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

The shift towards disaster reductionIn all of these cases the drama of the disastersand the urgent international activities to provideemergency relief assistance, command the attentionof the international media – generally onlyfor a few days. The consequences of the disasterslast much longer and are more poignantly measuredin solitude: lives lost, livelihoods disrupted,property destroyed and often increasingly fragileenvironments damaged. All of these lossesimpede the development of the human conditionand often sacrifice previously hard-won individualand national accomplishments. They alsocompromise both immediate and long-termresources upon which current societies, as well asfuture generations, depend.The subject of disaster and risk reduction drawsits relevance from earlier contributions and previouspractices in the disaster managementfields, where traditionally the focus has been onpreparedness for response. Before proceedingfurther though, it is important to establish acommon understanding of the basic tenets ofdisaster reduction that this review addresses.Thus, the review’s outlooks, abilities and practiceswill be clearly distinguished from the conventionalunderstanding of expressions related toemergency or disaster management issues.Living with risk - focus on disaster risk reductionThose closest to affected populations – politicalauthorities, professionals from many differentfields, commercial interests, public organizations,educational institutions and local community leaders– are increasingly recognizing the essential publicvalue of sustained efforts to reduce the social,economic and environmental costs of natural disasters.There has, for example, been a tidal change inthe understanding of countries in Central Americaover the past three years, following the repeateddevastating effects of natural disasters. There isnow increased emphasis placed on risk, and anacceptance that disaster, development and environmentalproblems are inextricably linked.Disaster reduction policies and measures need to beimplemented, with a twofold aim: to enable societies tobe resilient to natural hazards while ensuring thatdevelopment efforts do not increase vulnerability tothese hazards.This understanding is essential if communities areto become more resilient to the effects of hazards sothat disaster losses can be reduced in coming years.These activities make the news much less often,perhaps because they are mostly concerned withpeople during their ordinary work, focused onincorporating risk awareness into their daily existence.1Some Major Catastrophes in the 20th Century