Elements for Life

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of the Inter-Agency Task Force of ISDR co-chaired by the World

Meteorological Organization and the UN Office for the

Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the resulting report was

presented to the 61st session of the UN General Assembly in

October 2006.

The report concludes that while some warning

systems are well advanced, there are numerous gaps and short-

comings, especially in developing countries and in terms of

effectively reaching and serving the needs of those at risk. It

then recommends the development of a globally comprehen-

sive system in support of existing early warning systems for

various hazards. It also suggests a set of specific actions towards

building national and local people-centred early warning

systems, filling in the main gaps in global early warning capac-

ities, strengthening the scientific and data foundations for early

warning, and developing the institutional foundations for a

global early warning system.

Only months after the Indian Ocean tsunami, the period of

particularly numerous and intense hurricanes along the

Atlantic and Caribbean coastal regions provided the unforget-

table images of Hurricane Katrina’s impact on New Orleans

and nearby areas of the United States of America. Despite

advanced technical capabilities and adequate advance warning

of the various meteorological, hydrological, and even envi-

ronmental and infrastructure threats involved, the severe policy,

organizational and operational failures demonstrated the

crucial importance of shared knowledge associated with the

need for prior investment in risk management.

There extensive losses must lead to more mutually aware

and effective actions between the public, technical practition-

ers and political leaders at multiple levels of responsibility.

None of these professional disciplines, nor the various respon-

sible sectors of society, can any longer remain secure in only

relating to their own immediate, isolated, subject areas. Modern

disaster risks demand much greater outreach and wider ranging

relationships among technical professionals if their work is to

have wide public merit.

The Himalayan earthquake spanning Pakistan and India in

October 2005 demonstrated the severe consequences of

weather and climatic conditions for relief and recovery activ-

ities as more than three million people lost their houses just as

harsh winter conditions rapidly approached. Without mini-

mizing the needs for effective and timely relief services, the

long-felt implications of this Himalayan earthquake have

demonstrated the limitations of relying only on emergency

relief capabilities, as Pakistan now seeks to establish a compre-

hensive national approach to disaster risk awareness and

management.

Other seasonal considerations and the need for wide ranging

global communication capabilities were also apparent during

the northern hemisphere’s winter of 2005-06. The threat of a

widespread global pandemic such as avian influenza, spread

by such uncontrollable factors as wildfowl migration, is causing

much political anxiety and frantic contingency planning. In

more localized environments, such as in tropical Africa, the

need for local communications between government authori-

ties, health professionals, meteorologists and local community

leaders has been recognized as crucial to capitalize on the well-

known temporal relationship between weather conditions and

the outbreak of serious malaria incidents.

Throughout this period, the growing concern about the

effects of global warming, climate variation and change contin-

ued. The ten warmest years on record occurred during the

physical forces that generate these disasters may be natural in

origin as cited above, resulting in the commonly used phrase

of ‘natural disasters’,

a much wider importance needs to be

given to minimizing the conditions that contribute to their

most severe effects.

Any potential disaster is a function of the risk process, occur-

ring from the combination of a physical hazard and the

conditions of vulnerability or physical, social and economic

exposure in which people live. The extent of public under-

standing about the natural hazards to which people are exposed

to in a specific location, and the existing institutional capaci-

ties or operational abilities local communities possess, equally

can reduce their exposure to threatening hazards. Technical

knowledge and a variety of communications services are essen-

tial for maintaining such states of disaster preparedness and

risk management.

While natural hazards are part of nature and cannot be

avoided, there is much existing knowledge, technical, and

professional experience already existing within societies that can

be employed to minimize people’s exposure to the threats posed

by weather, water and climatic conditions and thus reduce disas-

ter risk. Many of these abilities exist within the National

Meteorological Services of all countries.

Given the nature of global weather and climate, as well as

disaster risks which know or respect no political boundaries,

it is essential that multi-disciplinary relationships dedicated to

greater disaster awareness and risk management be created

within and between countries through organized international

structures like the United Nations International Strategy for

Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR).

Learning from disasters

Recent disaster events can illustrate some of the challenges as

well as the opportunities for galvanizing a wider public recog-

nition and motivating professional responsibilities and policy

commitments in order to reduce future disasters. The tragic

Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004, in which more

than 230,000 people died and which devastated the livelihoods

and property of millions more in the 12 countries directly

affected, was a dramatic example of the rationale for educa-

tion and effective early warning systems. Work has proceeded

rapidly over the past two years to recover, with shared resources

committed through the participation of many governments,

international and local organizations, commercial businesses,

NGOs, media and communications providers.

The global recognition of the practical value of early warning,

and its feasibility to save people’s lives at the time of a disaster

was another direct benefit of the tsunami disaster. The interna-

tional ISDR Platform for Promotion of Early Warning (PPEW)

located in Bonn, Germany is dedicated to advancing the system-

atic development of ‘people-centered’ early warning systems.

Through greater awareness and practical projects such as those

showcased at the Third International Conference on Early

Warning, held in Bonn in March 2006, these expanding insti-

tutional commitments bring together the linked responsibilities

of risk assessments, hazard monitoring and warning services,

means of communications and better-prepared communities.

Global early warning received a further boost by the request

of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to conduct a global survey

of early warning systems to assess capacities, gaps and oppor-

tunities for building a comprehensive global early warning

system for all natural hazards. Undertaken by a working group