United Nations
World Conference on Disaster Reduction
Approximately 4,500
delegates from 170 governments and NGOs, with more than 40 ministers
attended the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction
in Kobe, Japan from January 18-22, 2005.
Work was conducted through
many meetings of representatives of governments, thematic
sessions of experts and public forum. The conference generated four
important documents:
(1)
Review of the Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action for a Safer
World;
(2) Programme outcome document
entitled
‘Building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters:
Hyogo Framework for action 2005–2015’;
(3)
Hyogo Declaration; and
(4) Common statement of the Special Session
on the Indian Ocean Disaster: Risk Reduction for a Safer Future.
A special report of Munich Re indicated that 2004
was the second costliest year on record reporting $140 billion in economic
losses (data as of January 10, 2005). In addition, 2004 was the
costliest natural catastrophe year ever for the insurance industry -
$40 billion in insured losses. Economic losses include: $73 billion
in Asia (mainly earthquake) and $63 billion in North and South
America. Losses were dominated by weather-related disasters, warning
that climate change will develop into a serious danger unless
radical measures are taken soon. Major disasters in 2004 include:
earthquake in Japan ($10 billion in losses), tsunami in the Indian
Ocean (over 220,000 people killed), four hurricanes that hit Florida
and extreme floods that killed more than 2000 people in the
Caribbean and more than 2500 in South Asia.
"Rarely has tragedy made a
conference so topical and timely," says Kofi Annan, UN Secretary
General.
Some of
the key messages evolving from this important conference include:
(1) Ensure
that disaster risk reduction is a national and local priority with a
strong institutional basis for implementation;
(2) Identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and enhance early
warning;
(3) Use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of
safety and resilience at all levels;
(4) Reduce the underlying risk factors; and
(5) Strengthen disaster preparedness for effective response. World
has committed to reduce disaster losses of lives and other social,
economic and environmental assets.
ICLR also took a very active
role in the conference. Western's Civil & Environmental
Engineering Professor and ICLR Chair in Engineering, Slobodan Simonovic
talked
on topics such as: New International
Initiatives for Research and Risk Mitigation of Floods and
Landslides; Integrated Flood Risk Management Through Appropriate
Knowledge Sharing and Capacity Building Systems; and Effective and Successful Risk Communication as an Integral
Part of Disaster Risk Management.
Simonovic also presented a new inter-agency initiative aimed at
minimizing loss of life and reducing damage caused by floods
in a
session chaired by Professor Dr. Hans van Ginkel, UN Under-Secretary
General, Rector of the UN University and open by Koichiro Matsuura,
Director General of UNESCO and by Michel Jarraud, Secretary General
of WMO.
"I am very proud that the
International Flood Initiative that I worked on was successfully
formally launched in Kobe," says Simonovic. "This new initiative is set to integrate the
scientific, operational, educational and public awareness raising
aspects of flood management, including the social response and
communication dimensions of flooding and related disaster
preparedness. The goal is to halve the
number of flood-related human loss of life by 2015."
