PROGRESS NOTED IN EFFORTS TO REDUCE EARTHQUAKE IMPACT

Press Release
IHA/692

PROGRESS NOTED IN EFFORTS TO REDUCE EARTHQUAKE IMPACT

(Reissued as received)

GENEVA, 26 November (UN Information Service) Bð- There are now practical tools to reduce the impact of earthquakes before the disaster strikes according to experts of the “Radius Initiative” -- Risk Assessment Tools for Diagnosis of Urban Areas against Seismic Disaster -- in a meeting convened in Geneva by the Secretariat of the United Nations International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction.

Recent earthquakes in Turkey, Greece and Taiwan have highlighted the importance of long term preventive actions to be taken to ensure that cities are earthquake resilient. Since we cannot stop earthquakes from occurring, we must act to prevent and mitigate their worst consequences on people and poverty.

Launched in April 1998 by the disaster reduction Secretariat, the Initiative has been carried out with the technical assistance of three international institutes: OYO Corporation (Japan); GeoHazards International (GHI, USA); and Bureau de Recherches GÚologiques et Minipres (BRGM, France). The Initiative has been financed by Japan.

The “Radius Initiative” has achieved its four main objectives:

-- it has developed earthquake damage scenarios and action plans for 9 case study cities selected worldwide from 58 applicants: Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Antofagasta (Chile), Bandung (Indonesia), Guayaquil (Ecuador), Izmir (Turkey), Skopje (The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Tijuana (Mexico) and Zigong (China);

-- has produced practical tools for estimation and management of urban seismic risk, which will be used in many other cities around the world to initiate similar activities;

-- has considerably raised public awareness of the seismic risk among citizens and the civil society, and

-- has promoted information exchange for seismic risk mitigation at city level.

More than 100 cities worldwide participated as member cities and associate cities in the Initiative and its network of information. The nine cities in the case studies developed earthquake damage scenarios and action plans, involving decision-makers and mass media in a multidisciplinary way. Public awareness has been significantly raised in those cities.

The initiative of the disaster reduction Secretariat for seismic risk reduction has also produced a comparative study on understanding urban seismic risk around the world and/or present vulnerabilities of selected cities, guidelines for risk management and a manual for preliminary earthquake damage assessment. The developed tools will help plan urban priorities for safe cities and improve the management of earthquake damage.

- 2 - Press Release IHA/692 26 November 1999

Seismic risk reduction is a long term issue. The “Radius Initiative” is the first step of a long process. By its achievements, the Initiative draws an open circ