A global review of disaster reduction initiatives - Welcome to the ...

underway to upgrade the Swiss National AlarmCentre, recognizing that communications areessential means by which information can bepassed in times of relative calm as well as duringtimes of crisis.Policy and public commitment: the foundation of disaster risk reductionthings normally only start to move in the wakeof a disaster such as occurred during theunusually severe series of winter storms experiencedacross the country at the end of 1999.3Research is another priority for PLANAT, concerningall natural hazard sectors. One importantissue is related to a better understanding ofthe forces of natural hazard as well as the copingmechanisms of structural mitigation measures.Research will also continue with regard tomonitoring climate change and the evaluationof its connection with natural hazards.As financial resources are always limited, theymust be allocated in the most productive manner.Several relevant moves are underway inSwitzerland to ensure their most effective use.These include:• Giving precedence to non-structural preventivemeasures including water coursemaintenance over river-engineering measures.• Shifting resources from reconstruction topreventive measures.• Redistributing the allocation of financesamong the primary parties concerned inorder to increase inter-cantonal collaborationand thus reduce the ill-effects ofexaggerated diversity of activities as wellas to avoid duplication.• Improving the coordination and consistencyin the use of government subsidiesand similar incentives for local authoritiesand communities, for instance throughthe activities of the Federal Office forWater and Geology and the Federal ForestDirectorate.In any event, it is recognized that morefinances need to be allocated to build greaterawareness for disaster risk reduction amongthe public and policy makers, alike. This isreinforced by the evident experience that withoutperiodic publicity, the necessary funds for acontinuous reappraisal of natural hazardrequirements simply are not provided. It is abitter fact that both individuals and politicianshave a short memory, which explains whyRisk reduction plans, linked to specificresponsibilities, policies, and practicesCase: Costa RicaDuring 2000, the Ministry of Agriculture inCosta Rica took the unprecedented step of creatinga Risk Management Program in the AgriculturalPlanning Secretariat. Concern for agriculturallosses increased with the impacts of ElNiño between 1997 and 1998 and with therecurrence of flooding and drought. The decisionto create the programme was motivatedfurther by decisions taken at the Central AmericanPresidential Summit held in 1999 whendisaster and vulnerability reduction issuesdominated the agenda.This development reflects the larger impetusgiven to disaster and risk reduction by the CentralAmerican Integration System’s (SICA) specialisedagricultural sector organizations, theRegional Advisory Board for AgriculturalCooperation and the Central American Agricultureand Livestock Advisory Board.Case: IranIran has a high exposure to seismic hazards.Considering this risk throughout the country,as indicated in the figure below, it became evidentthat a long-term vision was required toreduce significantly the high level of risk forthe population. The development of a nationalpolicy of disaster risk reduction in Iran waslargely motivated by the participation of scientificand technical interests within the country.This demonstrates that the evolution of riskreduction frameworks need not originate strictlyfrom civil administration or political initiatives.Scientific interest has exerted a majorrole in driving policy relevance, in Iran and byso doing, was then able to implement a series ofactions in different segments of the society.107