"Warning
systems by themselves are, however, of little value unless communities
understand how they work and how warnings should be transmitted.."
said Mr. Raymond Forde, Federation Governing Member and President
of the Barbados Red Cross Society. (Quotations from the statement
made at the Mauritius International Meeting for small Island
Developing States, 10-14 January, 2005, Port Louis)
Introduction
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
with its over 80 years' experience in disaster management believes
that disaster preparedness contributes to sustainable development.
An effective preparedness, including the establishment of Early
Warning Systems (EWS), decreases the impact of disasters and
vulnerability, at the same time increases the level of resilience
in the communities. The 28th International Conference of the
Red Cross and Red Crescent gathered States party to the Geneva
Conventions and the Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies
in 2003 and made a number of decisions concerning the way forward
in reducing the risk and impact of disasters.
The implementation of Early Warning Systems was one of the measures
identified to minimize the impact of disasters on vulnerable
populations (Final Goal 3.1) [Resolution 1 of the 28th International
Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent: http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/p1103?OpenDocument].
Early warning to reduce impact from disasters and to increase
capacity of local community - Global Agenda EWS or tsunami alert
systems have limitations in term of life saving, if not combined
with "people centered" networks.
For the International Federation, people centered early warning
and other measures for disaster risk reduction and preparedness
contribute to the promotion of a culture of prevention and the
building of the local capacity to confront natural hazards with
readiness.
The World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) in 2005 recognised
the importance of people centred early warning, it is also at
the heart of our work to reach our Global Agenda Goals.
To be effective, EWS must be understandable, trusted by and
relevant to the communities, which they serve. Warnings will
have little value unless they reach those people most at risk
- who should be trained to react on the message.
The International Federation therefore gives its full support
to developing warning systems but stresses the importance of
1) establishing local level networks that can both receive and
act on warnings and who raise awareness and educate communities
to take actions for safety,
2) utilising such networks for the progressive development of
warning systems so that they meet the needs of the communities
and situations for which they are designed, and
3) taking a multi-hazard approach to assure sustainability by
providing active alert, awareness and relevance.
Lessons from Bangladesh
One of the clearest examples is from one of the world's most
disaster-prone countries, Bangladesh, where the annual monsoon
and cyclone season devastate large parts of the country and
the population.
The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, with the support of the
Government, scientific centers and other partners, learned lessons
early, and in 1972, in the wake of the devastating 1970 cyclone
season which took half a million lives, initiated the cyclone
preparedness programme (CPP) as a partnership.
The CPP can now alert 8 million people living in at-risk coastal
areas. The warning system relies on Asia's biggest radio network
linking the capital, Dhaka, with 143 radio stations. Alerts
are then relayed to 33,000 village-based volunteers, who pass
on the warning by megaphone to their village communities.
In order for sustainability, this process has now taken a multi
hazard approach, and is augmented with year around awareness
raising and education activities including regular drills to
ensure that system works when needed.
The result is that human losses have been reduced to a minimum.
In 2004, one of the worst years for decades, 36 million people
felt the effect of the flooding, but only 747 lives were lost.
Challenge of sustainability Early warning is part of a continuous
process of activities that strengthen the resilience of communities
at risk, while developing a culture of readiness.
Developing systems that are people-centered is a must to achieving
this goal. In short, disaster cannot be prevented with technological
early warning systems alone; a corps of volunteers in each community
must pick up the warning signals, translate them into a suitable
language and ensure local dissemination.
Development of an effective early warning system must be closely
coupled with community-based planning efforts to identify evacuation
sites, establish critical relief materials and other resources,
and draw on the full set of capacities and skills among each
community's residents.
What constitutes effective community based early warning
systems and how to ensure ownership and sustainability?
1. Partnership with all stakeholders, including Governments,
UN, the Red Cross and Red Crescent and other community based
organizations, to ensure that the process is developed with
joint efforts and without gap
2. Communities are involved in developing hazard maps to identify
risk of natural hazards, their possible effects and consequences
for the community
3. Programmes are developed to reduce vulnerability to hazards
and build safer communities, through simple awareness raising
and messages
4. Communities are trained in disaster preparedness and evacuation
related activities in order to respond to early warnings
5. Community disaster response teams organize early warning
drills and are linked to Red Cross Red Crescent and local Government
disaster plans
Red Cross and Red Crescent and their volunteers as
part of the early warning system
The RCRC network of volunteers is crucial in mobilizing community
participation to ensure hazard warning information reaches those
who need to react and is ready to help fill that gap.
The International Federation advocates for people focused approaches
to preparedness (dissemination, awareness raising, and education)
and mitigation. This should be a focus for governments in particular
those of disaster-prone countries, and in the donor community.
Strengthening community networking between official agencies
and local organizations and volunteer groups should be viewed
not simply as an efficient way to establish safety-consciousness
but as the only viable way to ensure that new technology and
other improvements have their potential and intended impact.
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