Living with Risk. A global review of disaster reduction initiatives

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Living with Risk: A global review of disaster reduction initiatives
Pacific
Case: The Pacific island countries
Examples of how certain Pacific small island
developing states have sought to incorporate
some of these measures into their national platforms,
policies and development strategies are
summarized in the following table. The exam-
ples drawn from Fiji, Cook Islands and Vanuatu
focus on the organizational frameworks
and policy aspects those countries have pursued
with respect to incorporating disaster
risk reduction into larger national interests.
They should not be taken as being comprehensive
or exhaustive themselves or of the
region as a whole.
Recommendations for sound disaster risk management
A good example of how disaster risk management functions can be structured within a national policy framework is cited below. It
is from Te’o I.J. Fairbairn, (UNDHA-SPO, 1997) as presented in the Pacific Regional Report prepared for the ISDR secretariat.
The reasoning illustrates well the key issues at stake when trying to assimilate disaster reduction into accepted government policy.
While the examples were conceived with specific reference to island state requirements, they also offer conceptual clarity for other
states. Information in square brackets has been added by the authors of the present Global Review.
“There must be a commitment to implementation of particular measures of risk reduction measures incorporated within the ongoing
practices of national economic planning and development.
Certainly a major requirement, if not even the primary one, is to promote a clearer understanding among policy makers – and the
general public – of the often severe and potentially far-reaching economic consequences of natural disasters. It is crucial that policymakers
in particular comprehend how such events seriously can undermine longer-term growth prospects and threaten the social
dimensions of individuals’ well-being. Failure to appreciate these consequences can exact eventual or irreparable political costs.
A second crucial prerequisite is to ensure that disaster risk management issues are integrated within the overall national development
planning framework. Such an embodiment of risk awareness and evaluation can ensure that those issues are applied across
sectoral, ministerial, and jurisdictional lines of interest or responsibility, are multi-disciplinary in nature, and are properly included
in the design of major development projects. Taken together, the interaction of multiple commitments can also contribute to risk
reduction becoming a non-partisan issue, with its constituencies transcending any short-term political interests or the lifespan of
individual governments.
Other major requirements for enhancing a Pacific small island states’ commitment to disaster risk reduction capabilities include
mechanisms to:
• Strengthen the institutional and organizational frameworks at both national and community levels for managing and coordinating
disaster-related issues.
• [Strengthen national institutions by increasing their exposure to, and collaboration with, relevant regional and international
entities.]
• Adopt appropriate procedures for monitoring and evaluating disaster events, especially in relation to analysing their social
[environmental] and economic consequences over time.
• [Similarly adopt appropriate procedures for monitoring and evaluating the consequences of developmental choices on disaster
impacts].
• Increase available information and facilitate database access about the social, [environmental] and economic aspects of natural
disasters, as a potentially valuable tool for planning and management purposes.
• Promote greater uniformity in the methodology and techniques used to assess both the direct and longer-termed economic
[and environmental] costs of disasters to countries throughout the region.
• Develop comprehensive and integrated land use and water management strategies capable of alleviating flooding, promoting
water conservation and environmentally sound land use practices.
• Diversify agriculture through such practices as planting hardy crop varieties, early maturing crops, and encouraging the continued
cultivation of various traditional root crops.
• Encourage the [identification and] use of traditional mitigation and coping practices as means for achieving greater community
self-reliance in dealing with disasters.
• Facilitate the post-disaster recovery of the private commercial sector through measures that provide tax and related financial
incentives.
• Establish effective mechanisms for enlisting the joint support of external donors to strengthen national disaster reduction
capacities, in addition to assisting with post-disaster relief and rehabilitation needs.”