realized once again how vulnerable we are. Uh, and there's a lot you can do, uh, but there's also not always, uh, we can't always prepare. Third, it puts front and center on the agenda. One, climate change is here and now it's not the future. Second next to ensuring that we commits that, that we keep our commitments of the Paris Agreement to stick way below the 1.5 degrees is that preparedness, preparedness, preparedness. We have to invest in preparing our communities, our infrastructure, our economies and environment for those disasters because they are going to continue to come, continue to grow and continue to be more frequent.

George Siegal: 3:34

Now, one of the things we discussed when we interviewed you for The Last House Standing and you, you talked about these disasters as an M R I or an x-ray and gives you an indication of what your vulnerabilities are. Well, Tampa saw this and when they've done studies of what damage we would have here, if that storm hit, it makes it look like nothing down there. I mean, we, they said 60% of our businesses would be destroyed, 2 million people would be injured. So when you look at the magnitude of that, what can this community be doing to avoid that? Because now we've seen a glimpse of our future that was that southwest tr, you know, to northeast trajectory of a storm with winds and storm surge and everything. What, what should people in Tampa be doing?

Henk Ovink: 4:18

Yeah. So I think this is a, um, a multi-step or multi-pronged approach. Uh, cause if you look at preparedness for your infrastructure in your community there, there's a long road ahead if you start now. Uh, and that means that from early warning systems, uh, evacuation shelters and roots, uh, awareness and capacity to be able to make sure that that we can safeguard all, uh, that are in the line of restore, uh, all the way to prepping our infrastructure. Yeah, of course you need water, you need energy, you need your hospitals, uh, you need your, uh, firefighters and, uh, your first aid responders, uh, to be there and to be on the ground. Uh, and, and of course, Prep our environment to build a type of redundancy and resiliency in our system to withstand those storms. Yeah. So I think it, it goes in many steps because we know, uh, we can't wait. There's no pause of 10 years where we can easily, oh, let's prep our infrastructure in our houses the next we plan the next storm. Those storms plan themselves. So we have to prep in awareness and capacity, in evacuation and shelter in emergency response, making sure that our, our critical infrastructure, being at energy water, sewage, uh, are secured as well as, um, uh, et cetera, our hospitals and our, our first aid responders and firefighters. And then on top of that, start to invest in our infrastructure, um, making sure that uh, we invest in nature-based solutions to reduce the impacts of waves. Uh, uh, ensure that we have capacity in our, in our, in our cities. Cause Ian was one, but if you remember Harvey, which was a totally different event. Yeah, A massive storm. But here it came, uh, running up to Texas and then it stayed and it poured rain, we had to invent a new color of rain intensity because we never had su such an amount of water. And what turns out the case is that our cities all over the world, but also in the United States, are concrete slabs instead of mixed structures where water actually has a normal place. And, and, and, and, uh, and, uh, To the point of Houston, which is an interesting city because it's a city of Bayous uh, and, and streams and creeks that could easily deal perfectly well with a huge amount of water. But we, you know, we turn the creeks, bayous, and rivers into a concrete slab. So ensuring that you increase capacity of cities to be green and hold the water and bring it back to the groundwater and to those streams. Takes also a box of a healthy environment and ensures that you mitigate heat island effect. So you do a little bit more than only prep, build resiliency. So the next thing is to prep our cities and our economies to be able to deal with these storms. Yeah. And that means coastal protection, nature-based solutions in our, in our cities redundancy and so forth.

George Siegal: 7:53

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Henk Ovink: 9:06

Yeah. Yeah. So, and I think, uh, with this we can look back, uh, quite a bit and see around the world, not only in Florida or Tampa or US, around the world, in every region, in every country, in every place a lot of stupidity in the context of future vulnerability. Uh, uh, and there is, um, there, and I can, we put our fingers on the map of the world and go, you know, we go there and we will find investments that actually made us more vulnerable instead of less, because that is the majority of the things we did. One and a half year ago, we had a type of Harvey, uh, a rain bomb as we called it in Europe, hitting Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg in the Netherlands, and that bomb just went out on Germany killed over 200 people in Europe and for Europe that is a number unprecedented and, and flooded part of Germany, uh, Belgium. Uh, and uh, luckily we were prepped, uh, but also because the rain actually happened in Germany, it also showcased again as that MRI is that x-ray, that the vulnerability of her infrastructure was massive. Eh, this flood, this rain event destroyed a massive amount of infrastructure and there was no way hospitals, uh, and early, uh, uh, and first responders, uh uh, were ready, uh, for such a disaster. So, looking back, not the best reference, looking ahead, much better. So I think this is exactly what I'm saying, and our first, knowing that it's an immediate need, not a, you know, a need in the next 10 years. It's today and tomorrow. Investing in our people, investing in our capacity, investing in early warning systems and the data that is needed for that, as well as the capacity for people to translate the data into action for politicians, decision makers and CEOs and others. Making sure that we can get people out of harm's way, invest in our critical infrastructure. Energy water, hospitals and so forth, eh, and this means rethink, eh, build another bridge. I don't know, I, I don't know what needs to be done, but ensure that accessibility is, so we did it on a hospital row on the lower East side. If you move everybody a floor up, including the critical infrastructure to make the hospital opera operable, as well as build a, a temporary bridge, then, it's not a solution for the long haul, but it can be a solution on the short term. So you have to think short term, medium term, long term. Uh, and with that, making sure that your, your system continues to function and that you get people out of harm's way and the ones that stay are protected and safe guarded. And next to that you need the plan, eh, a comprehensive plan that connects the dots or the drops. I'm a water guy, so I would say connects the drops. To ensure that you say, okay, I'm gonna plan for that future. I'm gonna invest in nature, I'm gonna open up my infrastructure, I'm gonna re rethink our hospital community, uh, is being built and step by step you build resiliency, redundancy, and sustainability in your system. But that is, we can't do Magic George. It's not that tomorrow we, all of a sudden I have this magic wand and say, oh, ta da da Tampa is now secured for the future. It is a step-by-step approach, and that is why it's so important to start with that first layer of preparedness that is between the ears and then preparedness that's, you know, where your feet hit the ground.

George Siegal: 12:59

Well, I wish you had that magic wand because when I drive around here , I, I see people building Henk, I see people building 5 million, 6 million dollar homes, and the second floor is made out of wood, um, apartment complexes that are made out of wood. It's, it's just absolutely mind boggling. And when you look at Sanibel Island, where we used to go there every year, and I always wondered what would happen if a storm like this hit, they're completely wiped out. Do you make the decision it's not smart to rebuild. How can you rebuild an island like that? And if you're not changing the building codes dramatically, if you're not bunkering it, as you would say, you can't always do. H how do you go forward after such a monumental disaster?

Henk Ovink: 13:42

Yeah. Yeah. Uh, all good questions. Yeah. Uh, and of course, as as said, I'm not, I don't, not only don't have a magic wand, I also don't have all the answers to this. Cause if it was up to me, we would do things differently. But sadly enough, George, 99% of global investments, or not US investments, but global investments, go to the things that increase climate change and make us more vulnerable. So that means that there, we have many amazing examples, but added up the, not even close to 1% of global investments. So, and that is what I mean is that that type of vulnerability, and you could say, Sadly enough stupidity, you can see all across the world. It is on us, people like me and you and others to raise awareness, ring the bell, and showcase how things that need to be done also can be done. And that less, and I'm very sorry for that, is a step by step approach. But once you have a community, a society, Uh, government, private sector and investors, uh, individuals in those communities. On the hand of the 1%, there is a real opportunity for scale and replication. This is what we see around the world is that when you start small, it can grow into big, you can scale and replicate, uh, the alternative investments that you so much need to prep yourself. But it starts with awareness. And it starts with capacity, often with the young at schools, but also with the communities at risks, uh, including the politicians, providing, written them with an alternative that actually also can be a tagline that they can run their elections on. Showcasing that that future is actually a future and they should want and embrace, and that the investments that committed will have a return instead of a loss.

George Siegal: 15:45

Now there's a community that I saw on 60 Minutes. It's a fascinating story. It's called Babcock Ranch, and it's kind of near, uh, uh, uh, Fort Myers. It's to the northeast of there. They were in the path of the storm, but they built that community with 700,000 solar panels. They, um, they, they elevated it 30 feet. It's up, so they don't have flooding. They did everything you would do as poster children for a, a major storm, and they had no damage. They had a few shingles, a few things here and there, so it shows it can be done. But the fact that they did it makes me look at a place like Mexico Beach. It makes me wonder about Sanibel. How are they going to rebuild? Mexico Beach they just increased the wind rating for 130 to 140 miles an hour. They got hit by a category five hurricane. So Babcock Ranch showed that it can be done, but I guess most people don't want to, to, to bite that bullet or make that effort. What do you think the reason is?

Henk Ovink: 16:45

Yeah, so it's a combination of things, eh? I'm not sure if you have you ever heard about Del Meyer, Illinois? Um, yeah. Well, um, uh, it's a community that was hit, uh, uh, 90 93. So that's a, that's a while ago by floods. Uh, it was not the first time. Uh, at that time, 90, 93, the town decided to rebuild up the hill, move the whole town to safer ground. Can you imagine 90, 92? It was like, no climate March, no Paris agreement. No, you know, uh uh No IDAs yet. I mean, we had storms, but it was different. Uh, and they did a step by step approach. Now, They're amazing. Yeah, they're resilient. They are like Babcock Ranch, eh? What is it called? The Future is Bright. That's what they, they welcome to a better life, a new kind of hometown. Babcock Ranch. Yes. Okay, so you can build from scratch a new time like Babcock Ranch, you can rebuild and move, uh, move to, you can build the existing infrastructure in a far more resilient and redundant way. But that, yeah, I said there's no magic wand here. You can't do it overnight. So we need those examples, eh, like. Uh, in this case, Babcock Ranch, uh, or Belmire, Illinois, or, uh, Chennai, parts of Chennai, India around the world, uh, communities, town, cities, mayors, community leaders, private sector investment that say, Hey, there is an alternative to this vulnerability. There is an alternative actually to the stupidity or, you know, the uncertainty of the past step by step. If we are, uh, um, more le more and more scaling and replicating those examples, the tide will turn, eh, the, the 1% will become two, the two, four for 16 and 16 the majority. So tipping that balance in, in the current world means that you're, you are still working on a small scale minority of investments, communities, people, and leadership, but the, the, the putting the spotlight on them and ensuring that they're capacitated, uh, to do what they want and to ensure their better and brighter future is of critical importance.

George Siegal: 19:23

Now, when I originally saw the story about you on 60 Minutes and you talked about in the Netherlands how people were relocated away from the government, made the move to, uh, safer areas because of all the flooding problems, I don't know that you could get away with that in this country. People are so trenched in, um, on their rights. Like I don't think you could say to Sanibel Island you can't rebuid so I, I guess you just hope that it's been pre-disasterd and it's not gonna happen again. I mean, what, what's, what's the hope there that it could survive another, uh, category four, almost five hurricane.

Henk Ovink: 19:55

Yeah. So in New York after Hurricane Sandy, there were buyout programs, uh, led by New York State. Uh, it's actually interesting if you look at, uh, rebuild by Design website, the initiative I launched, uh, in, uh, under President Obama's leadership and, uh, hurricane Sandy taskforce. It's now a 501c3 that is doing quite a bit of initiatives on resiliency. They mapped vulnerability across every county in the US now they mapped uh, they started in New York. Uh, showcasing that, uh, climate related impacts are hitting e every community in the last decade, uh, more than six or seven times, uh, they helped raise awareness on the resiliency bond. That resiliency bond was on the ticket of the last election in New York State, got a majority of the votes, and now there is indeed spending to build resiliency. So on a state level, trickling down to counties and communities. So there is an, uh, an appetite, uh, there is better insights. There is an amazing opportunity, uh, to do that. So, um, I'm, I'm not saying it, it can't be done, but it takes time and some parts of the US and the world will lag behind and others will be front runners. And I think it's upon the front runners to to continue their speed and scale, but at the same time, see who they can tag along, uh, uh, and, and the ones that are left behind are, well, the, the ones that continue to stay most vulnerable. Yeah.

George Siegal: 21:28

Yeah. It seems like the cost of being proactive is a lot lower than the cost of reacting after the fact.

Henk Ovink: 21:35

Yeah. Yeah. But that's old. That's old, Stern uh, the Economist, when he drafted the Stern Report, the Economics on Climate, I think it was 2005, he already said the cost of inaction whoa is way bigger than the cost of action. So, You could add to that. It's not only that the cost of inaction costs us more in lives, livelihoods and economies, and the cost of action is far less. The cost of action also creates a reward and added value. If we invest in nature and resiliency, it provides us better health. Amazing jobs, opportunities for economies to really change course to work not only on resiliency, but also on on mitigation. And, uh, keep ourselves within the 1.5 degree, making us less vulnerable, uh, and more opportunity. So it's the same with water, eh, water is part of this whole climate. If you invest in water, it trickles down across everything in society. It's for a better, healthy environment. It's for clean and green jobs. It's for equality, it's for capacitating people. It's mitigating the risks of climate impacts, building resiliency and nature. So it helps, uh, but those rewards are across society. and it's hard from a, you know, a single focus dollar profit, uh, perspective to say, I invest my 10 bucks in water, I want 20 in return. No., you get 20 in return, but they're dispersed. You know, they're all over your society. And that reward demands political leadership that rewards, yeah driving that reward across your communities and society demands that we take a whole of society, whole of government approach. And that's not easy. Uh, of course in a world that's becoming more fragmented.

George Siegal: 23:27

Anything that de it depends on political leadership in this country is, uh, is tough. It's tough to accomplish. So if you had to speak to people in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and say what their takeaway should be from Ian, what would you say the ultimate takeaway point should be for, for us here in this area?

Henk Ovink: 23:48

From Ian. Well, again, it is the wake up call, but don't press the snooze button, eh uh, get out of bed, uh, and start to prep. Start to prep yourself with the right amount of information. Build help, build capacity in your community, emergency route shelters and information. Look at your critical infrastructure. Assess vulnerabilities. But also assess opportunities, what you can do first, second, and third. Develop a plan on the long term and start to build capacity. Call out to your political, but also your societal leaders, public and private, and work with them to come up with that longer term plan that is investible, uh, that is transactable, that is transformative. Uh, and that can really help safeguard the future of the community for the generations to come.

George Siegal: 24:41

Last question, because I know you deal with these things all the time, which is a, a tougher crowd for you to deal with. The people in this area that had another miss and go phew and go forward, or the people that are in a community that was wiped out and now they're faced with how to rebuild. Which one is uh, uh, uh, and I don't wanna say an easier audience, but which one seems to be more open?

Henk Ovink: 25:06

You never know. And, and, and, and there's a stubbornness in people around the world. Uh, and we saw it, uh, also in the US but also in other places. Uh, I remember a good friend of mine who walked around in Florida after one of them that did the panhandle, uh, uh, a couple of years ago, um, and there was this house in, you know, next to the road is a documentary photographer. And he was filming and he saw the house and he, and he said, Hey, whoa, a whole house next to the road. And there were people around it and they asked, whose house is this? And this guy said, it's my house. He said, it's not supposed to be here, right? No, no. He said, walk with me. And they walked three blocks and they found the foundation where the house was supposed to be on, but the storm just moved it wing way and around the corner in. The filmmaker asked perhaps not a good idea to have your house here. No, no. This just happens. We're gonna rebuild. So the stubbornness, uh, that is within still a majority of the people to, to take it for granted more or less the loss. Uh, and go back to, uh, the conditions they had before. They are standing with their back to the future. They're only looking at the path. They're not rebuilding in the context. Luckily more and appetite, capacity and willingness there is around the world to look at that future as an opportunity, as a reference to build back much better, build resiliency equitably and sustainability in your communities, uh, and to seek, uh, uh, and find that better future and become an inspiration for others, for, uh, others to make the same decision.

George Siegal: 27:02

Yeah, I mean that sounds great. Un un Unfortunately, when hurricane season ends here, I, I don't know what the people behind the scenes are doing, cuz I'm not, uh, in those meetings. But everybody else just goes, ah, we made another one. We're safe. And that's probably the worst reaction they could have, is to do nothing.

Henk Ovink: 27:18

Yeah. The snooze button is hit way too often around the world, not only in the U.S. Yeah. So let's get rid of the alarm clock and just look at the future.

George Siegal: 27:27

Henk, thank you so much for your time. I, uh, I appreciate your, your wisdom as always, and, uh, let's, let's hope people wake up. I guess that's what we have to hope for.

Henk Ovink: 27:37

Yeah, no, and not only hope, eh uh, we need to continue to have these conversations, talk to them, do the outreach, but also showcase that there are massive opportunities in doing so. It's not only a wake up call, it's something we can do. There's a, as an investment opportunity, there's a business opportunity, there's a political opportunity. It is the future we want. It's amazing. So, It's not scary to look at the future. It's a brighter future than the one. If you want the one of disasters, look back. If you want the one beyond disasters, we have to look ahead. So there's a silver lining on that horizon for sure. But thanks so much, George, for having the conversation. We need to inspire the world, uh, to, uh, to do things differently.

George Siegal: 28:28

We do. Thanks, Henk.

Henk Ovink: 28:30

Thank you.

George Siegal: 28:31

Let me thank you for joining me for today's Tell Us How to Make It Better podcast. Information to follow Henk is in the show notes as well as my contact information. Now, if you enjoyed listening to this episode, please become a subscriber, share the link with others, and even leave a review. Thanks again for listening. See you next time.