This year, the world has watched aghast as unprecedented floods have washed across Asia and swamped large swathes of Africa. Storms have battered communities in the Americas, and are now smashing China and South East Asia. Disaster after disaster has affected millions of people on every continent
Lives have been disrupted, countless homes and businesses have been destroyed and thousands of people have been killed. But out of all of this, what is most alarming is the thought that 2007 may well turn out to be a prototypical year--an example of the “new normal.”
Much of the public discussion on climate change has rightly focused on reducing emissions, on reining in the big polluters and on lessening the impact of climate change on future generations. There is only now a growing understanding that much more needs to be done to reduce the disastrous impact that climate change is already having on this generation.
Around the world, more than 250 million people are affected by disasters every year. According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the number of extreme weather events such as storms and heat waves – events at the heart of so much of this year’s suffering – will continue to rise as a result of climate change.
The experience of the United Nations and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies confirms this trend. The United Nations this year has already launched 13 Flash Appeals, breaking the record of ten Flash Appeals in one year. Of the 13 appeals, 12 have been for aid in response to climatic disasters—floods, droughts, hurricanes, and cyclones.
Between 2004 and 2006, the number of disasters that the Red Cross and Red Crescent responded to increased from 278 to 482. Significantly, floods and other meteorological events have driven this increase. In 2004, the Red Cross and Red Crescent responded to 54 floods. By 2006 this figure had jumped to 121. Already this year, the International Federation has responded to more than 100 floods. These numbers do not include the so-called ‘small scale’ disasters – such as floods that affect only two or three villages, but are devastating nonetheless. Indeed, most disasters go unrecorded, too remote or obscure or small-scale for the wider world to bother.
It is abundantly clear, then, that more will need to be done to address this increase. For both the United Nations and the Red Cross and Red Crescent, this will mean increasing demands placed on our disaster response and preparedness mechanisms. We will, of course, continue to strengthen our global, regional and local capacities. But we believe that response must be accompanied by systematic efforts to contain natural hazards with more investment in, and commitment to, disaster risk reduction.
Risk reduction aims to reduce the odds of disastrous consequences by doing everything possible before the event to protect life, limit damage and strengthen a vulnerable community’s ability to survive and to bounce back quickly. The solutions may lie in simple things like educating children on what to do in emergencies or planting trees on unstable hillsides to prevent landslides. The more complex include early warning systems, earthquake-safe construction, and responsible urban planning.
The point here is that there is no such thing as a natural disaster. Floods, hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons, heat waves, droughts, even non-climate-related events like earthquakes, are natural hazards. They become disasters only when they exceed a community’s ability to cope.
Natural hazards and the disasters they trigger hit all countries and communities, rich and poor, but it is poor people who usually live in the most exposed and dangerous places and whose lives will be most seriously disrupted by calamity. They become poorer, deprivation deepens.
Some estimates suggest that as little as four per cent of annual humanitarian assistance goes towards reducing disaster risk. We believe that this must be significantly increased to at least 10 per cent if we as an international community are to take real strides towards securing the future of vulnerable people.
The Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction represents the Red Cross and Red Crescent’s strong commitment to increasing its community based risk reduction efforts, in line with the Hyogo Framework for Action. The Global Alliance will be rolled out over the next 12 months, and will bring together all major risk reduction actors such as the partners in the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction which includes UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, governments and local authorities, along with institutions such as meteorological offices and the World Bank.
In the past months, tens of millions have been affected by floods, droughts, heat waves and tropical storms. Given the reality of climate change, these numbers will inevitably continue to rise unless we now accept the challenge, the responsibility, the obligation to support communities in keeping out of harm’s way.
John Holmes is United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Emergency Relief Coordinator, and Head of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
Markku Niskala is Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.