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Strengthening the Asian system
for disaster risk reduction
Atsushi Koresawa, Asian Disaster Reduction Center
D
isaster risks have been increasing around the globe,
as has been most starkly demonstrated by the unprec-
edented scope and scale of such recent events as the
Haiti earthquake, extensive flooding in Pakistan, Australia, Sri
Lanka and elsewhere, and heatwaves and wildfires in Russia.
Many factors are driving the increase in disaster risks, including
a rise in the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events
in nearly every part of the world, the continued concentration
of people and economic assets in areas prone to severe natural
hazards as a result of economic growth and concomitant rapid
urbanization, and a level of coping capacity in societies that is
not commensurate with growing disaster risks. This is precisely
what is happening in the Asia-Pacific region today.
Asia-Pacific: a disaster hotspot
Disaster risks are known to be geographically concentrated in certain
countries and specific localities. The Asia-Pacific region is suscep-
tible to natural hazards of almost every kind, from earthquakes to
droughts, floods and tsunamis. Moreover, the region accounts for
nearly 40 per cent of all natural disasters reported in the last three
decades and about 60 per cent of disaster-related deaths. Almost
90 per cent of the total population has been affected by natural
disasters in recent decades. In more concrete terms, four of the six
largest natural mega-disasters in the past decade have occurred in
Asia: the 1994 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake,
and Cyclone Nargis and the Sichuan earthquake, both in May 2008.
Although this picture may change after the Haiti earthquake figures
are taken into account, Asia-Pacific is still the region most vulner-
able to natural disasters.
Emergence of the Asian system of natural disaster response
Having long been affected by natural disasters, the Asia-Pacific region
has been extremely active and innovative in its endeavours to respond
to such events. Indeed, regional collaboration has been driven by the
need to deal with recurring catastrophes. During this process, two
major natural disasters added their own bursts of momentum to these
efforts and are therefore worth mentioning here.
First, in January 1995, the city of Kobe and surrounding parts of
Hyogo Prefecture in Japan were hit by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake,
resulting in more than 6,400 deaths. The Great Hanshin-Awaji
earthquake, also known as the Kobe earthquake, was the first quake
to severely damage a megacity in an industrialized nation.
This earthquake led to a number of significant changes in the
ways that the international community views and addresses risk.
The concept of a ‘culture of safety’ emerged, requiring that people
have a greater awareness of the disaster risks facing them in their
everyday lives. The lessons learned from the Kobe earth-
quake were so diverse and invaluable that the Japanese
government and Hyogo prefectural government joined
hands to develop a hub of disaster reduction activities
to make good use of those lessons for future genera-
tions of Japanese citizens, as well as the citizens of
other countries. Since then, the Kobe-Hyogo region has
become a venue for many subsequent disaster-related
activities and events, culminating in its role as host of
the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction, held
in Kobe in January 2005, only three weeks after the
Indian Ocean tsunami.
At that conference, 168 governments adopted the
Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA), a ten-
year plan to make the world safer from natural hazards.
While the HFA continues to change in many ways as
countries and people address ever growing disaster risks,
it caused a paradigm shift by turning attention from
post-disaster operations to pre-disaster activities. More
importantly, the HFA has adopted the concept of Total
Disaster Risk Management (TDRM), which was devel-
oped and promoted by two Kobe-based organizations,
the former United Nations Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) Kobe Asia Unit
and the Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC).
The Indian Ocean tsunami added to the momen-
tum of Asian cooperation systems on different scales.
The ASEAN countries initiated a process of negotia-
tion leading to the creation of the ASEAN Agreement
on Disaster Management and Emergency Response
(ADDMER), which is frequently cited as the world’s
only HFA-related binding instrument. Similarly in
South Asia, the SAARC Comprehensive Framework on
Disaster Management for South Asia was developed,
based on the HFA.
The UN system also responded proactively. The
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction (UNISDR) established an Asia-Pacific
regional unit in June 2005. This unit set up the
UNISDR Asian Partnership on Disaster Reduction
(IAP) in cooperation with other UN bodies and other
regional organizations, including the Asian Disaster
Preparedness Center (ADPC) in Thailand and the
Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) in Japan.
Since then, the IAP has been functioning as a forum
where national Governments, regional intergovern-
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