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

3Living with Risk: A global review of disaster reduction initiatives116Another programme for regional collaborationand capacity building was launched by theSwiss Agency for Development and Cooperation followinghurricane Mitch. A Disaster PreventionProgramme (PREVAC) is conceived to runfrom 1999-2003 with a budget of US$ 5 million.Support is being offered to Honduras,Nicaragua and El Salvador responding to theproposals coming from the Strategic Frameworkfor Vulnerability and Disaster Reduction.The programme concentrates on raising awarenessof natural hazards, capacity building andinstitutional strengthening, and works with anarray of institutional actors including ministries,national disaster organizations, scientificand technical institutions and universities.The CaribbeanThe past decade, has seen in increase of multidisciplinarydiscussions regarding disaster andrisk management in the Caribbean. Since itsestablishment in 1991 by the Caribbean Community(CARICOM), the Caribbean DisasterEmergency Response Agency (CDERA) hasworked to create an expanding infrastructurefor a methodical approach for developing disastermanagement programmes among memberstates, including multi-island projects.Initiated to enable countries to cope moreeffectively in the aftermath of a disaster,increasingly, more emphasis has been given todisaster risk reduction as part of developmentand environmental concerns. The idea of disasterreduction has been introduced in mostregional initiatives at policy level, includingthrough the Programme of Action for SmallIsland Developing States, among the CARI-COM priority areas for action, and the programmesof the Association of Caribbean States(ACS).These interests are consistently re-enforced ona sub-regional basis by the biennial CaribbeanNatural Hazards Conferences organized by theprimary regional disaster management stakeholders.These typically have included the Universityof the West Indies (UWI), CDERA,USAID and UNDP. Furthermore, the issueof vulnerability assessment has become one ofthe key foreign policy areas of CARICOM,and it has been raised in several forums includingthe World Bank, IDB, OAS and the Com-monwealth Secretariat. At the Conference ofHeads of Government of the Caribbean Community(COHG), the highest collective decisionmakingbody in the region, the portfolio of disastermanagement and the environment hasbeen declared a matter of cabinet level responsibility.Other agencies have also contributed to capacitydevelopment in the Caribbean throughfunding of disaster management programmesimplemented by government agencies andNGOs. In 1991, CARICOM committeditself to establishing a permanent agency with afocus on preparedness and response planning,supported by its member states. Since thenCDERA has worked to broaden the disastermanagement agenda in the region.It contributed to the development of disastermanagement among member states, as well astraining and development of a core of professionalswho are a valuable source of expertisefor all countries. In partnership with a varietyof donors, the agency has executed a number ofprojects aimed at building the capacity ofmember countries in disaster management.Andean countries of South AmericaThe five countries of the Andean sub-region ofSouth America – Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador,Peru and Venezuela – live with a high level ofrisk and must often cope with disasters. Theseinclude the Huaraz Earthquake in Peru in1970; El Niño/La Niña episodes in 1982-1983and 1997-1998, the volcanic eruption of Nevadodel Ruiz in Colombia in 1985; and themudslides in Venezuela in 1999.The most common types of disasters in theregion are associated with earthquakes, volcaniceruptions, floods and droughts. From asocio-economic point of view, the highestimpact is from hydrometeorological disasters.Aside from the common historic and culturalroots shared by the countries, along with sometopographic similarities, their institutional cooperationis enhanced through the AndeanIntegration System. Growing interest in collaborationwas displayed when the AndeanDevelopment Corporation (CAF/ADC) estab-