Risk reduction is everyone's business

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the World Disasters Report. On the positive side, the past decade has seen a drop in the numbers of people killed by disasters. In the 1970s, natural disasters alone claimed nearly 2 million lives – by the 1990s this had fallen to under 800,000. But this is still a terrible and premature loss of life. Meanwhile, those affected – whether left injured, homeless or hungry – tripled to 2 billion during the past decade. Direct economic losses multiplied five times over the same period, to US$ 629 billion in the 1990s.

Our tenth report looks at how to reduce the risks which natural disasters pose to vulnerable communities around the world. The first report, in 1993, argued that the effectiveness of disaster response and the sound use of donors’ money are “primarily dependent upon good disaster preparedness. All disasters are first tackled at the local level by local organizations. International response is built upon those local efforts.”

This remains just as true a decade later. Disaster preparedness pays. When the most powerful hurricane for half a century hit Cuba in November last year, effective disaster planning and preparedness ensured that 700,000 people were evacuated to safety. When two years of record floods inundated Mozambique, well-prepared local and national resources saved 34,000 people from drowning. In 1999, of the 50,000 people trapped by Turkey’s devastating earthquakes, 98 per cent were saved by local rescuers. So investing in disaster preparedness within communities at risk remains a top priority.

However, preparing to respond to disasters is only part of the broader risk reduction agenda. Where possible, measures to reduce the physical and human impacts of disasters must be taken. These mitigation measures take many forms. In Viet Nam, for example, a combination of embankments and specially-planted coastal mangrove forests protect vulnerable shores from storm surges and flooding. In Europe, where earthquakes have killed more people in the past decade than all other disasters put together, ensuring that construction codes are enforced is essential.

Physical protection must be complemented by better information at all levels. Often, exposed communities have expertise in dealing with risks which could be shared more broadly. In India, for example, traditional rainwater harvesting has helped thousands of households in combating drought. Equally, governments and aid organizations play a key role in promoting greater public awareness of disaster risks and how to deal with them. Enormous willpower, resources and imagination are needed across all sectors of human society to reduce the threat of disasters before they strike.

Since the attacks that rocked the world on 11 September last year, some global leaders have argued that fighting poverty will help promote a safer world. In March this year, donor nations committed more resources to achieve the international development goals of 2015, which include halving poverty and hunger, combating infectious diseases, and ensuring universal primary education.

Disasters, however, can wipe out years of development in a matter of hours. Big one-off disasters destroy farmland, animals, livelihoods – keeping people poor and hungry. Small recurrent disasters wear down family resources and resilience, exposing people to disease and poor health. Children may lose the chance to be educated if a disaster demolishes their school, or if parents need their help rebuilding shattered family lives.

So reducing the risks posed bydisasters is not an optional extra – it is central to the very success of development itself. Disasters threaten to derail progress towards 2015’s development goals. And if development remains blind to these risks, the chances of disaster will increase. Poverty is not the only reason why communities are exposed to disaster. As Cuba’s experience shows: you don’t need to be rich to be well informed and well prepared.

With this in mind, I would like to leave you with one thought. The international development targets are of enormous use in concentrating the minds and resources of governments and communities alike. To these we must add disaster risk reduction targets. Such as halving the numbers killed and affected by disasters, increasing the number of governments with dedicated disaster preparedness plans and resources, and boosting the amount of emergency and development aid spent on disaster mitigation and preparedness.

This anniversary edition of the World Disasters Report provides powerful evidence that investing in preparedness and mitigation helps combat the terrible human and economic toll of disasters. Reducing disaster risk is an urgent priority not only for disaster managers, but for development planners and policy-makers across the globe..

Didier J Cherpitel
Secretary General