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

ole in defining these future requirements forRCC functions in the Regions through theircross-program analysis and wide circulation ofmulti-disciplinary information. At the sametime the predominant, and distinctive, rolesand requirements of different geographicalregions around the world are recognized asbeing crucial to the most effective accomplishmentof the intended objectives. As a broadconceptual framework of RCCs continues toemerge, attention will proceed with individualRegions considering their specific requirementsand assessing current operational andtechnical abilities to meet them.Wildfire and related hazardsThe current state of fire science that includesfundamental fire research and fire ecology andthe results of bio-geochemical and atmosphericsciences research of the last decade providesufficient knowledge to support decision-makingin fire policy at most management levels ofresponsibility. However, in many countries thiswealth of knowledge and expertise is either notknown or is not readily accessible and availablefor developing adequate fire policies and relatedmeasures of operational management. Theprolonged and severe fire and smoke episodethat occurred in Southeast Asia in 1997-98demonstrated that the available knowledgeabout fire and the related management expertisewas utilized only to a limited extent. Thesecircumstances led to confusion and uncertaintyat national, regional and international levels ofresponsibility, resulting in delayed decisionsand the late application of appropriately targetedinternational response to the fire and smokeemergencies. Retrospectively this could beexplained by the lack of a regional SoutheastAsian fire information system.Considering the wider extent of fire issuesaround the world, as well as the extent of globalexperience in the field. The establishment ofan institution preliminarily designated as a"Global Fire Management Facility" was proposedby a number of international conferencessince 1996. On the basis of these recommendationsthe Government of Germany respondedthrough the Office for the Coordination ofHumanitarian Assistance in the Ministry ofForeign Affairs to establish a Global Fire MonitoringCenter (GFMC) at the Max PlanckBuilding understanding: development of knowledge and information sharingInstitute for Chemistry in Freiburg, Germanyfrom October 1998.The GFMC serves an active role in the documentation,information and monitoring servicefunctions among the fire science community,the technical community of engineering, technologydevelopment, the primary user communityof fire managers, as well as policy makers.It aims to provide widespread and timely informationin the field of long-term strategic planningfor the prevention of disastrous wildlandfires as well as enabling preparedness measuresand appropriate responses for fire emergencies.A worldwide network of many institutions andindividuals generates GFMC products of bothnational and global scale. All of that informationand data are systematically collected, interpretedand displayed on the Internet by theGFMC at www.uni-freiburg.de/fireglobe.The information remains current, being updatedfrequently, and as may be required, daily. Itis then archived for future reference orresearch purposes.Seismic HazardsWhile there are many seismological and seismicengineering institutes around the world,widely known among the practitioners mostimmediately involved for their technical orinformational services. Two representativeexamples of information centers are cited herethat are particularly engaged in the disseminationof information about the seismic hazards.The Earthquake Hazards Program of theUnited States Geological Survey (EHP/USGS) is part of the National EarthquakeHazards Reduction Program lead by the FederalEmergency Management Agency. Thisprogram has the primary objective to providerelevant earthquake science information andknowledge for reducing deaths, injuries, andproperty damage from earthquakes throughunderstanding of their characteristics andeffects and by providing the information andknowledge needed to mitigate those losses.The EHP/USGS' role is to provide earth sciencesinformation and related products forearthquake loss reduction. Information is availableon its website at (www.earthquake.usgs.gov/ ) to serve its specific goals.1734