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

The last earthquake to devastate Kazakhstantook place in 1911, less than 30km south of theformer capital, Almaty. The memory of thisevent has faded from the country’s collectiveconsciousness. Recognizing that the Armenianearthquake of 1988 occurred along seismicfaults that had shown little movement for over3,000 years, the Emergency Situation Agencyhas worked to increase public awareness aboutearthquake risks.This activity is deemed to be crucial as mostapartment blocks in Kazakhstan are similar tothose that collapsed in the Armenian earthquakeand in the Sakhalin earthquake of 1995.Even though the government’s Institute ofSeismology has been working since 1976 tomonitor seismic movement, the institute alsoundertakes risk assessments, evacuation scenarios,and the analysis of ground conditions aspart of its research activities.Policy and public commitment: the foundation of disaster risk reductionSome common limitations in most regionsThe designation of administrative arrangements or even thepassage of legislation provides only a basic framework for a disasterrisk reduction strategy. Policies alone do not reduce thevulnerabilities of people exposed to the risk of natural hazards.Despite the implementation of policies, acts and regulations byofficial departments, challenges often remain to develop morebroadly based practices throughout countries that involve differentministries and departments at national, provincial, districtor even municipal and village levels.In some countries, disaster management information has beenclassified or restricted, as a matter of public security. Whencombined with a lack of coordination between various governmentagencies, competing departmental issues or a persistentemphasis given to emergency response, the ability to cite a particulardecree or policy initiative is not necessarily a guarantee ofreal commitment or demonstrated practical abilities on theground.3The country also experiencies other riks too.Due to the rising water levels of the CaspianSea over the past 20 years, the Kazakh shorelinehas grown by 20-40 km and water hasencroached about 70 km inland. The nationalWater Resource Committee has reported thattotal costs for preventing losses from thisincreasing water level will exceed US$ 3-5 billion,as researchers work intensively to reducethese future risks. The northern slope of thewest Tengshan range, where Almaty is located,is exposed to floods, mud and debris flows,avalanches and landslides. In particular, landslidesthreaten areas where more than 150,000people are living. In May 2002, southern partsof Kazakhstan were affected by storms andheavy rainfall that caused serious flooding incities.Although disaster awareness issues are beingraised in scientific and official circles, there isstill a lack of general public awareness,although that is slowly changing. The EmergencySituation Agency has prepared manybrochures, pamphlets and videos to expand thegeneral awareness of these hazards, and thepublic seems to be responsive. A recent newspaperadvertisement for a new apartmentbuilding referred to the structure as being seismic-resistant,a comment that evoked noticeableinterest. On the other hand, people havenot yet understood that investment in disasterreduction is a sound long-term investment.Even among national focal points, there are few standard criteriathat would emphasize the recruitment of trained disaster riskmanagers. Authoritative positions are most frequently occupiedby career administrators who may or may not have any formalprofessional expertise or even familiarity with matters of riskmanagement. Frequent inter-agency transfers of civil serviceofficials further impede opportunities for national organizationsto develop institutional memories with the result of consequentand irrevocable loss of valuable experiences and lessons learned.In terms of policies, many countries assuredly advise that theyhave prepared state, provincial or district level emergency contingencyplans, while some do not have any national disaster riskmanagement system at all. In recent years, national buildingcodes have been drafted in countries that did not before havethem, although compliance and enforcement both remain veryproblematic in many of them. Thousands of buildings are constructedannually in known seismic areas, without incorporatingany established seismic resistance techniques.Population pressures or economic necessities, easily transformedinto local political issues can frustrate the consistent application offlood or landslide protection zoning. Incidence of corruption orthe lack of enforcement of existing policies and regulations areunfortunately much more evident than is generally acknowledgedeither officially or in diplomatic discourse, even though suchadministrative laxity has an important bearing on the effectivenessof any disaster risk reduction programme. It is only when legislationis able to place legal responsibility on specific officials whosedecisions or lack of effective action perpetuate continuing conditionsof vulnerability will risk reduction be able to be truly measured.111