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

announced the creation of the Office of CriticalInfrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness(OCIPEP) in February 2001. Theoffice was established to enhance the protectionof Canada’s critical infrastructure from disruptionor destruction, and to act as the governmentof Canada’s primary agency for ensuringnational civil emergency preparedness. Criticalinfrastructure (which includes energy and utilities,communications, services, transportation,safety and government) constitutes the backboneof the nation’s economy, and is essential tothe health, security, safety and economic wellbeingof all Canadians and to the effectivefunctioning of government.The Minister of National Defence is responsiblefor this organisation, which encompasses allthe responsibilities of the previously namedEmergency Preparedness Canada (EPC). With anecessarily broader mandate than the EPC,OCIPEP takes an all-hazards approach, recognizingthat different hazardous events canhave similar impacts. The office providesnational leadership to help ensure the protectionof infrastructure, in both its physical andcyber dimensions, regardless of the source ofthe threat. This includes developing and promotingactivities which reduce vulnerabilitiesagainst various threats and thus mitigate theimpacts of disasters.OCIPEP seeks to enhance the capacity ofindividuals, communities, businesses and governmentsin Canada to effectively manage risksto their physical and cyber environments.Although OCIPEP is a new organization, itsresponsibilities relating to civil emergency preparednessand planning have a long history.Through the former EPC, a great deal of experiencein preparedness, response and recoveryactivities have been gained, resulting in Canada’sincreasingly comprehensive ability to copewith emergency situations. Mitigation, whilean important part of disaster management, haslargely been an implicit requirement. Therehave always been efforts across the nation tomitigate disasters, including land use zoningguidelines and structural protective featuressuch as the Red River Floodway in Manitoba.These mitigating actions have a commonthread: they reduce the probability of a calamityor limit the effect of a disaster should it happen.Policy and public commitment: the foundation of disaster risk reductionHowever, it had been recognised by variousgroups and individuals, that there existed aneed to address hazard mitigation in Canada ina more explicit and systematic way. A NationalMitigation Workshop was hosted by EPC andthe Insurance Bureau of Canada in 1998,attended by academic, private sector and governmentrepresentatives. It concluded that acomprehensive national mitigation initiativewould be a positive step towards the long termgoal of reducing vulnerabilities to, and lossesfrom, disasters. These ideals have been reinforcedby participants of the ongoing CanadianNatural Hazards Assessment Project (CNHAP)in which a community of scientists, scholarsand practitioners in the natural hazards anddisasters field came together early in 2000 tobegin a major new examination of the nationalunderstanding about the causes and consequencesof natural hazards and disasters.In light of a number of multidisciplinary discussionsregarding emergency managementand disaster reduction, the Government ofCanada announced in June 2001 thatOCIPEP will lead consultations on the developmentof a National Disaster Mitigation Strategy(NDMS). These consultations will includeall levels of government, private sector andnon-governmental stakeholders, in order tosolicit their input and participation in definingthe framework for this new national strategy.This important step is being taken in therecognition that new measures should bedeveloped “to save lives, reduce the impact ofdisasters and the resulting damages and coststo the Canadian public”.As a part of this process OCIPEP intends toissue a discussion paper to help stimulate discussionsregarding the NDMS, in the hopes ofobtaining views from various stakeholders onthe possible scope, policies and mechanisms forcoordinating and implementing a nationalstrategy. Meanwhile, the federal governmentcontinues to conduct interdepartmental discussionsabout federal mitigation activities,through an Interdepartmental MitigationCoordinating Committee. Participants includerepresentatives from all relevant federal departmentswho are reviewing preparedness andmitigation initiatives and conducting analysisto identify areas where additional attention isneeded.391