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

Disaster risk management and reduction areabout looking beyond hazards alone to considerprevailing conditions of vulnerability. It isthe social, cultural, economic, and political settingin a country that makes people vulnerableto unfortunate events. The basis of this understandingis simple: the national character andchosen form of governance can be as much ofa determinant in understanding the risks in agiven country, as are the various social, economicand environmental determinants.“While we cannot do away with natural hazards,we can eliminate those we cause, minimize thosewe exacerbate, and reduce our vulnerability tomost. Doing this requires healthy and resilientcommunities and ecosystems. Viewed in this light,disaster mitigation is clearly part of a broaderstrategy of sustainable development-making communitiesand nations socially, economically, andecologically sustainable.”J. AbramovitzThe motivation to invest in disaster riskreduction is first and foremost a human, peoplecentred concern. It is about improvingstandards of safety and living conditions withan eye on protection from hazards to increaseLiving with risk - focus on disaster risk reductionresilience of communities. A safer society to withstanddisasters may be argued as a case of ethics andsocial justice and equity. It is also motivated by economicgains. Socio-economic development is seriouslychallenged when scarce funds are divertedfrom longer-term development objectives to shorttermemergency relief and reconstruction needs. Itis considered by some as illusory to quantify benefitsfrom disaster reduction. They see the issue foremostas a human and social concern rather thanbased on economic rationale and efficiency. Othersadvocate that effective planning and developmentoptions can only be based on a careful estimation ofthe economic gains and poverty impacts of disasters,accompanied by economic justification for therequired investments in vulnerability reduction.Environmentally unsound practices, global environmentalchanges, population growth, urbanization,social injustice, poverty, and short-term economicvision are producing vulnerable societies. Theimpact of development on disasters should be fullyembraced if disaster risk reduction is to yield itsexpected benefits. “Instead of demonising hazardsfor their impacts on society, it would be probablymore correct to demonise society for its impacts onhazards!” (A. Lavell, IDNDR Programme ForumProceedings, 1999).1Children preparing to combatwildland fires inIndonesiaPhoto: Global FireMonitoring Centre, 200027