PRESS BRIEFING ON DISASTER-REDUCTION INITIATIVES

PRESS BRIEFING ON DISASTER-REDUCTION INITIATIVES

In 2003 alone, over 70,000 people perished in some 700 disasters that affected 600 million men, women and children and caused $65 billion in damages, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press briefing. 

Joining him at the launch of the 2004 version of “Living with Risk: A global review of disaster reduction initiatives”, an unprecedented compilation of concrete examples of what people were doing to make the world a safer place, was the Deputy Director of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat, Helena Molin-Valdez.

Mr. Egeland said that natural disasters affected seven to 10 times more people in a year than the often talked about conflicts.  However, due to “enormously better prevention strategies”, tens of thousands of lives, homes and livelihoods were saved every year.  For example, a decade or two ago, the big monsoon floods now affecting South Asia would have taken an enormous number of lives, homes and livelihoods.  Today, while they affected millions of people in South Asia, they took many fewer lives, as a result of coping mechanisms at the national and local government and community levels.

What had not improved was the number of natural disasters and their gravity, he continued.  They were worse than before, in their severity and frequency.  Natural disasters were clearly overlooked by the international community.  Global trends showed that disasters would increase and affect more people, especially the poor who lived in disaster-prone areas.  The situation would get worse unless more was done with prevention measures, such as those detailed in the report.

Recalling that the earthquakes in Bam and Algeria had killed 30,000 people in seconds, he said that such casualties could drop if local communities took prevention and preparedness measures, with the help of the international community and national governments.  He hoped the world would invest more in disaster prevention.  Donors were waking up to that, he noted, but it was much easier to get assistance the day after an earthquake, than to get it for prevention or preparedness measures.

In that regard, he hoped the forthcoming World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan, in January 2005 could be the “big rallying point” for a new strategy for the international community in the area of disaster reduction.

Asked just how willing governments were to spend on prevention, Mr. Egeland said that those in the South were increasingly responsive and responsible, especially in Asia, Latin America and the Arab world.  Most frustrating was the situation in most African countries, where there seemed to be no public money to spend on disaster reduction.

Ms. Molin-Valdez added that the heads of State of the countries of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) had met last week in Addis Ababa, where they, in their concluding resolution, encouraged African governments to invest more in disaster reduction.

Responding to a number of questions on Darfur, Mr. Egeland noted that the Secretary-General’s Special Representative was returning to the Sudan, where he would be meeting with the Government to assess its implementation of the joint declaration negotiated during the Secretary-General’s visit to Khartoum.

He noted progress in some areas such as access, while admitting there were big problems in other areas.  The next days and couple of weeks would be crucial in assessing compliance.  The number one problem was the lack of security.  Trucks were being looted and humanitarian workers were being threatened and attacked.  Although that was not only the fault of the Government, the Government needed to do much more to disarm militias, including the Janjaweed.

The situation was improving in some aspects, he stated.  There were now more people on the ground and the aid provided had increased.  However, there was still not enough resources and not all the areas could be reached.  At the same time, the militias had not been demobilized and the security situation was becoming more difficult.  “We are now in a moment of truth which would last for some weeks.”

The agreement had not been fully implemented, and the Government and others addressed in the agreement had to do more, he said.  That was true for the rebels, as well as the international community.  He was increasingly concerned that there might be pressure for involuntary return, examples of which had been seen.  Many wanted to return, but felt it was too early to do so, due to a lack of security.  Among the key points was to ensure that return was voluntary and security was re-established for civilians.

As for why the international community was so slow to respond to Darfur, he said that it was due to the lack of access, as well as the reluctance by some in bringing the situation to the forefront, because it was seen as competing for attention with the good news coming out of the peace process in southern Sudan.  Today, Darfur was blessed with enough attention.  At the same time, the equally bad situation in northern Uganda, where massacres of children were continuing unabated, required an equal amount of attention.

On the subject of response, he stated that the humanitarian community was able to respond within 24 hours anywhere in the world.  Thanks to satellite imagery, it was possible to see exactly where displaced persons were.  At the same time, it was not possible to reach about 10 to 20 million people due to lack of access and security.  Those with the money, both traditional donors and the “new rich countries”, did not provide enough resources.

Asked if his Office had an emergency programme for displaced Palestinians, he noted that there was a growing humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian areas.  The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) had too little resources to respond and faced too many obstacles in carrying out its work.  The United Nations was trying to work with the relevant authorities in order to facilitate humanitarian work.

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