New York, 29 May, 2009 - With the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season less than one week away, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) highlights the need for all countries in the Caribbean/Atlantic region to recognize and prepare for hurricane and tropical storm landfall on their shores.
In recent years the six months from June through November have seen a continuing pattern of destructive storms. In 2008, eight different storms took more than 700 lives, with the western hemisphere’s poorest country, Haiti, bearing the brunt of the season’s wrath. The impact of one tropical storm and three hurricanes in 2008 was significant enough to reverse development gains made in Haiti in 2007, including improvements in security and GDP. More than 800,000 people—or 10 percent of the population—were directly affected by the storms, while the entire country felt their fury.
The increasing frequency of climate-related disasters involving droughts, hurricanes and cyclones highlights the vulnerability of communities as they face heightened risks of loss of life, livelihoods and property. Yet to simply label these events natural disasters implies that the destruction they cause is beyond human control, and that – according to Jordan Ryan, UNDP Director of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery– is far from accurate.
“While we cannot tame the violent storms of nature, we can protect people from the most devastating consequences,” said Ryan. “We have gained valuable experience predicting these events and preparing for them. Armed with this knowledge, we cannot sit back and blame nature for the tragedies we see occurring time and again. Experience has shown that damage and loss of life can be significantly reduced through prevention and preparedness.”
The real tragedies are not the forces of nature, but the consequences of failing to put in place proven measures for reducing losses and promoting quicker and more effective post-disaster recovery. For the past decade UNDP has prioritized disaster risk reduction, urging and assisting its partner governments to do the same. Disaster risk reduction is multi-faceted and involves a wide range of actors. It requires political commitment, public understanding, scientific knowledge, people-centered early warning systems and disaster response mechanisms. Indeed, disaster risk reduction is everyone’s business.
The 21st century has already been marked by escalating economic losses and human devastation caused by natural disasters. In 2008 alone, more than 300 disasters killed more than 235,000 people, affected more than 200 million others and caused losses and damages of USD 181 billion. The number of people in developing countries affected by climate-related disasters has grown steadily from less than 50 million in 1975-1979 to more than 250 million from 2000-2004.
Deaths and economic losses in the 2009 hurricane season are not inevitable, and UNDP has already worked with a number of countries in the Central America-Caribbean region to reduce disaster risk.
In Haiti, UNDP expanded its watershed management programme in Gonaives—the town most affected by the 2008 storms— 100,000 jobs within weeks of the storms, injecting cash in the economy when needs were greatest, rehabilitating the environment and reducing the risks of future disaster. Additional activities support community-based early warning systems and drills involving national and local authorities.
After Cuba suffered badly in the 2008 season, sustaining billions of dollars in damages including the destruction of 53,000 tons of food, UNDP worked with the Cuban government to formulate a plan of action that expands access of communities to meteorological information, invests in the recovery of the housing sector, restores livelihoods, and promotes cooperation with neighboring countries.
After Hurricane Gustav struck Jamaica in August, affecting more than 4,000 people and causing damage in the range of $66 million, UNDP rolled out an early recovery project aimed at reducing the vulnerability of Jamaican communities. A similar project was launched in Turks and Caicos last year in the wake of Hurricane Ike, that caused $500 million in damages in the island nation.
Trends such as increasing human settlement and investment in high-risk coastal areas are placing greater numbers of people and economically important assets in danger of being affected by tropical storms and flooding. “Given the prospect of future climate change, failing to redouble efforts now to reduce climate and weather-related losses is unconscionable,” said Ryan.
For more information on UNDP's work on crisis prevention and recovery, please visit http://www.undp.org/cpr/
For meadia queries, please contact:
Jehane Sedky, United Nations Development Programme, New York, jehane.sedky@undp.org, +1-212-906-6711
About UNDP: UNDP is the UN's global network to help people meet their development needs and build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working as a trusted partner with Governments, civil society and the private sector to help them build their own solutions to global and national development challenges. Further information can be found at www.undp.org
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