|
| Risk reduction stories |
The importance of reducing disaster risk
was reflected in the International Federation's Agenda for
Humanitarian Action, which was adopted at the 28th International
Conference. This commitment was reiterated in the International
Federation Global Agenda, which will guide the Red Cross and
Red Crescent National Societies in the next five years. The
International Federation fully supports the aspirations of
the Hyogo Framework for Action and believes that the International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction system will help us to collectively
make a difference.
Here are some examples of risk reduction activities coordinated by the Red Cross Red Crescent:
|
 |
Rwanda: Red Cross updates risk reduction plans as Nyiragongo stirs
The Rwanda Red Cross (RRC) in Gisenyi, in the western district of Rubavu, is urgently updating the risk reduction plan for the communities that lie in the shadow of the Nyiragongo volcano amid signs it’s stirring again. (...) |
 |
A Philippine shore “eaten by the sea”
Rain, rain and yet more rain greets most visitors to Siargao Island. Located on the extreme western Pacific rim, the island faces well over 200 days of heavy rainfall every year. In total it adds up to four metres, and it regularly triggers massive flooding. (...) |
 |
Rwanda: an imihigo for risk reduction
CEOs the world over seeking ways to boost their organizations’ productivity could do worse than take a look at the Rwandan concept of imihigo. An essentially untranslatable Kinyarwanda word, it’s usually rendered as “performance contract”; sometimes just “goal” or “target”. But none begin to do the idea justice. (...) |
 |
After “tsunami number one”, risk reduction and seamanship on Tanzania’s fishing coast
Only by pure chance did Moses Onesmo Lyimo happen to be standing at the window of one of the buildings overlooking the channel leading into Dar es Salaam harbour at about one in the afternoon on 26 December 2004. (...) |
 |
Risk reduction in Kenya: a new dawn at “Borehole 11”
It takes imagination to picture Borehole 11. No, it’s not just the eleventh watering hole in the desert-like North-Eastern province of Kenya, on the borders of Somalia and Ethiopia; there are only a couple of boreholes for hundreds of thousands of ethnic Somalis, most of them pastoralist nomads. (...) |
 |
Red Cross builders brace for Philippine storms
“First there was heavy rain, then came the wind. Our makeshift shelter was shaking. All of the children were screaming and crying and we began to pray. I was scared the trees would fall on our house and injure my children.” (...) |
 |
Tajikistan: disaster preparedness reduces risks and saves lives
A sunny, late September morning in the remote, mountain village of Kachamandi, in Rasht province, Tajikistan (population 2,000). When the villagers noticed Red Crescent vehicles and people in red jackets arriving early that morning, they knew it heralded the beginning of an earthquake simulation exercise. (...) |
 |
Tuvalu: there’s no place like home
Twice a week a plane lands at the airstrip on Tuvalu’s main atoll, Funafuti. Reporters and film crews from Japan, the United States and Korea step into the equatorial heat to document the last human habitation on the tiny Pacific nation before it “sinks”, swallowed up by rising sea levels, one of the first casualties of climate change. (...) |
 |
Disaster
preparedness in India
The Indian state of Bihar suffers from floods almost every
year during the monsoon season, predominantly due to the
Ganges and its tributaries. Twenty-one of Bihar’s
38 districts are flood-prone and thirteen are chronic
drought-prone. Such complexities compound the impact of
disaster on vulnerable people. (...) |
 |
Water-safety
in Sri Lanka
The tsunami revealed just how few people living along
the coast could actually swim. Many of the deaths could
have been prevented which is why a project was started
to teach basic water-safety to coastal communities, which
will help them to prevent and manage water-related accidents. (...) |
 |
Protecting
schools in Costa Rica
With support from Costa Rican Red Cross volunteers, the
teachers and parents have analysed the emergencies to
which the school is vulnerable, drawn up an emergency
plan, identified existing capacities and resources, and
proposed ways to address the vulnerabilities. (...) |
|
| Publications |
|
 |
Disaster reduction programme 2001–2008: Summary of lessons learned and recommendations
Between 2001 and 2008, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (the International Federation), in partnership with the British Red Cross and supported by the UK Department of International Development (DFID), implemented a Disaster Reduction Programme with various National Societies in disasterprone countries in East and Southern Africa and in South Asia. The aims of the programme were to enhance the capacities of the National Societies in disaster preparedness and risk reduction, to contribute to global learning and expertise and to use the experience gained to inform future programmes.
 (1.5 Mb, 32 pages)
|
 |
Disaster: How the Red Cross Red Crescent reduces risk
Prepare, warn, mitigate, recover, live. Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the Red Cross Red Crescent world is “multi-sectoral” and part of a broad and long-standing drive for safer and more resilient communities. DRR is at the core of most National Societies’ work to address the specific vulnerabilities to which communities are exposed.
(475 Kb, 12 pages) |
 |
Defusing disaster – Reducing the risk: calamity is unnatural
The suffering of millions could be diminished dramatically, countless lives could be saved and huge economic losses lessened, says the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
(347 Kb, 12 pages) |
|
 |
Disaster
risk reduction and the International Federation
At its core, disaster risk reduction is about reducing
human vulnerability and strengthening resilience to
the risks posed by natural hazards. Moreover, disaster
risk reduction concerns the collective ability of the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies to deliver on its Global Agenda, which commits
to “reduce the number of deaths, injuries and
impact from disasters”. This paper, therefore,
while providing an overview of the global context will
seek to explain what disaster risk reduction means for
the International Federation and to set out a framework
to help the 185 member National Societies make communities
safer and more resilient to disasters.
(816 Kb, 16 pages) |
|
| Photo galleries |
|
 |
Mongolia, Philippines, Rwanda and Tanzania: examples of risk reduction
Reducing
disaster risk is a priority for the International Federation.
We believe that by tackling vulnerability we can significantly
reduce the risk of disaster and we can build safer and more
resilient communtities. Here are some examples of effective risk reduction in 4 disaster prone countries. |
 |
Tajikistan, preparing for disasters, October 2008
In September 2008, a simulation disaster preparedness exercise was organized in Kachamandi village, Rasht district, Tajikistan. Some 50 men, women and children from the local community got together with the Red Crescent experts to refresh their knowledge and skills on how to survive and save lives at times of natural disasters in their highly disaster-prone area. |
 |
Reducing risk worldwide
Disaster risk reduction encompasses many areas of work
and development. This photo gallery shows some different
examples of risk reduction in action around the world. |
Disaster management
