It is a special honour for me, as the representative at the
Mauritius International Meeting of the President of the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, to be with
you today at this workshop side event organised with the World
Meteorological Organisation.
Its theme, the reduction of vulnerability through the building
and maintenance of community resilience, could hardly be more
appropriate today.
All small island states share a special need for the development
of effective and efficient mechanisms for disaster preparedness
through community resilience. In my role as President of the
Barbados Red Cross Society I can speak with experience of the
absolute nature of this need.
My delegation also has the benefit of National Society representation
from the Red Cross Society of our host country, Mauritius. The
Seychelles Red Cross would also have been represented in our
delegation, but unfortunately flash floods in that country have
made this impossible.
And, here today in this workshop under the leadership of His
Excellency the Permanent Representative of the Maldive Islands
to the United Nations, we have an opportunity to speak of what
the Red Cross Red Crescent actually does, and of the steps we
take to build the resilience which is such an essential part
of preparedness, response and preparedness for response.
We are also fortunate to have with us on this panel very distinguished
experts in various disciplines relevant to weather-related disasters.
Their experience brings real complementarity to our group and
should make possible an important exchange and learning experience
for us all.
Until two weeks ago, the International Federation was preparing
for this Meeting with a view to basing the disaster preparedness
elements of presentations on the experience of the Caribbean
islands with the hurricanes which battered our countries so
severely in 2004. The world has changed since then, and this
Indian Ocean region may have changed for ever.
Nobody, not even the people of the smallest Caribbean islands,
can set their own tragedies above those which have inflicted
such heavy losses of lives and livelihoods on so many people
in the Indian Ocean region. And I say this from a region which
includes the Small Island State of Grenada, where two thirds
of the population was left homeless by Hurricane Ivan only last
September.
We all learn from each other when disasters strike. In my own
country, where the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency
(CDERA) is headquartered, there are already talks under way
on the establishment of a tsunami warning system for our islands.
One of the main lessons from the Indian Ocean tragedy is that
no coastal state can consider itself immune from such phenomena,
and investments must be made in warning systems. This is all
the more important as the number of weather-related disasters
continues to increase, and the need for warnings as well as
preparedness becomes all the more acute.
Warning systems by themselves are, however, of little value
unless communities understand how they work and how warnings
should be transmitted. The effectiveness of hurricane warnings
in the Caribbean region has been a significant contribution
to the minimisation of the loss of life, and in some countries
- Cuba is a good example - few lives were lost despite the material
devastation wreaked by the hurricane season in 2004.
The transmission of warnings is often one of the major roles
of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the late preparedness
stage before disasters strike. I will offer an example, from
the Bay of Bengal region, of how our volunteers, are trained
and equipped to bring meteorological warnings to the most remote
communities and help them prepare for nature's onslaught.
Bangladesh is not an island state, but its coastal communities
have many of the characteristics being debated in this risk
reduction context. The way warnings of climate events are transmitted
involves radio transmission from the capital through to district
level and then to local communities where our trained volunteers
take the necessary messages and directions to the people themselves.
We do this in the closest coordination with specialists from
the Meteorology Bureau, and indeed in Bangladesh the Red Crescent
volunteers in coastal areas are also responsible for collecting
weather data for the Met Bureau.
This is just one example of how intermixed the responsibilities
of volunteers can be, but there are many others from around
the world which show clearly how the Met Bureau and the Red
Cross / Red Crescent depend for the comprehensive accuracy of
their work on volunteers and community support.
They, like us, are trusted by the communities in which they
live and work. Together, we can forewarn people and help them
preserve their lives, even if not their livelihoods.
We look forward to contributing in more detail on this subject,
for it is clear that any workable warning system will require
the means to take it to the people most likely to be hardest
hit - and in island states they are likely to be people in the
most remote locations.
It is our hope, following a very beneficial opportunity to speak
on similar themes at the recent World Conservation Congress
in Bangkok, that it will be possible to forge a still stronger
volunteer base in the future, linking Red Cross Red Crescent
volunteers to the millions of people who give their time for
nature and conservation through organisations linked to the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Likewise, the IFRC enjoys a close relationship with the world's
sports organisations via the International Olympic Committee.
Each of these groups has a strong base in the SIDS, and through
these linkages we hope to bring great new consolidated strength
to the topics of resilience and recovery.
The link with the conservation movement is important to us.
I have already mentioned the devastation of Grenada by Hurricane
Ivan in 2004, but a particularly relevant case in this context
is the loss of life and the damage suffered by Haiti after Tropical
Storm Jeanne in 2004.
As is well-known, deforestation and poverty have been identified
as the main factors in such a heavy loss of life, and this has
contributed to the very heavy burden experienced by the Haitian
National Red Cross Society. The Society has managed its response
and relief work very well in the most difficult of circumstances,
which is a tribute to the effectiveness of its work at the community
level.
Once again, it is at the community that the real difference
is made, and this is where our work is concentrated.
One of the important elements in the International Federation's
appeal for Haiti following the floods was the enhancement of
the disaster preparedness capacity of the Society. Successful
preparedness work depends, however, on the active support of
government, and on patience.
It takes many generations to bring people to the kind of preparedness
which has saved so many lives in Bangladesh - in that country
the programs have now been in place for 32 years, and the relatively
low loss of life after the most serious floods for decades in
2004 speaks volumes for the work of the National Society and
its partnership with Government and others.
The Red Cross Red Crescent role in disasters is to build communities
which are capable both of withstanding the impact of the disasters
to the greatest extent possible, and to help others less fortunate
than themselves. This work, usually far from cameras, is much
less visible than the work done when disaster strikes.
Almost all disaster footage on television shows our people -
our volunteers - in their red cross or red crescent identities
rescuing people, bringing them medicines and food, and caring
for the most vulnerable.
This visible feature is now seen by many as the public face
of the red cross and red crescent during disasters. But we wish
to emphasise at this meeting that much of the most important
work we do takes place long before the disaster strikes, ensuring
preparedness through resilient communities.
Resilience is particularly important for the isolated communities
of small island states. It is normal, sadly, that these states
do not have the infrastructure or the population base from which
the support services available in a continental state can be
brought to a disaster site.
In our countries the communities must fend for themselves until
help can arrive. That help normally cannot arrive for days,
by which time many people may have died.
In small island states we devote special resources to community
preparedness for this reason. Without it, our people would not
survive. Without the resilience that good preparedness builds,
our communities would not be able to rebuild their lives.
This is also an important part of our work in the communities
- helping people restore their livelihoods and helping the country
as a whole regain the benefit of the productivity of its people.
One other point which deserves special mention today is the
extent to which our services need to take account of the fact
that many small island states have economies which are heavily
dependent on tourism.
This, of course, is why our countries have a "paradise" reputation.
But it also means that our Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
must build and maintain their capacity as the world's best known
tracing service to help locate persons missing after disasters
strike.
This need was depicted graphically in the Caribbean in the 2004
hurricane season, and it has proved just as important in the
Indian Ocean tsunami disaster. It is a facility valuable both
for our own citizens and for the thousands of tourists we welcome
to our countries.
Time does not allow a longer description of what we have faced,
but the breadth of the disaster situation now making media headlines
worldwide is an issue addressed by the National Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies of Small Island Developing States a little
more than a year ago.
In this South West Indian Ocean Region the formation of the
PIROI (Platform for Disaster Response in the Indian Ocean),
consisting of the countries of Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles,
the Comoros, Mozambique (since 2004) as well as Réunion and
Mayotte, is another example of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
with similar vulnerabilities working together for a common goal.
We convened during the International Conference of the Red Cross
and Red Crescent in December 2003, together with representatives
of many of our governments and notable international organisations
including representatives of the International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction.
One of our principal conclusions, which we brought to preparatory
meetings for this Mauritius International Meeting, was that
governments must recognise the important role that their National
Societies play in addressing the particular vulnerabilities
of SIDS in disaster situations.
Accordingly, we the National Societies of SIDS have stressed
the importance of governments ensuring that their National Societies
are incorporated into their national disaster management group,
to ensure that disaster planning fully includes the part which
communities must play if worst case scenarios are to be averted.
We also called on governments to build their community risk
reduction strategies in cooperation with their National Society.
Only this way can they be secure in the knowledge that plans
developed in distant capital cities will work well in outlying
and remote areas.
The thrust of our work with governments mixes preparedness with
response. Many people speak of the need to work from relief
to development. We agree with the basic motivation which leads
them to say this, but we extend it. Development also needs to
be based around response - one of the savage characteristics
of nature is that disasters recur. We know that well in the
Caribbean.
So preparedness needs to be built from the work done as part
of response, just as response needs to relate to the need for
preparedness for the unknown future.
The International Federation, for its part, devotes considerable
resources to helping National Societies build their capacity
and be capable of playing this essential role as key actors
in preparedness, response, recovery and rehabilitation alongside
their governments and their civil society partners.
The International Federation recognises that the unique role
of National Societies, as auxiliaries to the public authorities
of their countries in the humanitarian field, must be supported
at all times and is an essential component of disaster preparedness,
risk reduction and community rebuilding strategies.
The International Federation also recognises that the challenge
of providing an effective auxiliary partner for governments
in small island developing states is substantial. There are
many problems, most of which are being articulated at this Meeting.
But the challenge of scale and infrastructure is daunting for
all of us, and that is why it is so much more important that
in our SIDS environments we bring together, to the greatest
extent possible, the combined resources of governments, National
Societies and other national partners to get the job done.
The International Federation itself is now stretching its resources
to deal in the most effective way possible with the impact of
the Indian Ocean tsunami, but at the same time it is looking
at what it needs to do to strengthen its own working relationships
with partners.
One such, of course, is the World Meteorological Organisation,
and I am able to say here that we intend to take up the issue
of a closer partnership with the WMO as soon as this meeting
is over. We will take the Mauritius outcomes, and those of the
forthcoming World Conference on Disaster Reduction, into that
planning.
My delegation looks forward to the outcomes of the discussion
which we are having in this important workshop being incorporated
into the conclusions of the Meeting itself, and being taken
to the World Conference on Disaster Reduction. It is our view
that the particular issue of the vulnerability to disasters
of small island developing states has received too little attention
in the ten years since the Barbados Plan of Action was adopted.
More importantly, the draft outcome document for this Meeting
has no reference to the work which must be done at community
levels, usually through the Red Cross Red Crescent or civil
society, if the impact of disasters is to be mitigated and rebuilding
is to take place.
Our hope is that the Meeting participants will be in a position
to reflect on this, and incorporate appropriate references to
these community realities in the documents.
|
 |
|
News
