PRESS CONFERENCE on international day for disaster reduction

Emergency relief work had progressed significantly over the last few years, but little had been done to reduce disaster risk or prevent disasters from devastating so many lives, Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, said at a Headquarters press conference today.

Mr. Egeland was speaking ahead of the International Day for Disaster Reduction -- to be observed tomorrow, 11 October -- which would feature the “unique partnership” with the International Strategy of Disaster Reduction (ISDR).  Accompanying him were Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, and Katherine Sierra, Vice-President and Head of the World Bank’s Network for Infrastructure.

Noting that 2005 had been called “the year of the disasters”, owing to the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake that affected Pakistan and other parts of South Asia, Mr. Egeland said 2006 had not been much better.  Up until October, 267 disasters had occurred in which 91 million lives had been devastated.  The economic toll over the last 12 months amounted to some $173 billion, and over the last generation, five times more people had been affected by disasters than before.

Two factors contributing to that “explosion of disasters”, he said, were climate change and the presence of many more people in environments that were more exposed to disasters.  The changing climate was causing many more extreme weather-related disasters, and 2006 had seen devastating droughts in Africa as well as more floods than had occurred in Asia and Africa in many years.  With many more people exposed, non-increasing disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis affected a larger number of lives.

The good news was that country after country was proving that the worst consequences of disasters could be prevented in relatively easy ways, he said, noting that schools should be made earthquake- and hurricane-proof all over the world within the decade.  In Pakistan and India, 17,000 children had died in one minute and 6,000 schools had collapsed.  Since then, 7,600 architects and engineers had been trained in the construction of safer buildings.  In the reconstructed earthquake-proof schools, 38 of the students enrolled were girls.

He said 85 countries now had focal points for the follow-up to the Hyogo Platform for Action agreed in Japan last year, and 40 countries had reported what they were doing.  In the ISDR, the United Nations system, the World Bank, non-governmental organizations -- including the Red Cross and Red Crescent -- and Governments were banding together.  The World Bank was now investing money and expertise in disaster risk prevention on an “unprecedented scale”.

Noting that the Bank had been involved in disaster reconstruction work, Ms. Sierra said that over the years, it had invested some $26 billion in post-conflict and post-disaster recovery activities since 1984.  But, the Bank should also be in the prevention business and, through its Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, it would provide a platform for the international donour community to channel grants to other members of the ISDR system.  The Facility aimed to share knowledge, including through a $5 million grant to the ISDR.  The Bank would also provide grants to enable countries to be better prepared for climate and disaster issues.  It had published, with Columbia University, the report Hot Spots, which identified the 86 countries most at risk for natural disasters.

Mr. Jarraud said that while there was indeed a worrisome trend in the number of disasters, there had also been a significant decrease over the last 25 years in the number of people losing their lives, a result of prevention and early warning.  Investing a dollar in prevention freed $10 for development activities.  There was also a need for a multi-hazard approach to disasters.  The earthquake in Pakistan was not a meteorological event, but the fact that it had occurred just before the winter meant that lives could be lost to cold weather.

Stressing that the disaster risk reduction partnership went beyond the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, the Red Cross and Governments, he said a close partnership with the media was also very important.  They could save lives by relaying warnings, by analyzing events afterwards, and by educating the public as well as decision-makers.

Answering questions, Mr. Egeland said the ISDR was a General Assembly-based, United Nations network of which he was the coordinator.  It had 168 country affiliates.  Great progress in disaster prevention had been made in Asia, and the biggest problems were in Africa, where there were not enough resources.

Asked what steps could be taken to address the twin problems of climate change and exposed living, Mr. Egeland said there were too many slum dwellers in mega-cities, where lives could be devastated in a matter of seconds.  Many poor people could not be reached in case of a disaster.  Hurricanes could be predicted with great precision, but the people in their path could not be warned.

Ms. Sierra added that steps in prevention should address, among other things, land use, planning and building codes.  There was also a question of adapting building codes, not to the risks of today, but to those of tomorrow.  Today’s buildings were constructed with the “100-year storm” in mind, whereas design should perhaps shift to the concept of the “10-year storm”.  Experts from Japan and California were working with the World Bank on that.  The question of building codes also often highlighted the matter of corruption, another issue of governance.

Regarding climate change, Mr. Jarraud said there were more greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, in the atmosphere than before.  The increase was due to human activities and would contribute to a warmer atmosphere.  Although the change would not be uniform all over the earth –- the polar regions would probably warm more than other regions -– the increase would, among other things, put more stress on water resources.

Answering a question about the situation in Pakistan, where, according to some, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had worked with a group that was on the United Nations terrorist watch list, Mr. Egeland said it worked with effective people, but not with groups on the terrorist watch list.  OCHA did not ask hungry people about their affiliations.  In southern Lebanon, for instance, it was very difficult not to work with people affiliated with Hizbollah, as it was in respect of people in Kashmir.

In response to another question about Pakistan, he said 35,000 people were living in camps, but more than a million were living in shelters of unacceptable quality.  A total of 3.5 million had been affected by the earthquake.  The operation in Pakistan had been one of the “most effective relief operations ever”.

The fact that people in New Orleans, who had been warned about the dangers of Katrina, had not left showed that even the world’s most powerful and richest countries had to review their evacuation plans, he said in response to another question.  That applied not only to the United States, but also to countries in Europe that had been affected by serious flooding.

There was no donour fatigue, Mr. Egeland said in reply to another question.  Assistance was now bigger and more predictable than ever, but it was not enough.

Asked about the disaster reduction programme in Nigeria, he said the United Nations Country Team was working closely with local civil society organizations, as were the World Bank, the Red Cross and other non-governmental organizations.

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For information media • not an official record