United Nations

I S D RInternational Strategy for Disaster Reduction

Lessons for a Safer Future:Drawing on the experience of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster

Eleven key actions for building nations' and communities' resilience to disasters

Acknowledgements

The lessons described in this short report have been distilled from many diverse sources and arisefrom the work and experience of hundreds of organisations and thousands of people. Thesecretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) acknowledges theimportance of these ongoing contributions to reducing risk.

The ISDR system comprises numerous organizations worldwide – in Governments, UnitedNations and other international organizations, civil society, NGOs, the private sector andacademia – working together to reduce disaster losses, in lives and livelihoods and in social,economic and environmental assets. A major goal is to implement the Hyogo Framework forAction, which was adopted by Governments in 2005 as a blueprint for building the resilience ofnations and communities to disasters by 201 5, as an essential condition for sustainabledevelopment.

The report was developed as part of the close collaboration over 2005 - 2006 between the ISDRsecretariat and the Office of the Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery. It was a project of theUN/ISDR coordinated initiative “Evaluation and Strengthening of Early Warning Systems inCountries Affected by the 26 December 2004 Tsunami” which was supported by theGovernments of Finland, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden and the EuropeanCommission.

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Foreword

ISDR Lessons for a Safer FutureDrawing on the experience of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster

In my role as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for TsunamiRecovery, I have often considered how governments of the world couldavoid the type of devastation that we witnessed in the Indian Ocean regionon December 26, 2004. Natural hazards are an inescapable part of ourworld, and poverty, migration to coastal areas, and environmentaldegradation will only increase the risks to vulnerable communities in theyears to come. It is therefore critically important that governments plan andimplement a broad range of disaster preparedness measures.

In the tsunami affected region of Asia and throughout the world, we mustwork harder in the recovery stage to avoid reinstating unnecessaryvulnerability to hazards. As I have often said, “building back better” meansmaking sure that, as you rebuild, you leave communities safer than theywere before disaster struck.

We must also promote effective early warning, and I am pleased to reportthat good progress has been made to put in place tsunami warningsystems around the Indian Ocean region. Efforts at the regional level andin national capitals must be supplemented by public education, includingpreparedness training and drills. Many countries and experts have valuablepractical experience on how to do this, and this should be widely shared.

As we approach the second anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunamidisaster, I strongly urge governments and organisations to turn theselessons into action, following the guidance contained in the HyogoFramework for Action, so that today’s hazards don’t turn into tomorrow’sdisasters.

William Jefferson ClintonUN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tsunami RecoveryNew York, 20 December, 2006

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The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunamiwas one of the worst disasters in livingmemory, causing immense suffering formillions of people. Two years on, we can reflectupon what happened and draw lessons abouthow to reduce the impacts of all naturalhazards, lessons that can help build a safer,more resilient future for all people worldwide.

Although the sudden and strong tsunamiwaves were clearly the initiating factor in thefatalities and damage, we now know that lackof knowledge and inadequate preparation wasa major cause of the extensive losses andimpacts. The deaths of hundreds of people inthe later tsunami that hit Java, Indonesia on 17July 2006, illustrated the same problem andunderlined the need to systematically addressthe vulnerability of populations to naturalhazards.

Everyday, people around the globe arethreatened by storms, floods, droughts,landslides, earthquakes and other naturalhazards, and suffer because of their social,economic, geographic and environmentalcircumstances. However, disaster risks can becountered through approaches such as publicawareness campaigns, knowledge of hazardsand vulnerabilities, community preparednessprogrammes, early warning systems, evacuationplans, long-term land use planning andenvironmental protection, and the applicationof sound building codes. Through thesemeans, governments and communities canhelp people to become more resilient tohazards and their impacts, and thereby reducethe chance that hazard events turn intodisasters.

Generally it is the poorest people living in thepoorer parts of the world who are most affected

Photo: International Federation

Lessons for a Safer Future:Drawing on the experience of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster

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by natural hazards. Many poor groups such asfishing villages were hit very hard by the IndianOcean tsunami, firstly by the loss of family andhomes, and then by the loss of livelihoods.Reducing people’s vulnerability to natural hazardsis an essential condition for reducing poverty andachieving the Millennium Development Goals.Policymakers are beginning to recognise thatpreparedness for natural hazards needs to be anintegral part of national and internationaldevelopment policies and practices.

Over recent decades, the number and severity ofdisasters have steadily increased, and the world isspending more and more to respond withemergency relief for those affected. Butgovernments and other organisations haveagreed that concerted efforts are needed toreverse these trends and to reduce the risks. TheHyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 setsout the required actions – collectively known as‘disaster risk reduction’ – measures that must becontinuously implemented in order to achieveresilience to future hazards.

Elsewhere, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery,President William J. Clinton, has identified manylessons concerning the tsunami and the recoveryof the affected nations and communities. Thepresent report expands on one of his lessons – theneed to reduce the risks of disasters. Compiled bythe United Nations International Strategy forDisaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) secretariat, thereport draws on the experiences of manyorganisations and individuals during andfollowing the tsunami. The following elevenlessons for a safer future are offered as acontribution to the ongoing process of learninghow nations, communities and individuals canbecome better prepared for and reduce the risk ofpotential natural hazards:

1. Public awareness is an essentialelement of preparedness for savinglives and livelihoods.

2. Individuals and communities playimportant roles in managing risksfrom natural hazards.

3. Diverse livelihood systems andmicro-financial services help poorpeople to survive disaster events.

4. Traditional knowledge is valuableand can inform and protectcommunities.

5. Disaster knowledge should beincluded in formal educationcurricula.

6. Early warning systems are neededfor all hazards and all people.

7. Land use planning and protectionof ecological systems can reducedisaster risks.

8. Developing and adhering tobuilding codes can minimise risksand losses.

9. Political and public commitment toreduce the risk of disasters isimperative.

10. Humanitarian and developmentinnovations are needed to reducedisaster risks.

11. Natural hazards span borders andtheir management requires globalcooperation.

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Photo: International Federation

Public awareness is an essential element of preparedness for saving lives and livelihoods

After the Indian Ocean tsunami many reportsconfirmed that a major underlying factor to thecatastrophe was people’s general lack of awarenessabout the tsunami risks they faced and how torespond appropriately in order to minimise the lossof lives, property and livelihoods. Subsequently,many awareness-raising campaigns have beenestablished at national and community levels. Thepositive results of these programmes are todaystarting to show. For example, during the tsunamithat hit Java in Indonesia on 17 July 2006 manypeople living along the coasts were reported tohave recognised the signs of the approachingtsunami and fled to safer ground.

Everyone in the community, especially residentsliving in vulnerable areas, but also the governmentand key sectors, such as the tourism industry forexample, need to understand the basic facts on therisks faced and on the warning and evacuationprocesses. Public information campaigns andcommunity drills should be coupled with otherlifesaving measures such as the placement ofwarning signs for tsunami and for evacuationroutes. The public visibility of such signs becomesa permanent warning of risks for the entirecommunity.

It is also essential to ensure that marginalizedgroups in the community and people with specialneeds are taken into consideration whendeveloping and implementing education andawareness strategies.

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2Individuals and communities playimportant roles in managing risksfrom natural hazards

People and communities affected by disasters are farfrom helpless, despite popular thinking to thecontrary. Almost all of the initial life-saving actionsand emergency services are provided by local people.In the days immediately following the tsunami, manycommunities demonstrated their ability to cope ontheir own. Countries are less vulnerable to the effectsof natural hazards if their communities and peopleare directly involved in risk assessments and disasterrisk reduction activities and have the capacities tounderstand and respond to events. These capacitiesalso contribute to improved national preparednessand resilience, and they need to be identified andcontinuously supported.

The value of such an approach was illustrated by theexperience of Samiyarpettai, a village on the southcoast of Tamil Nadu in India. Some months beforethe tsunami, a community-based disasterpreparedness and awareness-raising programme forfloods, droughts and earthquakes had beenestablished in the village by the government withUnited Nations support. Substantially lower deathtolls occurred in Samiyarpettai compared toneighbouring areas that the programme had not yetreached. This strongly suggests that the villagers’increased level of awareness and preparedness hadallowed them to take effective action to reduce losses,despite the absence of formal warning or evacuationorders. More attention should be given to developcommunity capacities for ‘helping themselves’,including at times of international response todisasters.

The experience at Samiyarpettai also illustrates theadvantages of taking a ‘multi-hazard’ perspective,where preparedness for frequently occurring eventslike floods also provides preparedness forinfrequently occurring events like tsunamis.

Diverse livelihood systems andmicro-financial services help poorpeople to survive disaster events

Access to diverse sources of income, micro-finance, insurance, and property rightsstrengthen the capacity of individuals and smallenterprises to prepare for and recover from theimpact of disasters. Microfinance helps increasea household's income-earning and asset-buildingopportunities and often strengthens theeconomic roles of women, which in turn helpmake households less reliant on a single asset orlivelihood and better able to deal with disasters.Micro-finance is often made more effectivethrough training in such things as technical skillsand enterprise management.

For example, in the Andaman and NicobarIslands, which were badly affected by thetsunami, a non-governmental organisationprovided micro-finance loans to restart orsupport income-generating activities, and thesewere coupled with saving schemes, insurancecoverage and free skills training for newactivities. In the Kanyakumari District, TamilNadu, 1,263 self-help groups were provided withmicro-credit and training, including for fishprocessing, coconut shell preparation, embroideryand tailoring.

Governments and local authorities shouldsupport the expansion of these initiatives, forexample by establishing appropriate frameworksthat link micro-financing and disaster riskreduction, by promoting effective markets fornew livelihood products, and by assisting in theexchange of experience following the tsunami,training of trainers, and development ofdemonstration projects. These steps need to bedone as part of ongoing national developmentand social policies that seek to reduce thevulnerability of the most disadvantaged people.

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4Traditional knowledge is valuableand can inform and protectcommunities

Thanks mainly to the power of traditionalknowledge the tsunami that struck on 26December 2004 killed only seven people out of apopulation of approximately 83,000 on SimeulueIsland in Aceh Province, Indonesia. Oral historiesrecall a massive tsunami that hit the island in1907, leaving many people dead and hundreds ofhouses destroyed. The message is very simple –after ‘significant’ shaking of the ground, watch thesea, and if the water recedes, immediately run tothe hills because a tsunami will follow. Survivors ofthe 1907 disaster told the story to their children toprepare them in case the same thing happenedagain, and the story was passed on to the presentgeneration. Simeulue Islanders credit thistraditional knowledge for saving many lives in thetsunami.

Likewise, based on traditional knowledge theelders of Thailand's Moken tribe, a smallcommunity of fishermen, ordered a hilltopevacuation just before the tsunami hit. Theywarned villagers after observing unusualmovements in the Bay of Bengal. As a result onlyone of the 200 members of the tribe perished inthe tsunami. It is important to incorporatetraditional wisdom and local knowledge into futuredisaster risk reduction strategies and to ensure thatsuch knowledge continues to be communicatedthrough generations and to migrants andnewcomers to the affected areas.

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Photo: International Federation

5Disaster knowledge should beincluded in formal educationcurricula

Studies that interviewed children andadults in the tsunami-affected areasshowed that most of them wanteddisaster-related topics, including tsunamis,to be incorporated into school curricula.They considered that education was oneof the most effective ways to inform thepopulation of tsunami risks. A largefraction of the children said that theydiscuss what they have learned at schoolwith other family members.

Education fosters awareness and betterunderstanding of the immediateenvironment in which children and theirfamilies live and work. In addition, formaleducation can help children make sense ofthe experience of a large disaster and assistthem to respond appropriately in futurehazard events.

Many tourists visiting a Thai beach resortowe their lives to a ten-year-old girl onvacation from England who warned herparents and other guests to flee to safety,moments before the tsunami engulfed thebeach. Having learned about tsunamis inher geography class just a few weeksbefore visiting Thailand, the girlrecognised the signs of the approachingtsunami. Citizens of all countries need abasic education on the different types ofnatural hazards.

Early warning systems are needed for all hazards and all people

As the horror of the devastating tsunami of 26 December2004 unfolded, the world was shocked to learn that manythousands of lives could have been saved if effectivetsunami early warning systems had been in place in theregion. An early warning system for tsunamis in the PacificOcean had been operational for some decades. In the yearsbefore the disaster scientists knew of the risks of tsunami inthe Indian Ocean but their concerns were largely ignored.Public and official interest in tsunamis was low.

Informal early warnings did save some lives. For exampleupon learning of the devastation in Indonesia via histelevision in Singapore, a concerned relative was able towarn his family in the Indian village of Nallavada in timefor the entire village of over 3,000 people to be evacuatedwith no loss of life. Communities on the western coasts ofSri Lanka that were hit first by tsunami were able to calland warn and save some relatives on the south and easterncoasts of the country, which were hit about twenty minuteslater.

Indian Ocean countries have now developed a regionaltsunami early warning system, as well as their own nationalwarning systems, with the assistance of United Nationsorganisations. In Thailand this includes a national all-hazards warning centre and an array of tsunami sirens alongpopulated beaches. Indonesia has undertaken an evacuationexercise in the city of Padang, Sumatra, where the risk offuture tsunamis is high.

In many parts of the world, communities do not haveeffective early warning systems for the hazards theyexperience. Early warning systems need to be ‘people-centred’ – i.e. based on the risks that people face anddesigned to provide understandable information to all ofthose at risk. This can enable people to act promptly and ina manner that reduces injuries, loss of life and damage toproperty. Early warning systems need a strong scientific andtechnical basis. They can be linked to bring efficiencies andeconomies of scale and to help secure the sustainability ofsystems for rare hazards like tsunamis.

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7Land use planning and protection of ecological systems can reduce disaster risks

Nearly 3 billion people, or almost half the world’spopulation, live in coastal zones. The sea provides foodand sources of income, such as from fishing, tourism andtransportation facilities, but the coast is also exposed tonatural hazards like tropical cyclones, storm surges,floods and tsunamis.

Several studies after the tsunami showed that people andlivelihoods were much less affected by the tsunamiwhere healthy coastal ecosystems existed. An assessmentmade for the Batticola district, Sri Lanka, found that themangroves, coconut plantations and scrub forest reducedthe incoming tsunami, estimated to be 6 metres high, toabout 40 cm height by the time it reached the village ofNasiva, one kilometre inland. Along the Thailand shorein Ranong Province many villagers were reported savedbecause the mangroves were thriving and dense in thisarea. The report also noted that houses and schools builtbehind the mangrove forests in Phang Nga Provincewere the only buildings that withstood the tsunami. Incoastal zones where coral reefs were destroyed by miningfor lime and cement production or where mangroves hadbeen cut down for shrimp farming, the damage causedby the tsunami was reported to be considerably worsethan elsewhere.

A technical workshop in Khao Lak, Thailand in August2006 agreed that forests can act as “bioshields” to protectpeople and other assets against tsunamis and othercoastal hazards, but their effectiveness depends on manyfactors and is not guaranteed. To maintain this defencerole, forests and reefs need to be protected fromdamaging and unsustainable economic exploitation.

Integrated coastal zone management plans provide agood basis for linking livelihood and economic gains ofshoreline developments with the long-term health ofvulnerable ecosystems. Governments and localauthorities need to undertake long-term land useplanning to minimise disaster risks for all types ofnatural hazards.

Photo: International Federation

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8Developing and adhering tobuilding codes can minimise risks and losses

Dwellings, hotels and commercialbuildings are numerous along thecoastal areas of the Indian Ocean andhouse millions of people. If properlyconstructed, buildings can provideeffective shelter from natural hazardssuch as earthquakes, tsunamis andtropical cyclones. But if poorlyconstructed, they are often observed tobe the cause of injuries and deaths.

The safety of a building depends on itsengineering design, the nature andquality of building materials and thebuilding techniques employed. Aremarkable case that demonstrated thevirtue of appropriate design concernedthe mosque at Banda Aceh inIndonesia. The mosque was one ofvery few buildings still standing inBanda Aceh after the tsunami –because the open ground-floor designallowed the tsunami water to easily runthrough the building.

To ensure the required safety,standardised building codes should bedeveloped – and enforced – for thehazards present. For example, multi-story reinforced structures can offergood refuge from tsunamis,windstorms and floods.

Political and public commitment to reduce the risk of disasters is imperative

Societies need to better acknowledge that natural hazards suchas tsunamis, floods and earthquakes are part of human existenceand need to be faced and dealt with. Strong governmentcommitment and community involvement are needed to builda safer future for both present and future generations.This hasbeen recognised by the Government of Bangladesh, forexample, which since the 1970’s has worked in partnership withlocal organisations to reduce the nation’s vulnerability totropical cyclones. With international support, it has successfullydeveloped an action programme that combines an earlywarning system and increased preparedness among thecommunities situated in high-risk areas.

In all countries there is a need for legal and institutionalframeworks that establish mandates and responsibilities for riskassessment, risk reduction and disaster management.Theseneed to be understood by all parties and to be re-examined on aregular basis in order to know ‘who is doing what’ before,during and after a disaster. In India, successive improvements ingovernment policy followed major disaster events. After thecyclone disaster in Orissa in October 1999, there was a movetoward a multi-disciplinary and multi-sector approach and theincorporation of risk reduction in development plans andstrategies. A review following the Bhuj earthquake in Gujaratin January 2001 led to a transfer of responsibility for disastermanagement from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministryof Home Affairs and to the amendment of the relevantGovernment Rules in February 2002.

The tsunami highlighted the lack or inadequacy of nationaldisaster preparedness plans in many countries. Some existingplans were not based on a wide enough assessment of thehazards and vulnerabilities present or of the capacities to handleevents at the various national, local and community levels. Inresponse to the tsunami, the Government of Sri Lankadeveloped a comprehensive ‘Roadmap’ for disaster managementthat includes new legislation and the establishment of a disastermanagement centre.

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10Humanitarian and developmentinnovations are needed to reducedisaster risks

Humanitarian organisations are normally very clear abouttheir main role – to save lives and to provide relief in theaftermath of a disaster. But they can also play otherimportant roles, including as advocates for reducing thevulnerability of populations, which lies at the root ofdisasters.The global cost of responding to disaster hasincreased over the years. Governments and individualscontributed an exceptional total of over 6 billion USdollars to help the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunamidisaster. More recent disasters show it will be difficult tosustain this level of contribution.

Clearly, it makes sense to invest in risk-reducing activitiesthat will bring down the scale and costs of disaster events.Disaster risk reduction measures are particularlyimportant in the post-disaster recovery stage, to ensurethat we do not resurrect the past risks but instead ‘buildback better’ as recommended by the United NationsSecretary-General’s Special Envoy for TsunamiRecovery, President William J. Clinton.

There is good evidence that investments in disaster riskreduction can pay off handsomely in terms of avoided orreduced disaster losses and social impacts. Developmentbanks and ministries need to factor this lesson into theirpolicies.They also need to ensure that developmentinvestments are protected from natural hazards.TheUnited Kingdom has recently acted on thisunderstanding by committing to invest in disaster riskreduction an amount equal to ten percent of itsallocations to disaster response. If all countries – donorsor otherwise – followed this lead, the vulnerablecommunities of the world would become much betterprepared and resilient to future hazard events.

Photo: DKKV/M. Malsch

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11Natural hazards span borders and their managementrequires global cooperation

Natural hazards do not respect national borders and frequently affectmultiple countries. The Indian Ocean tsunami directly affected 12 countries,5 severely, and killed tourists or expatriates from a further 39 countries. Fordistant Sweden, the loss of 543 citizens was its worst catastrophe in moderntime. Globalisation and the growing inter-connectedness of society throughtrade, finance, travel and migration have increased the potential for hazardevents to affect lives and livelihoods across the globe. Global urbanisationand environmental change, especially climate change, will increasevulnerability to natural hazards in many countries.

Regional and international cooperation and coordination are essential toreduce disaster risks and to manage disaster events. There were manyinstances of countries quickly providing assistance to affected neighbouringcountries in the aftermath of the tsunami. Cooperation is fundamental tothe regional early warning system for tsunamis that was subsequentlyestablished by Indian Ocean countries. This involves the systematic sharingof data, alerting advice and risk assessments, cooperation on developingnational systems, and an intergovernmental coordination mechanism underUnited Nations auspices. Many governments outside the region andtechnical organisations contributed to the system’s development by providingexpertise and funding.

Countries can also cooperate to reduce disaster risks and increasepreparedness. Cooperation ahead of time is needed for such things asdeveloping policies and procedures for information exchange, strengtheninglinkages between scientific and technical institutions, and building mutualunderstanding between national and local authorities. Another good exampleis the cooperation by the Association of South-East Asian Nations onformal procedures to deal with regional haze from forest fires.

Governments have stated in the Hyogo Framework for Action, which wasfinalised in January 2005 shortly after the tsunami, that cooperation isessential for achieving coherent action to reduce future human, economicand social losses from disasters.

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Further information

Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities toDisasters (HFA)Also contained in the Report of the World Conference on Disaster Reduction,A/CONF.206/6, 16 March 2005. Available in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic andRussian at web site http://www.unisdr.org/eng/hfa/hfa.htm

Living with Risk: A Global Review of Disaster Reduction Initiatives2004 version, Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction(UN/ISDR), Geneva. 430pp. See http://www.unisdr.org/eng/about_isdr/bd-lwr-2004-eng.htm

Joint Evaluation of the International Response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami: Synthesis Report,John Telford and John Cosgrove, and Rachel Houghton, Tsunami Evaluation Coalition, July2004, 176pp. A synthesis of five detailed reports by the multi-stakeholder Tsunami EvaluationCoalition covering humanitarian coordination, needs assessment, impacts on local and nationalcapacities, funding processes, and links from relief, rehabilitation and development. Seehttp://www.alnap.org and http://www.tsunami-evaluation.org

United Nations Office of the Special Envoy on Tsunami Recovery.See http://www.tsunamispecialenvoy.org/ for reports, press releases and other materials.

Lessons save life: Story of Tilly Smith and The power of knowledge: Story of a little boy fromSemilieu, Indonesia, videos produced by UN/ISDR, 2005. Available on CD as Video file inEnglish at http://www.unisdr.org/eng/media-room/mr-videos.htm

ISDR-BIBLIO 1: Tsunami, UN/ISDR Library for Disaster Reduction, April 2006. ISDR-BIBLIO is a bibliographic compilation of publications available at the ISDR System Libraryand related to a specific hazard or aspect of disaster reduction. Seehttp://www.unisdr.org/eng/library/lib-biblio.htm

More information and links concerning disaster risk reduction and the International Strategyfor Disaster Reduction may be found at http://www.unisdr.org

Photo Cover: International Federation

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