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Press Release No.866

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EXTREME EVENTS ONLY BECOME DISASTERS WHEN WE FAIL TO PREPARE FOR THEM

On 14 October - International Day for Disaster Reduction

Geneva, 14 October 2009 (WMO) - Disasters continue to cause considerable impacts on lives, livelihoods and property. In the last few days, the world has witnessed, once again, the negative impacts of hazards, causing the loss of life of thousands of people. However, in the last five decades, while the economic losses associated with weather-, water,- and climate-related hazards have increased on a global scale by a factor of 50, loss of life has decreased by a factor of 10. This has been attributed to the development of effective early warning systems in countries with recurrent risk of hazards. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), today celebrating the International Day for Disaster Reduction, is working with its international partners and its 188 Members around the world to integrate early warning systems into emergency preparedness and response, and learn from good practices.

During the past weeks, in South East Asia, typhoon Ketsana killed nearly 300 people, causing severe flooding in Metro Manila Central, southern Louzon, parts of Visayas and Mindanao in the Philippines. Typhoon Ketsana also caused flooding and the death of 136 people in Vietnam, as well as flooding in six districts of the Kompong Thon Province in Cambodia. In the Philippines, the situation was exacerbated by typhoon Parma that caused devastation of the agricultural sector in the Isabela Province, and the death of 16 more people. In the South West Pacific, a tsunami caused by an earthquake that struck the Samoa area on 29 September caused significant impacts in Samoa and damages in other islands. In north-eastern Sicily, Italy, heavy rainfall triggered early October landslides that caused the death of 25 people and damage to infrastructure and housing.

Between 1980 and 2007, nearly 8400 disasters caused by natural hazards have taken the lives of over 2 million people and produced economic losses of over 1.5 trillion US dollars, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. Of this total, around 90 per cent of the events, over 70 per cent of casualties and 78 per cent of economic losses were caused by weather-, climate- or water-related extremes such as droughts, floods, windstorms, tropical cyclones, storm surges, extreme temperatures, land slides and wild fires, or by health epidemics and insect infestations directly linked to meteorological and hydrological conditions.

“Extreme events happen” said Geoffrey Love, WMO Director of the Weather, Disaster Risk Reduction Services Department. “They are foreseeable to the extent we understand their likelihood. These only become disasters when we fail to prepare for them.”

Considerable reduction of loss of life can be achieved through the development of effective early warning systems, whereby hazard are detected, monitored, forecasted, and hazard warnings are developed. Risks are also to be analyzed and the information incorporated in the warning messages. Warnings are then to be issued by designated authoritative agency and disseminated in a timely fashion to authorities and public at-risk. Effective early warning systems also require that community-based emergency plans are activated in response to warnings to reduce potential impacts on lives and livelihoods.

Disaster risk reduction is a local activity where communities need to develop strategies to deal with the rare but devastating events. Success stories include Cuba, where the government has made protection of its citizens its highest priority, investing significantly in the development of the Cuban Tropical Cyclone Early Warning System. The benefits of the system were demonstrated in 2008, when the country was hit by five successive hurricanes, but only seven people were killed. In Bangladesh, lessons learned from major storm surges in 1970 and 1991 that caused the death of nearly 300,000 and 138,000 people respectively, led the government to make considerable progress with protection of lives through the implementation of the Bangladesh Cyclone Preparedness Programme. In November 2007, super cyclone Sidr, claimed the lives of less than 3,500. In both cases, the effective operational cooperation between the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) and National Disaster Risk Management Agencies combined with appropriate dissemination mechanism to inform both authorities and the public were instrumental in saving lives.

As part of its disaster risk reduction strategy in assisting governments in developing early warning systems, WMO is working with partners to support the development of early warning systems as integral part of disaster risk management programmes at national level, and linking know-how derived from good practices in early warning systems to national and regional development projects focused on strengthening institutional capacities and cooperation of the NMHS and disaster risk management agencies. A survey conducted by WMO in 2006, revealed that over 60% of the 139 national meteorological and hydrological services that participated in the survey require more investments to develop adequate infrastructure and capacities to warn populations against hazards, particularly in most vulnerable countries. This is being achieved through national and regional cooperation projects involving WMO, the World Bank, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR), and UNDP.

In 2007, projects have been initiated in eight countries in South-Eastern Europe and new ones are being launched in 2009 in seven countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Similar projects are underway in five countries in South East Asia, including Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

While weather forecasts and early warning for extreme weather events are effective tools for reducing loss of life, when disasters happen, they significantly impact socio-economic development and livelihoods of the citizens. Beyond efforts for saving lives, WMO is working to extend these capacities for saving livelihoods. This will be realised through the implementation of the Global Framework for Climate Services that will facilitate development of climate information targeted to the needs of the various sector for enhanced risk assessment and management. The Framework will also facilitate the development and utilization of climate information operationally for disaster risk management decision making, as well as increased investments in data and forecasting technologies.

The Global Framework Climate Services will provide better tools to support medium to long-term planning in climate-sensitive sectors such as drought risk management linked to food security,  water resources management, land zoning, development of new building codes, etc. This will allow development of appropriate disaster risk reductions strategies which are a critical component of climate change adaptation.

WMO is the United Nations System’s authoritative voice on weather, climate and water.

For more information please contact:

At WMO:

Ms Carine Richard-Van Maele, Chief, Communications and Public Affairs, Tel: +41 (0) 22 730 8314, E-mail:  cpa@wmo.int

Ms Gaëlle Sévenier, Press Officer, Communications and Public Affairs, Tel. +41 (0) 22 730 8417, E-mail: gsevenier@wmo.int

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