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

It is because these factors, compounded by severalextraordinarily costly and disruptive natural disastersduring the later years of the 1990 that there has beena growing commercial awareness of a correlationbetween disaster preparedness, risk reduction andthe survival of businesses. More than 60 per cent ofthe businesses affected by the Northridge earthquakein California in 1996 were out of business sixmonths after the quake. Six years after the GreatHanshin earthquake in Kobe, Japan, the heavilydamaged Port of Kobe has not been able to regain itsprevious competitive standing as the third busiestJapanese port.Motivated by a desire to protect their own assets ortheir competitive standing in markets, commercialenterprises have invested heavily in business continuityservices designed to assess and then mitigatephysical or operational risks to their businesses.Local businesses, trade groups, corporate interests,labour organizations, NGOs and community leadersare all trying to find effective means to share theirrespective abilities and resources in the assessment,planning and reduction of the risks they share intheir community. In recent years there have beenimportant initiatives of corporate groups and otherbusiness-community relationships promoting disasterreduction activities in the common interest.Examples include the Business and Industry Councilfor Emergency Planning and Preparedness (BICEPP),Disaster Recovery Business Alliance (DRBA), PublicPrivate Partnership – 2000 (PPP 2000), and theInstitute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS).A recent study conducted by the Benfield GriegHazard Research Centre of the University CollegeLondon for DFID concludes that while in quitespecific circumstances the potential for public-privatepartnerships may offer promise, in almost allcases they are neither easy to establish, nor to sustainwithout a common understanding and commitmentto the values of risk reduction being shared by allparties involved. This can be very difficult to achieveconsidering the different organizational values andmotivations, not to mention expectations, generallyobserved in commercial, government, and publicinterest organizations.Selected application of disaster reduction measuresThe proposed National Disaster Management Policyof Mozambique recognizes that the potentialimpact of disasters on commerce, industry andagribusiness can threaten the national economy ofthe country to an ever-greater degree. It is alsoaware that as the resources available to state structuresrelative to the business community diminishand as business enterprises assume responsibilityfor providing more essential services to the society,the private commercial sector needs to becomea more crucial partner in all aspects of disaster riskmanagement. Accordingly, strategies able to dedicateresources more effectively for preventingrisks become essential, given the rapid expansionof the national economy.With this in mind, the National Office for DisasterManagement- Instituto Nacional de Gestao de Calamadidas(INGC) has made collaboration with theprivate sector a priority, but certain areas of relatedrisk will require much more attention in thefuture. Most significantly, the threat of seriousindustrial accidents or environmental disasters hasincreased with the development of large-scaleindustrial projects such as refineries or constructionsof pipelines. The potential human and economicconsequences of a severe cyclone damagingprincipal urban centres also needs to be fully consideredin collaboration with the private sector’sown economic interests. Such calculations shouldfactor heavily in national economic policies forassured growth, but also to ensure measures thatcan protect related and essential public infrastructure.With the growing economic impact of disasters,the private sector could be encouraged to becomeactive both in their own risk management practices,as well as in the related contingency planningand disaster risk reduction measures of society. Astrong case can be made that by lending theirimportant political and economic influence toadvocate for national strategies that can protectcritical infrastructure and property assets on whichtheir own businesses depend from avoidable losses,they would also be advancing their own strategiccommercial interests.5251