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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
3Living with Risk: A global review of disaster reduction initiativeschallengesFuture challenges and prioritiesCoherent and comprehensive approaches tobuilding institutional frameworks, at bothnational and local levels, are essential if one isto speak seriously of a sustained commitmentto disaster risk reduction. This includes theneed of policies and collaborative effortsamong sectors, departments and institutionswhich deal with the different layers of development.While governments need to encourage, directand support these efforts, the vitality and effectivenessof the resulting organizational frameworksand operational capabilities remainbased on the understanding and motivation ofpublic interests. This includes, particularly, theengagement of people with a wide circle ofskills and attributes ranging from educationalpractices to various forms of technical expertise.Acceptance of the necessity of risk management,coupled with direction and coordination,all backed by resources, are the hallmarks ofinstitutionalized capabilities. The primarychallenges and priorities to accomplish thesegoals include:• Government authorities understandingthe distinctiveness of disaster risk managementand the value of investing in riskreduction to protect the well-being andthe assets of society.• The recognition and acceptance of allocatingresources, over time, based on collectivejudgement about the needs of sustaineddisaster risk management is essential.Calculating and understanding therelative costs and benefits of anticipatoryprotection needs to be emphasiyed in contrastto sustaining much greater avoidablelosses.• All communities and countries need toassess variations in the intensity and theextent of hazards, evaluate local prioritiesand determine the relative degree of riskinvolved. This in turn will determine therequirements for sound institutionalframeworks.• The primary challenge is to begin with aself-assessment of national capacities –from government to local level – in riskawareness and management. While thiscan be done by using self-determined criteria,abundant expert guidance and specialistknowledge is available throughoutthe world.• Examples cited display the importance oftranscending the theoretical expression ofpolicy frameworks and legal instrumentsand realizing their actual effects, in practice.• National authorities and local leaders needto embrace policies that:- are realistic for the case at hand;- are linked to regulatory mechanismsthat are enforced or effect change;- have an obvious benefit understood bylocal communities;- have obvious political advantages forpolitical power holders;- have economic advantages to the privatesector;- can be implemented with availableresources.• The extent to which disaster risk reductionis identified as integral to fundamentalpolitical responsibility can encouragegreater sustained commitment in supportof long-term national development objectives.It is essential that policy directionand operational capabilities be developedin multiple areas of governance and civilsociety if a culture of prevention is to becultivated and extended to future generations.112
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DLiving with RiskA global review of
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Bastien Affeltranger, FranceTom Alc
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IntroductionThis is a preliminary v
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“Imagine all the people…”It w
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Eruption of Mount Agung, Bali, Indo
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Living with risk - focus on disaste
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The shift towards disaster reductio
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Taking these developments into acco
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Disaster risk reduction - a sharedr
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A disaster is a function of the ris
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Disaster risk management and reduct
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Chapter2Risk awareness and assessme
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Understanding the nature of hazards
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Risk awareness and assessment2Map-
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The figure below illustrates the fo
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Trends in disaster impactWhile no c
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Trends in hazardsUntil recently, th
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Risk awareness and assessment2Nyira
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Risk awareness and assessment2ISDR
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Risk awareness and assessment2Reduc
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Risk awareness and assessment2Wildl
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Regional initiativesRegional inform
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Building understanding: development
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North AmericaThe Natural Hazards Re
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EuropeA different type of informati
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created a more readily understood c
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Technical information service conve
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ole in defining these future requir
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A second initiative to disseminate
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support, contribute to the establis
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issues, climatic uncertainty, chang
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anism that has been exploited to on
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preparedness are frequently attribu
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Institutional basis to transmit exp
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lic information must necessarily in
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information including links to many
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ized a workshop with the support of
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nication remains the local language
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In 2001, government officials, ADRC
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challengesFuture challenges and pri
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Chapter5A selection of disasterredu
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5Living with Risk: A global review
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Annexesa1Annex 1Terminology: Basic
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Emergency management involves the p
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Recovery (rehabilitation and recons
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Annexesa2Annex 2Directory: Internat
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Annexesa2Business and Industry Coun
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Annexesa2Comisión Nacional de Prev
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Annexesa2Disaster Management Center
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Annexesa2Experimental Climate Predi
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Annexesa2Instituto Nicaraguense de
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Annexesa2International Drought Info
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Annexesa2Musokotwane Environment Re
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Annexesa2Organization of Eastern Ca
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Annexesa2South Asian Association fo
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Annexesa2Unit for Sustainable Devel
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Annexesa3Annex 3aList of ACRONYMSAC
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Annexesa3CREDCRIDCSDCSDSCSIRCSTCSWC
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GEOGESIGFMCGHIGIEWSGISGLIDESGLO-DIS
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Annexesa3mMABMADERMANDISAMARNMATEMC
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Annexesa3SARCOFSARDCSARECSBOSCF-UKS
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Annexesa4Annex 4aBibliographyAbramo
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Annexesa4eDisaster Relief. Worldwid
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Annexesa4kKent,m lRandolph. 1987. A
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Annexesa4Thompson, C. 1993. Drought
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The International Strategy for Disa
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