With increasing urbanisation, cities in the developing world are growing both in population and area. At least a billion people worldwide live in slums. They are forced to accept dangerous and inhuman living conditions, in which any natural event is likely to become a disaster. Poor access to land, overcrowding and low-quality housing “ related to a complex system of socio-political, institutional and economic processes “ lie at the heart of urban disaster risk. Nevertheless, international aid organisations accord low priority to both urban issues and disaster risk reduction (RR).