UNDRR News

Mix up financing to better protect Caribbean, say experts

Fri, 03 Jan 2020 00:00:00 CET

By Sophie Hares, UNDRR – Americas and the Caribbean

Menaced by increasingly violent hurricanes, Caribbean countries face an enormous bill to better protect themselves disasters and need to weave a web of financing options to help insulate against shocks, said speakers at a regional conference.

Boosting lackluster economic growth, ramping up insurance and disaster funds, and embracing the private sector would help bolster countries which needed to invest more in resilience, said speakers at the Comprehensive Disaster Management Conference (CDM11) in Sint Maarten.

"Budgeting for disaster should be a must for us all," said Silveria Jacobs, prime minister of Sint Maarten, which was ravaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017.

A common disaster fund and a joint insurance plan to protect the small businesses that drive local economies could help the region, she told the conference, organized by the Caribbean Disasters and Emergency Agency (CDEMA).

"Government cannot definitely not go it alone… Business resilience drives the economy which ensures that islands can bounce back even faster," said Jacobs, who urged more investment in resilient infrastructure.

With many countries heavily indebted, creating layers of risk financing was key if countries are to limit the economic impact of disasters, which could also include flooding, drought, tsunamis and seismic activity, said speakers.

Risk financing layers should include funds shaved from national budgets, paired with fast-paying parametric insurance and access to lines of credit, said Ming Zhang, World Bank regional practice manager for urban and disaster risk management.

While new insurance products could help protect livelihoods and the fishing industry in the event of disasters, there was more scope to expand insurance to include households and small businesses, said Zhang in an interview.

"You cannot set up a contingency fund to address a Category 5 hurricane," said Zhang, who estimates disasters cost the Caribbean 1 percent of its gross domestic product each year.

"You need a risk financing strategy… each country should look at different layers and different contingencies, insurance and other mechanisms."

While countries such as St. Lucia and Grenada were looking to set up disaster funds bolstered by lines of credit, there needs to be more focus on how money was being spent in the region to better prepare for disasters, he said.

More advanced recovery planning was needed to make sure emergency shelters and supplies were available, while strengthening homes and infrastructure could help reduce economic impact down the track, he said.

"In the midst of borrowing for public investment, governments need to ensure that these funds are certainly being spent to ensure resilience," said Ronald Jackson, CDEMA executive director, said in an interview.

"That's one area that will drive down exposure and be a lower cost to government when these events occur."

NO SILVER BULLET

Emergency cash payments to small businesses, farmers and the most vulnerable after hurricanes in Barbados and Dominica helped stimulate the local economies and get people back on their feet, said speakers.

But countries needed to ensure adequate systems were in place to disperse social protection payments to make sure they reach the right people as quickly as possible, they added.

"No single financial instrument is the solution, we have to adopt a risk layering approach," Nicholas Grainger, programme associate at the World Food Programme, told the conference.

Given the private sector shells out for up to 85 percent of all investment and absorbs the lion's share of disaster losses, businesses should be closer involved in trying to driving down risk and promoting economic resilience, said speakers.

"It's very clear that reducing disaster risk cannot be done by one actor or sector alone," Nahuel Arenas, Deputy Chief of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean, told the conference.

"Resilient investment is about integrating risk through business practices and investment decisions."

The UNDRR-backed business network, known as The Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies or ARISE, is growing quickly in the Caribbean where companies are increasingly aware that disaster risk reduction (DRR) makes sound business sense, said speakers.

Jeffrey Beckles, chief executive of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, said the private sector wanted a greater role in DRR given it was a major employer and driver of growth.

It also has a lot to lose. Businesses suffered some 90 percent of the massive losses in the Bahamas caused by Hurricane Dorian in September, he added.

"We bring to the table the ability to look further down the road than any single administration," Beckles told the conference.

"We bring to the table a much deeper, wider capacity for casting a longer-term strategy for resiliency and prospects for our country's stability,"

Developing the digital and blue economies, while finding ways to expand the benefits of industries such as tourism could help bolster the region's economy and ultimately make households more resilient, said speakers.

"Resilient people build resilient lives, and resilient communities and economies," said Sint Maarten's Jacobs.

ECOWAS backs DRR for journalists

Tue, 17 Dec 2019 00:00:00 CET

By David Owino*

ACCRA, 17 December, 2019 - Young Gambian TV reporter and presenter, Jainaba Sonku, is one of a growing number of African journalists engaging in the struggle to reduce disaster risk and disaster losses across the continent.

She vowed to use her influential show Youth Dialogue on the country’s private channel QTV, “to bring the young people of Gambia into the fight for a transition for disaster response to disaster risk reduction” following her participation in a two-day workshop in Accra, Ghana, targeting journalists and representatives from DRR national platforms.

Jainaba was one of the journalists and representatives of National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction who benefitted from a two day workshop organised by the Economic Community of West African States – (ECOWAS) Commission and the UN Office For Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in collaboration with Disaster Risk Reduction Network of Africa Journalists (DIRAJ).

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the global blueprint for reducing risk and disaster losses, was at the heart of the discussions.

Adair Ackley, UNDRR External Relations Officer, noted that “while the primary responsibility falls on governments, the Sendai Framework also recognizes the importance of other stakeholders such as the media. As DRR is everybody’s business”

According to the ECOWAS commission, cross-border flooding and droughts remain the most severe hazards in the region. In 2010, during the worst flooding experienced in the region in over 50 years, close to 200 people died. Hundreds of others have died in different flooding events across the region since then, and in 2017, over one thousand people died in Sierra Leone in a massive landslide.

ECOWAS has been making efforts to improve its technical capacity to support countries in better understanding of risk and integrating DRR in national development planning but engaging vulnerable communities remains a challenge.

“Public awareness and public education for disaster risk reduction can empower people everywhere to participate in reducing future suffering,” said Mohammed Ibrahim, Head of Humanitarian & DRR Division at ECOWAS commission.

Over the two days, journalists and government agency representatives had a chance to work together on tasks that built on their isolated and collective duties.

Ms. Sabiatu Bakarr, research officer in the disaster management department, Office of National Security of Sierra Leone, said: “It is like an open space and we have the freedom to agree and disagree on opinion and issues without the fear of being misquoted or misunderstood. And they (journalists) are giving us an understanding of what they look for in terms of messaging and how government can communicate more clearly, and now we have a clear picture of the news cycle. But they also now appreciate our challenges and how we work and the way in which we structure information flow.”

According to Edward Wanyonyi, DIRAJ Chairperson, inspiring and shaping how journalists and representatives of National DRR authorities engage leads to better preparedness and community empowerment.

“If after the training, every participant can do something and do so consistently, then we sure will make progress,” he said.

Arthur Obayuwana the Communications Officer, ECOWAS Commission, said that ECOWAS is supporting national authorities to have special desks for media engagement to coordinate better flow of information and training.

Participants proposed to ECOWAS, UNDRR and DIRAJ to support the formation of an ECOWAS regional network on reporting DRR issues. There were 29 participants including journalists, editors, and government representative from The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.

*David Owino is the Secretary-General of the Disaster Risk Reduction Network of African Journalists- DIRAJ

Bangladesh goes beyond cyclones

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Denis McClean

DHAKA, 16 December 2019 - A new record for evacuations was set in Bangladesh a month ago when the government Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) evacuated 2.1 million people before Cyclone Bulbul made landfall on the Sundarbans coast.

The storm highlights why the CPP is planning to expand its geographical coverage and grow from 56,000 volunteers to 200,000 over the next five years as it also prepares to go beyond cyclones to tackle other natural hazards including earthquakes.

Cyclone Bulbul resulted in 19 deaths including four persons who left the cyclone shelters before the all-clear was given.

Large economic losses are likely to be reported in an on-going post-disaster assessment. The damage was mitigated by the world’s largest mangrove forest in the Sundarbans, an important nature-based defense against tidal surges which the government protects.

Ahmadul Haque, the head of CPP, a joint programme with Bangladesh Red Crescent, visited the affected area and recalls meeting one woman who asked him why they had to evacuate when the storm was not so strong.

“I had to say to her that if we had not organized the evacuation, instead of 19 people dying, the death toll could have been 19,000,” he said.

Some did not leave their homes because of their experience with Cyclone Fani in May which led to 500,000 people being evacuated but little damage was caused on the Bangladesh coastline.

Some had a lucky escape like Hasina (38) and her 14 year-old son, Shorifur, who were lying on their beds when a tree collapsed on their mud-walled house in the village of Kultali, Munshiganj.

“The volunteers said please go to the shelter but I said I would be fine in my house. Next time I will go to the shelter,” said the widow who is being assisted with cash support from local NGO, Sushilan.

Mohammed Manirul Islam, Government Deputy Secretary and deputy Sendai Framework focal point, said: “It’s not only about the evacuation but keeping up the reputation and understanding of the system. People sometimes thinks it’s just about the warning signal flags. The role of the volunteers is to fight complacency.”

Bangladesh has 5,500 cyclone shelters – including 1,500 multi-purpose centres - and a long tragic history when it comes to cyclones. Officially, the death toll from the November 1970 cyclone was one million. In 1991, 138,000 lost their lives and cyclone Sidr claimed 10,000 or more lives in 2007.

Despite rising seas and coastal erosion, mortality has been coming down thanks in great part to the efforts of the CPP volunteers, 26 of whom lost their lives during cyclone operations in 1991 and 2007.

The prestige of the programme is such that 82 volunteers were honored by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasan, on this year’s International Day for Disaster Reduction, October 13.

Mr. Haque is now responsible for the greatest expansion of one of the world’s most successful early warning systems which is set to become a multi-hazard programme, focused on a range of natural hazards including earthquakes and floods.

“We will also have a strong focus on urban risk as we are seeing that there is a great need for that. The volunteers are highly motivated and take pride in their service on behalf of their own communities. It is important that they are active and keep up their skills,” he said.

The ambition is to expand from covering 13 coastal and riverine districts to 19 and to grow from 55,000 volunteers to 100,000 volunteers by 2020 and reach 200,000 over the next five years.

Their duties include disseminating cyclone warning signals to the community and evacuating those at particular risk including persons living with disabilities, older persons, pregnant women and young children.

They are trained to provide community outreach and deepen understanding of disaster risk. They also provide basic first aid and give support to humanitarian assistance.

The Cyclone Preparedness Programme is a joint programme of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief of the Government of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society. It is supported by UNDP, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the American Red Cross.

Reducing disaster risk for Rohingya refugees

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Denis McClean

DECEMBER 12, 2019 - The 900,000 Rohingya who have fled the pogroms launched against them in Myanmar now live in 34 densely populated camps at risk of floods, landslides and cyclones in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Elephant watchtowers also dot the camps which lie in the middle of a major breeding ground for Asian elephants.

Two years after the main influx, major efforts are underway to reduce the impact that the presence of such dense settlements are having on the environment and the raised levels of exposure to floods and landslides.

The arrival of 700,000 Rohingya from August 2017 exacerbated existing environmental trends which saw dramatic reductions in the Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary and the Inani National Park since the ‘90s.

FAO is working with the University College of London to develop a landslide early warning system based on risk modelling using inputs from satellite imagery, rainfall levels and other meteorological data.

They have already succeeded in reducing the number of landslides by an intensive programme of slope stabilization, planting a suitable variety of trees, shrubs and deep-rooted long grass following a mixed vegetation approach. Work which is also being replicated by other UN agencies and NGO partners.

Rajib Mahamud, FAO senior forestry specialist, explains that this is also vital to efforts to restore groundwater levels which have been severely depleted.

“In total under FAO’s Safe Plus programme we have a target of restoring and reforesting 2,500 hectares including 500 hectares inside the camps which were once all forest and home to the Asian elephant. To date we have already covered more than 300 hectares inside the camps and this year we have completed 570 hectares outside the camp.

“Our main focus is on the watershed management primarily outside the camp over the next five years. Working with the Japanese Government we have restored 100 hectares along the Reju canal water system. We have planted 25,000 bamboo seedlings along the banks. Bamboo is good for reducing stream bank erosion.

“We have also targeted one agricultural community who are mostly dependent on groundwater for cultivation encouraging them to use the surface water as much as possible.”

WFP and FAO have also combined to encourage host communities to grow crops which can be bought through a voucher system inside the camps. This provides income to the host communities who have also suffered from the environmental losses of recent years.

The rate of deforestation has also been greatly reduced by combined efforts of UN agencies and NGO partners to substitute wood for fuel, liquified petroleum gas, LPG.

UNHCR and BRAC are also working together to improve the quality of life in places like Camp 1W Block D in Cox’s Bazar, by improving the infrastructure including drainage and introducing concrete pathways which will not be washed away in the rainy season.

Retaining walls are being put in place which will ensure slope stability and minimize flood damage in the fragile family homes made of tarpaulins, bamboo and any materials available to weigh down the roof to avoid wind damage.

UNHCR’s focal point for disaster risk reduction, Marina Drazba highlights the importance of these small-scale initiatives to improve the quality of daily life for vulnerable groups including older persons and persons living with disabilities, while supporting an “integrated neighbourhood approach” to disaster risk management.

The importance of these works is clear from the fact that 42,000 people were affected in the camps by landslides and flooding during last year’s monsoon season from June to September. The fear is that the outcome could be much worse if the area is hit by one of the major cyclones which the Bay of Bengal is famous for.

Integrating disaster risk reduction into humanitarian action in Asia-Pacific

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Omar H Amach

BANGKOK, 12 December 2019 - In many crisis settings, emergency response has been seen to be in a holding pattern, responding year on-year to the same needs without promoting lasting positive change in people’s lives. Yet humanitarian needs are expected to grow in the coming years as climate change is causing an increase in the intensity and frequency of climate-related hazards.

According to a recent report by Oxfam, climate-fuelled disasters were the number one driver of internal displacement over the last decade. Eighty percent of those displaced live in Asia, which has many cities and megacities in low-lying coastal areas. Just in the last year, 3.5 million people in Bangladesh and India were displaced by Cyclone Fani and 3.8 million were displaced by extreme weather in China.

In light of this, there is a clear need for increased collaboration between humanitarian actors and disaster risk reduction specialists to address underlying vulnerabilities and lay the foundation for sustainable development. Disaster risk reduction straddles both development and humanitarian action.

“If we don’t do better disaster risk management, we will have to invest a lot more in response, recovery and reconstruction,” said Ms Indu Ghimire, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs in Nepal.

This need was the rationale for a multi-phase initiative launched by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) to provide direction and identify entry points for enhanced integration of DRR into humanitarian programming in both recurrent and protracted crisis settings.

“UNDRR has brought this discussion at the right time; it is important that we reduce humanitarian crises with some integrated action so that people can cope, build their resilience and live peacefully with the required development prospect for themselves and the next generation to come,” said Mr Mohammad Qaseem Haidari, Deputy Minister of the Ministry for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan.

To scale up regional experiences to the global level, UNDRR’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific organized today a regional consultative workshop that brought together 46 representatives from government, the UN system, humanitarian agencies, development partners, and non-governmental organizations.

Mr Animesh Kumar, Deputy Chief of the UNDRR Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific outlined the rationale of the workshop: “By definition, humanitarian action and response should be of limited duration. However, recurrent and protracted disasters have resulted in a substantial increase in the average length of humanitarian crises, often making humanitarian action the ‘new normal’. Disaster risk reduction offers a suite of tools, approaches and actions that helps strengthen the humanitarian programme cycle while reducing the humanitarian burden.”

The workshop included a review of case studies from protracted crises settings as in Afghanistan and Bangladesh, and recurrent crises such as in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Participants identified specific opportunities and recommendations for better integrating DRR into the various elements of the humanitarian programme cycle: preparedness, assessment and analysis, planning, financing, and coordination.

“DRR in this disaster-prone region turns out to be a classic nexus issue: it’s a pressing problem that requires a combination of development, humanitarian, and sometimes peace-building action to solve,” said Mr Robert Smith, Chief of Humanitarian-Development Collaboration Section at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

These recommendations will be validated and refined through a global workshop to be organized by UNDRR in Geneva in February 2020. The final recommendations on integrating DRR into humanitarian and development programming will be shared with the UN system, humanitarian agencies and development partners to inform ongoing and future plans. Results will also be shared at the 2020 Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, being convened by UNDRR and hosted by the Government of Australia.

Helping small businesses in Asia-Pacific go beyond surviving disasters to thriving

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Omar H Amach

BANGKOK, 11 December 2019 - With strong support from the ARISE networks in Japan, India and the Philippines, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction organized a consultative workshop to identify pathways to help build the business resilience of micro, small and medium enterprises in Asia-Pacific.

Small businesses represent the bulk of the private sector in all countries, employ large portions of the population and are instrumental to the social and economic fabrics of their communities.

According to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), micro, small and medium enterprises account for up to 99% of business establishments in their ten member states, contributing more than 50% of ASEAN’s GDP and employing more than 80% of the workforce.

Yet despite their significance, little data exists on the small businesses in most countries, and on the disaster impact on small businesses, perceptions of business owners of their risk environment, and their utilization of available tools. Moreover, the informal nature of many of these enterprises makes them invisible when it comes to disaster resilience and risk reduction considerations.

As the region faces a new trend of high-frequency and high-impact disasters due to drivers of risk such as urbanization and climate change, these small businesses are vulnerable to disruptions, and even closure, as a result of disasters. This also puts at risk the livelihoods of the people who are employed by them and the communities that benefit from their services.

While there has been progress in the region in promoting business continuity plans to improve preparedness, these plans do not address the drivers of risks, and have limited role in enabling such businesses take risk-informed decisions.

“Resilience building should go beyond minimizing disruptions. It should help businesses not only survive a disaster but thrive and prosper,” explained Mr Animesh Kumar, Deputy Chief of UNDRR Asia-Pacific, who set the scene for the consultation.

Around 25 participants from the private sector, development agencies, and technical experts shared their insights and case studies. A lack of access or utilization of financial instruments, including insurance, was cited as a problem in many countries, including developed countries.

Another common theme was the need to help small businesses become more active in building their own resilience. Recommendations included increasing their awareness of their vulnerability, connecting them with other small enterprises based on geography or sector, and offering them advice that is simple and actionable.

Participants also recommended to develop resilience standards and benchmarks for small businesses and use them to incentive their owners to invest in resilience building. UNDRR announced the launch of a global survey on small and medium enterprises that will result in a publication in 2020.

The recommendations articulated in the consultation will help shape the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which will be convened by UNDRR in 2020 and hosted by the Government of Australia. Increasing investment in resilience is a key pillar of the conference which will result in a political declaration and action plan.

The climate trail to Dhaka's slums

Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Denis McClean

DHAKA, 10 December, 2019 - There are probably few slum dwellers from Bangladesh at COP25 -the annual climate conference - in Madrid but women in one of Dhaka’s teeming slums spoke today of the upheaval that the impact of extreme weather and the climate emergency is having on their lives.

All ten women meeting in a tiny corrugated shed in Mollah, in the Mirpur neighbourhood of Bangladesh, had a tale to tell of river bank erosion, a cyclone or a flood that had forced them to give up their livelihood and take the climate migrant route to Dhaka.

They are a representative sample of the 68,000 people that become long-term displaced each year by natural hazards particularly river erosion, according to Mohammad Manirul Islam, deputy Secretary with the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief.

“Every year for the last 30 years we have lost 10,000 hectares of land from river erosion. There is no doubt that weather events are becoming more extreme. We are also seeing emerging hazards. Every year for the last five or six years about 300 people are killed ever. y year by lightning.,” said Mr. Islam.

It can happen overnight as was the case with the village of Shariatpur which became uninhabitable in March this year, destroying the homes and livelihoods of 2,000 people.

It is twenty years ago that Tasnoor and her family fled their village in Bhola. “Most of the village was destroyed. The family lost every piece of land. We did not know how we would survive.”

Her husband Dulal found work as a driver and her parents have also joined them in the slum.

A similar tale is told by Morjina (60) who described how every year her mud and straw house was destroyed in floods until they finally had enough and moved to Mollah where her brother and three sisters had already moved. She is happy that her three sons have found work and that they all have enough food to eat in a country which 88 out of 117 countries included in the Global Hunger Index.

Kohinoor’s father in law died in Cyclone Sidr in 2007 when she took the well-worn climate trail from Patukhali District to Khulna city where it proved difficult to find work and then moved on to Dhaka. Her husband exchanged his life as a fisherman to take charge of a cycle rickshaw. She sells vegetables.

All of the women we spoke lost their homes in the fire which swept through the slum in 2018 and had to re-build with the help of neighbours. It is a place of remarkable resilience. “We are always facing the danger of fire,” said one woman.

The other challenges they list include unsanitary conditions of the surrounding environment, the heavy rainfall which brings regular flooding into their makeshift homes and the struggle to get official papers given that they have no official address.

They know little about the science of climate change but they all raise their hands when asked if they were feeling its effects.

Caribbean takes temperature check head of key disaster risk forum

Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Sophie Hares, UNDRR – Americas and the Caribbean

Rolling out early warning systems, boosting community resilience and better protecting economies and livelihoods in the Caribbean topped the agenda at the Comprehensive Disaster Management conference in Sint Maarten as the region grapples with the growing impact of climate change.

Event organizer - the Caribbean Disasters and Emergency Agency (CDEMA) - said it was an opportunity to "temperature check" progress towards reducing disaster losses ahead of the 7th Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Jamaica in July 2020.

"We are seeing this as a feed into that event. It will provide a lot of the messaging from the Caribbean, a lot of the key outputs we're hoping to take into the conversations next year," said Ronald Jackson, CDEMA executive director of CDEMA, in an interview.

The Regional Platform will also be a chance to measure progress in the Caribbean towards meeting a key Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction target that requires countries to have national and local disaster plans in place by 2020.

Six Caribbean countries and territories were finalizing plans which would show how risk has been integrated across sectors, and at least 80 percent of Caribbean countries would have their strategies in place by the time of the Regional Platform, said Jackson.

"At a time when economic losses from disasters are so high, showcasing the experience of the Caribbean and bringing the results of this meeting to the Regional Platform is particularly important," Nahuel Arenas Garcia, Deputy Chief of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Regional Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

"The Caribbean realises that disaster risk reduction only works when it's tied to development."

Developing innovative "risk layering" approaches would allow cash-strapped Caribbean countries to ensure their economies were buffered against disasters while helping finance resilience building measures, said speakers at the Sint Maarten event.

New micro-insurance products designed to protect the livelihoods of low-income groups and the fishing industry could also make it easier for governments to help ensure people can recover quicker after a disaster, said speakers.

To ensure even the most vulnerable and hardest to reach groups were alerted to hazardous events, it was essential to identify the gaps in early warning systems and explore technology such as mobile phone apps to better warn and inform people, they said.

Increased public awareness and education was crucial to make communities more resilient to hazards in the region which include floods, droughts, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, alongside devastating hurricanes, the conference heard.

"This event provides an ideal platform where everybody can put their cards on the table and we can all see where each one is at, learn from each other," Andrew George, programme development officer at the National Disaster Office for St Lucia, said in an interview.

"The Caribbean, being one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world, we have to think comprehensive."

Forging closer links with the business sector and finding ways to bolster economic growth was also key, said speakers, given the heavy financial losses from disasters in the region where many countries are already indebted.

The Inter-American Development Bank estimated Hurricane Dorian cost the Bahamas around $3.4 billion, or a quarter of its gross domestic product, after it ripped through the country in October.

In 2017, the region suffered the costliest hurricane season on record with estimated losses of US$300 billion, due to the massive damages caused by Hurricanes Maria, Irma and Harvey.

Predicting increasingly intense and erratic weather conditions as climate change bites, speakers said more work was needed to strengthen building codes and ensure people better protect their homes and minimize losses.

"We ourselves have to be prepared at such a level that whenever a disaster strikes, we will not be reactive to it but will plan ahead in order to mitigate it as we want to be sure that we save lives," Renwick Quashie, a community representative from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, told the conference.

Working together to pool resources and strengthen the region as a whole was essential for countries which often confront similar challenges, said speakers.

"We as a region are all subject to these hazards and we're all in this as one together," Edmund Hinkson, Barbados Minister for Home Affairs, told the conference.

Related links

https://www.cdema.org/cdm11/

http://nemo.gov.lc/

https://www.gov.bb/Ministries/home-affairs

UNDRR Director takes up new challenge

Thu, 05 Dec 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Denis McClean

GENEVA, 5 December, 2019 - When a little girl in China takes the trouble to write and thank you for helping to save her life in an earthquake you must be doing something right.

The letter was written 25 years ago to the Unicef focal point for disaster risk reduction, Kirsi Madi, to let her know that when the girl was alone at home, she took cover from falling masonry under a table as soon as she felt an earthquake. This was thanks to what she remembered from playing a risk-themed board game Kirsi had developed.

“DRR is a matter of life and death,” Kirsi said as she reflected this week on a busy three years as Director of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and on the eve of her departure to take on the role of Chief of Staff at one of the UN’s largest and most well-known agencies, Unicef.

Following her early field experiences as a Unicef JPO in Liberia and Iraq, Kirsi was seconded to the secretariat for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction which eventually gave rise to the creation twenty years ago of UNDRR.

She looks back on the last three years with some pride and a sense of accomplishment at the significant progress in efforts to implement the global plan to reduce disaster losses, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

There are now 103 countries reporting on their disaster losses for 2018 ensuring that their progress can be measured on reducing disaster losses across four key targets of the Sendai Framework: reducing mortality, numbers of people affected, economic losses and damage to critical infrastructure.

Her role was informed by her participation in the preparations for the first World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction in Yokohama in 1994 which set the pattern for the two world conferences which followed in 2005 and 2015 and successive plans for reducing disaster losses through better risk management.

“When we were preparing for Yokohama I had the feeling that the main challenge was to convince people that disaster risk reduction is not simply a matter of science and technology. The fundamental message that came out of Yokohama was that all development planning needs to take account of disaster risk,” she said.

At UNDRR Kirsi has advocated tirelessly for an inclusive approach to disaster risk reduction.

“Joining UNDRR was a real pleasure just after the Sendai Framework was fully adopted knowing that we had just a few years left to 2030. I think there is now a very strong commitment and the realization is growing of how important it is to invest in disaster risk reduction especially with the impact of climate change and the growing number of extreme weather events,” she said.

Creating space for stakeholders to act has been key to UNDRR’s partnership strategy over the last three years.

“It is not that UNDRR itself is doing things but it is convening and providing the space and opportunity for actors and stakeholders to commit to make a change and actually make that change. It’s a growing alliance which includes the private sector, local governments, persons living with disabilities, the academic and scientific communities alongside many civil society organizations representing youth, women and others.

“It is critically important that we have the Sendai Framework to rally us around the same goals and the values that we stand for at this important point in history. I believe that the UN system needs to make sure we are doing our best, that we are effective and efficient and show results and impact.”

Kirsi concluded: “I will miss Geneva and miss the colleagues but it’s good to take up a new challenge. I am really looking forward to making a difference for children and young people in the world. The very first DRR measure is that children and communities are healthy and protected.”

Promoting a ‘one ASEAN’ approach to risk-informed development

Thu, 28 Nov 2019 00:00:00 CET

JAKARTA, 28 November 2019 - Since its creation in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has doubled in size and grown in influence to become the leading regional organization for multilateral cooperation. Along with this growth, attention turned to addressing impediments to the social and economic prosperity of its member states. Chief among them is the threat of disasters, both sudden and slow, which chip away at the region’s development gains.

Southeast Asia is also one of the world’s most disaster-prone regions of the world. Partially situated on the infamous ‘ring of fire,’ it faces risks from tsunamis and earthquakes, in addition to climate-related hazards such as floods, cyclones and droughts. According to ASEAN, the region suffers damage in excess of US$4.4 billion each year on average as a consequence of disasters resulting from natural hazards. This figure is projected to rise as a result of climate change according to the Asia Pacific Disaster Report 2019, which estimates that a 1 per cent point increase in the drought index alone can lead to a 0.62 per cent point decrease in sub-regional GDP.

To address these disaster risks, ASEAN has developed a number of frameworks and mechanisms, the most significant being the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER), which came into force in December 2009 as the first legally binding regional instrument in the world. ASEAN’s current efforts are guided by the ‘ASEAN Community Vision 2025’ which sets resilience as an overarching objective across all pillars, and the ‘ASEAN Vision 2025 on Disaster Management’, which charts the strategic direction for the implementation of the AADMER.

To inform the development of the AADMER Work Programme 2021-2025, the ASEAN Secretariat and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), which leads the Prevention and Mitigation Pillar of the ASEAN-UN Joint Strategic Plan of Action on Disaster Management, organised on 25-26 November the first ASEAN Technical Consultation on Risk-Informed Sustainable Development, which took place in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Organised with financial support from the Republic of Korea, a key goal of this consultation was to accelerate the integration of disaster risk reduction into the ASEAN’s sectoral work plans. The consultation brought together representatives from around 20 divisions and organs of the ASEAN Secretariat, under the leadership of the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, H.E. Kung Phoak.

While highlighting that “mainstreaming DRR across ASEAN sectoral work plans has been difficult, slow and challenging” Mr. Phoak asserted that “the ASEAN Secretariat is in a very strategic position to advocate a whole-of-society approach and seamless collaboration in advancing risk-informed sustainable development in the region” and described the consultation as “essential to create an enabling environment within the ASEAN Secretariat for a collective forward-thinking approach among different divisions, departments, and with ASEAN centres.”

With support from UNDRR, the assembled ASEAN Secretariat managers and representatives identified risks and challenges to the ASEAN Vision 2025, the means to address them, their respective roles and opportunities for cross-departmental partnerships with the Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance Division. Moreover, the consultation will contribute to shaping the disaster risk reduction and risk-informed sustainable development agenda in the new aadmer work programme and support ASEAN efforts in strengthening regional resilience.

“To achieve the objective of resilience, disaster risk reduction cannot be departmentalised but needs to be mainstreamed across all centres and work-streams. It is only then that the interconnectedness across risks can be addressed – preventing systemic risk requires a systemic approach”, said Dr. Animesh Kumar, Deputy Chief of UNDRR in Asia-Pacific, who led the UNDRR team, including the Global Education and Training Institute, that facilitated the discussions.

Kampala and Incheon meet at first city-to-city exchange on disaster risk reduction

Tue, 26 Nov 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Nisa Gilit

26 November 2019, Incheon – Ten officials from Kampala Capital City Authority’s (KCCA) various departments recently visited Incheon Metropolitan City to learn more from the city’s experience on disaster risk reduction and climate change policies and good practices.

Consolate Nakyagaba said, “Kampala joined the Making Cities Resilient Campaign in 2011 knowing very little about disaster risk reduction. We have made a lot of progress and this year we expect to have the integrated strategy on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation adopted for implementation.

“We have a multi-sectoral team here so we could learn together and understand that in disaster risk reduction we don’t need to fight for our own space in the projects, instead, we need integration and coordination in order to contribute to the bigger picture,” said Ms. Nakyagaba.

During the city-to-city exchange, KCCA officials met with high level officials of Incheon and visited various institutions within the city to learn about flood mitigation, water resource management, environmental sensitive solid waste and wastewater management, emergency coordination centre and response services, as well as smart city platforms.

Participants also had the opportunity to observe a class in one of the elementary schools in Incheon where the teacher who was trained under the School Safety Program by Incheon Metropolitan City, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) was teaching students about the fundamentals of disaster risk reduction through games and interactive discussions.

Planting the seeds of knowledge and awareness in school is impactful. “When we talk about disaster in Kampala, it is exclusively with adults,” said KCCA Deputy Lord Mayor, Sarah Kanyike. “However, children are the most vulnerable in disasters and teaching them about prevention and protection will help ensure their safety. We will surely take this program back to Kampala and start piloting in our schools.”

Kampala city affirmed the commitment to continue applying new solutions to reduce disaster risks. “Incheon has many challenges but was able to overcome them. It made me recall seeing our city’s outer ring road plan to solve the heavy traffic problem in 1972. It took us almost 30 years to finally have it built. Now I understand that somebody had a dream. Somebody planned and made it happen. I think I know the answer. I am a planner, and the change will start with us,” said the manager of Architectural Services, Bernadette Ssanyu.

Deputy Executive Director of KCCA, Mr. Samuel Sserunkuuma added that, “This exchange has been an important exposure for us. Now we know we can change things if we focus on it. We definitely will take back our learnings and apply it in our cities.”

Hosting the city-to-city exchange on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation for the first time, Incheon Metropolitan City is committed to continue supporting knowledge exchange and experience sharing with other cities around the world. Nam Chun Park, Incheon Metropolitan City Mayor, expressed his appreciation for the programme.

“We are honored to be hosting this exchange and showcase Incheon’s hard work in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation to Kampala City. We are committed to continue city-to-city exchanges in the future and share Incheon’s experience,” he said.

The city-to-city exchange was organized by Incheon Metropolitan City in coordination with UNDRR as a part of the Making Cities Resilient Campaign to foster collaboration and network among cities on disaster risk reduction and climate resilience. The UNDRR Global Education and Training Institute at the office in Incheon is the global hub of the Campaign, which addresses issues of local governance and urban risk.

The Campaign is led by UNDRR and is a city-driven initiative with raising the profile of resilience and disaster risk reduction among local governments and urban communities worldwide.

Asia and the Pacific set priorities for accelerated disaster risk reduction

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 00:00:00 CET

BANGKOK, 19 November 2019 - In the face of growing disaster losses and risk in the Asia-Pacific region, government disaster risk management agencies, international organizations, and civil society groups met in the Australian city of Brisbane last week, to agree on priorities for accelerating action for reducing the risk of disasters.

On 12 and 13 November, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the Government of Australia co-hosted the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction Forum, which brought together 120 representatives, including a significant delegation of Pacific island representatives.

Nearly five years into the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Forum met in a year that has witnessed a number of disasters in the Asia-Pacific region and across Australia.

From destructive weather events such as Typhoon Hagibis and Cyclone Fani, which respectively caused billions of US dollars in Japan and India, to the re-emergence of a debilitating months-long drought in Cambodia that threatened the food security and livelihoods of millions. The region is feeling the impact of disasters more than any region in the world.

Participating governments and stakeholders discussed how to accelerate progress on reducing the risk of disasters by leveraging the upcoming Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (APMCDRR), to be hosted by the Government of Australia and UNDRR next year in Brisbane.

“Australia shares common challenges with our partners across the region, especially our rural, remote, urban and coastal communities. So we are strongly committed to working with countries in the Asia-Pacific region to improve resilience to disasters, to protect our people and assets, and lock in development gains,” said Mr. Paul Kelly, Assistant Secretary of the Humanitarian Response, Risk and Recovery Branch at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Australia is spearheading through a Partnership Framework with UNDRR several capacity building initiatives in Asia and the Pacific. Moreover, it seeks to share its wealth of experience in the areas of managing disaster risk and building community resilience with its regional partners.

The Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA), which is based in Brisbane, is currently leading the recovery for a series of devastating bushfires in the state of Queensland. Bushfires are also impacting New South Wales and Western Australia.

The QRA has welcomed the upcoming conference as an opportunity for mutually beneficial exchanges. “We are not only dealing with the effects of climate change and multiple disasters, but we are also using those disasters, and the recovery from those disasters, as a springboard to more resilient communities,” said Mr. Brendan Moon, CEO of the QRA, adding that “the gathering of partners in the Asia-Pacific region provides a real opportunity, not only to share our experiences, but also learn from many of those who have been impacted by significant events.”

As the lead UN agency for disaster risk reduction, UNDRR called on countries in the region to take bold actions towards local, inclusive, and climate-sensitive disaster risk reduction.

“We have to seize the opportunities that are out there and build on the momentum and public demands for action,” said Ms. Loretta Hieber Girardet, Chief of UNDRR in Asia-Pacific, noting that the momentum on climate action and the wave of new investments in infrastructure provide opportunities to ensure that development is informed by disaster and climate risks.

The two-day Forum resulted in a set of priorities that can help all countries accelerate their national and local efforts. These priorities included garnering greater investment in disaster resilience by governments and businesses, ensuring we are building resilient infrastructure and using science and technology to create solutions.

These priorities will be central elements of the 2020 APMCDRR. Participants at last week’s forum agreed that a sense of urgency is needed to increase investment in prevention to get ahead of hazards before they become disasters. Moreover, the region’s accumulated experiences and innovations can be harnessed through better knowledge sharing.

The principle of leaving no one behind will be integrated throughout all elements of the conference. Supporting local action for the creation of location-specific solutions, empowering and protecting the most vulnerable, especially women, children, persons with disabilities and indigenous populations, will be highlighted in a range of dynamic ways throughout the conference. Addressing the unique needs of island, coastal and remote communities, will also be a priority issue.

The APMCDRR is the largest ministerial gathering in the region focused on preventing disasters and building resilience. It will be hosted in June 2020 in the city of Brisbane, the capital of Australia’s state of Queensland. The outcomes of the APMCDRR will include a political declaration by the UN Member States, the launch of a two-year regional action plan, and implementation commitments from stakeholders in the region.

Bangladesh declares climate change a “planetary emergency”

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 00:00:00 CET

BANGKOK, 15 November 2019 – Bangladesh on Wednesday declared climate change to be a “planetary emergency” and called on the world to work “on a war footing” to combat it and reduce its impacts.

Led by parliamentarian Mr. Saber Hossain Chowdhury, who is a global champion for disaster risk reduction and former president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Bangladesh parliament unanimously passed a motion declaring a “planetary emergency.”

While countries such as Britain, France, Canada, Portugal, and Argentina have declared climate emergencies, the Bangladesh parliament is the first to declare a “planetary emergency.” The declaration also makes Bangladesh the first among developing countries to issue such an alert and call for action.

The impacts of climate change are already being felt in the Asia-Pacific region, which is experiencing an increase in the frequency, intensity, and duration of climate-related hazards such as cyclones, floods, droughts, and heatwaves.

Bangladesh is among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The passage of the motion coincides with the 49th anniversary of the 1970 Bhola cyclone, which killed hundreds of thousands of people in the densely populated Ganges-Brahmaputra delta and is considered one of the deadliest disasters in recorded history.

The motion calls on countries to step up their commitments under the Paris climate agreement and highlights that developing countries require assistance to build up the resilience from climate-induced disasters:

“Planetary justice and climate equity demands that these vulnerable countries are assisted with requisite finance and technology to meet development aspirations.”

Commenting on the motion, Mr. Chowdhury, who recently addressed governments and stakeholders in Australia for the Asia-Pacific Partnership Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction, said:

“For the first time in human history, our planet faces a series of converging crises, all on the same timeline - global warming, disasters, extreme weather events, bio-diversity loss, acidification of oceans, water stress, food insecurity, planetary overshoot. A perfect storm is brewing and we must act now before it’s too late.”

At the Forum, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) called on countries to accelerate their efforts to reduce their risk to disasters and build up the resilience of communities and infrastructure to counter the impacts of climate change. This call resulted in a set of priorities that can help all countries accelerate their national and local efforts.

These priorities will shape the agenda of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (APMCDRR), which will be co-hosted by UNDRR and the Government of Australia in June 2020, in the Australian city of Brisbane.

Countdown starts for Sendai 2020 deadline

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 00:00:00 CET

BONN, 13 November, 2019: 2020 is a year of reckoning for implementation of the Sendai Framework, the global plan for reducing disaster losses.

Target (e) of the Sendai Framework's seven targets, sets a 2020 deadline for developing national and local strategies for disaster risk reduction. The same deadline applies to UN member States finalizing National Adaptation Plans under the Paris Agreement on climate.

These deadlines were uppermost in the thoughts of more than 75 participants from 35 countries who met in Bonn, Germany, for the third annual Technical Forum on the "Contribution of the Sendai Framework Monitoring (SFM) Process to Reducing the Risk of the Most Vulnerable" through November 5 to 7.and organised by UNDRR with the support of the Government of Germany.

The good news is that 103 countries are now reporting on their disaster losses for 2018 ensuring that progress can be measured on reducing disaster losses across four key targets of the Sendai Framework: reducing mortality, numbers of people affected, economic losses and damage to critical infrastructure.

Speaking at the opening, the Deputy Head of the Liaison Office for the UN Campus – Bonn, Federal Foreign Office of Germany, Stefan Kruschke, acknowledged progress achieved so far and emphasized the complex challenges posed by natural and human-induced hazards.

“Disasters create complex challenges, destroying human lives and dignity which require more action," Mr. Kruschke said..

“Disasters are key obstacles to sustainable development and are increasingly intensified by climate change” said Ricardo Mena, Chief of the Supporting and Monitoring Sendai Framework Implementation Branch of UNDRR in his welcome remarks. Mr. Mena also called for greater ambition in the implementation of measures to reduce disaster losses.

Participants represented UN entities and various other stakeholders. OECD-DAC members like Germany and Switzerland exchanged experiences on Sendai Framework Monitoring with LDCs in the break-out groups.

Small Island Development States like Barbados and Nauru showed their commitment and made strong contributions to the discussions. Offices responsible for disaster risk reduction and those for official national statistics shared differing perspectives on the topic of monitoring disaster losses.

Country representatives shared their successes and best practices. Ensuring buy in of all the relevant ministries and departments is critical for reporting. said one speaker. Developing the capacity of personnel in monitoring pays rich dividends said another.

Speakers also spoke about the challenges they faced. Whether in quantifying international cooperation or disaggregating data by gender, age or income; constraints in attribution and data collection continue to be limiting factors for reporting. There was a strong recommendation for working with the UN Resident Coordinator system to build a broad-based network of strong institutions that contributes to the SFM process.

The Sendai Framework targets and indicators also measure progress on three critical SDGs: Goal 1, end poverty in all its forms everywhere; Goal 11, make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; and Goal 13, take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Given that five of the seven Sendai Framework targets directly feed into the SDG monitoring mechanism, the Technical Forum agreed that building stronger political will and making the business case for engaging finance and planning ministries, are key to effective social and economic policy making.

Bhutan showcased the development of custom targets and related indicators aligned to the Sendai Framework. Custom targets are targets developed by the countries based on their own particular context and disaster profile, and they enable monitoiring and reporting to go beyond the seven global targets of the Sendai Framework. The custom indicators are directly linked to Sendai Framework target (e) as they were overwhelmingly acknowledged as a key instrument for monitoring national and local strategies for disaster risk reduciton.

It was generally agreed that the success of Sendai Framework monitoring, and achieving coherence among global frameworks, lies in the close cooperation among all entities concerned in achiveing target (e).

The countdown has started to next year's Technical Forum which will take stock of the level of achievement in implementing target (e).

Jamaica prepares local disaster risk reduction plans ahead of the 2020 Regional Platform with the support of the "Making Cities Resilient" Global Campaign

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Clément Da Cruz, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean

On October 22 and 23, the workshop "Disaster Risk Reduction and Making Cities Resilient: Towards the Development and Implementation of a Local Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy" was held in Kingston, Jamaica to help local authorities achieve the objectives of the Global Campaign "Making Resilient Cities: My City is Getting Ready!" for the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 at the local level.

The workshop was organized within the framework of the planning for the VII Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean (RP20) to be held from July 8 to 10, 2020 in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Participants included local stakeholders from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM); Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ); and Climate Change Division, Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

This workshop represented a great opportunity to consolidate the commitment of the government of Jamaica, the local governments of Kingston and Montego Bay to the "Making Cities Resilient" campaign led by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). It aimed to strengthen government capacities in the area of risk knowledge and in the application of campaign tools to assess resilience and develop local disaster risk reduction and action plans.

During the event, Mr. Desmond McKenzie, Minister of Local Government and Community Development of Jamaica, reaffirmed his desire to develop local DRR action plans in two of the largest cities in the country prior to the Regional Platform 2020. "This workshop comes at a time when we are preparing to stage the regional platform on disaster risk reduction next year. Jamaica is placed as the leading country in the region with regards to disaster risk preparedness and reduction in all forms," he added.

Raúl Salazar, Chief of the UNDRR Office for the Americas and the Caribbean agreed: "We have decided jointly with the Minister McKenzie to start with Kingston and Montego Bay as an example of local resilience that could be shown in the context of a regional platform 2020 that will take place next year. We want to reach that point with local plans developed in these two areas and accelerate the pace in which other local governments implement these plans," he said.

To this end, a follow-up workshop will be organized for the development of local action plans. Mr. Patrick Watson, Director of Threat Mitigation and Risk Management of the Ministry of Local Government of Jamaica, commented that "for methodological reasons, it would be important for the cities of Jamaica to implement the assessment tools in their own local governments first, before the upcoming workshops."

The workshop also concluded with reflections on the need to focus national plans to support the development of local disaster risk reduction plans. Thus, the national government will provide a roadmap in November to guide local governments in the plan development process.

Building Resilience across Generations: World Tsunami Awareness Day

Fri, 08 Nov 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Brigitte Leoni

More than 150 government representatives, members of academia and young participants from the 2019 Japan World Tsunami Awareness Day High School Summit commemorated World Tsunami Awareness Day on 5 November at the United Nations Headquarters, New York and discussed innovative solutions to reduce tsunami risks.

The Panel discussion- co-organized by the Permanent Missions of Chile, Japan, Maldives, Australia, Indonesia, Norway and Peru as Co-Chairs of the Group of Friends of Disaster Risk Reduction, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the United Nations Development Programme- was one of the three events held in New York.

“Tsunamis are the deadliest and costliest of all disasters. In minutes, they wipe out decades of investment in development. You may think that very little can be done in the face of a 30-meter wall of water travelling at 60 kilometers an hour. However, when disaster risk reduction is applied, there is concrete evidence that it works. Even for tsunamis. said Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDRR in her opening remarks.

“Risk-informed planning that limits where people can build to safe zones, ensuring that early warning systems are in place and people know what to do and building infrastructure to last are critical.”, SRSG Mizutori added.

Her remarks were strongly supported by Ambassador Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly who urged Member States to have disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies in place to accelerate Sustainable Development Goals implementation.

“I commend the 95 Member States who have developed national and local DRR strategies and call on all remaining member states who have not done so to include all stakeholders, including civil society, in the decision-making processes as they move forward so as to ensure that the needs of the community – in particular women and youth- are met,” he said.

Teru Fukui, a Japanese Member of Parliament underlined the important advocacy efforts supported through the 2019 High School Student Summit for WTAD, which this year was held in Hokkaido, Japan. More than 400 students from 44 countries attended.

“We are pleased today to have five students from the Hokkaido summit with us at the United Nations. We value their opinions and input. High School Student Summits help us to join up how our predecessors have acted to reduce disaster risk, with ideas for the future,” added Mr.Fukui.

The opening remarks were followed by a discussion moderated by Stephanie Speck, UNDRR Chief- Communication, which included presentations from government representatives and young participants from the 2019 WTAD High School Student Summit.

Wisnu Widjaja, Deputy Minister for System and Strategy, National Disaster Management Authority of the Republic of Indonesia briefed the audience on lessons learned after the tsunamis in Palu in September 2018 and Krakatau in December 2018, and promoted a range of new information tools that provide valuable citizen information, including the new InaRISK information system, which can now display multi-hazard risk assessments and better monitor risks in Indonesia.

Nicolas Morgado Maldonado from the Colegio Bajo Molle, Chile who attended the WTAD High School Student Summit said he learned a lot from the Summit in Japan and will now work closely with the young people of his country to improve disaster risk reduction awareness.

“My country is located on the Ring of Fire. Despite this we were surprised to see how so few young Chileans know about tsunami and earthquake risks. We also noticed, that all our evacuation routes in Chile include stairs, which can prevent a lot of people from being evacuated in time if a disaster happens. We thought we could do something about it through social media campaigns to better inform citizens with special needs.”

Robert Kirkbride, Dean of Parsons School of Constructed Environments and Professor of Architecture and Product Design, New School, New York presented a range of initiatives that sensitize future architects on urban resilience, such as the Earth Manual Project and the “Lost homes model restoration project”. These initiatives were inspired by design initiatives undertaken in Japan.

Ambassador Milenko Esteban Skoknic Tapia, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations in New York and Ambassador Thilmeeza Hussain, Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the United Nations in New York highlighted the importance of bringing different stakeholders around the same table to reduce tsunami risks in the future.

“Risks remain immense", concluded Mami Mizutori, “Disaster risk reduction is everybody’ business. We cannot forget and this is why, we have a World Tsunami Awareness Day every year. As the Secretary-General has stated, we are now entering the Decade of Action. All countries must move to ensure that disaster risk reduction national strategies are in place to reduce multi-hazard risks.”

Prior to the panel discussion, UNDRR and the Japan Mission in New York organized an intergenerational dialogue, which was webcast on UN TV and hosted on Facebook Live, reaching almost 3,000 people. Participants discussed ways to better inform citizens on tsunami risks: young and old. Five students from Chile and Japan representing the WTAD High School Student Summit; Marc McDonald from the AARP Foundation, which helps vulnerable older adults build economic opportunity and social connectedness and SRSG Mizutori joined the dialogue, which strongly underlined the importance of building resilience across generations.

WTAD in New York ended with a reception held at the Japan Society attended by 150 people. SRSG Mizutori honored Ambassador Bessho of Japan, thanking him for his support and leadership of WTAD and wishing him well in his future endeavors.

School for tsunami risk draws crowds

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Denis McClean

SENDAI, 6 November, 2019 - The earthquake and tsunami which occurred in Chile in February, 2010, helped save the lives of 320 people in Japan when it was struck the following year by the strongest recorded earthquake and tsunami ever to hit the country.

The tsunami waves from Chile reached Japan’s Tohoku coast and prompted a review of disaster prevention measures at the Arahama Elementary School situated close to the sea in the Sendai region of Japan.

The prescient decision was taken to move the school’s tsunami evacuation site from the gymnasium to the main four-storey school building. Emergency supplies kept in the gym were moved to the third floor of the school.

The March 11, 2011 earthquake was felt at 14.46 and a tsunami warning quickly followed. The Great East Japan Earthquake was at least magnitude 9 and reached maximum intensity of 7 on the Japanese scale of measurement.

Arahama headmaster, Takao Kawamura, ordered the gym to be shuttered and any children inside to leave for the safety of the school’s upper floors where they had a grandstand view of the seven metre high tsunami as it suddenly burst through the forest of pine trees which screened the school’s view of the ocean.

The waves destroyed the gym and reached up to the second floor of the school, jamming the stairwell with debris from the remains of the pine forest and vehicles from the car park. The 320 people on the rooftop including schoolchildren, staff and some local people were safe.

That is all part of the story shared with the 200,000 people who have visited the school over the last two years. Arahama Elementary School is now partly derelict, left as it was after the tsunami, and has been converted into a place of pilgrimage and learning to spread awareness of tsunami risk among Japanese and many visitors from overseas.

One of the guides, Mori Kida (57), survived the tsunami on the rooftop of the school with her ten year old son, Tomoya. She worked part-time in the school library but was at home when she felt the powerful earthquake.

She drove as soon as possible to collect her son from the school but decided to stay there when she saw how congested the traffic was on the roads leading away from the coast towards the safety of Sendai city. Mori and Tomoya remained there for the next 20 hours until it was safe to leave.

Her mission in life now is to spread awareness of tsunami risk by talking to the many groups that visit the site such as the 20 young student teachers from Miyagi university who visited there yesterday on World Tsunami Awareness Day.

Among them was Yukika Eiro who was a young girl living near the Fukushima nuclear power plant which was destroyed by the tsunami and continues to generate radioactive waste. Her main concern as a young girl was the radiation coming off the nuclear reactor.

She explained that one reason she wanted to become a teacher was to pass on her own experiences and the visit to Arahama had strengthened her desire to be an advocate for disaster risk reduction for future generations of Japanese schoolchildren. “Coming here has really helped my understanding of tsunami risk,” she said after a visit to a classroom which now uses a model of Sendai’s inundation zone.

In March 2011, some 200 people died out of 2,000 who lived in the Arahama district. Many of them were older retired people who were either unable to evacuate on their own or reluctant to leave their homes.

Mori’s advice to everyone living in a tsunami zone is simple. “When you feel the earthquake, move immediately to safety and higher ground. Don’t wait for the tsunami alert.”

Sendai responds to tsunami alerts

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Denis McClean

SENDAI, 5 November, 2019 - Tsunami warning sirens sounded across the Sendai coastal plain this morning sending thousands of people to some 40 designated evacuation sites as Japan marked World Tsunami Awareness Day with many such drills.

In Sendai, a helicopter flew along the seashore over the designated Tsunami Inundation Area reinforcing the warning that a magnitude 9 earthquake had occurred off the coast.

Both the sea and city of Sendai were clearly visible from the top of the Minamo-Gamo evacuation tower where about 90 people gathered on the rooftop shortly after the sirens sounded, including older persons and many students from the local Middle School.

On March 11, 2011, Seiko Abe (77) evacuated to the local school to escape the tsunami waves triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and today she evacuated again, with her dog, and despite her limited mobility.

She said her legs hurt a little as she mounted the stairs of the evacuation tower which rises ten metres above the ground but she found the training useful and it made her feel safe. Ramps allow for wheelchair access.

Also participating in the exercise were children from nearby Takasago Middle School where tsunami awareness and disaster preparedness are given top priority by the teaching staff.

Riku Asano, a third grade student who lives in the neighbourhood, said he has learned many useful skills for disaster situations including CPR, how to use a fire extinguisher and how to set up a portable toilet.

“I live nearby so if I had to evacuate I would do so with my family. I don’t remember the 2011 tsunami and so much time has passed that it is good to hear the stories from the older people who did experience it. Hearing the stories is important and motivates us to continue the training.”

Kazune Matsuoka who is also in the third grade also agrees that it is good to hear stories from older persons. “It is important to go somewhere high when the warning comes. These trainings lead to good practices and makes sure that everyone knows the route.”

Munehiro Takahashi, a fire department officer working with Sendai city’s crisis management section, said that preparedness planning at the time of the 2011 earthquake was based on the experience of a smaller earthquake and one metre tsunami experienced in 1978 and this proved to be inadequate.

Another factor in the high death toll was some reluctance to evacuate given that there had been two tsunami alerts in the week before the March 11 tsunami which were not followed by any significant rise in sea level.

“We were not expecting the 2011 tsunami to be so large and because of that people were not as prepared as they needed to be. We have taken many actions since then including these regular exercises, building embankments and multiple defences including coastal levees, elevated roads, evacuation towers and hills, and evacuation stairs at five locations along the strategically important Sendai Tobu road,” said Mr. Takahashi through an interpreter.

There are also plans to provide tsunami warning messages in foreign languages as the area attracts a high number of overseas visitors.

This is the 4^th year that the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has fostered the observance of World Tsunami Awareness Day following adoption of a UN General Assembly Resolution in 2016. Over 15,000 people died in the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami which also triggered a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

History shows that tsunamis though relatively rare, when they occur are the most deadly of all natural hazards.

The date recalls the November 5, 1854 tsunami that occurred as a result of the Ansei-Nankai earthquake in Wakayama Prefecture in western Japan. Every Japanese school child knows the story “Inamura no Hi” or The Fire of the Rice Sheaves. The story goes that after feeling the earthquake, Hamaguchi Goryo, a local leader in the village of Hiromura on the Kii Peninsula, anticipated a tsunami would come when he noticed the lowering of the tide and a rapid decrease in the level of well water.

He guided his fellow villagers to evacuate to higher ground by setting fire to his precious sheaves of rice, knowing that the villagers would run uphill to help put out the flames. He informed them of the tsunami risk and told them to make sure that everyone left the village for higher ground.

Caribbean throws spotlight on "forgotten" tsunami threat

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Sophie Hares, UNDRR - Americas and the Caribbean

From blowing conch shells to ringing church bells and sending mobile phone alerts, Caribbean countries are looking at high and low-tech ways to alert citizens to run for safety in the face of tsunamis which could wreak havoc on unprepared communities.

While devastating hurricanes grab the headlines each year, experts say tsunami risk is high in the region where countries need to put a greater emphasis on education and preparing coastal communities to be "Tsunami Ready" if they want to reduce losses.

"It is a real threat to the region. For a long time, it was called the forgotten danger," said Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade, manager of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program.

"If countries are not ready and people are not ready to respond, we could have hundreds of thousands of deaths."

Preparing to deal with deadly waves will be top of the agenda for World Tsunami Awareness Day on November 5, which will promote the "Sendai Seven Campaign" target of reducing disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services.

The last tsunami to hit the region was more than 70 years ago, when over 2,000 people died in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

But experts say now the Caribbean, which has more than double the population and much of its infrastructure such as airports and tourist hotels in coastal areas, has more to lose.

While tsunamis might not top the long list of priorities for the cash-strapped Caribbean, considerable progress has been made with over 80 seismic and 100 sea-level monitoring stations from Bermuda to Brazil relaying data to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Around 60 communities in countries including Puerto Rico, Anguilla, Haiti and Guatemala are certified "Tsunami Ready", which means they have comprehensive hazard zone and evacuation maps, alert systems in place and undertake regular training and simulations.

It's also home to the Caribe Wave, the world's biggest annual tsunami drill which involves over 800,000 people from nearly 50 countries.

Haiti's second-city, Cap-Haitien, which is close to an undersea tectonic fault, is "Tsunami Ready" and more towns should be signed up this year in the country which is making tsunami preparation a priority, said the head of Haiti's civil protection.

"The tsunami risk is very high for the Caribbean and it's certainly even higher for a country like Haiti because of the social-economic situation. We're very vulnerable," said Jerry Chandler, Haiti's civil protection director.

Rolling out mobile phone alerts that can warn of approaching tsunamis as well as other hazards is now on the cards in Haiti, where mobile penetration is high, said Chandler.

Given a Caribbean tsunami could reach shore just five minutes after an earthquake hits, NOAA's Hillebrandt-Andrade says more accurately predicting the likelihood of a tsunami and its impact, and speeding up warnings to those at risk, is a priority.

Understanding risks makes it easier to analyze scenarios and map the potential impact, so scientists across the region are studying potential tsunami sources including underwater volcanos such as Grenada's Kick 'em Jenny, she said.

Finding ways to integrate satellite navigation systems with seismic monitoring is also being explored to enable analysts to rapidly assess earthquakes and their chances of tsunami generation, she said.

In the future, seismic and ocean pressure sensors could be attached to the web of undersea communications cables that criss-cross the seafloor, to efficiently gather information, she said.

Ronald Jackson, executive director of the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency, said there was currently a lack of detailed information on how tsunamis would impact individual countries which could be used to determine safe zones and better protect infrastructure.

Filling this gap would be costly but would help countries design an "all-hazard" risk models to make them resilient, he said.

"The challenge is going to be what is your priority of priorities in an environment where there are limited resources," said Jackson.

The annual threat of hurricanes in the region means much of the Caribbean has well-established disaster early warning systems that can also be used to communicate tsunami warnings.

But with communities often having just minutes to evacuate in case of tsunamis, public education and training remains key, said experts.

"The real problem with tsunamis is that you can save people, if they can save themselves," said Chandler.

Pollution creates 'black tsunami' risk

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Denis McClean

SENDAI, 4 November, 2019 - This World Tsunami Awareness Day, November 5, is an opportunity to raise awareness of the huge health risk that so-called “black tsunamis” pose to survivors who swallow their toxic waters.

Tsunami waves on coastlines affected by industrial pollution can be both both highly toxic and much more destructive due to their increased density and viscosity, according to Fumihiko Imamura, Professor of Tsunami Engineering at Tohoku University where he is also Director of the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS).

Eight years after the magnitude 9.1 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami killed over 15,000 people on March 11, 2011, researchers have examined a sample of the water collected in a sake bottle by a survivor in the devastated city of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture.

The popular image of tsunami waves is that they are clear, salt water but it was evident from TV footage at the time that was not the case with the 2011 earthquake and it was only earlier this year that researchers managed to analyze a sample of the water collected when the tsunami struck.

Prof. Imamura explained: “Normal tsunamis only contain the salt water but that is not the case with a black tsunami. When this sample was examined by Professor Taro Arikawa, a specialist in hydraulics and coastal engineering at Chuo University, it was found to contain a lot of mud, sand and pollutants including lead and mercury which is dangerous to the health of those who swallow it when they struggle to escape the waves.”

He said the analysis explains why many doctors reported lung problems and illnesses such as pneumonia among survivors.

“The higher density and viscosity of this kind of water also makes the front of the tsunami bigger and higher and more turbulent. It is estimated to be three to five times more destructive than a normal tsunami,” he said.

Pollution of the oceans - including the discharge of raw sewage - along heavily industrialized coastlines has added a new dimension to tsunami risk.

“This is a very important lesson learned that when a tsunami attacks an industrial area it will result in a black tsunami,” he said.

The discovery of the preserved sample of water was made when Mr. Katsuro Ueda, a tsunami survivor from Kesennuma city was interviewed by NHK, the Japanese TV network, which then handed the bottle over for expert analysis.

Large parts of Kesennuma were destroyed by the 2011 tsunami and the city lost 2,000 people. The town’s fishing fleet caught fire and burned for four days from spilled fuel.

An ancient tsunami stone in the city reads: “Always be prepared for unexpected tsunamis. Choose life over your possessions and valuables.”

Get business on board to cut disaster risk

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction

From micro family-run ventures to giant multinationals, companies are often hard hit by disasters that erode their bottom line or force them out of business altogether.

But while companies have much to lose, they have a huge amount to offer, so it is vital that we better engage the private sector if we are to reduce disaster risk and ensure our fast-growing cities become resilient.

To make progress on the targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction to reduce economic losses and damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services, we need the private and public sectors to work together.

And as climate change ramps up the intensity and impact of devastating extreme weather events, from hurricanes to floods and droughts, the pressure is on.

Every year, $520 billion dollars are lost globally as a result of disasters, and for some low-income countries, disasters can cost up to 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Countries take years to recover. The British Virgin Islands and Dominica were the most affected by the 2017 hurricane season with losses estimated at 148% and 110% of GDP, respectively.

In many major disaster events, a large proportion of the burden of economic loss falls on the private sector: think of the 2011 Thai floods when the private sector bore over 90 percent of the overall loss which, astonishingly, equated to 5 percent of the country's GDP.

When it comes to overall investment, up to 85 percent comes from the private sector which means companies automatically play a major role in how new risk is created, and avoided, particularly in hazard-exposed urban areas.

Governments alone could never meet the eyewatering US$90 trillion infrastructure investment the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate says is needed by 2040, so we need to make sure private sector investment is risk-informed and resilient.

At the same time, we need to ensure that infrastructure projects do not exacerbate existing, or even create new risk.

At the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), we are actively working with the private sector since the creation in 2015 of ARISE – The Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies – which is rapidly growing and forming new networks around the world.

From India to the United States of América and Mexico, ARISE member businesses are practically working to incentivize investment in long-term risk-reduction and resilience and build back better if, and when, disasters do hit.

How the private sector can help build "Resilience for All" was the main topic of the recent conference ARISE Mexico Forum on Oct. 29-30 when executives, disaster risk and civil protection experts from the Americas region met to discuss how to reduce disaster impact.

Mexico is the most disaster-exposed country in Latin America. Over 150 companies including cement giant CEMEX, delivery firm UPS and insurer AXA have so far signed up to the country's network.

Benjamin Laniado, a member of ARISE Mexico and founder of CADENA, a non-profit civil association dedicated to preparedness and assistance during emergencies and disasters around the world, says the biggest companies of the country are taking disaster risk reduction seriously in order to protect their supply chains and facilities, as well as their workers and communities.

These companies are also funding programmes to help disaster hit communities recover, rebuild and become better prepared to cope with future shocks.

For organizations like CADENA, this financing was crucial to its work after the September 2017 earthquakes, when its teams pulled people from the rubble, put up 4,000 emergency shelters and helped rebuild devastated communities.

But in Mexico, as in many countries, we still need to find more creative ways to engage the thousands of smaller companies that do not think they have the money or need to invest in protecting their businesses and employees.

While we believe it is crucial to invest in low-risk infrastructure, resilient homes and communities, we also need to find affordable ways to use the financial markets to insure and protect these investments against future disasters.

So far, we're seeing some positive developments.

Mexico has established Catastrophe Bonds that transfer risk to the capital markets; the Caribbean Risk Insurance Facility is the first parametric, regional scheme which allows countries to pool their premiums.

Ensuring our future cities are risk-informed and resilient may seem costly, but the cost of doing nothing is far greater. Let us work together across the private and public sectors, combine experience and resources, and reduce disaster risk. Businesses and communities will see the benefit.

UNDRR Head to see how Mexico's Chiapas builds resilience

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 00:00:00 CET

By Sophie Shares

Mami Mitzutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), visits Mexico's Chiapas state on Monday to see how an earthquake-destroyed village is rebuilding and how community projects are boosting resilience in the country's poorest region.

Exposed to threats ranging from floods and earthquakes to hurricanes, the southern state has thrown its weight behind disaster risk reduction and now has over 7,000 citizen committees to help communities prepare for and recover from devastating events.

"Chiapas has practically the whole catalogue when it comes to dangers," said Luis Manuel Garcia Moreno, Head of the state's civil protection.

"We have a dichotomy, there's a lot of natural resources alongside poverty and marginalization. Reducing disaster risk is a high public policy priority."

More than 70 percent live in poverty in the state that is working towards meeting the targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Sustainable Development Goals, he explained.

Mitzutori visit is designed to recognize the significant advances Chiapas has made in implementing the Making Cities Resilient Campaign and a safe schools programme implemented in the state.

She also wants to recognize the dynamic role the state has played in investing in hazard warning systems, training and mitigation.

Mitzutori is scheduled to visit the community of Miguel Hidalgo, where over 200 mainly adobe homes crumpled in the powerful 2017 earthquake that destroyed around 59,000 houses across the state.

Before the quake, the rural community where many speak the indigenous Tzotzil language was vulnerable and marginalized, but extensive rebuilding has brought wide-ranging benefits to the village, said Garcia Moreno.

A number of earthquake-resistant houses with electricity, bathrooms and kitchens have replaced those damaged or destroyed in the village which now has a new community center, clinic and school facilities.

Benjamin Laniado, whose non-profit CADENA led the reconstruction, said much of the community was involved in the rebuild which allowed many to learn employable skills, with the benefits stretching way beyond simply creating safe houses.

"The most important part is not the material but the holistic part, they know they can make changes in their lives if they can work together," said Laniado, whose NGO is now focusing on longer-term development projects for the village.

"They have more security; they have more strength to be resilient."

The school in Miguel Hidalgo is one of the 1,500 in Chiapas working towards safe School and educates children on how to reduce their exposure to risk and then spread their knowledge to the broader community.

The school safety scheme part of the Worldwide Initiative for Safe Schools (WISS), coordinated by UNDRR, encompasses a range of programmes to ensure educational facilities are resilient, while bolstering school disaster management and risk reduction initiatives.

With extreme weather events already on the rise due to a changing climate, Chiapas communities are receptive to schemes such as the prevention committees which receive regular training and use radios to communicate in the rugged terrain, said Moreno Garcia.

But while Chiapas has made progress in reducing its vulnerability, more still needs to be done to ensure adequate building codes are put in place and enforced across the state to protect its infrastructure, he added.

Mitzutori will also visit urban resilience projects in the state capital Tuxtla Gutierrez and the Chiapas campus of the National School for Civil Protection which offers courses up to doctorate level that analyze risks, vulnerabilities and solutions.

External links

https://www.unisdr.org/who-we-are/srsg-drr

https://www.unisdr.org/we/campaign/wiss

https://cadena.ngo/usa/

Jamaica on track for successful regional platform

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 00:00:00 CEST

By Charlene Henry, Jamaica Information Service

Jamaica is on track for a successful hosting of the Seventh Regional Platform (RP20) for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean in July 2020.

This is the word from Chief of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean, Raul Salazar.

Speaking with JIS News, Mr. Salazar, who is leading a delegation on a working visit to the island, shared his pleasure at the level of preparations under way for the staging of the event.

He noted that "implementing a regional platform is not easy, because it has a lot of aspects to take into account".

"From the logistics, from the venue, for organising the commitments from different sectors, the relations with other countries – that involves the whole effort of a country, and Jamaica is, at this moment, on top of all the aspects of organising the regional Platform. I think we are well on track to having a successful platform," he said.

He commended the multisectoral planning team led by Chairman, Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, for its involvement in all components of the planning of the regional platform.

Regional platforms are the UNDRR conferences that bring together government officials and heads of disaster and emergency management agencies within a region with key stakeholders in disaster risk reduction, to foster collaboration and the sharing of best practices and techniques.

The platforms aid countries in achieving the targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015.

RP20 is the first UN regional platform to be hosted in the Caribbean and had its name amended to reflect the Caribbean's involvement.

Jamaica's hosting of the platform, Mr. Salazar said, is "important, relevant and significant for the region".

"We wanted to bring the discussion… around disaster reduction in the Americas and in the Caribbean [and] around the problems the Caribbean is facing within the context of climate change, in the context of intensification of the different hazards that the Caribbean faces," he noted.

"This is quite significant, and I think this is something that Jamaica saw since the beginning. The UNDRR has the responsibility of supporting countries in the implementation of the Sendai Framework and using instruments like the regional platform. These are mechanisms that we support all around the world," Mr. Salazar concluded.

The Seventh Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean will be held July 8 to 10, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, St. James.

Story Highlights

Jamaica is on track for a successful hosting of the Seventh Regional Platform (RP20) for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean in July 2020.
This is the word from Chief of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean, Raul Salazar.
Speaking with JIS News, Mr. Salazar, who is leading a delegation on a working visit to the island, shared his pleasure at the level of preparations under way for the staging of the event.

European civil protection aligns with Sendai

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 00:00:00 CEST

By Nicholas Ramos

Brussels, 17 October 2019 - European countries have moved a step closer to aligning their civil protection agendas with implementation of the global plan to reduce disaster losses, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Experts from 31 of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UPCM) participating countries met last month for the first time with their National Sendai Framework counterparts in Brussels to identify how they can improve collaboration to achieve Sendai Framework targets including meeting the 2020 deadline to have national and local strategies in place.

Civil protection assistance usually consists of governmental aid delivered in the immediate aftermath of a disaster but assistance made available through the Union Mechanism can also include advice and support to a requesting country on prevention and preparedness measures thus enhancing international cooperation, another key target of the Sendai Framework.

“One of the main goals of establishing our DRR plan has been to fulfill the Sendai Framework requirements. We adopted 101 different measures: the majority of them focusing on engaging citizens in risk and disaster preparedness,” said Carlos Lucio Mendes from the Portuguese National Authority for Civil Protection (ANPC).

Hosted by United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), this first joint meeting focused on reinforcing complementarity between the EU and UN frameworks on disaster risk reduction.

Developing and implementing disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies under the Sendai Framework is intrinsically linked to the EU-legislated need for countries to carry out risk assessments, risk management capability assessments and disaster risk management plans.

Participants discussed the development and implementation of disaster risk reduction strategies and disaster risk management plans at the local level and the critical role of coordinating governance structures such as National Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The European Union encourages more coordination across sectors and stakeholders, working to increase the sharing of best practice in disaster risk reduction. One of the main priorities of the Sendai Framework is the need for improved risk governance, through established and active National Platforms which have assisted in the delivery of several EU legislative requirements in the field of disaster risk management.

Beyond activity implementation, understanding progress through regular monitoring is critical. An exploratory exercise by the European Commission and UNDRR demonstrated which global Sendai targets and monitoring indicators may be directly or indirectly linked to a wealth of EU legislation including policies and instruments in civil protection, climate and environment, to infrastructure, agriculture, security and research.

The participants were from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Malta, Norway, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia, Turkey, and UK.

The meeting also announced that the 2020 European Civil Protection Forum will take place in Brussels next October, and the 2021 European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction (EFDRR) will take place in Portugal (dates to be announced).

UN Secretary-General backs action on DRR

Sun, 13 Oct 2019 00:00:00 CEST

Throughout my life I have visited many communities affected by extreme weather events and other natural hazards.

From the South Pacific to Mozambique to the Caribbean and beyond, I have seen the devastating and life-changing impact of the climate emergency on vulnerable communities.

Disasters inflict horrendous suffering and can wipe out decades of development gains in an instant.

In the coming decades, the world will invest trillions of dollars in new housing, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure. Climate resilience and disaster risk reduction must be central to this investment.

There is a strong economic case for such steps: making infrastructure more climate-resilient can have a benefit-cost ratio of about six to one. For every dollar invested six dollars can be saved.

This means that investing in climate resilience creates jobs and saves money.

And it is the right thing to do. It can ease and prevent human misery.

I am encouraged by the global groundswell of public support for urgent climate action, and by the many commitments made at the recent Climate Action Summit.

We all must now focus on increased ambitions. I call on the world to step up their investments by 2020 and ensure that disaster risk reduction is at the heart of the decade of action.

Let us all push for greater ambition on climate action, disaster risk reduction and all other efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.