community-based disaster risk management and the media media kit

2
MEDIA KIT
extensive communication amongst the multiple stakeholders is required
in order to understand each other’s opinions and identify solutions that
are acceptable to each other.
The role of at-risk communities is highly important in this whole process
because ultimately a large number of solutions will be implemented
at the family and community level by the local people. Therefore, any
solutions implemented without the participation and involvement of
the at-risk communities either may not be relevant or not suffi cient to
reduce disaster risks effectively. The experiences in the Asian region
show that the at-risk communities have many capacities to reduce risks
and cope with disasters when they occur. However, it is important to
enhance their capacities further to enable them to effectively cope with
the disaster problem.
Historically, the media has been playing an active role in disaster
situations. Whenever a disaster occurs, the media has to cover it
to provide information about what happened, what authorities and
international aid organizations are doing to respond and how effective
the response is. The media also has been playing an important part
in communicating early warning to at-risk communities. Recently the
role of the media is being recognized in other phases of the disaster
cycle as well, e.g. the Pre-Disaster Phase and the Rehabilitation and
Reconstruction Phase, aside from the During-Disaster Phase, in which
the media is already an active player.
Now the governments, United Nations, donor agencies, and development
NGOs have recognized that the media can assist in reducing disaster
risks. The media plays an important role in providing analysis on
disaster risks and vulnerabilities, in facilitating communication amongst
multiple stakeholders, in highlighting the need for longer term actions
to reduce risks, and particularly in increasing awareness of the at-risk
communities on disaster preparedness. Thus Media can perform a very
important function of facilitating communication amongst the different
stakeholders in general, as well as raising awareness of the at-risk
communities.
This role of the media was acknowledged in the World Conference on
Disaster Reduction (WCDR) that was held in Kobe, Japan at the initiative
of the United Nations in January 2005. In line with the recommendations