Sandstorm crossing the African continent. Copyright courtesy NASA

UN agencies in Germany
focus on disaster preparedness

UNCCD highlighted urgency of early warning systems at joint UN press talk in Bonn, Friday 7 January 2005.

BONN, 10 January 2005

Representatives from several Bonn-based UN agencies and German institutions met with journalists on 7 December to highlight ways to reduce the devastating impact of disasters.

Organized by the city of Bonn, the press briefing focused on the importance of public education in disaster preparedness and early warning systems (EWS) to help mitigate the effects of natural and human-induced catastrophes.

Referring to the 26 December tsunamis, Reid Basher, Coordinator of the Bonn office of the UN Secretariat for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), said the death toll could have been substantially lower if systems were in place to issue an alert. "Instead of putting money into disaster relief activities, resources would be better employed if invested into early warning systems," he said. "The loss of life was later, not when the earthquake happened. People could have taken action if they had warning."

Irmgard Schwaetzer, President of the German Committee for Disaster Reduction (DKKV), said the Indian Ocean disaster on 26 December is a clear sign that governments and agencies working in disaster mitigation cannot continue business as usual. "When will the global community utilize the knowledge and expertise on disaster preparedness it already possesses?" she said. "Decision makers and society at large need to be mobilized on a permanent basis. Governments, in turn, need to be obligated to actually apply early warning systems."

Schwaetzer also pointed out that creeping catastrophes like desertification need to be taken as seriously as those that occur unexpectedly. In many countries threatened by desertification, both governments and the people lack awareness and sufficient strategies to utilize early warning systems.

"The poor are the most severely affected by all natural disasters," added Grégoire de Kalbermatten, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). "Poverty and disaster vulnerability have an intrinsic relationship and are mutually reinforcing". Factors such as low income, poor housing and public services, lack of social security and insurance coverage expose the poor to greater risk," De Kalbermatten explained.

Many countries suffering from severe natural disasters like drought lack clear policies for disseminating EWS information to vulnerable individuals and communities, due to a poor communication infrastructure. Awareness is low among the affected communities on ways to manage drought disasters. Participatory planning in EWSs must be considered as a fundamental public policy building block.

The press talk's panelists also used the event to speak on the upcoming World Conference on Disaster Reduction, which takes place in Kobe, Japan from 18 to 22 January 2005. Some 3,000 participates are expected to attend, including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Also in attendance were the following speakers:

Bärbel Dieckmann
Lady Mayor
City of Bonn

Dr. Irmgard Schwaetzer
Executive Director
German Committee on Disaster Prevention (DKKV)

Ad de Raad
Executive Coordinator
UN Volunteers (UNV)

Reid Basher
Coordinator
Platform for the Promotion of Early Warning
UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR)

Grégoire de Kalbermatten
Deputy Executive Secretary
UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

Salwa Dallalah
Manager
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Professor Dr. Janos Bogardi
Director
Institute for Environment and Human Security
UN University (UNU-EHS)

Professor Dr. Günter Klein
Director
European Centre for Environment and Health
World Health Organization (WHO)

Dr. Christina Bollin
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)

For further information, please contact the UNCCD press office at +49/228 815-2847