Natural Disaster Reduction - News & Events

It’s a question that will haunt Cuddalore for a long time. Had the tsunami struck next year, could they have lost fewer lives? The answer to that lies in the district’s Samiyarpettai village, among its most hazard-prone and vulnerable, that lost 22 lives against 102 in Pudukuppam, thanks to the training they received under the UNDP-funded District Disaster Management and Mitigation Project a few months ago. Almost all other worst-affected Cuddalore villagers were to be covered under the programme next year. Cuddalore is one of the seven districts in Tamil Nadu selected for the exercise. District Collector Gagandeep Singh Bedi had identified Samiyarpettai as a model village for the project as it was multi-hazard prone, vulnerable to floods, droughts and earthquakes.
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More information: DRU & India // Earthquakes & Tsunamis in India websection

During the “Interamerican Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction” held in Manizales, Colombia between the 17th and 19th of November 2004, representatives of governmental and non governmental, regional and sub regional agencies and organisations, professionals, researchers and teachers from private and public universities and interested members of the public and press met as “world citizens” to discuss and reflect on the issues of disaster risk and risk management. Considering the prior agreements reached during the 1994 Interamerican Conference held in Cartagena de Indias and the Yokohama World Conference on the Reduction of Natural Disasters, the following considerations, conclusions and recommendations emerged from this latest venue. These points constitute an input into the agenda of regional institutions and agencies, and a key message to the participants at the 2nd World Conference on Disaster Reduction to be held in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan between the 18th and 22nd of January, 2005.
More information:
• The Manizales Declaration: English version - PDF
• La Declaración de Manizales - Versión en español - PDF
• 2nd WCDR Website // UNDP Contribution to the WCDR

UNDP in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Centre and UNOCHA organized a national workshop on disaster risk management in Kandy, Sri Lanka on 13-14 December 2004. The workshop brought together 15 district secretaries (out of total 25 districts) and senior officials from key national institutions involved in different aspects of disaster risk management. The workshop focused on comprehensive approaches to disaster risk management at the district and division (sub-district) level and emphasized the need for more proactive action rather than only reactive measures after the occurrence of disasters. This national workshop will be followed by two sub-national workshops that will bring together local level government functionaries and orient them on different aspects of comprehensive disaster risk management.
More information: UNDP Sri Lanka Country Office // UNDP DRU & Sri Lanka

United Nations humanitarian agencies and partners of the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC), a body that fosters enhanced interagency collaboration on humanitarian policy and operations, launched today a new humanitarian early warning service Web site, HEWSweb. This Web site displays the latest forecasts, reports and alerts on drought, floods, tropical storms, locust infestation, El Nino, earthquakes and volcanic activity. It has dedicated pages for each of these natural hazards, including additional references and resources. In the near future, HEWSweb will also offer the opportunity to access and share information on sociopolitical crises. HEWSweb represents a humanitarian partnership project developed by the IASC to foster enhanced humanitarian preparedness, and it is supported by a variety of partners including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN refugee organization (UNHCR), UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as well as a consortium of international non-governmental organizations. (...)
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More information: HEWS -Humanitarian Early Warning Service Website

One person is reported to have been killed by a mudslide. Heavy rain has been falling since the weekend, and is forecast to continue for a few days. Floods caused by incessant rains over the past few days have affected seven districts of North, Eastern and North Central Provinces of Sri Lanka. Nearly 149,150 families in the Ampara, Batticaloa, Mullaitivu, Polonnnaruwa and Anuradhapura districts, Kilinochchi and Trincomalee are estimated to be affected due to the floods and around 600 families due to landslides in Badulla district. The floods have cut power lines and made roads impassable in the area. The government has launched an urgent operation to provide shelter and move people to safer areas. (...)
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More information: UNDP Sri Lanka Country Office // UNDP DRU & Sri Lanka

The United Nations Flash Appeal seeks US$ 6.4 million to meet the relief and emergency rehabilitation needs of those affected by four consecutive typhoons and tropical storms. In a span of three weeks in November and December 2004 landslides and flash floods resulting from these typhoons and storms caused widespread destruction, particularly on the Eastern coast of the main island of Luzon. As of 13 December, the Government reported 1,060 dead, 1,023 injured and 559 missing. Houses, infrastructure, and agricultural crops were wiped out and replaced by a thick layer of mud, fallen trees, and logs. Continued relief assistance is needed, particularly in these remote and inaccessible areas. Emergency rehabilitation activities require immediate support in order to restore provision of life-sustaining services. The United Nations system in the Philippines responded instantly, with the United Nations Disaster Management Team (UNDMT) meeting with the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC). The NDCC quickly indicated the urgent relief requirements and requested the United Nations Resident Coordinator to mobilise international assistance. The Resident Coordinator alerted bilateral and multilateral donors. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) (pre-positioned funds from Ireland and Norway) provided emergency grants. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) responded with emergency programmes. (...)
Full Flash Appeal (PDF)
More information: UNDP Philippines Country Office // UNDP DRU & Philippines

The “Andean Strategy for Disaster Prevention and Response” serves as a policy tool and an action plan for developing disaster prevention and response programmes. Since December 2003, the General Secretariat of the Andean Community, with the support of the UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR), and as national counterparts – the collective institutions that comprise the Andean Committee for Disaster Prevention and Assistance (CAPRADE), has been working on a project for the formulation of a Disaster Prevention and Response Strategy (DPR) in the region, which includes Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela. The strategy, reached by the consensus of more than 650 participants in the sub-region, was established to promote the development of prevention and preparedness programmes, the strengthening of policies and institutions in each country, and the creation of synergies with similar international programs. Taking into consideration the fact that the five participating countries shared common risk, the strategy adopted a collaborative approach to capacity strengthening in major areas such as risk knowledge, development planning, risk management, preparedness and response in emergency situations, and risks in bordering areas.
Andean Strategy Spanish Version
More information: UNDP DRU & Latin America and the Caribbean // CAPRADE -Comité Andino. para la Prevención y Atención de Desastres Website

UNDP’s global report, ‘Reducing Disaster Risk: a challenge for development,’ was launched in Tehran, Iran in November 2004. The national launch took place amidst representatives of 9 countries in central and south west Asia: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, I.R. Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan. It was attended by high level officials from various ministries, government agencies, UN agencies and civil society actors. An exclusive media briefing was organised —covering both print and broadcast — to enable wide dissemination of the report findings. This global report will serve as a framework for compiling a National Disaster Risk Report for Iran.
RDR English Version // Versión en español del informe mundial // Version française du rapport mondial
More information: UNDP DRU & Asia // The RDR in the Press // Iran Lauch

Developed by CEPREDENAC and UNDP/BCPR, the publication “Regional Programme for Risk Management in Central America; Ideas and Notions relating to Concept and Practice” is targeted at actors that intervene in local development, offering a series of guidelines that can aid future development actions in contributing to the reversion of the risk accumulation process to disasters. More specifically, actors will gain knowledge of lessons from a series of experiences that describe the outcomes and limitations of local risk management, and that also provide a measurement of pending challenges. This publication aims to facilitate a continual reflection by local level risk reduction actors on the acquired facts, and steer risk reduction into the forefront of territorial management actions, consistently promoting a sustainable development framework. The product of a collaborative reflection by local level risk reduction actors, this publication is comprised of a collection of more than one hundred (100) local risk management experiences within the region, from which the most representative of transmitting lessons learned in disaster risk reduction, were systematized, to ultimately be replicated in development processes.
This publication is available in both English and Spanish.

More information: UNDP DRU & Central America // UNDP-DRU Publications // CEPREDENAC Website

In the aftermath of a series of storms that pounded the Philippines last week, UN agencies are working together to respond to needs created by the disaster. Though floodwaters are receding in most areas, access to the provinces hardest hit by the storms---Aurora, Nueva Ecija, and Quezon---remains possible only by boat and helicopter. Since its arrival on Saturday the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team (UNDAC) has had meetings with the UN's in-country Disaster Management Team, (UNDMT), The Philippines National Disaster Coordination Council (NDCC), donors and NGOs to discuss the best way to meet and assess emergency needs in these conditions. (...)
Full story // OCHA ReliefWeb Situation Reports: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8
Philippines: Floods - Situation map
More information: UNDP Philippines Country Office // UNDP DRU & Philippines

Intense rainfall in the upper watershed of the Chucunaque River in the Darien province, starting 16 November 2004, produced progressive flooding in the following rivers: Tuqueza, Membrillo, Chico, Tupiza, Urganti and Chucunaque according to the Emergency Operations Center (COE), of the National System for Civil Protection (SINAPROC). Some 25 communities, most of them indigenous, have been affected by the floods. SINAPROC has evacuated people in risk areas, carried out damage assessments, collected data regarding persons affected and "severely affected" and provided information on the distribution of food, water and supplies. The affected communities organized committees in Yaviza, as they have been trained by PAHO as well as by SINAPROC with the support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for emergency and response preparedness. (...)
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More information: UNDP Panama Country Office // UNDP DRU & Panama