Living with Risk. A global review of disaster reduction initiatives

experience of National Societies of Red Cross
and Red Crescent in Bangladesh and Philippines
demonstrate a positive correlation
between integrated participatory planning and
enhanced levels of local self-reliance.
Traditional community coping
mechanisms at stake
Collective and environmentally sound land use
and tenure at community level is in many
places still based on traditional and commonly
accepted practices, which help to cope with
phenomena such as drought and floods. This
conventional practice is respected more than
modern laws in many communities in Africa
and elsewhere. However, traditional ways are
more and more being replaced by western or
"modern" economic and social interests and
values, increasing vulnerability and exposure to
hazards and weakening coping capacities.
Examples can be found in the Brazilian rainforest,
where indigenous groups interests are
being replaced by economic ones that turn
forests into pastoral land, thereby imposing
land degradation, increasing drought or flood
patterns and forcing social exclusion.
Policy and public commitment: the foundation of disaster risk reduction
Long before there were national governments
or development planners, Pacific islanders had
to live with natural hazards and extensive losses.
While a considerable sense of traditional
values and social conditions remain, the internal
migration from villages to urban areas are
thrusting significant numbers of people into
changing lifestyles in the Pacific island states
and elsewhere. Urban immigrants frequently
lack knowledge about local hazards and urban
risks, and are seldom familiar with appropriate
behaviour to minimise potential losses. They
are often marginalized politically, and frequently
lack the social network of kin, which
provides vital support and can be relied upon
for information and communal responsibilities
in most villages. As far as hazards are concerned,
the process of urban adaptation
involves a shift away from community selfreliance
and shared knowledge towards an
expectation that formal government organizations
will provide protection, warnings, support
and relief.
These are considerations yet to be seriously
accommodated in national strategies of disaster
reduction and risk management.
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