13 OCTOBER 2019 Disaster Risk Reduction Day

And Global Challenges


(Re-uploaded after CYBER ATTACK of 05-12 Nov.2019)


The first two paragraphs of the FOREWARD on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 written by Mrs. Margareta Wahlström, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction represent a guideline to all the Policy Makers and Stakeholders how to build a Resilient Society: 


[[[The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 was adopted at the Third UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan, on March 18, 2015. It is the outcome of stakeholder consultations initiated in March 2012 and inter-governmental negotiations from July 2014 to March 2015, supported by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction at the request of the UN General Assembly.


The Sendai Framework is the successor instrument to the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. The HFA was conceived to give further impetus to the global work under the International Framework for Action for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction of 1989, and the Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World: Guidelines for Natural Disaster Prevention, Preparedness and Mitigation and its Plan of Action, adopted in 1994 and the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction of 1999.]]]



The question which we tend to ask each 13 October is: to what extent Disaster Resilience is achieved by those who govern us? Natural Hazards from land, ocean and atmosphere continue to cause losses of life, economic gains and of livelihoods. There may be a small reduction in frequency, yet intensity regarding these calamities continues, especially oceanic and atmospheric.


Thus the saying goes that, except a very few, the Policy Makers seem to be ‘Part-Timers, Amateurs and Illiterate in Disaster Management’. Many countries are in this situation, wherein Early Warning Systems (EWS) are defective or inexistent. Some Member States of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) still do not have Satellite and Radar services. Mauritius became a member of WMO in 1969, just a year after attaining independence. A Radar was fixed in 1977 and it became obsolete in 2002, after 25 years of service. Since 2008 until 2013, in which period there was no Meteorological Radar, the rate of loss of live reached 275% within a short lapse of five years: 4 in 2008 and 11 in 2013. Besides, lots of Heavy Rainfalls and Flash Floods continued. However, a new Doppler Radar has been introduced with the financial assistance of Japan and was activated on 08 April 2019.


In addition, the Mauritius Meteorological Services Act was passed by the National Assembly of Mauritius on 13 September 2019. The Acting President of Republic affixed his Assent on 02 October and the Document was made available, unfortunately on 10 October, nearly after one month.

It is noticeable that the Policy Makers who presented their respective debate in the Assembly was no doubt lamentably very poor and unprofessional. Furthermore, as at date, there is no such campaign or event that has been organized in view of marking this 13 October 2019. It is really very sad. ‘How dare you?’  In fact, as from Sunday 06 October 2019, there is a ‘care-taker-government’ until the general elections due for 07 November 2019.


Unfortunately, Japan is currently under the influence of Super Typhoon HAGIBIS whose impacts have caused the life of 11 citizens. This Typhoon is the strongest after 60 years with unprecedented Rains entailing landslides.


Last month we heard about the Hurricane DORIAN which broke seven decades of record with wind force reaching 350 kph and wiped out Bahamas while disrupting also South-East of USA.


UN SG Antonio Guterres states that ‘Climate Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction’ must be central to this investment. Watch this video-


http://webtv.un.org/search/ant%C3%B3nio-guterres-secretary-general-on-the-international-day-for-disaster-risk-reduction-13-october-2019/6093800862001/?term=&lan=english&page=3


The United Nations Global Assessment Report has also published a report which is equally raising concern as to the extent to which the Sendai Framework has been properly implemented by the different countries. See below:


{{{This fifth edition of the United Nations Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) is being issued four years after the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (Sendai Framework). Now is a time of heightened global urgency, and the need for ambitious collective

action to reduce disaster risk, build resilience and achieve sustainable development has never been greater.


At no point in human history have we faced such an array of both familiar and unfamiliar risks, interacting in a hyper connected, rapidly changing world. New risks and correlations are emerging. Decades-old projections about climate change have come true much sooner than expected. With that come changes in the intensity and frequency of hazards. Risk really is systemic, and requires concerted and urgent effort to reduce it in integrated and innovative ways.


Countries adopted the Sendai Framework in 2015 to address a broader scope of hazards and risks. The Sendai Framework charts a clear policy pathway for governments and citizens to prevent and mitigate shocks caused by natural and man-made hazards, as well as related environmental, technological and biological hazards and risks. In making the logical connection between reducing risk and building resilience, the Sendai Framework provides the connecting tissue for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement, the New Urban Agenda, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Agenda for Humanity.


This edition of GAR is the first punctuation mark in the implementation of the Sendai Framework. It offers an update on progress made in implementing the outcome, goal, targets and priorities of the Sendai Framework and disaster-related Sustainable Development Goals. It provides an analysis of how risk science is changing, presents areas for additional endeavour, and explores aspects of understanding and managing systemic risk. It presents innovative research and practice for pursuing risk-informed sustainable development, and provides an introduction to the wider scope and nature of hazards and related risks to be considered.


This report represents a major step towards a twenty-first century view of risk and its reduction – an understanding that is imperative in our collective efforts to craft a sustainable future. We are fast approaching the point where we may not be able to mitigate or repair impacts from realized cascading and systemic risk, particularly those due to climate change. The urgency is evident. It demands much greater ambition around the speed and magnitude of the changes the global community needs to make; changes that must be proportionate to the scale of threat. Above all, we cannot let inertia and short-sightedness impede action. As we have been reminded recently by Greta Thunberg (the Swedish climate change activist).


There are no grey areas when it comes to survival. Now we all have a choice. We can create transformational action that will safeguard the future living conditions for humankind, or we can continue with our business as usual and fail. That is up to you and me.}}}(etd)....

Foreword: Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction Head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Mrs Mami Mizutori. 


 https://gar.unisdr.org/sites/default/files/reports/2019-05/full_gar_report.pdf




Suggestions for Global Challenges


The basis for building a Disaster Resilient Society rests on three main pillars.

  1. It is the utmost duty of the Policy Makers to introduce Country-Driven- Mechanisms’ through legislation with a philosophy of ‘Putting-People-First’ or ‘People-Centred’. Early Warning Systems (EWS) form part of the ‘Mechanisms’;
  2. Education is the second one in which school curriculums which provide appropriate guidelines towards Resilience. This is also known as Sensitization whose chronological and gradual steps are: ‘Awareness, Preparedness, Adaptation, Mitigation, Response, Rescue, Relief and Rehabilitation’. No doubt school textbooks must be ‘Teacher-Friendly’, ‘Student-Friendly’ and ‘Up-to-date’ in data, information and photographs/videography. See below my ‘Disaster Resilience Campaign’  during my Mission in India 10 December 2018-12 June 2019 and
  3. The civil society must challenge the Policy Makers by making them accountable in Providing Protection and Safety to their respective population. Moreover, NGOs, Campaigners and Well-Wishers are other Stakeholders who are eligible for support by the government and authorities. So, the ‘Top-Down’ concept until the grass roots of all sectors of society is crucial for reducing vulnerability and for building Resilience.

                                                       


                       

(PKANHYE.               10.13 pm SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER 2019.)


Re-uploaded: 1.06 pm SATURDAY 04 JANUARY 2020.

Satellite Animation