issue 6, 2006 - undrr · disaster reduction in africa - isdr informs, issue 6/december 2005 3 prof....

Issue 6, 2006

T 326

1Disaster Reduction in Africa - ISDR Informs, Issue 6/December 2005

From the editorDisaster Reduction in AFRICA

ISDR INFORMS

produced bythe Africa Regional Office

of the

UN/International Strategy

for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR Africa)

UN/ISDR Senior Coordinator, Advocacy and Outreach

Feng Min Kan

Editor Alain Valency R.

General Production

Noroarisoa Rakotondrandria & Daniel Kull

Design & Layout

Noroarisoa Rakotondrandria

Photographs

UN/ISDR Africa, National Platforms &

Giulio D’Ercole (Cover Page)

Circulation

Ib Knutsen and Pamela Mubuta

Printed by

UNON Print Shop, Nairobi, Kenya

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That slightly unusual risk ...

In our previous editorial, we said: “Africa seems to have opted gradually forthe important (as opposed to the urgent): its pace in disaster reduction ismore resolute and faster than that of those setting the disaster reductionagenda at global level.”

We also quoted former US President Bill Clinton, in his capacity of UNSpecial Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, as saying: “We cannot let this yearpass without some real progress on disaster risk reduction… 2005 is a keyyear for the risk reduction agenda.”

Africa has conformed to the above statements over the last six months.

Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into school curricula will soon be areality in Cape Verde, Uganda and the Seychelles. Introducing insurance fordisaster risk reduction has become a reality in Malawi, and the Seychelles isfollowing suit. Academics’ involvement in disaster risk reduction has kickedoff with a University Network on Disaster Reduction in Africa. One morecountry – Senegal - has mainstreamed disaster risk reduction into itsPoverty Reduction Strategy Paper. More national platforms have beenestablished, many more are in the pipeline. An African Regional Centre forDisaster Risk Management will be established in Egypt. The “First AfricanMinisterial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction” was held in December.And disaster risk reduction is poised to be on the agenda of the nextAfrican Union (AU) Summit in mid-January 2006.

It is clear that these also augur a very busy year 2006 for disaster riskreduction in Africa. The starting signal is expected from the above-mentioned AU summit. The signal will instil a sense of urgency at home.Government authorities, local communities, civil societies, the media andeven private sectors will mobilize. Already disaster risk reduction training isdrawing an unusually large number of people even in remote parts of Africa:they have understood that the whole thing was also about “sustainablelivelihoods”, their primary understanding of “sustainable development”.

Will development partners match these? It may take some time for some ofthem to digest fully the major shift of tide that is brewing, but eventuallythey will do.

However, they will do so only after we contribute our own resources. Somegovernment funds will have to be allocated… permanently. This is the mostconcrete translation of the top-level political commitment expected fromAfrican leaders in the next few weeks. It is also an incentive for potentialpartners, including local ones (private sectors).

Will our already pressurized finance ministers cooperate? The Senegalesefinance minister did. The World Bank, the African Development Bank andUNDP are in favour, and our presidents may soon add to the list. Even so,nothing should be left to chance.

Close to our goal, we can afford no critical risk. It may be sensible to reducethat slightly unusual risk…

R. Alain [email protected]


IN THIS ISSUE


Prof. Djillali BenouarParaseismic Engineering Professor & Urban Risk

Expert, Director, Laboratoire bâti dans

l’environnement (Laboratory Built in Environment),

Faculty of Civil Engineering,

USTHB, Algiers, Algeria

Experts from various fields havediscussed new proposals for Algeria’sNational Land Use Planning Model(SNAT in French). The meeting took placeon 25 October 2005 at the Land UsePlanning Ministry headquarters inAlgiers.

Being the first meeting of the kindinvolving scientists, planners anddecision makers to debate issues relatingto sustainable development in theframework of land use planning, it was anopportunity for seeking to mainstream,from the outset, disaster risk reduction(DRR) into land use planning – all themore because land use planning is thefirst chain link of the risk reduction chain.

National land use planning model

The primary objective of the SNAT is toidentify the strengths and weaknesses,potential and resistance, and hindrancesto Algeria’s development and land useplanning. This first model enabled tohighlight ongoing developments, varioustrends, major challenges and what isreally at stake in the framework of aproactive approach to sustainabledevelopment. The parameters emergingfrom the first phase of the SNAT arefactors upon which shall be based thefuture of the Algerian territory.

The SNAT is based on four scenarios,each developed as follows: (1) rationale(desirable and desired direction forongoing developments for the sake ofsustainable development; sectoral policyorientations applicable to land useplanning); (2) strategy (various strategiesadopted to attain objectives set in theframework of sustainable development);(3) governance (primary importance ofgovernance – roles of the State, localgovernment authorities, decentralization,

devolution, institutional tools, etc., - inland use planning policy in theframework of sustainable development) ;(4) national land use planning policy(integration between rationale, strategyand various modes of governancerelevant to each scenario of sustainabledevelopment policy) ; (5) population andterritory (territorial setup and mainterritorial balances – space and regions);(6) economy (integration betweenrationale and economic strategies for theproposed scenario, growth model,location of productive forces and impacton employment); (7) infrastructures(whole range of infrastructures involvedin general policy and sectoral policiesapplicable to territory in the framework ofproposed scenario, rationale and strategyfor infrastructure policy, and internationalimpacts) ; (8) environment and resources(environmental problems – naturalphenomena, etc., rationale andenvironmental strategies in the frameworkof proposed scenario, ongoing generaltrend of sustainability, the proposedscenario’s impacts on naturalenvironments and resources, especiallyon water resources, and territorial impactson sustainable development) ; (9) society(rationale and social strategies in theframework of proposed scenario, impactson people’s way of life and quality of life,political impacts - opposition, resistance,people’s support for proposed scenario’s

consequences) ; (10) regional andinternational orientation (rationale andopening-up strategies in the framework ofproposed scenario).

Toward more detailed disaster riskstudies

The meeting was particularly fruitful.Indeed, it enabled some awareness ofpriorities, trends, the concerns of eachsector represented, leading to consensusby most of participants. In fact, similarmeetings should be increased andadopted as a basic work tool.

Meanwhile, regarding risk reduction, themeeting enabled an initial awarenessraising action: a rather successful onesince the necessity of reducing disasterrisks was discussed in all the scenariosproposed and debated.

Potential natural phenomena occuring onthe Algerian territory were reviewed(earthquakes, floods, storms, droughts,landslides, mud flow, desertification, etc.)and risk zones were redefined. Theparticipants resolved that more detaileddisaster risk studies would be undertakenin the risk zones, in the frameworks of theRegional Land Use Planning Model(SRAT in French) and Local Land UsePlanning Model (SLAT in French).

ALGERIA: Disaster risk reduction discussed at national land

use planning meeting

Impacts of earthquake in Algeria

Disaster reduction in Africa


Major Albertos C. FernandesCape Verde National Department of Civil Protection,

Praia, Cape Verde

Public awareness and education is beinggiven special attention by Cape Verdeancivil protection officials who, now focusingon risks, seek to help people deal withpossible disasters, emergency situationsand serious accidents adequately.

Betting on awareness raising

Out of concern for risks, and for theenforcement of Section (c) of Article 5 ofthe Civil Protection Act – which calls for« information and training aimed atsensitizing the population on the needfor self-protection and cooperation withgovernment authorities », the Cape VerdeNational Department of Civil Protection(“Serviço Nacional de Protecção Civil deCabo Verde”, SNPC, in Portuguese) hasembarked on information and awareness-raising activities on potential risks,together with a number of socialcommunication agencies.

Contacts within Cape Verde Radio and aprotocol agreement signed with theEducation and Human ResourceEvaluation Ministry’s « EducationRadio » enabled the production of tworadio programmes entitled respectively« Civil Protection – Preventing is Better »and « Civil Protection: Each and EveryCitizen’s Business ». The two radioprogrammes are aired twice a week.

The radio programmes provide the publicwith important information on, forexample, how to avoid serious accidentsand what are the procedures in case ofdisaster. The purpose of the radioprogrammes is to ensure that citizens areprovided with the necessary knowledge,norms and behavioural rules that enablethem to protect themselves and theirfamilies in emergency situations.

Mainstreaming civil protection intoformal education

But the National Department of CivilProtection has better plans, saying more

CAPE VERDE: Civil protection poised to be taught in

schools, university from March 2006

should be done to raise awareness on theneed for prevention and safety.Successful contacts were made withinstitutions working in the same sectorand with the Education Ministry tomainstream civil protection into schoolcurricula. As a result, civil protection willbe taught at all education levels –primary, secondary and tertiary – andseveral meetings have been held toensure that the project kick off in March2006.

It is to be noted that the involvement ofhigher education institutions – and theirdiverse structures and specializeddepartments – will give a significantboost to risk study and research. Alreadythe few actions taken so far to sensitizeeducational institutions have arisen somestudents’ interest in risk-related issues.

As the SNPC believes that schools aremajor partners in the building of a cultureof prevention and safety, activitiesinvolving students, teachers and schoolemployees are under way in severalschools.

Capacity building an ongoing concern

Meanwhile on Santo Antão Island inOctober 2005, the SNPC provided trainingfor 39 civil protection personnel fromgovernment bodies, NGOs and the privatesector. Likewise, Tarrafal Commune onSantiago Island benefited from a trainingsession for 15 people who, eventually,

became the first firefighters and civilprotection personnel in the commune’schief town.

On 12 October 2005, the SNPC alsoorganized, again on Santo Antão Island,traffic accident simulation exercises, incooperation with and with theinvolvement of the law and order police,the Cape Verde Red Cross, The Ministryof Agriculture, The Ministry ofEnvironment, the Ministry of Fisheries,oil companies Shell and Enacol, Scouts,health authorities, and voluntaryfirefighters from the three Santo Antãocommunes.

And based on an urban fire scenario,drills, simulation exercises and routineprocedure and adaptation practices werecarried out on 15 November 2005 inTarrafal Commune for local civilprotection personnel.

Synergies, integrated plans needed

Civil protection being a cross-cutting andmulti-disciplinary issue, it should involvethe largest number of individuals andinstitutions. Hence, the need to developsynergies, integrated plans and multi-sectoral actions based on the principlesof coordination and single command forrisk mitigation and disaster vulnerabilityand impact reduction.

Moreover, these various actions are onlya reflection of Article 9 of the CivilProtection Act which says « civil

The national focal point on disaster risk reduction (in black trouser in front) and the Minister of

Defence and Parliamentarian Affairs (in front, middle) in Cape Verde



protection policy is an ongoing, multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral policythat involves all governmentdepartments and agencies and othercollective entities in the establishment ofthe environment necessary to itsimplementation ».

Given the important role played by theabove-mentioned « other collectiveentities » - such as the civil society,especially the private sector in collectiveprevention and security, theirinvolvement is particularly sought after.They have been urged to take full part ininitiatives like training, simulationexercises, public awareness activities, etc.

Partnership, cooperation a must

To train and prepare civil protectionpersonnel for disaster prevention andresponse, the SNPC also carried outtraining sessions, simulation exercisesand lectures on issues related to disasterrisk management, in partnership withother bodies.

Such a partnership – and alsocooperation – are deemed necessarybecause of the country’s economic andfinancial fragility. For instance in 2005,

the US administration, through itsembassy in Praia (the Cape Verdeancapital), built a town council civilprotection emergency operation centre(CMOEPC in Portuguese) in Rio Grande,Santa Cruz District, provided the centrewith modern equipment and providedvarious resources and civil protectionequipment to the three Santo Antãocommunes.

Towards a national platform in October2006

One of the SNPC’s main concerns isabout the setting up of a NationalPlatform for Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR), as stressed by the HyogoFramework for Action 2005-2015 andrecommendations from the First AfricanMinisterial Conference on Disaster RiskReduction held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,on 7 December 2005.

Even so, such a national platform is alsorequired because of the country’s strongvulnerabilities resulting from itsgeographical location, climate,geomorphologic features and poverty-generating factors.

To establish the national platform, abaseline document has been developedand various contacts were made in a bidto secure required technical and logisticalassistance. The SNPC is currentlyfinalizing a chronogramme of activities.

International support required

The launching of the national platform isscheduled to take place on 10 October2006, the International Day for DisasterReduction. However, to achieve this, theSNPC expects support from national andinternational organizations like the UNDPand UN/ISDR among others. To thateffect, the SNPC will submit soon aproject proposal to partner institutions.

After the proposed national platform isestablished, then the SNPC will have metone of the requirements of Section (a) ofArticle 4 of the Civil Protection Act,namely the setting up of national andmunicipal civil protection structuresneeded to « prevent the occurrence ofserious accidents and disasters andcalamities ».


The GAMBIA: Disaster Management for Sustainable

Development

Mr. Ndenneh NyingEnvironment Inspector, National Environment Agency

Secretary to the National Disaster, Emergency Relief

and Resettlement Committee (NDERRC)

Banjul, The Gambia

Mr. Alhagie NyangadoDisaster Programme Officer

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Banjul, The Gambia

The Gambia has been experiencing more

and more disasters. Realising that simply

responding to these events is not enough,

the Government has launched national

initiatives to integrate disaster reduction

into sustainable development.

The Gambia is ranked amongst the leastdeveloped countries in the world. A small

country, it has a land area of 11,300 km2,bounded to the west by the AtlanticOcean and by Senegal on all other sides.It is divided into the North and SouthBanks of the River Gambia, which claimsat least 20% of the country area. Duringthe ten years from 1993 to 2003, itspopulation increased by over 31%, withan average annual growth rate of 2.77.

The Gambia has a large agriculturalsector (livestock, crops and fisheries), arelatively small industrial sector (formaland non-formal manufacturing, building,construction and tourism) and a largeservices sector dominated by thegovernment. Its 81 km coastline providesfor tourism and recreation. Availablenatural resources include minerals, sand,

fish, forests including mangroves (woodand non-wood products) and wildlife.

Increasing Disaster Occurrences

The Gambian climate is Sudano-Sahelian, characterised by a long dryseason from November to June and arainy season from mid-June to October.The landscape is predominantly flat, withthe lowest point at sea level and thehighest point only about 50 m above sealevel. This semi-arid geography andtopography, coupled with the highpopulation growth and density, makes thecountry prone to disasters, especially inthe rural areas. Over the past 60 years,relative humidity has declined by



approximately 6.4 percent andtemperature has risen by 1.1 degreescentigrade per decade. This has lead torecurrent droughts, progressivedesertification, storm surges, soil erosionand flooding.

The constantly rising sea level has insome cases resulted in the loss ofagricultural land and infrastructure whilstother disasters often disrupt the dailylives of the population throughdestruction of basic necessities such asfood, shelter, clothing and medical care.

Over the past ten years, The Gambia hasexperienced a number of naturaldisasters, man-made catastrophes andother calamities combining both naturaland man-made factors, including:extensive flooding in 1999 and 2003,severe drought in 2002 which resulted inwidespread and drastic reduction inhousehold food stock and the loss oflivestock, the capsize of the Senegalesepassenger vessel MV Jola in Gambianmarine territory in 2002, Kotu coastaloily sludge spill in 2003, heavy fuel oilspill at the Yellitenda swamps in 2004and locust invasion in 2004. As well asthe above, the Gambia Red CrossSociety’s Vulnerability and CapacityAssessment of Hazards has revealed anincrease in the number of man-madedisasters over a two-year period in bushand domestic fires, and health-relatedincidences such as cholera.

The National Disaster, EmergencyRelief and Resettlement Committee

The provisions that regulate themanagement of natural disasters are inthe National Environment ManagementAct (NEMA), 1994. The Gambia iscurrently implementing its GambiaEnvironmental Action Plan (GEAP),executed by the National EnvironmentAgency. One of GEAP’s six componentsis Contingency Planning and DisasterPreparedness. Within this focus, nationalconsultative meetings identified thefollowing ten priority vulnerability areasfor contingency plan development:floods, droughts, coastline oil spills, roadincidents of hazardous substance transfer,refugees, building collapse, bush fires,ferry disasters, aircraft crash outsideairport and industrial incidents.

In May 1996, The Gambia Governmentlaunched The Gambia Incorporated:

Vision 2020, a national policy documentfor the period 1996-2020. In thedocument, the Government declared itswill and commitment to initiate disasterrelief strategies and programmes tocombat and alleviate the cost of disasterswhen they occur. This policycommitment necessitated theestablishment of the National Disaster,Emergency Relief and ResettlementCommittee (NDERRC) in 1997, underthe chairmanship of the Vice President.Initially, the NDERRC dealt with mostlyrefugee welfare; however its mandate hasnow been expanded into other areas ofdisaster management.

The main objective of the NDERRC is tomanage and coordinate humanitarianassistance to disaster victims. It alsoworks on planning and preparedness toprevent disasters where possible andreduce the impacts of natural hazards.The Committee has a broad membershipincluding the Government of TheGambia, as well as national andinternational NGOs. From time to time,when their input is needed, other sectorsincluding the media may be co-opted intothe NDERRC.

To enhance capacity in disastermanagement, Committee members attendperiodic training on risk reduction andhumanitarian assistance. For instance, asimulation exercise was carried out on theFerry Disaster Contingency Plan to testthe understanding, capabilities andresponsibilities of relevant stakeholders.The Coastal Oil Spill Plan was alsorecently reviewed to cover all types of oilspills. To compliment the national plans,some institutions have developed risk

reduction and contingency plans specificto their activities.

National Disaster Secretariat Soon tobe established

The aforementioned strategy has not yetaddressed medium to longer-term aspectsof disaster management. It focusesmainly on immediate emergencies andcrisis management. The GambiaGovernment has acknowledged thatdisaster issues are complex, such that acommittee cannot address themeffectively. In this regard, there is astrong consensus to develop an integratedand effective disaster mitigation officewith clear legal authority to undertake arevised method of disaster planning.

A plan is currently being implementedfor the establishment of a NationalDisaster Secretariat, to be maintainedunder the multi-sectoral Office of theVice President. The Secretariat is toaddress the following gaps:

• Lack of national capacity in riskreduction (human and financialresources).

• Identification of the gap betweenpreparedness and response in orderfor better risk management tominimise disasters and impacts.

• Better integration of disastermanagement into sustainabledevelopment planning and povertyreduction programmes, for instancethe Vision 2020 policy.

• Need to improve permanentcommunication systems to allowreporting of incidents and quick

Impacts of floods in Gambia



mobilisation of stakeholders,especially where road networks andtelephone lines are destroyed duringincidents.

• Emergency data collection andimproved recording techniques toinclude not only the number ofoccurrences, but also affectedpopulation, precise dates, secondaryimpacts and accompanying costs. Agood data system will help identifytrends to help strengthen long-termemergency planning.

Disaster Reduction for Sustainable

Development

Over the past five years appeals for donorassistance have been made in response tovarious disasters. The received funds andmaterial donations contributed tohumanitarian relief needs, infrastructure

repair and rehabilitation of communityservices such as wells and livestockwatering points destroyed by disasters.

The Government of The Gambia,recognising the need for adequate disasterpreparedness in the wake of theaccelerated pace of disasters in thecountry, launched a disaster strategymitigation appeal to the UNDP. Throughthis appeal, The Government hopes toformulate and deploy an effective policyand legal framework and developinstitutions that manage and coordinatedisaster-related activities in an efficientmanner at both national and local levels.This appeal has culminated in theestablishment of the UNDP-supportedDisaster Management Project.

The overall strategic objective of theproject is to support the full integration ofdisaster preparedness, mitigation and

response into the country’s longer-termdevelopment process. This in turn shouldpromote a more effective use of TheGambia’s available resources, minimisethe suffering caused by disasters andultimately ensure an uninterrupted paceof sustainable development. Thisfundamental objective is closely relatedto the country’s broad developmentpolicy objectives.

The focus of this project amongst otherthings will be on capacity buildingsupport through training and awarenesscreation. Project interventions will belinked to decentralisation programmes atthe local level as well as to nationalpoverty reduction efforts.

Mr. Michel VielleDirector-General, National Disaster Secretariat, Office of

the President, Victoria, Seychelles

Mr. Daniel KullUN/ISDR Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

Individual post-disaster compensation is

neither sustainable nor economical. The

Seychelles is developing insurance

schemes for two of its most vulnerable

communities. Indeed, when all other risk

reduction measures fail, insurance

provides a backstop to prevent disaster.

From recent experiences including theDecember 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami,the Government of the Seychelles hasdetermined that the provision ofindividual post-disaster compensation isneither sustainable nor economical. Tofacilitate a shift from ex-post (after) toex-ante (before) disaster financing fortwo of the most vulnerable communities,the Government is supporting thedevelopment of fishing boat owner’s andfarmer’s insurance schemes.

Insurance coverage for fishing boatsalready exists but is to be made moreattractive particularly to small boatowners. Agricultural insurance will be anentirely new product in the Seychelles.For both schemes to succeed, a culture ofprevention needs to be instilled in thetarget communities, stressing that theGovernment will no longer providecompensation after disasters. At the sametime, potential clients must be involvedin the development of the schemes toensure that stakeholder needs are met andwidespread insurance uptake attained.

The farmer’s insurance in particularprovides an opportunity for developinginsurance as a core component of agreater strategy for disaster riskreduction.

Government compensation notsustainable

In the aftermath of the 26 December 2004tsunami, as well as torrential rainfall andfloods in the Seychelles soon thereafter,the Government of Seychelles provided

SEYCHELLES: Developing insurance for farmers, fishing

boats to help reduce disaster risks

direct financial support to fishing boatowners and farmers who had experiencedlosses.

Out of some 460 fishing boats, about 110were damaged by the tsunami, with 15more sunk and 6 totally lost. Small-scaleindividual fishermen generally do notpurchase insurance, and many uninsuredfishing boat owners were compensated bythe Government after the tsunami - insome cases receiving more than thosewith insurance. It is often these uninsuredsmaller boat owners, whose solelivelihood is fishing, who struggle themost financially after experiencingdamage or loss to their boat.

Regarding farmers, there is currently noagricultural insurance (crop or livestock)available in the country. Farm equipmentand infrastructure can be covered undernormal property policies, but manyfarmers fail to do so. As with fishingboats, the Government has, in the past -including after the 2004 tsunami andfloods, often paid individual


compensation to farmers for disasterlosses.

Based on these experiences, theGovernment has determined that it isuneconomical to provide such directfinancial compensation. Therefore, it isnow investigating, in cooperation withvarious stakeholders - including localinsurance companies, how best todevelop insurance for fishing boat ownersand farmers. The goal is to shift disasterfinancing from ex-post to ex-ante,supporting a greater strategy of disasterrisk reduction and empoweringcommunities and individuals to managetheir own risks.

Partnership for insurance development

The development and implementation ofthe needed insurance schemes is beingundertaken through public-privatepartnerships. Government agenciesinvolved include the Seychelles FishingAuthority, the Department of NaturalResources of the Ministry ofEnvironment and Natural Resources, theInsurance Authority of Seychelles and thePolicy Owner’s Protection Fund of theMinistry of Finance, and as an observerthe National Disaster Secretariat in theOffice of the President.

Two local insurance companies, H. SavyInsurance Company Limited and theState Assurance Corporation ofSeychelles (SACOS), are key partners inthe effort. The Seychelles FarmersAssociation and the Seychelles FishingBoat Owners Association are alsoinvolved to a limited degree. Asrepresentatives of potential clients, theirinput in the development andimplementation of the scheme wasexpected.

The Government recently enforced theAgriculture and Fisheries (Incentives)Act, 2005, recognizing the need tosupport these local industries to reducedependence on imports and enhance localfood security. Through tax concessions,social security enhancements, adaptedemployment regulations, fuel concessionsand adapted foreign exchangeregulations, the Act aims to makeparticipation in agricultural and fishingindustries more attractive. To have accessto these incentives, a farmer or fishermanmust be registered with the relevant

authority. It is under considerationwhether insurance coverage shouldbecome a prerequisite for thisregistration.

Making fishing boat insurance moreattractive

The two local insurance companiesinvolved already offer fishing boatinsurance, but few owners purchase it.Currently, the majority of insured fishingboats are of the larger commercial variety(about 80-100 boats) with insuranceproviding coverage for theft, accidents,fire, and natural hazards - includingtsunami, flood and wind. Insurancecompanies paid out millions ofSeychelles rupees for claims from theDecember 2004 tsunami.

Smaller fishing boat owners tend not topurchase insurance because they find thepremiums too expensive and becausethere is a lack of a culture of preventionand risk reduction within the fishingcommunity. With the Government in thepast often paying individualcompensations after disasters, many boatowners assume future similarcompensation, thus finding no reason topay for insurance.

Premiums are composed of the actual riskpremium plus administrative costs andGovernment tax. While boats indeedcarry a relatively high risk for insurers,because only a small number of fishingboats currently purchase insurance,premiums for those who do are high. A

fundamental of insurance is that thebigger the risk collective (number ofclients), the smaller the burden on theindividual (premium per client).

To help reduce premiums, it is proposedthat the Seychelles Fishing Authority(SFA) manage a group insurance policyfor fishing boat owners. SFA willtherefore assume the burden ofadministering the insurance to individualboat owners, such that the insurancecompanies will only have to administer asingle policy. This represents an indirectsubsidisation of the scheme, withpremiums being reduced because theGovernment covers administrative costsby providing administrative services.

SFA will also work together with thefishing community, aiming to increasethe popularity of boat owner’s insurancethrough dialogue and education. Eitherthrough such awareness raising orthrough the currently under-considerationrequirement of insurance purchase forfishermen to register for Governmentincentives, increased insurance uptakewill further help reduce premiums. At thesame time, the Government may considerreducing the tax charged on fishing boatowner’s insurance, also reducingpremiums.

Developing farmer’s insurance

Agricultural insurance will be initiallyprovided for crops, covering the perils offlood, wind and drought. Livestockinsurance, as well as crop coverage for


From left to right: Dr. Feng Min Kan, Mr. Michel Vielle and Mr. Daniel Kull


pests and diseases, will likely beinvestigated once the basic crop schemein functional. An Agricultural InsuranceFund is to be established and managed bya Board consisting of the Ministry ofEnvironment and Natural Resources,Ministry of Finance, NationalMeteorological Services, the two localinsurance companies and the FarmersAssociation. Although the fund will sitwithin the Government, it will have alegal status wherein as a last resort clientscan take claims disagreements to thejudicial system.

It is proposed that the Governmentprovide a seed grant to establish the fundon a stable financial basis. The fund willbe reinsured with the local insurancecompanies through what is called aquota-share treaty. In such an agreement,premiums and claims are shared betweenthe fund and the insurers at a pre-determined proportional basis. In thecurrent proposal, the fund will retain 40per cent of the risk, with each of theinsurance companies assuming 30 percent of the risk. Depending on theperformance of the fund, thisarrangement may be revised in futureyears.

Farmers in the Seychelles grow a varietyof fruit and vegetable crops with wide-ranging market values, often mixingcrops on small plots of land. Crops arealso usually rotated at different times ofthe year on the same land. This adds tothe complexity of rating (determiningrisks and premiums) of the cropinsurance product. External expertise is

being pursued to help ensure that thescheme is sustainable, further consideringthe complexities of covering the slow-onset peril drought versus rapid-onsetfloods and wind.

Education, participation key forsuccess

A key to the success of the fishing boatowner’s and farmer’s insurance schemesbeing developed in the Seychelles iseducation and participation of potentialclients. Public education and awarenessof how insurance works, its limitationsand how it can be used to reduce risk willenable potential clients to voice theirneeds and desires better. At the sametime, participation in the developmentprocess will enhance ownership,acceptance and insurance uptake.

With insurance policies normally writtenin sometimes confusing legalterminology, it has been decided toproduce a non-technical manual to clearlyexplain the details of the insuranceproduct and procedures. This will betterenable potential clients to use theinsurance for their own risk management.

Insurance part of greater strategy fordisaster reduction

Insurance for natural hazards should beconsidered as the defence of “last resort,”meaning that when all other riskreduction measures fail, insuranceprovides a backstop to prevent disaster.Indeed, premium levels, excesses


Fishing boats in the Seychelles

(deductibles) and policy obligations canand should act as incentives to reduceunderlying risk.

The Seychelles Farmers Associationseeks the development of agriculturalinsurance as a component of a greaterstrategy for disaster risk reduction for thefarming community. The Associationunderstands that insurance must be linkedto disaster risk reduction, and is willingto play an active role in this effort. TheRed Cross Society of the Seychelles hasalso expressed interest in supporting thisinitiative for disaster risk reduction forvulnerable communities.

A targeted strategy for disaster riskreduction can include, for instance in thecase of farmers, guidance, training andsupport for structural (secondarydrainage, flood walls, etc.) and non-structural (land-use planning, croprotation, etc.) agricultural riskmanagement methods. This helps farmersreduce their risks and thus insurancepremiums. Indeed, the crop insuranceunder development will considerindividual levels of risk in such a waythat farmers who actively mitigate,reduce risks of natural hazards will becharged lower premiums. Additionally,training on financial risk management,beyond the acquisition of insurance, willstrengthen the farming community’scoping capacity for all types of economicshocks.

A key to the success of the

fishing boat owner’s and

farmer’s insurance schemes

being developed in the

Seychelles is education and

participation of potential

clients. Public education and

awareness of how insurance

works, its limitations and how

it can be used to reduce risk

will enable potential clients to

voice their needs and desires

better. At the same time,

participation in the

development process will

enhance ownership,

acceptance and insurance

uptake.


Benedict Tembo1 & Newton Sibanda2

Journalists

Some 1.7 million Zambians need food

assistance. Hunger has been declared a

national disaster. An appeal for interna-

tional food aid was made. Meanwhile,

alternative crops are being explored to

reduce future hunger risks.

After enjoying bumper harvests in 2003and 2004, Zambia has found itself in needof food aid. The good yields of theprevious season saw the country bounceback quickly to the food deficit of 2001/2002. So rosy was the harvest in 2003 and2004 that the World Food Programme(WFP) purchased food within thecountry, both to help vulnerable Zam-bians and to export to neighbouringcountries.

Eating wild fruits, roots

Recent vulnerability assessments by thegovernment and its partners indicate that1.7 million people will need food assist-ance this year. The WFP says a largenumber of Zambians are running out offood stocks held over from 2004, whilesome households have resorted to eatingwild fruits and roots for survival, as wellas selling livestock and household assetsto raise money to buy food.

Erratic rainfall leading to drought andmassive crop failure in the southern halfof the country is the main reason behindthe current food crisis. The WFP says thefood crisis is further compounded byhigh HIV/AIDS prevalence.

National Disaster

When a country hunger survey wasconducted in June 2005, it came to lightthat 23 districts across the country, butmostly in the southern, western andeastern provinces, needed urgent foodrelief. The survey revealed that anestimated 1.2 million people were threat-ened with hunger.

However, the recently released Compre-hensive Vulnerability and Needs Assess-

ment Report established that the numberof districts that were food insecure hadrisen to 43, with 1.7 million people nowfacing acute hunger.

Realising the urgency required to helppeople in dire need of food, Parliament on16 November 2005 unanimously adopteda motion urging the government todeclare the worsening hunger a nationaldisaster.

Reacting to the MPs’ resolution, Presi-dent Levy Mwanawasa said: “Parliamenthas made a decision but there are variousparties who feel that there is no need forus to make this declaration. But in thiscountry, Parliament is the highest law-making body, so in view of Parliament’sresolution, I hereby declare a nationaldisaster in Zambia in so far as foodshortages are concerned.”

He appealed to the international commu-nity to assist Zambia with food needed tofeed those threatened with hunger.

Serious socio-economic impacts

The main cause of the food insecurity isdrought, with water levels in SouthernProvince having reached record lows.District officials in the province say over70 per cent of boreholes and wells havedried up, and rivers have dropped to theirlowest levels in nearly 12 years.

The impacts of the drought and resultanthunger reach beyond just a lack of food.Some families are reportedly walking up

to 15 km each day to collect water. Insome areas, distress sales of livestockhave increased significantly in the lastmonth, with one cow now fetching half itsnormal cash worth. The price of chickensin rural areas most hit by hunger hasplummeted to a third of the usual value.Most people have nothing left to sell.

In a normal year, people are able to relyon wild fruits and roots for sustenancebetween harvests. But this year, mostwild fruits have already been depletedand are now difficult to find. Maize priceshave also risen by about 60 per cent fromone year ago, pushing the cost of thisstaple food beyond the reach of thepoorest households.

12 million people face starvation in

southern Africa

Earlier in the year, the WFP had saidthere was urgent need to raise about 187million US dollars to buy food needed tofeed over eight million people faced withhunger in the six southern Africancountries of Lesotho, Malawi, Mozam-bique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.Soaring prices of maize in several coun-tries in the region are causing seriousconcerns as the WFP struggles toprovide food for the most needy.

The situation in Southern Africa isconsidered so serious that UN SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan has written to 27heads of state, the European Commissionand the African Development Bank toraise the alarm for urgent funding to averta catastrophe.

The WFP says a critical window isclosing fast for 12 million people acrosssouthern Africa to receive urgent helpfrom the international community. TheWFP reports that in Malawi, the hardesthit country in the region where about twomillion people face starvation, theaverage price of maize across 15 marketsrose by nearly 50 per cent between Apriland July 2005. Maize prices in Mozam-bique were mounting rapidly throughoutthe country, while in Zimbabwe, wherethree million people need aid, the pricehad risen by 50 per cent over two weeks

ZAMBIA: Managing hunger with relief, risk reduction

Benedict tembo, a Zambian journalist who

promotes DRR



and in many rural areas maize grain wasnot available.

HIV/AIDS an aggravating factor

“HIV/AIDS is not only a massivedevelopment problem but it is also has aheavy impact on household food andnutrition security and greatly compoundsthe effect of a food crisis,” says WFPspokesperson Jo Woods.

Families affected by HIV/AIDS alreadyface a daily struggle to feed themselves.During a food crisis, they are even morelikely to become malnourished, espe-cially children. “HIV often affects themost productive (adult) members offamilies; when they become sick or die,much of the family income is lost andaccess to food also becomes difficult,”reports Ms. Woods.

She added that in rural areas as farmersget too sick to work, less nutritious cropsare often planted, or fields lie unculti-vated. “Food and nutrition are veryimportant for all people; people livingwith HIV or AIDS however should takeextra special care to eat a healthy diet,”she says.

She explains that even in the earlieststages of HIV infection, when no symp-toms are apparent, HIV-positive peopleneed more energy and need to make surethey are eating a nutritious diet. “Goodnutrition can make a big difference to aperson’s well-being and can keep aperson healthier for longer,” she says.

National, international responses

The Zambian government has alreadycommitted about 10 million US dollarstowards the procurement of 118,000metric tons of relief food. Some isalready being distributed, with about44,200 50-kg bags of food being sent toneedy areas.

Other local stakeholders have alsostepped up their efforts to help. TheCouncil of Churches in Zambia hastargeted an estimated 3,000 householdsfor food assistance while the ZambiaEpiscopal Conference has drawn a 1.3million US dollar budget towards hungeralleviation.

Responding to the government’s declara-tion of hunger as a national disaster, WFPhas begun mobilising food for the

country. “WFP’s role is to respond to agovernment request for assistance. Inturn, we ask the international communityto fund our operational response,” saysMs. Woods. She adds: “For the last fewyears, WFP has based its operationalresponse on assessments conducted byGovernment, UN agencies, and non-government organisations. The results ofthese assessments, which were conductedin May/June this year, were endorsed bythe Government, and, in consultationwith Government, WFP tailored its foodassistance response.”

WFP is now trying to raise funds to feed1.2 million people through to April 2006.As food distribution efforts are steppedup, many are looking beyond to thecurrent farming season, hoping there willbe enough rains to guarantee a goodharvest.

Cassava a sustainable risk reductionoption

Over the years, Zambia has had severaldroughts and to avert hunger, the govern-ment resorts to importing maize fromother countries, sometimes from as far asthe US, at exorbitant costs that worsenthe country’s foreign exchange reserves.The stopgap measure to import food hasnot provided any sustainable solutionsthat any large-scale production of cassavapromises.

“The wish and determination of thisoffice is to have holistic response to thedrought-induced crisis by addressingareas of intervention,” says BernardNamachila, Permanent Secretary in theVice-President’s Office.

The Zambian authorities and agro-expertsare looking to cassava as a replacement

for the staple crop maize. Experts advisethat cassava is a sustainable option formaize because the tuber crop easily beatsdry spells, grows well in less fertile soils,and is just as adequate as maize inproviding starch needs. The cassava tubercould just prove to be the “white gold”that can provide wonder solutions totragic maize crop failure that at themoment is as high as 65 per cent.

Cassava growing, as a suitable sustain-able option, has generally not beenexplored to avert hunger. But Zambianand regional scientists have developedbetter yield cassava species called“tropical manioc selection” (TMS) breedsthat have higher yields per hectare, bulkearly, are resistant to diseases and havestraight shapes that can accommodatemechanical processing in industries.

Research has also proved that cassavacan be grown on the same plot for over30 years without fertiliser with the sameyield. This would help the Zambiangovernment save a lot of money. Thegrowing of cassava is also environmen-tally friendly because it takes a long timefor farmers to shift to other plots to growthe root crop - unlike maize that requiresfertile soil all the time.

Cassava is also a useful crop in themanufacture of animal feed and thereforewould be ideal for growing in SouthernProvince where the highest number ofcattle is found. Experts say it is 40 percent cheaper to make stock feed fromcassava chips and leaves than it is frommaize.

Pilot projects

In Lusaka, a cassava distribution project

Women and children sell water to be able to buy food (Photo: WFP, Brenda Barton)



under the Lusaka Mitengo Women’sGroup has began whereby one group isgiven the new TMS cassava breed toplant and then pass on cuttings to othersas a sustainable way for peasant farmersto avert hunger and improve householdfood security.

Cassava until recently was predominantlygrown in Luapula and Northern provinceswhere the soils are mostly acidic and thelower altitude favours the growth of theroot crop. But trials are being conductedin Lusaka because the province hasdifferent agronomic conditions, includingalkaline soils and a higher elevation thanLuapula and Northern Provinces.

Agricultural extension officers and FoodPolicy Research Policy Institute (IFPRI)Senior Research Fellow Dr StevenHaggblade are giving professionalguidance to women groups engaged inthe breeding of high yield cassava in

Zambia. Dr Haggblade says cassava doesnot require fertiliser, therefore remainingaccessible even to the poorest smallfarmer.

International NGO Care International,under a drought recovery food pro-gramme, has introduced a cassavaplanting initiative under which farm-families are supplied with cuttings whichthey plant, and they are also obliged topass a designated number of cuttings onto others. Other NGOs are doing the samein a bid to fight hunger.

Changing tradition for the benefit of all

Southern Province faces the worst hungerproblem but ironically it is an area wherecassava growing is frowned upon asuncustomary. Inhabitant communitiestraditionally keep cattle and only growmaize as a main occupation. But this is

rapidly changing thanks to the wide-spread failure of maize and a furtherdecrease of farmers’ incomes due to cattlediseases. There is thus a need to growcassava, which does not require the useof fertiliser.

Cassava has long held a reputation as aless labour-intensive crop than maize orany other food crop, needing weedingonly once or twice in the first year andnot at all in the second year. This meansthat even people with diminished energysuch as the aged, the disabled, orphansand those afflicted by HIV/AIDS canmanage to grow cassava more easily thanother crops.

1 Deputy Production Editor, Zambia Daily Mail,

Lusaka; Member, Journalists in Africa for Disaster

Risk Reduction Network (JADRR Net).

2 Deputy Features Editor, Zambia Daily Mail, Lusaka.

Mr. Ali Adan AliCoordinator,

Environmental, Health & Safety Programme,

National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya

To preserve and protect internationally

important collections, human heritage and

staff against disasters, the National

Museums of Kenya’s Technical Committee

on Environmental, Health and Safety is

actively pursuing a variety of initiatives.

The National Museums of Kenya (NMK)was founded by the East African NaturalHistory Society in 1910 with the goal offostering critical scientific examination ofthe natural attributes of the East Africanhabitat. It has throughout the yearsgrown into an institution of both regionaland international importance, and becomea valuable presence in the community.The NMK is a non-profit institutionacquiring, conserving, researching andexhibiting material to the public for study,education and enjoyment.

KENYA: National museums pursue disaster preparedness,

management

The NMK has in its collection over 7million priceless biological, cultural,historical, biotechnological and archivalinformation pieces, serving as a nationaland international repository and centre ofreference materials. Its prehistorycollections, especially in palaeontologywhere the search for human origin hasyielded remarkable collections of homidand other fossils, are of global repute andimportance.

Disaster preparedness important toNMK’s overarching goals

The NMK aspires to be a world-classcentre of excellence in heritage manage-ment and research for the benefit ofhumanity. This is achieved by collecting,documenting, preserving, researching/studying and presenting Kenya’s pastand present cultural and natural heritage,and to enhance knowledge, appreciation,respect, management and use of theseresources for the benefit of Kenya andthe world.

Considering the broad mandate of NMKin terms of research, collections, muse-ums, antiquities, sites, monuments andinformation dissemination, NMK is in aunique position for disaster preparednessand management. Its priceless collection,human capital and environment at largemust be protected. To achieve this, NMKhas a vision to be a national repository ofknowledge and centre of excellence inheritage management and research for thebenefit of humanity in a safe and healthyenvironment.

Gaps before enforcement of disastermanagement measures

Before efforts to implement an environ-mental, health and safety programme,conditions were characterized by highrisks and dangers in the usage of chemi-cals, poor protection facilities, poorcollection management practices andweak emergency preparedness. Techni-cians, support staff and scientists werefound to be highly exposed to chemical



risks and dangers as characterised byseveral cases of allergic reactions andother health complaints.

Most research and collection facilitiessuffered from poor space congestion andventilation, as well as the lack of disaster-related information, practical guidelines,safety data sheets, communicationsystems, assembly points and technicalexperts. The NMK had weak environmen-tal, disaster preparedness and manage-ment operation policies and standards inthe workplace. The museum safetyfacilities were old and lacked moderndesign for disaster preparedness andmanagement. These phenomena clearlycreated environmental, health and safetygaps in museum.

Establishing a disaster managementtechnical committee

The initial concept of disaster prepared-ness and management came into beingwhen the NMK established a three-person ad hoc committee on health andsafety in 1999. The committee wasmandated to investigate numerouscomplaints emanating from staff, inparticular those working in scientific/collection departments, laboratories andregional museums, regarding potentialdangers of working with hazardous/expired chemicals and risky conditions.

The ad hoc committee produced anEnvironmental, Health and SafetyManual, but unfortunately the recommen-dations of the document were notimplemented. A systematic attempt toeffectively address growing concerns hadbeen lacking in the museum for manyyears. The idea of establishing a technicalcommittee for disaster management (DM)finally came when major environmental,health and safety concerns in theresearch laboratories, collection roomsand regional museums came to light.

On 26 June 2003, NMK Director-GeneralDr Idle Omar Farah inaugurated a stand-ing Technical Committee on Environment,Health and Safety (EHS), comprised of 10members (managers from administration,scientific, research and regional stations).The vision was to make the NMK a safecentre of excellence with best environ-mental management practices andstandards that promotes healthy workersand spirit for research and heritageconservation management.

Technical committee’s mandate

The purpose of the EHS is to assess,prepare and develop strategies tominimize environmental and humanliabilities. The committee is mandated to:

1. Design and ensure implementation ofEHS programmes in the NMK byadvising management and staff onEHS issues and policy guidelines inreference to National guidelines.

2. Generate appropriate EHS informationand material that is significant to themuseum research, collection andconservation activities.

3. Organize awareness creation activi-ties, conduct training and demonstra-tions that enhance EHS informationand standards.

4. Carry out periodic inspections of EHSconditions in research, collection/conservation labs, theatres, gardens,etc. and make relevant recommenda-tion for improvements.

5. Conduct special assessments and mappotential hazards in museum facilities/environment e.g. (chemicals, radioac-tive materials, waste management,etc.), make relevant recommendationsfor their handling, disposal andmanagement, and advise the museummanagement on disaster preparednessand management.

Improved disaster management

Assessing an organization’s risk exposure

to issues related to the workplace’senvironmental, health and safety is acomplex task. A number of sub-commit-tees in satellite museums have beenestablished to oversee the implementa-tion of EHS activities, for instance in theKisumu, Kitale, Narok, Kariandusi pre-historic sites and Meru museums.

There has been great improvement ofcollection management both at headquar-ters and various regional museums asnew programmes like integrated pestmanagement are fully adopted by themuseums. Through expanded EHSprogrammes, there are now several taskteams working in different areas like firefighting and emergency preparedness,pest management, staff health andtraining, chemical and radioactivematerials, water and sanitation, facilitiesimprovements, and procurement ofprotective gear. All teams work closelywith the Office of the Director Generaland the EHS Programme Coordinator,where arising issues are effectivelydiscussed and tackled.

The committee has conducted severalhazard mapping surveys, organizes fire-fighting and first aid training and furthercontributed to improved protection ofmuseum staff through protective gearprocurement. Presently, there are in-creased communications lines in severalmuseum facilities with subsequentimprovements in security surveillance.Services and governance improvementshave been noted in the area of scientificprocurements. There are also increased

Lake Turkana, in one of Kenya’s arid areas



fumigation frequencies in the collectionsystems to enhance their preservationand conservation.

Training & education

The EHS is becoming an important toolfor awareness creation on disasterpreparedness and management withincreased capacity building for museumemployees. Through a European Union-Museum funded project, several capacitybuilding workshops have been organizedfor technicians and support staff. As partof an in-house training programme, EHShas organized capacity building work-shops for different museums, trainingsome 600 people. The NMK has alsotrained people on disaster preparednessand management at the Kenya Institute ofAdministration.

The EHS has developed educationreading material including a safetymanual, a summarized version of themanual and a brochure. These materials

are often consulted by museums forstrategic planning, policy formulation,exhibitions and educational programmedevelopment.

NMK top management now stronglyrecognises the efforts of the committeeand has started realising the importantrole played by the EHS programme. EHShas held a number of workshops to alertstaff on safety and health issues both atthe NMK headquarters, regional muse-ums and Institute of Primate Research.

EHS benefits: beyond just disastermanagement

The establishment of EHS systems at theNMK and regional museums has broughtmany benefits:

• It has helped museums to implementbest environmental managementpractices.

• It also manifests a practical commit-ment to prevent environment contami-

nation and care for people, hence helpmuseums to avoid violation of laws,regulations or human rights principles.

• It has helped restore employee moraleand public opinion about the muse-ums, thus improving the NMK’spublic, intellectual and scientificimage.

• In this day of rapid reorganization, theexistence of EHS is beneficial as it cangive quick identification and analysisof existing risks and disaster prepar-edness mechanisms in an institution.

• The museums have become more eco-friendly, living and dynamic places ofinterest for many.

The EHS continues to look forward tobuilding partnerships that furtherenhance quality research, managementand conservation of Kenya’s naturalhistory and cultural heritage.


Mr. Feleke Tadele 2Country Representative, Save the Children –

Canada,

Ethiopia Programme

A Bachelor of Science Degree in Disaster

Risk Management and Sustainable

Development (BSc DRMSD) programme is

being introduced at an Ethiopian

university.

The institutionalization of disaster riskmanagement training has remained achallenge in Ethiopia, even though thecountry has a long recorded history ofdisasters of both natural andanthropogenic origin [see box forEthiopia’s disaster profile]. Neither doesthe country have a disaster managementtraining institution, nor is disastermanagement included in any highereducation programme leading to any kindof certification. By offering the above-mentioned BSc degree programme, Bahir

ETHIOPIA: University to offer undergraduate degree in

disaster risk management 1

Dar University, one of the country’slargest and fast-growing universities, istherefore making a breakthrough.

With support from stakeholders such asthe country’s Disaster Prevention andPreparedness Commission (DPPC) andrelated agencies, the university is poisedto produce competent professionalsequipped with both academic andpractical knowledge and skills inmanaging disaster and developmentproblems afflicting the region and thenation in general.

Developing a training curriculum

Disaster management (DM) until recentlywas, in various parts of the world,variously included in higher educationunder geography, environmental studies,sociology, etc. DM as a “field” or“discipline” is relatively new: it began inthe 1920s following Samuel HenryPrince’s doctoral dissertation on the 1917

Halifax disaster (Scanlon, 1998; Drabekand McEntire; 2003). But it was not untilthe late 70s that DM started emerging asa new paradigm for dealing with rathercomplex development problems.

The current thinking on disasters is aproduct of theoretical and practicalconstructs that have seen the refiningand reshaping the disaster (anddevelopment) paradigms that hasoccurred over the last 30 years. The mostsignificant academic paradigms andpolicy guides, which have contributedimmensely on the conceptualization ofdisasters, include: (1) the disaster-resistant community paradigm, (2) thesustainable development and sustainablehazard mitigation paradigm; and (3) thedisaster-resilient community paradigm(McEntire et al, 2002). [For more details,see separate item in “Views & Reviews”]

Such an evolution of disaster paradigmsis indicative of some search for an all-inclusive paradigm on which to base


Environmental Economics; and Agro-meteorology and Climatology.

The major courses of the programme havetwo general themes running through:disaster risk reduction and sustainabledevelopment. This programme respondsto the inherent and constructedcomplexity in the interrelationshipsbetween sustainable development anddisasters. The programme views disastersas manifestations of non-sustainabledevelopment or unresolved developmentproblems. At the same time,mainstreaming disaster risk reduction atall stages of the disaster cycle is viewedas an important strategy to achievesustainable development.

The disaster risk management theme isstructured within the logic of the disastercycle. This begins with an introductorycourse to disasters, which is followed bya focus on pre-disaster, disaster and post-disaster situations. The sustainabledevelopment theme also begins with anintroductory course in sustainabledevelopment. This is followed by specificcourses in development planning, projectplanning, community participation andlivelihood security. The programmeconcludes by focusing on the linkbetween relief, rehabilitation andsustainable development. However, thecourses on both themes are notindependent of each other butcomplement each other and provide awide range of content and analysis of realworld issues alongside key skills foremployment.

It is to be noted that a field practicecourse is offered in Year 2 Semester 2where students will have contact withpractitioners of disaster risk managementand/or sustainable development and/orclosely associated fields of work.Assessment will be through a reportwhich students will submit at thebeginning of the Year 3 Semester 1.Students will also complete a researchmethods course, which explores theresearch process, design, methods anddata analysis. It introduces a variety ofresearch methods appropriate toundergraduate level and preparesstudents for the design of their seniorproject.

Ethiopia’s Disaster

Profile

Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa with

an estimated population of 74.2 million (UN,

2005). With an area of 1.13 million sq. km., it

is a land of great physical diversity, with

altitudes ranging from 116 m below sea level

in the Danakil Depression, to 4,620 m at

Africa’s fourth highest peak, Ras Dashen.

Over three-quarters of the population depend

on agriculture for their living, and over three-

quarters of Ethiopia’s export earnings come

from agriculture and livestock.

Being one of the poorest developing countries

in the world, the vulnerability context of Ethiopia is

quite challenging: in 2004 it ranked 170 in the

human development index out of 177 countries; it

ranks 21st in the world in under-five mortality rate;

one-third of its population survive on less than 1

US dollar a day; it has the largest HIV/AIDS-

infected population in the world; 31 per cent of

female adults are literate; and 24 per cent have

access to clean drinking water (UNICEF, 2005).

Ethiopia, unlike much of the rest of Africa has a

long recorded history of disasters of both natural

and anthropogenic origin. Common hazards

include drought, floods, epidemics, landslides,

earthquakes, environmental degradation and

violent conflicts. Of all natural hazards, drought is

the most common disaster trigger, accounting for

over 98 per cent of disaster fatalities (see Figure 1

below).

Drought has in most cases combined with

anthropogenic hazards, mainly civil conflicts, to

trigger famines (Hancock, 1985; Clay and

Holcomb, 1986). The frequency of nation-wide

drought that trigger food shortages increased from

once in 10 years (in the 1970s and 1980s) to

once in about three years now. And between

1970 and 1996, droughts and the resultant food

shortage have affected millions and killed a

significant number of people in Ethiopia. The

1984-85 famine, for example, is estimated to

have claimed one million lives, and will go down

in history as one of the greatest disasters on the

African continent in the last century (Smith and

Davies, 1995).

The major causes of famine include poor

governance, drought, environmental degradation –

poor farming practices on marginal lands,

especially on exposed slopes in the North,

deforestation mainly due to population pressure,

poor and unplanned management of water

resources. Furthermore, Ethiopia was not only

caught in the crossfire of the Cold War but also

there has been a marked distinction between relief

and development. In addition, some donors set

parallel structures alongside those of government

due to distrust and suspicion between government

and donors.

theoretical perspectives and policyguidelines. The disaster curriculum inhigher education has been, to a largeextent, shaped by these paradigms.Because of the multi-disciplinarity ofsubject, it is usually introduced from avariety of perspectives but may focus onany aspect of disaster management.Universities in Ethiopia shall also followthe same paradigm shift in their efforts toincorporate disaster managementcurriculum. It is to be noted that mostuniversities, until recently, offereddisaster courses at postgraduate level.

The B.Sc. degree programme

The BSc degree in Disaster RiskManagement and Sustainable

Development (BSc DRMSD) consists ofgeneral, related and major courses.General courses offer basic knowledgeand skills in communication, writing,social, civic and ethical issues. Coursesfound in this category are:Communication Skills; SophomoreEnglish; Social Psychology; Civics andEthical Education; and ComputerApplication.

Related courses are those which mayprovide prerequisite knowledge tounderstanding the disaster developmentecology. Courses found in this categoryare: Introduction to Economics;Anthropology and Rural Sociology;Introduction to Statistics; AgricultureEconomics; Natural Resource and


(More on Ethiopia on next page)


Institutionalized Disaster Management in Ethiopia

The Relief & Rehabilitation

Commission (RRC)

The first institutionalized effort in disaster

management was made after the establishment of

the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC)

in 1973, which was mandated to coordinate

emergency relief operations and settlement

schemes in the country. The main theme of RRC

disaster management was to avert drought-

induced famine.

The National Policy on Disaster

Prevention & Management (NPDPM)

In 1993, The Government of Ethiopia (GoE)

ratified a more comprehensive disaster

management policy, the National Policy on

Disaster Prevention and Management (NPDPM).

The main priority areas of the policy are: saving

human lives and their livelihoods; protecting the

quality of the affected areas from deteriorating on

the account of disaster; ensuring best use of

natural resource endowment; and overcoming the

root causes of vulnerability to disasters through

provision of relief in the short term and promoting

sustainable development in the longer term.

The Disaster Prevention &

Preparedness Commission (DPPC)

A capable and effective disaster management

by the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness

Commission (DPPC) remains a necessity as the

GoE and donors work together to reduce

vulnerability in geographic areas historically

considered as high risk.

The Institutional Support Project

(ISP)

In 1996, the DPPC, through its annual appeals

for assistance, requested donor support in

capacity building for implementation of the

NPDPM policy. The Canadian International

Development Agency (CIDA), through Save the

Children - Canada and Save the Children - UK,

responded to the appeal, giving birth to the

Institutional Support Project (ISP).

The goal of the ISP is to assist the GoE to

prepare for, prevent and mitigate disasters and

enhance community resilience and sustainability

in the longer term. The overall strategic purpose of

the project was to build the capacity of the

government and other partners at regional, zonal

and woreda levels to prepare for, detect and

respond to disasters in timely and ultimately

References (for article and two boxes above)

Andreyeva, G. (1980). Social Psychology. Moscow:Progress Publishers.

Brehm, S. and Saul, M. (1990). Social Psychology.Dallas: Houghton Mifflin Company

Feldman, R.S.(1985). Social Psychology: Theories,Research and Applications. New York: McGraw- HillBook Company

Morgan, C.T.; King, R.A.; Weisz, J.R.; andSchopler, J. (1986). Introduction to Psychology (7th

ed.). New Delhi: Total McGraw-Hill Publishing

Company

Myers, D.G. (1999). Social Psychology (16th ed.).

Boston: McGraw- Hill Book Company

Myers, D.G. (1983). Social Psychology. New York :

McGraw- Hill Book Company

Pratkanis, A. And Elliot, A. (1998/99) Mindless

Propaganda, Thoughtful Persuasion. Social

Psychology Annual Editions (2nd ed.) McGraw-Hill:

United States of America

Richard, J.E. (1986). Social Psychology: Attitudes,

Cognition and Social Behaviour, Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press,

Vander, Z. J. (1987). Social Psychology (4th ed.).

New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Footnotes

1 Adapted from Bernard Maneya’s ISP (Institutional

Support Project) report on ”Curriculum Framework for

Bachelor of Science Degree in Disaster Risk

Management and Sustainable Development”, Bahir Dar

University, September 2005.

2 Feleke Tadele is also the manager of the Institutional

Support Project (ISP) implemented jointly in Ethiopia

by Save the Children - Canada and Save the

Children - UK.

contribute to reducing the vulnerability of people of

target areas considered as high risk to disasters

within the NPDPM framework.

ISP I was from January 1997 to March 1998, and

ISP II from April 1998 to March 2002. During these

first two phases, the project was mainly operational

in Amhara and Oromia regions with some policy

familiarization activities in Tigray and Southern

Nations, Nationalities and Peoples region (SNNPR).

ISP III is a four year-project running from July 2002

to March 2006. It is mainly operational in Amhara

and Oromia regions. It builds from previous phases

of the project which provided comprehensive

packages of human, physical and logistic capacity

support to improve the capacity of the DPPC and

relevant line departments at woreda, zonal, regional

and federal levels.

Map of Ethiopia



Prof Femi OlokesusiNigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research

(NISER)

Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

In developing countries, cost-effective

disaster reduction (DR) and new sources

of DR funding must be sought. The

following is an overview of some existing

and proposed innovative DR funding

arrangements in Nigeria.

Disasters are a development problem,posing an increasing threat to povertyreduction and sustainable development.Ex-ante (before) and ex-post (after)disaster reduction (DR) activities requireadequate funding. Competing demandsfor resources required to attain theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs)imply that existing disaster mitigationfinancing mechanisms be criticallyexamined.

This article, which provides an overviewof some existing and proposed innovativefinancing arrangements for disastermitigation through public-private partner-ships in Nigeria, seeks to motivatedifferent stakeholders to adapt similararrangements.

The need for Public-Private Partner-ship (PPP) funding

Funding of disaster management pro-grammes in Nigeria is presently theresponsibility of the Federal Government.The primary source of financing for theresponsible agency, the National Environ-ment Management Agency (NEMA), andits activities is a proportion of theEcological Fund. Other tiers of govern-ment have unfortunately not shownappreciable commitment towards disastermitigation. Moreover, the entire pool offunds in the Federal Account, as well asthe proportion allocated to each tier ofgovernment, are subject to the vagariesof oil pricing in the global market.

It must be understood that resourcesearmarked for preventing and mitigating

the impact of natural phenomena arehigh-yield investments in economic,social and political terms. In poor disas-ter-prone countries like Nigeria, there isneed to attach importance to cost-effective mitigation and new sources offunding for loss recovery, taking advan-tage of recent developments in informa-tion technology and the emergence ofnew financial instruments and partner-ships.

With a view to mobilizing financial,logistic and other relevant resources fordisaster mitigation, partnerships betweenthe government (public sector) and theprivate sector need to be developed.Partnerships mean joint initiatives of thepublic sector in conjunction with theprivate, for-profit and not-for-profitsectors, also referred to as the govern-ment, business and civic sectors. Withinthese partnerships, each of the actorscontributes resources (financial, human,technical and intangibles such asinformation or political support) andparticipates in the decision-makingprocess.

From the livelihoods approach, PPParrangements can contribute tremen-dously towards disaster risk mitigation bybuilding non-tangible assets (skills, self-help and solidarity of households and

communities), strengthening everydaylives and addressing local priorities.

Disaster risk insurance pool

There is limited domestic insurancecoverage for catastrophic (disaster) risksin Nigeria, as well as a lack of economicincentives to engage in ex-ante disastermitigation. It is, however, anticipated thatdue to a recent directive onrecapitalization, insurance firms andbanks should be better able to providecapacity to cover disaster risks and offermore flexibility to incur fiscal costs forrelief and reconstruction.

There is the necessity for distinct PPPs tosupplement the private insurance system.A proposed disaster risk insurance poolcounts the insurance industry, theNigerian Insurance Commission andbanks as major stakeholders. Such a poolwould add to existing ex-post funds andtherefore provide immediate access toliquidity, as well as contribute to betterrisk management through inclusion ofmitigation incentives, thereby enhancingprospects for investment and economicgrowth.

Those who obtained their houses undermortgage arrangements would especiallybenefit from the PPP insurance pool

Financing disaster mitigation in Nigeria: the imperative of

public-private partnership

From right to left: Prof. Femi Olokesusi and Prof. Bola Ayeni of Nigeria

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scheme. The Real Estate DevelopersAssociation of Nigeria (REDAN) shouldtherefore also be an active stakeholder inthis partnership.

The development of a viable and formi-dable disaster risk insurance pool rests onboth the fund itself and strong local andinternational reinsurance capabilities.Thus, involved administrative andfinancial agencies would have to makeadequate preparations to ensure thesuccess of this option.

States’ Disaster Risk Mitigation Fund

To mobilize more finance for disastermitigation, each state government shouldbe encouraged to dedicate at least 2 percent of its annual revenue as “DisasterManagement Fund.” Analysis of budgetsfor 2000-2005 indicates that no stategovernment has a budget sub-heading fordisaster mitigation.

This proposal would have generatedabout 55 million US dollars, had it been inplace between 2000 and 2004. Localgovernments should embrace the samearrangement. Availability of funds at bothstate and local levels would enable thesetiers of government to be more proactiveon disaster mitigation issues rather thanrelying almost exclusively on NEMAwhenever disasters occur.

Private sector-managed Disaster

Mitigation Trust Fund

If properly managed, trust funds repre-sent pragmatic and reliable ways ofmobilizing financial resources, as exempli-fied by the success stories of varioustrust fund schemes in Nigeria. In the spiritof good governance, a proposed trustfund should be managed by two or morelocal reputable investment managementfirms.

This proposed option would sensitizepeople on the need for disaster mitigationand their social responsibilities to thestate and its people. The fund couldinvest in projects that use naturalresources for sustainability, bringbenefits to rural areas, bring relief tovictims after disasters, offer reasonablelong-term dividends to investors, andoffer protection and management ofhazardous areas, parks and ecologicallysensitive areas.

Lotteries and fund-raising events

Other potential financing options arelotteries and fund-raising events. If theseschemes are properly publicised andthere is widespread public perception oftransparency and accountability, themoney accruable from this option couldbe substantial. Former US PresidentsGeorge Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton togetherraised several millions of US dollars (asfund raisers) after the December 2004Indian Ocean tsunami and September2005 Hurricane Katrina (USA) throughsuch campaigns.

Accessing bilateral and multilateral

assistance

Financial and logistic assistance from ourdevelopment partners deserve attention.This is indeed a key message of theJanuary 2005 Hyogo Framework ofAction and Hyogo Declaration. In thewake of Hurricane Katrina, even thehighly industrialized US received offers ofassistance from 70 countries. Perhaps themost critical factors in this option areastute and pragmatic internationaldiplomacy and good governance on thepart of the Nigerian government.

Special taxes and levies

While acknowledging the positive rolesbeing played by some private operatorsduring post-disaster events in thecountry, there is still ample room for themto show greater social responsibilitygiven their peculiar operating environ-ment. The following special taxes andlevies are potential sources of finance, inview of the fact that they harbour minimalmoral hazards and are progressive innature:

• 1 US dollar per barrel of crude oil soldin the world market

• 2-3 per cent levy on air fares fordomestic and international flights

• 5 per cent of all import duties col-lected by the Nigerian CustomsService

Accessing the Global EnvironmentFacility

The Global Environment Facility (GEF)is a special fund provided and adminis-

tered by the World Bank, with supportfrom the United Nations EnvironmentProgramme (UNEP) and United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP).GEF’s aim is to enable developingcountries access funds for investmentprojects and related activities to protectand conserve environmental resources.

Specifically, the Fund’s four main areasof concern are:

1. Protecting international watersvulnerable to pollution by shippingand other sources;

2. Conserving energy, promoting powergeneration that does not contribute toglobal warming, reforestation andforestry management;

3. Arresting the destruction of theearth’s ozone layer by helpingcountries make the transition fromchlorofluorocarbons, halons and otherdestructive gases to acceptablealternatives; and

4. Conserving the planet’s biologicaldiversity.

Innovative projects could be designed byNEMA, in partnership with interestedstate and local governments, institutions,NGOs and local banks, to access GEF forthe purposes of putting in place ex-antedisaster mitigation measures that alsoserve to conserve natural resources andprotect the environment.

Further policy recommendations

To support the above proposals, furtherpolicy recommendations include theestablishment of a formal institutionalstructure to manage a proposed NationalDisaster Risk Mitigation Fund. This Fundshould involve representatives from alllevels of government, the private sector,civil society and the UN system. Facilita-tion of a low-interest loan facility forpost-disaster reconstruction costs,modest relief grants and microcredit isneeded. Such microfinance could beoperated through communities, individu-als and cooperative societies.

Since Nigeria is almost exclusivelydependent on imported equipment,machines and chemicals for disaster riskmitigation, some fiscal and monetaryincentives should be provided to import-ers and assemblers of such essentialmaterials.

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Availability of funds to support homeconstruction, retrofitting and improve-ment can positively affect adherence tohazard-resistant building techniques indesign and construction. Incorporation ofnatural hazard damage mitigation guide-lines in local building codes, physicalplanning regulations, and proper enforce-ment of these can significantly increasebuilding safety during hazardous events.Training local builders in the minimumrequirements of safer home constructioncan institutionalize damage mitigationtechniques in the construction of lower-income housing - typically the mostvulnerable.

Conclusion

Financing disaster mitigation is a sharedresponsibility between the public andprivate sectors. In particular, state and

local governments should change theirattitudes to disaster mitigation byproperly budgeting for it and being moreproactive. NEMA should devise appropri-ate strategies for mainstreaming disastermitigation in economic developmentframeworks and poverty eradicationprogrammes.

In developing innovative mitigationstrategies, there is the need to considerways of encouraging and/or requiringindividual households, businesses andgovernments to adopt cost-effective lossreduction measures, especially insurance.It might be necessary to institute require-ments through the private sector and/orgovernmental regulations/standards ifNigerians fail to invest in cost-effectiveloss reduction measures.

The following areas of research wouldfurther help in designing strategies for

financing disaster risk reduction:

• There is the need to better understandindividual decision processes in areasprone to hazards. Within this context,a study could be designed to examinethe concept of an insurance riskmitigation pool.

• Disaster risk mitigation measures haveboth direct benefits (e.g. reduction inproperty damage) and indirectbenefits (e.g. reduction in businessinterruption losses). To prioritize lossreduction measures, it is thereforeimportant to understand and quantifytheir costs and benefits.

• There has been no deliberate attemptin Nigeria to determine disaster cost.This is an important assignment forpublic policy purposes.

Ms. Gina ZiervogelDisaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods

Programme (DiMP),

University of Cape Town, South Africa

Country Report Input: Paul Msoma, Vhonani

Netshandama, Tabo Maheritona

Fieldwork: Ephraim Mzengo, Prudence Nkhumeleni,

Jarvis Milimo

Introduction

Daily, millions of people in southernAfrica are suffering from food insecurity,lack of ability to secure their livelihoods,the impact of natural variability and arange of other stresses that make it hardto maintain an acceptable standard ofliving. On top of this, there are high ratesof HIV/AIDS prevalence that impactfurther on the ability to undertake certaintasks and result in resources being spenton health-related issues.

A project called “Understanding Resilientand Vulnerable Livelihoods (UNRAVEL)recognizes that it is critical to understandthe dynamics of these various stressesand what households are doing torespond to them. HIV/AIDS and itsimpact on food security were the focus of

Understanding resilient, vulnerable livelihoods in South Africa,

Malawi, Zambia

the project but it was recognized that thisneeded to be situated in the broaderenvironment of stresses. The projectfocused on three villages in rural areas inthree southern African countries to pilot amethodology that integrates qualitativeand quantitative data across time to tryand capture the vulnerabilities that existand how households are responding atpresent. It was felt that this richunderstanding was of paramountimportance in order to facilitateintervention and support that isappropriate to the people and their needs.

mplemented in South Africa, Malawi andZambia, the project involved monitoring anumber of households throughout aperiod of 14 months, with data collectionstarting in April 2004 and finishing inMay 2005. There was both a research andadvocacy component to the project witha focus on rural livelihoods, HIV/AIDSand food security in the three countries.

Research design & methodology

The research process involvedadministering a baseline survey to

respondents from 20 households in eachvillage in the first month, thenadministering a semi-structuredmonitoring tool every two months and afinal survey, based on the initial baselineat the end of 14 months. The householdswere selected based on their healthstatus. Ten households in each villagewere chosen where there was achronically ill person or someone whohad passed away in the last year, whilethe other 10 households did not have achronically ill person.

Cross-country observations

From the key vulnerabilities that weremost important across all the countries,five were chosen as being important to allcountries in the final collaborativemeeting. These were then examined, andthe symptoms of the stress wereidentified and the coping strategiesoutlined as shown in TABLE 2 below.These did differ between countries butare an indication of some of the ways thathouseholds in the three villages (onevillage per country) are dealing with thestresses.

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TABLE 1: Key Stressors for Households in Each Case Study Site

(according to researchers)

This table shows a rich compilation ofsome of the key stresses identified asimportant in all the countries. For eachstress, there is a range of ways thatindividuals and households are impactedthat uncovers some of the dynamics ofrural livelihoods in response to stress.The range of impacts often coversnumerous factors and assets, whichhighlights the importance of taking aholistic approach to the assessment ofvulnerability.

It is clear that individuals respond to thestresses in different ways. Some of theseare sustainable and contribute toimproved future household opportunitiesbut many strategies erode livelihoodassets and networks, which may make itdifficult to respond to the stress in thefuture. Different members within ahousehold appear to undertake differentresponse strategies and it is not clearfrom this research who is bearing more ofthe burden. What does emerge is thatchildren are being significantly impactedboth by the stresses and in responding tothe stresses. This is important toinvestigate as children’s rights should beprotected.

Understanding resilience to stress is alsovery important and a number of factorsemerged that appear to make people moreresilient to stresses. It was noted that theyouth could provide a positive influenceas they have many ideas, display greaterinterest and are keener on developmentwhereas the elderly tend to beconservative. In Zambia, good educationlevels are seen as important to buildingresilience. Households used to sendchildren to herd, but now they shareduties and adults herd during schoolhours. Training about agriculture seemsto help people succeed in homeproduction and they are able to keepchickens, pigs, etc.

In Malawi, social networks and religiousgatherings are a means of resilience. It isevident that most people are involved in anumber of community organizations likehome-based care groups, credit schemegroups, church groups like choirs, etc.,and it is from these small groups thatpeople interact, talk and sometimessupport each other when they findthemselves in trouble.

In South Africa, social networks werealso noted as a means of resilience.

TABLE 2: Symptoms & Response to Stresses

Note: Coping strategies are a general list and are not specific to adjacent strategies* Symptoms seem to be similar to coping mechanisms

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Figure 2: Food StressorsNote: Data range April 2004 to April 2005 (Less food

– eat once or twice a day; No food – nothing in a

day)

Informal savings clubs where peoplecome together and share resources areimportant and there are funeral clubswhere people put in money on a monthlyor annual basis so that family members’funerals are paid for. There are also faith-based organizations and support groups.

In all the three countries, it was noted thatthere was a will to survive. People “don’thave any else to do but they want tosurvive”. This has also extended to theculture of caring for orphans, widows andthe vulnerable. People pull together andhelp to the best of their ability, illustrating“the strength of the spirit of extendedfamily in African culture”.

Monitoring findings

Percentage of income spent on food

Figure 1 below indicates the percentageof income spent on food in 2004. It isclear that in South Africa less of the totalincome of households is spent on food.No household spent more than 75 percent of their income on food, althoughthe number spending 51 to 75 per cent onfood increased from 1 household in 2004to 6 in 2005, indicating a decline in foodavailability or increase in prices. InMalawi, the majority of people spendmore than 75 per cent of their income onfood and in Zambia, 10 households spendmore than 75 per cent of their income onfood, 7 per cent spend between 51 and 75per cent of their income on food and 2 percent spend between 25 and 50 per cent onfood, but none spend less than 25 percent.

Temporal access to food in

Malawi

In Malawi, wheninvestigating lack of food asa stressor, questions wereasked about how long and inwhich periods householdshad enough food to feed thehousehold. The resultsrepresent an important andinteresting finding aboutfood availability. Figure 2shows the times when peoplewere eating once or twice aday versus when they said they had “nofood”. Sale of assets has been overlain onthis. In Malawi, the growing season isusually spread between October, whenpeople start preparing their gardens, andApril when they harvest. This means thatfrom May until April the following year,households are expected to be eating foodfrom their harvest. However, for the pastdecade, most households have beenunable to harvest enough food to last formore than two months. This has resultedin most households having no food fromMay to February the following year. Nofood means literally having nothing to eator store. However, the findings show thatmost people have absolutely no foodfrom February to September (almost 75per cent of the respondents) whereashouseholds do have something to eatfrom October to January and then fromFebruary that year to September thesituation gets worse again. This iscontrary to the situation which might beexpected, where households eat from

their harvest during the months ofFebruary/April (soon after harvesting)until at least November. This abnormalsituation can be explained by the timingof food handouts that are only distributedfrom October to January, yet leave peoplestarving for the rest of the year. This is animportant finding that needs to beaddressed at policy level since it calls fora serious evaluation of the timing of foodaid to people.

Use of coping strategies through the year in

Zambia

TABLE 3 captures how use of strategiesin Namakube, Zambia, changed infrequency. It shows that in 2005 somestrategies were used every day whereasin 2004 they were used less frequently. Inthe second survey, some householdsreported sending their members either toeat or to beg food elsewhere, as mostcrops had withered or failed to grow dueto drought as explained earlier. In thiscontext, working members were the samefamily members who went to the field,gathered firewood, drew water or lookedafter cattle or goats. The cost of foodpurchased was high and eighthouseholds had skipped a day withoutfood during the week in the secondsurvey.

All the five monitoring phases haverevealed inability of households to copeeffectively with shocks and stresses.Between 11 and 19 households admittedthey ate less preferred and cheaper foodand most of them (16) failed to get helpfrom relatives and friends. The number ofmeals reduced further from 2004 toFigure 1: Percentage of income spent on food

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February 2005. Piecework is rare exceptduring farming season when familymembers work for others for either foodor cash and trading is limited to bananasand eggs and sometimes chickens.

In Zambia, a few households engage incharcoal burning (2 households) andfirewood sales (2 households) frequently.Voluntary work was undertaken bycaregivers who assisted those who hadtuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. A new AIDSpatients support club has recently beenformed in the village. Green vegetablegrowing offers income to a few whopractice traditional systems of irrigation;but on a larger scale vegetables couldcreate a steady source of income for someif there was irrigation but water is at adistance. Increasing herds of goats couldsupport households as goats are lesssusceptible to diseases. Meat and milkcould be obtained from them and goatmilk is rich in proteins. Introduction ofother types of livestock, such as donkeysand sheep, could improve on thedifficulty of draught power and meatrespectively. Donkeys are more resistantto diseases than cattle. It was found thatthere was stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, which possibly explains the smallnumber going for Voluntary Testing andCounselling (VCT) but this highlightedthe need for more sensitization byinstitutions involved in HIV/AIDS.

Findings

The research has provided arguments fora change in practice as well suggestingthat existing policies should be carefully

TABLE 3: Frequency of Coping Strategies Employed in 2004, 2005 in Zambia

assessed. It should be noted that goodpolicy is often developed but if there isno implementation and follow-up, it isuseless. Emphasis should therefore beput on testing existing policies andexamining how implementing availablepolicies can be improved before comingup with new ones.

One of the key findings emerging fromthe research was that people aredependent on external intervention andthis does not empower them to improvetheir situation themselves. It is criticalthat policy is formulated in conjunctionwith beneficiaries. This might help ensurethat policies are responsive to the needsof communities and engage people tounderstand what support is needed bothfrom the recipients’ and providers’ sides.

It is also clear that some policies aredonor driven. Governments developpolicies to benefit from international aid.This can be seen in some policies that donot reflect the needs of the recipients and

in turn lead implementation problems interms of commitment to and ownership ofthe process.

Food-insecure individuals face severeconstraints in their food production andin their access to food products andmarkets, which renders them vulnerableto food crisis. Households with illmembers are particularly vulnerable: asmembers are often sick and weak, labouris reduced and money that might be spenton food is needed for health careincluding medicine, transport and supportfor the carer. This study examined someof the dynamics of how people survivewhen food is limited at the same time asfacing other shocks such as illness,environmental shocks, governancefailures as well as ongoing stresses.

Although this research cannot beconsidered as representative of southernAfrica, the findings are an important stepin unveiling the dynamics and realities ofrural livelihoods. Much research isconducted on a short-term, once-offbasis, whereas this research establishedrelationships with participants and wasongoing through 14 months. This enabledthe UNRAVEL project to captureinformation that was based on a goodrelationship with respondents thatallowed them to open up and reveal thetruth about their situations and showhow trends changed through time.Because of the trust developed betweenparticipants and researchers, the villagershave approached the researchers todiscuss their problems.

The respondents were given noremuneration, which was a problem forsome at first because of some culture ofexpectation and dependency on externalintervention. Later on, however, theyOne of the households surveyed

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understood that seeking information fromthem was another form of support.Providing information and usinginformation from the participants enablethem to own the problem and potentiallystart to address their livelihoodconstraints in a bottom-up manner.

This research was only implemented inone village in each country, and in-depthanalysis was carried out only with 20 keyindividuals and household members ineach village. To be more representativeand for the sake of better policyarguments, there is need to increase thescope to capture more information. Theproject was intended to pilot themethodology and it is clear that there arecertain benefits to this approach.However, it also has its limitations.Further work is therefore needed todevelop a revised approach that buildson this project and continues to capturethe dynamics and reality existing in ruralsouthern Africa amidst a host of stresses.

The findings cover a range of themes,ranging from issues on livelihood assetsand strategies to issues about climate and

health stress and how food securityunravels itself through the years. Thistype of monitoring is very important interms of advising on policy andprogramme implementation on foodsecurity, HIV/AIDS response and rurallivelihoods. Many programmes haveemerged recently with the primary aim ofsupporting HIV/AIDS-impactedindividuals and households.

What emerged in this research is thatpeople do not see their own vulnerabilityas being due to HIV/AIDS. They tend tosee their poverty and lack of food as anoverarching strain and within that, illhealth makes their livelihoods moredifficult to secure. They also do not seefood provision as a solution but see, forexample, the building of a canal as asolution. When asked why they do notjust dig a canal, they say it is becausethey need advice on how to do it. Thishighlights the fact that the greateststrength is people working for their owndevelopment, and the poor are very awareof this. This has implications for policyand programming in the region and might

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call for a reassessment of the focus ofprogramming.

Community needs are seldom trulyconsidered. There needs to be renewedemphasis on finding out what peoplewant to know and change and thenenabling them to access information andsupport. Quick-fix solutions might bewanted at first, but better support forlonger-term solutions can makeindividual and village-level solutionssustainable. For this to be achieved,better coordination is necessary. This isdefinitely lacking at present and manypeople are not assuming the necessaryroles. To improve this, cooperation isrequired between village members,district-level stakeholders, NGOs andgovernment. The incentive for this islimited at present but would go a longway in helping people to help themselvesrather than each group pursuing theirown goals.

Mr. Feleke Tadele 2Country Representative, Save the Children –

Canada,

Ethiopia Programme

Disaster management until recently wasvariously included in higher educationunder geography, environmental studies,sociology, etc. However, DM as a “field”or “discipline” is relatively new. It beganin the 1920s following Samuel HenryPrince’s doctoral dissertation on the 1917Halifax disaster (Scanlon, 1998; Drabekand McEntire; 2003). But it was not untilthe late 70s that disaster managementstarted emerging as a new paradigm fordealing with rather complex developmentproblems.

The current thinking on disasters is aproduct of theoretical and practicalconstructs that have seen the refiningand reshaping the disaster (anddevelopment) paradigms that has

The evolution of disaster paradigms in higher education1

Women and children waiting for food relief in Ethiopia

occurred over the last three decades. Themost significant academic paradigms andpolicy guides, which have contributedimmensely on the conceptualization ofdisasters, include: (1) the disaster-

resistant community; (2) the sustainabledevelopment and sustainable hazardmitigation; and (3) the disaster-resilientcommunity (McEntire et al, 2002).


McEntire and his fellows discuss each ofthe paradigms in detail, which needs norepetition other than picking up thesalient points, which they advance intheir review.

The early paradigms

Although they do not offer sometimeline, the early paradigms werecomprehensive emergency managementand disaster-resistant community.

The comprehensive emergency paradigmfocused on hazards and failed torecognize the social, economic, culturaland political ecology of disasters.

The disaster-resistant communityparadigm is related to geography,engineering and urban planning, therebyreducing its scope to mitigation activitiessuch as hazard and vulnerability analysis,land use planning, community educationand more stringent building codes. Likethe former, it fails to view disasters froman ecological perspective to include thesocio-economic, cultural and politicaldimensions.

The sustainable development &

sustainable hazard mitigation

paradigm

The sustainable development andsustainable hazard mitigation paradigmtakes an ecological approach to disasters,providing a larger picture of problems andsolutions to disasters than thepredecessors do. It gained prominence inthe late 80s and early 90s, culminatinginto the Rio Summit.

The Agenda 21 agreed at Rio in 1992,mainly focused on the environment as apanacea for sustainable development,and whose results, to say the least, savefor the politicization of the environment,have rather been disappointing as it paidits attention to the problems of theenvironment rather than people within theenvironment (Middleton and O’Keefe,2003:9). Or rather, it avoided centralfundamental problems and instead wentfor the easier-to-discern peripheralfundamental causes of under oroverdevelopment. It however, brought tolight the importance of participatorydevelopment. Ten years later, a WorldSummit on Sustainable Development(WSSD) or the Johannesburg Summit (as

it is generally known) was held in 2002.Although some of its outcomes are amere repeat of the rhetoric which hasbeen on the world agenda, albeit thedescriptions and metaphors beingdifferent, has put the human being at thecentre of the development process. In linewith the Millennium Development Goals,WSSD affirmed that issues of poverty,hunger, ill health and the continuingdeterioration of the ecosystem on whichhumanity depends for wellbeing, neededto be directly confronted using theparticipatory approaches wherebeneficiaries can influence and sharecontrol over their own developmentinitiatives, decisions and resources whichaffect them.

It is argued that participation does notonly give political legitimacy to decisionsbut it is also a democratic right. Becauseit draws on local, community-basedknowledge and expertise, it tends to buildownership of decisions and trust as wellas consensus and shared vision for thefuture. Although, in the name ofparticipation, manipulation of people maybe an in thing, it tends to be a useful toolfor communication, cooperation andcoordination between governmentagencies and the public (Conyers, 1992;Burkey, 1993; Chambers, 1997; Blackburnand Holland, 1998; Long, 2001).

Participation is not only based on ethicaland moral grounds, it is also a pragmaticinstrument for empowerment of themarginalized like women and children, inkeeping with the principles of thesustainable development and hazardmitigation paradigm.

McEntire and his fellows do not doubtthe efficacy of the paradigm. They,however, doubt whether the sustainabledevelopment and sustainable hazardmitigation paradigm is holistic: it tends tohave some questionable relationship tocertain types of disasters such as cargospills, train derailments, airplane crashesand terrorism, making it more skewedtowards natural hazards.

The invulnerable development

paradigm

The invulnerable development paradigmis another paradigm suggested byMcEntire (2001), under which: (1)development is pursued in a manner as to

address the vulnerabilities throughaltering cultural attitudes about disasters;(2) development practices are linked tovulnerability reduction; and (3)management institutions are built. Whilethe merits of the concept cannot bedoubted as it does emphasis thecorrelation between disasters andvulnerability, the concept tends to havemore emphasis on mitigation anddevelopment than the whole complexityof disaster-development nexus and positsa danger of leading, or rather misleading,us to another debate on discourse.

The resilience paradigm

The resilience paradigm seescommunities as being capable of drawingupon internal resources and competenciesto manage the demands, challenges andchanges from shocks and stressesresulting from a hazard event.

Resilience can take various formsdepending on the nature of risk beingposed by a hazard event. It can be in formof hazard-resistant building or adaptivesocial systems (Pelling, 2003). Resiliencehelps people who are living in adverseconditions or experience neglect, abuse,loss, disasters and other adversities,function with low levels of distress andhigh levels of hope and confidence foreffective functioning (Grotberg, 2001).

The resilience paradigm has strengths. Itrecognises that hazard events areinevitable and recovery plans should beinstituted. It captures the social,economic, political and cultural variables.It is multidisciplinary in approach toinclude physical sciences andengineering and social sciences.

Like any other paradigm however, theresilience paradigm has someweaknesses. Its emphasis on “bouncingback” for the community to quicklyrecover after a disaster makes its scopelimited to recovery, thereby downplayingreduction of future vulnerability. Inaddition, its relationship withtechnological and civil disasters isquestionable (McEntire et al, 2002).

Civil strife not captured by all the

paradigms

The outstanding issue, which has notbeen captured by all the above

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paradigms, is the aspect of civil strife,especially in the light of the September11. McEntire and his fellows suggest thecomprehensive vulnerability managementas an inclusive paradigm.

However, whatever names, the requiredparadigm is one which will be ablereduce risks from natural oranthropogenic disaster triggers.

The disaster curriculum in higher

education

The evolution of disaster paradigms isindicative of some search for an all-inclusive paradigm on which to basetheoretical perspectives and policyguidelines. The disaster curriculum inhigher education has to a large extentbeen shaped by these paradigms.

Because of the multi-disciplinarity ofsubject, it is usually introduced from avariety of perspectives but may focus onany aspect of disaster management. Itwill be noted that most universities, untilrecently, offered disaster courses atpostgraduate level.

References

Andreyeva, G. (1980). Social Psychology. Moscow:Progress publishers.

Brehm, S. and Saul, M. (1990). Social Psychology.Dallas: Houghton Mifflin Company

Feldman, R.S.(1985). Social Psychology: Theories,

Research and Applications. New York: McGraw- Hill

Book Company

Morgan, C.T.; King, R.A.; Weisz, J.R.; and Schopler, J.

(1986). Introduction to psychology (7th ed.). New Delhi:

Total McGraw-Hill Publishing Company.

Myers, D.G. (1999). Social Psychology (16th ed.).

Boston: McGraw- Hill Book Company

Myers, D.G. (1983). Social Psychology. New York :

McGraw- Hill Book Company

Pratkanis, A. And Elliot, A. (1998/99) Mindless

Propaganda, Thoughtful Persuasion. Social Psychology

Annual Editions (2nd ed.) McGraw-Hill: United States of

America

Richard, J.E. (1986). Social Psychology: Attitudes,

cognition and social behaviour, Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press,

Vander, Z. J. (1987). Social Psychology (4th ed.). New

York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Footnotes

1 Adapted from Bernard Maneya’s ISP (Institutional

Support Project) report on ”Curriculum Framework for

Bachelor of Science Degree in Disaster Risk

Management and Sustainable Development”, Bahir

Dar University, September 2005.

2 Feleke Tadele is also the manager of the

Institutional Support Project (ISP) implemented jointly

in Ethiopia by Save the Children - Canada and Save

the Children - UK.

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Preparation for food relief distribution in Ethiopia


“ The past year has reminded people everywhere that no place in the world is immune

from natural disaster. From the massive Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami to the

drought- and locust-ravaged countries of Africa, from the devastation caused by

hurricanes and cyclones in the United States, the Caribbean and the Pacific to heavy

flooding across Europe and Asia, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives,

and millions their livelihoods, to natural disasters.

The lesson we must draw is encapsulated in the theme of this year’s International Day for

Disaster Reduction: “Invest to prevent disaster.” We cannot stop natural calamities, but we

can and must better equip individuals and communities to withstand them. Those most

vulnerable to nature’s wrath are usually the poorest, which means that when we reduce

poverty, we also reduce vulnerability.

In this International Year of Microcredit, we should recognize that microfinance can do much

to help empower those with little or no access to traditional financial institutions, thereby

reducing disaster risk and improving disaster management. By diversifying the income of

high-risk populations and promoting disaster insurance, microfinance can strengthen coping

mechanisms before disasters, while hastening recovery afterwards.

These are the type of innovative approaches called for in the Hyogo Framework for Action

2005-2015, adopted at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in January, and

reaffirmed in September at the World Summit at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

On this International Day, after a year in which we should all have learned profound

lessons, I call on governments at all levels, international organizations, civil society groups,

and the private sector to implement this framework and invest in poverty reduction and

disaster prevention, in order to build resilient communities and save lives.”

INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR DISASTER REDUCTION

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Message

New York, 12 October 2005

The International Day for DisasterReduction was marked this year on 12October 2005. Its theme in 2005 - whichwas designated by the UN as the“International Year of Micro-Credit” -aimed at increasing disaster resilienceusing microfinance and safety nets.However, as microfinance is a relativelylittle known topic in Africa, individualAfrican countries were allowed tochoose their own themes.

The following is a brief overview ofactivities marking the event in 11African countries: Botswana, CapeVerde, Central African Republic,Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Kenya,Lesotho, Madagascar, Nigeria, theSeychelles and South Africa.

Botswana

The Minister for Presidential Affairs andPublic Administration, HonourablePhandu T.C. Skelemani, broadcast amessage on the significance of theInternational Day on national radio. Apublic exhibition was set up in the mainmall, with various sectors represented inthe National Disaster ManagementTechnical Committee exhibiting. SinceSeptember 2005, articles on disasterreduction and the International Day’sbackground, significance and themes hadbeen published in the governmentnewspaper which has national coverage.Copies of UN Secretary General KofiAnnan’s and Honourable MinisterSkelemani’s messages were also sent toall District Disaster Committees, with theSecretary General’s message published inthe government newspaper on 17October.

Cape Verde

Various activities were undertakenthroughout the country. Each year, adifferent island/municipality is chosen forthe main celebrations, with Saint Antão,which experiences many forest fires,landslides and floods, this year hostingthe event. A parade focusing on civilprotection was held, followed by twoexercise drills, one on rescue and the

other on combating urban fires. Civilprotection was further strengthenedthrough various training sessions andexercises. The International Day messageof UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wasdisseminated in Portuguese to allinsurance companies, institutions, NGOsand city councils. The use ofmicrofinance for disaster reduction waspromoted through roundtables withfinancial institutions, insurancecompanies and NGOs. Cape Verde hasbeen focusing on disaster reductionthrough education (see separate articlein this issue).

Central African Republic

Celebrations for the International Daywere held on 12 October in the capitalBangui, organized by the United Nations.The mayor of Ouango, Mr BasileAkelelo, and the Roman Catholic

archbishop of Bangui, Mr S.E. Mons.Paulin Pombodimo, welcomedparticipants and opened the day. After thereading of UN Secretary General KofiAnnan’s message, UNDP reviewed theUN’s local preparations for naturaldisasters. UNICEF then summarisedhow it had responded to recent floods,with testimony from flood-affectedpeople. UNDP enlightened the audienceon the use of microfinance for disasterrisk reduction, including testimony frombeneficiaries of a UNDP microfinanceproject. The Central African Republic RedCross reviewed its activities on disasterreduction and response.

Congo, Republic of

Events held on 12 October in the capital,Brazzaville, focused on why and howeducation was an important tool for thepromotion of a culture of disaster

2005 World Disaster Reduction Awareness Campaign

International Day for Disaster Reduction


prevention, as well as for protectionagainst catastrophes. A radio platformwas organized with representatives fromthe ministries of environment, foreignaffairs, social affairs, humane action,public security, health, population,communication and national education, aswell as members of Parliament, theCongolese Red Cross and NGOs. UNSecretary General Kofi Annan’s messagewas also widely disseminated, and themedia was asked to support the Day bydistributing information on the topic.

Djibouti

The International Day was marked with aspeech by Interior and DecentralizationMinister Mr Yacin Elmi Bouh. Theminister comforted those who lost theirchildren, relatives and friends in the 13April 2005 flood in Djibouti. On disasterreduction in the country, he said Djiboutiwas one of the few African countries witha National Strategy for Disaster RiskReduction. He added that the countrywas soon to adopt a National Policy onDisaster Risk Reduction and establish apermanent structure in charge of disasterprevention and disaster reliefcoordination. He ended his speech with acall for investment in disaster reduction.

Kenya

A National Platform meeting was held on27 and 28 October (see separate article inthis issue).

Lesotho

In Maseru, the capital, a march from thecity centre to the Conference Centre washeld to commemorate the InternationalDay. In addition to governmentrepresentatives, pre-school children,NGOs, UN agencies, commercial banks,savings and credit associations, financialservices providers, insurance companiesand other private sector actorsparticipated. Outside the ConferenceCentre, all relevant institutions set upexhibitions. Particular emphasis wasplaced on financial services, availableemergency equipment and relevantwritten material on disaster managementissues in the country. Finally, speecheswere made by all represented sectors ofthe economy.

Madagascar

The International Day was marked by aregional workshop on “Risk and DisasterManagement” on 12 and 13 October inthe northern town of Ambanja (seeseparate article in this issue).

Nigeria

The highlight of the International Daywas the launch of the Nigerian NationalPlatform for Disaster Risk Reduction on13-14 October (see separate article inthis issue). Before the event, a pressconference was held by the NationalEmergency Management Agency(NEMA) and other stakeholders. To

foster public enlightenment, the pressconference focused on disaster riskreduction and its links with nationaldevelopment. National platform membersalso went on air (radio and television) todiscuss issues of disaster risk reductionand its mainstreaming in development, asit relates to poverty reduction and jobcreation.

Seychelles

The Seychelles celebrated theInternational Day by launching itsNational Platform for Disaster RiskReduction on 4-5 November (seeseparate article in this issue).

South Africa

The National Disaster ManagementCentre (NDMC), in conjunction with thethree Metros in Gauteng Province (wherePretoria and Johannesburg are),celebrated the International Day with aninformative meeting. A speaker from theSouth African Insurance Associationaddressed the topic of reducing disasterrisk using microfinance tools and safetynets. The gathering was attended by awide variety of people, including localpoliticians, disaster management officialsand members of NGOs and community-based organizations. The other eightprovinces were requested to prepare theirown programmes for the week of 10-14October, and to supply the NDMC with adetailed provincial programme of action.

International Day for Disaster Reduction


“ Today marks an important step in our

resolve to ensure that disaster risk reduction

becomes a national and indeed local priority.

Actions aimed at reducing risks from natural

disasters must be at the centre of

development policy.

The number and gravity of disasters is on the

rise globally with grave consequences for the

survival, dignity and livelihood of individuals.

Before now, poor countries and poor

communities were at greater risks. In recent

time, however, developed countries have

been at the mercy of the elements. Hurricane

Katrina and Rita must by now have

heightened global interest in concrete

commitment to disaster risk reduction already

created by the devastating earthquake and

tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean on 26

December 2004. Nigeria should not be left out

of the global initiatives and concerns.

A disaster is a severe disruption of a

community’s survival and livelihood systems,

resulting from people’s vulnerability to hazard

impacts, and involving loss of lives and/or

property on a scale which overwhelms their

capacity to cope unaided.

The implication of this is that contrary to

widely held beliefs, disasters, even the so-

called natural disasters are not exogenous

and uncontrollable events arising from

abnormal situations. Disasters can therefore

be reduced and, in many instances, even

prevented.

Good disaster risk reduction begins well

before disasters occur and continues well

after a disaster. Disasters, including the

everyday ones that go unnoticed by the

Inauguration of the National Platform of Stakeholders in

Disaster Risk Reduction in NigeriaKeynote Address

by

HE Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja, Nigeria

13 October 2005

outside world, affect poverty reduction in

many ways.

They have macroeconomic impacts. There is

usually extensive damage to infrastructure

and productive capital. The diversion of

revenue into disaster response also has fiscal

impacts. Prices of food go up and the ability

of the State to provide social service is

weakened.

Indeed, disasters slow down progress

towards the achievement of Millennium

Development Goals. Schools are often closed

down during floods and earthquakes. Women

and mothers (including young children) are

left with heavier responsibilities and

workloads, resulting in poorer health.

I am happy that we in Nigeria have taken

some initiatives. The information of the multi-

stakeholder National Platform for Disaster

Risk Reduction has arisen from the

collaboration of the United Nations

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

(UN/ISDR) and NEMA1.

As the chairman of the African Union, I recall

pledging to champion advocacy efforts at

disaster risk reduction in Africa. It is largely

due to the need to keep faith with that

commitment that I am here today to

inaugurate the National Platform.

The challenges before the Platform are many.

There is now an international

acknowledgement that efforts to reduce

disaster risks must be systematically

integrated into policies and programs for

sustainable development and poverty

reduction, supported through bilateral,

regional and international cooperation and

partnerships.

I hope therefore that the National Platform is

truly a multi-stakeholder group and an all-

embracing arrangement. Among other

responsibilities, the Platform will need to:

1. Specifically identify activities aimed at

implementing the African Regional

Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction and

other international Plans of Action to

which Nigeria has assented;

2. Increase awareness of the importance of

disaster reduction policies and practices;

3. Increase the availability of reliable and

appropriate disaster-related information to

the Nigerian public and disaster

management agencies;

4. Mobilize resources and judiciously apply

them to capacity building and advocacy

functions to increase the resilience of

communities in times of disasters.

It is on that note that I proceed to inaugurate

the National Platform for Disaster Risk

Reduction in Nigeria. Thank you and God

bless. ”

1 National Emergency Management Agency, Nigeria

Political Leaders Talk about Disaster Risk Reduction


Mr. Ben Cheikh & Mr. Amir KarihilaNational Directorate of Civil Protection,

Moroni, Comoros

Karthala volcano has again erupted on 24

November 2005 at around 1900 local time.

Similar to that of 16 April 2005, the

eruption occurred only inside the crater

with no lava flowing outside. It, however,

resulted in ashes and dust on most parts

of the main island, Grande-Comore,

especially in its central and southern

parts.

2,000 people displaced

Due to a lava pond developing inside thecrater, a thick red eruption cloud appearedand persisted for three days above thecrater. Because upward lava feed wastaking place at the bottom of the crater –due probably to the emergence of a lavafountain, the earth tremor remained activewith high amplitude for two whole weeks.

Away from the volcano, dust waspersistent on the ground, roads,buildings and trees tossed by the winds.As a result, some 2,000 panic-strickenvillagers left their three villages. Some ofthe displaced persons took refuge at theGendarmerie Station or the EmergencyOperations Command Post, others at theINJS (National Institute for Youth andSports) and Moroni’s El-Marouf Hospital.

Earlier, officials of the Karthala VolcanoMonitoring Centre had predicted threescenarios:

1. End of earth tremor followed bydownward lava flow (through the lavatube) and end of eruption.�

2. Lateral fissure followed by flankeruption and lava flow.

3. Lava overflowage from the crater top– even though this last scenario was,from the outset, most unlikely becausethe crater is very deep (about 1,200m).

Emergency response

On their return to their villages, thedisplaced persons had to deal with waterthat was not clean enough forconsumption. The volcanic eruption alsocaused some damage followed by generalslowing down of economic activities inseveral regions of the island.

An evaluation work was carried out onthe ground by the National Coordination(in charge of emergency management andsupervision) made up of teams from theNational Directorate of Health, ArmyMedical Services, the Red Crescent andUNICEF. The following list of needs wassubmitted to the government:

1. Water: Draining and cleaning of publicand private tanks; emergency supplyof drinking water in affected regions.

2. Agriculture & Livestock Breeding:Establishing a monitoring system;environmental impact assessment byexperts.

3. Hygiene & Sanitation: Site cleaningoperations; protection of people (dustinhalation); information andawareness campaigns.

Efforts deployed by the Government ofthe Union of the Comoros during theemergency phase were supported by theUN System in the Comoros, the French

and Chinese governments, and PIROI(Regional Intervention Platform for IndianOcean, French Red Cross).

The national emergency preparednessand response plan

The National Emergency Preparednessand Response Plan, which becameofficially operational on 27 January 2005,was used for the first time during the 16April 2005 volcanic eruption, which gavethe Defence Ministry the opportunity ofputting in place the above-mentionedNational Coordination (NC).

However, all the structures forming theNC Permanent Command Post (foremergency operations) have encounteredserious difficulties linked to lack ofoperating and transport means. For allthese structures to be fully operationaland effective, internal and externalsupport is needed to strengthen theirfoundations for further development.

In fact, civil protection officials in theComoros are facing the followingchallenge: how to ensure that all thestructures agreed are established fully, atnational level and island level, to ensureadequate coordination of disasterreduction (DR) and its mainstreaming intonational sustainable development.

COMOROS: 2005 second volcanic eruption causes panic on

main island

Ashes and dust on Grande-Comore island

ISDR National Platforms in Action


Mr. Ahmed Mohamed MadarNational Coordinator of Disaster Risk Management,

Djibouti

Members of the National Committee forDisaster Risk Management have met todiscuss the implementation of Djibouti’sNational Strategy for Disaster RiskManagement (DRM). The meeting tookplace at the Interior and DecentralizationMinistry headquarters on 27 December2005.

Present at the meeting were: thepermanent secretary in the Ministry ofInterior and Decentralization, Mr GueddaMohamed Ahmed ; the director-general ofADETIP (Djibouti Executing Agency forPublic Interest Works), Mr Kadar Ismaïl ;the national coordinator of disaster riskmanagement, Mr Ahmed MohamedMadar ; and members of the NationalCommittee.

Also present was Mrs LucileRandrianarivelo, an internationalconsultant on DRM hired in theframework of the implementation of theNational Strategy for DRM (as a projectfunded by the World Bank andimplemented by ADETIP).

Following a welcoming speech by MrMadar, Permanent Secretary Mr Gueddaopened the proceedings with a speech

DJIBOUTI: Toward a national DRM strategy implementation plan

highlighting the main features of the newnational policy on disaster riskmanagement.

He said mitigating disaster impact on theeconomy, environment and communitieswas possible with the help of a disastermanagement system focusing on well-defined goals that include all thecomponents of disaster preparedness:vulnerability assessment, institutionalframework, information systems,resources, warning systems, responsemechanisms, education, and training anddrills for the public.

Strategic implementation plan,technical support arrangement

The proceedings, which were facilitatedby international consultant MrsRandrianarivelo, sought to collectinformation on each national institution’srole in DRM, and identify eachinstitution’s medium-term needs.

Eventually, the consultant will produce adocument describing the tasks of a newstructure to be established, theresponsibilities of each technicalministries and national institutionsinvolved in DRM, and a proposedstrategic implementation plan for theNational Strategy for DRM.

The ongoing study carried by theconsultant will enable to develop:

1. A strategic implementation plan forthe National Strategy for DRM;

2. A detailed organizational chart for thenew structure, including taskdescriptions;

3. An evaluation of human, financial andmaterial needs for the establishment ofthe new structure;

4. A proposal for a technical supportarrangement for the implementation ofthe National Strategy for DRM. Theproposal is expected to lead to thedevelopment of an operational actionplan, a detailed activity schedule, afinancial plan, a training plan and aninformation system.

The permanent secretary of the Ministry of Interior and Decentralization,

Mr Guedda Mohamed Ahmed

Members of the National Committee for Disaster Risk Reduction in Djibouti



Brig. (Rtd) J. OdeiNational Disaster Management Organization

(NADMO)

Accra, Ghana

The Disaster Voluntary Group (DVG)

initiative has proved to be suitable in the

implementation of national disaster risk

reduction programmes in Ghana. The

Government has expressed willingness to

provide more funds to continue the

community-based programme.

The National Disaster ManagementOrganization, NADMO, initiated aprogramme to put in place 550 DVGs -now with a total membership of over12,000 individuals - to serve as crediblecommunity-based voluntary organiza-tions that could be mobilized andequipped to assist in disaster manage-ment as well as serve as agents ofcommunity animation and sensitizationon disaster risk reduction.

Latter on, NADMO set as its mainobjectives the enhancement of the DVGs’capacity to manage and improve thelivelihoods of their members throughsocial mobilization, community develop-ment and income generation.

Volunteers earned 310,000 USdollars for project

Poverty reduction and the building ofmore effective coping capacities withinlocal communities can create a strongfoundation and motivation for disasterrisk reduction. The Government thereforeprovided funds for NADMO to assist thedisaster volunteers with microcredit toenable them undertake various income-generating activities as a means ofbuilding resilience and reducing disasterimpacts on the poor and vulnerablegroups, particularly in rural communities.Projects under the scheme are commu-nity-based with the intention of strength-ening linkages between livelihood anddisaster risk reduction.

The most successful projectundertaken by the DVGs, under thescheme, is the Seedling Project. Inearly 2004, NADMO was given acontract to raise seedlings in supportof the Government’s tree plantationand forestation programme. It is to benoted that the most commonenvironmental disaster in Ghana isfire, particularly bush fire. Bush fireaffects about 50 per cent of theNorthern Savannah each year, withdeleterious effects on the flora andfauna (Republic of Ghana 2001).

Under the Seedling Project, some 100,000US dollars pre-financed the procurementof inputs, watering cans, chemicals andother tools like cutlass, mattocks, spades,hand trowels/forks, seeds andagrochemicals to assist the DVGs in theproject.

As that was the first time the groupsundertook such a project, orientation andsensitization workshops were organizedfor the DVGs to raise 9,230,000 seedlingsof various tree species for the Govern-ment’s Plantation Development Pro-gramme.

A total of 8,798,455 seedlings of variousspecies were raised, and this wasacclaimed to be the best performance by

a single public organization. Out of thequantity produced, 3,968,360 seedlings,representing 45 per cent of total produc-tion were lifted from the DVG nurserysites to be planted in degraded forestreserves throughout the country. Therest of the seedlings were distributed tocommunities, educational institutions,associations and organizations to beplanted as wind breaks, avenue trees,community wood lots and small-scaleplantations.

Some of the achievements of the pro-gramme were to: (1) restore the cover ofdegraded forest reserves; (2) protectpublic and private buildings from theravages of rainstorms; (3) producefirewood for domestic use; and (4)generate income for the volunteers whoearned 310,000 US dollars for the project.

DVG concept, nature, management

Concept

NADMO’s desire to fulfil its assignedroles has led to the formation of theabove-mentioned Disaster volunteerGroups (DVGs) to provide first-lineresponse for disaster management andwealth creation in communities. They alsoprovide early warning information on

GHANA: Disaster voluntary groups successful, government

to provide more funds

Disaster volunteers build school in Ghana



imminent disasters. Through this concept,groups are organized, trained andequipped with skills to prevent andmanage disasters. They are also assistedto undertake income-generating activitiesto enable them remain in their communi-ties. In the short and long term, membersof the groups shall benefit from povertyreduction programmes and be an asset totheir communities.

Nature

DVGs are composed of communitymembers with skills on various areas likefarming, carpentry, masonry, plumbing,blacksmithing, carving, cottage industry,soap making, shear butler and oilextraction, who are willing to prevent andmanage disasters in the community. Thenumerical strength of DVGs range from10 to 25 male and female members. Thegroups are democratically formed andmanaged by members. These groupswhich are community-based may involvemembership of the whole village andinclude even the village chief who can bethe chairman of the DVG.

In addition to disaster management,DVGs play active roles in the followingareas: (1) sensitization of the public on

disaster issues; (2) identification ofhazards and early warning systems in thecommunity; (3) disaster risk reduction;(4) rehabilitation of victims of disaster;and (5) provision of voluntary labour forthe restoration of services after disaster.

The Groups’ activities are also expandedto voluntary community developmentprogrammes like: (1) clean up exercises;(2) mobilization of labour and cash for theconstruction of school blocks, clinics,toilets, markets, community centres,libraries, etc.; and (3) environmentalprotection, etc.

Management

DVGs are voluntary organizationscontrolled by democratic principles. Theyelect their executives: chairperson, vicechairperson, secretary, treasurer andorganizer. Meetings are held periodically.The general meeting is the highestdecision-making body to discuss perti-nent issues relating to disaster manage-ment and economic activities of theGroup. The activities of the DVGs aremonitored and evaluated before registra-tion and certification by NADMO. DVGsthat are found to be functioning properly

are recommended for registration by theDepartment of Cooperatives after meetingtheir requirements.

Ghana disaster profile

The major incidence of disasters inGhana is from epidemics, fire, pest,floods and conflicts.

Epidemics of communicable diseasessuch as cholera, cerebrospinal meningitisand yellow fever occur. Fire is the mostcommon environmental disaster. Pestinfestation also contributes toenvironmental causes of livelihoodvulnerability. The most commonhydrometeorological disasters that impactthe livelihoods of affected communitiesare rain/wind storms and flooding.Windstorms are rampant between Marchand May, causing crop destruction andloss of life. Floods also impair livelihoodsecurity in affected areas, particularlyNorthern Ghana, Greater Accra and KetaBasin.

The main sources of vulnerabilityinclude poverty and developmentpressures, including low economicgrowth, rising population pressures andunplanned urbanization. Other factorsinclude fragile and degraded environ-ments, epidemic diseases (especiallymalaria and HIV/AIDS) and governanceissues.

The National Disaster Management

Organization

NADMO was established in 1997 tomanage disasters and similar emergen-cies in the community. However, in linewith UN General Assembly ResolutionNo. 44/236 of 1989, NADMO shiftedfocus from disaster response to disasterrisk reduction with emphasis on povertyalleviation.

Indeed, studies have shown that thepoor and the vulnerable bear the brunt ofdisasters such as drought, environmen-tal degradation, epidemics, food insecu-rity, flooding, earthquake, etc.

The Yakabu community completely cut off from nearby villages and towns as a result of flooding

(floods 2002 photo: World Vision).



Mr. S.K. MainaNational Focal Point,

Ministry of Special Programmes,

Office of the President,

Nairobi, Kenya

The Kenya National Platform waslaunched in August 2004, drawingmembers from line ministries, UNagencies, NGOs and other stakeholders.The goal of the Platform is to buildconsensus on the way forward in promot-ing multi-level and multi-sectoralcooperation in disaster reduction, as wellas the integration of disaster risk reduc-tion into policy formulation, nationaldevelopment planning, programme andproject implementation.

After the launch, a subcommittee wasmandated to develop terms of reference,vision, mission, goals and objectives forthe Platform, which were subsequentlypresented and adopted. Monthly meet-ings were held until March 2005 when itwas recommended that future meetings beheld on a quarterly basis.

A workshop, representing the firstquarterly meeting, was organized on 27October 2005 to update members ofactivities of the Platform, gather input topolicy drafts, projects and other initia-tives, and generate recommendations forthe way forward.

Review of national activities

After reviewing the National Platform’sbackground, objectives and terms ofreference, specific activities were dis-cussed. Stressing not only nationalinitiatives implemented by the Office ofSpecial Programmes (Office of thePresident) and line ministries, Kenya hasbeen active at the international level,participating in global meetings such asthe January 2005 Second World Confer-ence on Disaster Reduction (WCDR II),as well as regional meetings, particularlyin the area of tsunami early warning andrisk reduction in the Indian Ocean.

The National Operation Centre (NOC)

operates on a 24-hours-per-day-and-7-days-per-week basis with staff secondedfrom line ministries and departments.NOC coordinates technical support fordisaster activities and mobilizes nationalresources in response to disasters. Somerecent coordination activities includeresponses to forest fires, floods, aflatoxin,conflict, and search and rescue.

Conflicts are one of the main causes ofdisaster in Kenya, particularly inpastoralist communities in arid and semi-arid areas. Operation Dumisha Amanifocuses on seven conflict-prone districtswhere guns and ammunitions werevoluntarily surrendered. The last threemonths have been relatively quiet exceptfor some flare-ups, with accordedresponse focused on reconciliation,resettlement and rehabilitation.

The Ministry of Local Government hasformed a disaster management committeewith an associated budget line fordisaster management. Feasibility studiesfor 25 local authorities has been carriedout, with some local authorities havingreceived fire tenders (16 donated by theRotary Club). The Ministry has pur-chased High Response Vehicles which areexpected soon and will help local authori-ties improve their fire fighting capacities.

All disaster situations involve medical

emergencies. A well-structured workingmechanism to coordinate betweenmedical personnel and other respondingentities during disasters is thereforeneeded. Ambulances should be wellequipped with first aid facilities, ratherthan just for transportation like matatus(public transport mini-buses).

Microfinance for disaster reduction

In the light of the 12 October 2005International Day of Disaster Reduction,the use of microfinance for disasterreduction was reviewed. During normaltimes, communities should be encouragedto save some money out of their earningsthrough microfinance systems. Duringdisasters, these savings and credit can beused to restore both production anddistribution channels.

However, there are some challenges, forinstance inadequate awareness amongcommunities of the benefits ofmicrofinance. Also, the purchasing powerof communities is often eroded afterdisasters, which makes loan repaymentsometimes difficult. Regarding thepracticability of microfinance in ruralareas, the Arid Lands Resource Manage-ment Project is implementingmicrofinance in some rural areas throughvillage banks.

KENYA: National Platform discusses country’s disaster

reduction activities

Kenya National Platform members at the workshop



Early warning

The existing community-based DroughtEarly Warning System has been extendedto the coast region through the supportof FAO and the Swedish government,now covering 11 arid and 16 semi-ariddistricts. The new data analysis andreporting format of the EWS is morereliable, including indicators on thestability of the environment, foodavailability, food utilization and access tofood.

The Kenya Meteorological Department, incollaboration with RANET, is foundingradio stations with 25 km signal-radii tobroadcast weather-related information toassist farmers. Stations have been startedin some areas and will be extendedthroughout the main target arid and semi-arid areas. The Kenya MeteorologicalTraining Institute and the WesternUniversity College of Science andTechnology have started offering relatedcourses in disaster management, withNational Platform members encouraged tovisit them for more information.

Draft national fire safety policy

A National Fire Safety Policy is beingdeveloped separately from the NationalPolicy on Disaster Management due tothe peculiarities of fire disasters. Fireincidences touch directly on individuals,communities and the entire nation, withthe policy covering prevention, responseand investigation at all levels. Key areasinclude goals and objectives, situationalanalysis, linkages to existing acts and

policies, policy elements and implemen-tation strategies, legal and institutionalframework, resource mobilization andmanagement, monitoring and evaluation,definition of terms and recent docu-mented fire outbreaks.

There is a need to coordinate andharmonise the many individual firefighting organizations through a commonstrategy of service delivery, and fireservices personnel/brigade should bebrought onboard for further discussion ofthe draft policy. Human concerns offighting fires, for instance fire fightingstaff and their insurance, must also beconsidered. Schools should be includeddistinctively as public buildings that needto be protected, and the insurancecomponent of fire safety must be ex-pounded and contradictions cleared.

Proposed national environmentalemergency contingency plan

Together with UNEP, the Office ofSpecial Programmes (Office of thePresident) has been developing a Na-tional Environmental Emergency Contin-gency Plan. A team of representativesfrom line ministries identified six expertsto develop a framework to guide theformulation of the contingency plan.

After reviewing existing disaster manage-ment policies and contingency plans, theexperts developed a framework for theNational Environmental EmergencyContingency Plan for consideration bystakeholders. The key areas of the outlineare: background and justification, natural

resource base, responsibilities andobjectives, development of nationaldisaster plans, national natural resourcesinstitutional framework, responsemechanisms, and authority, policy,regulatory tools and obligations.

The team should be expanded to includeall relevant ministries - so as to bettersteer the process. All relevant ministriesshould also be included in the proposedEnvironmental Response Team. Theproposed organization to implement theContingency Plan will not conflict withthe National Environment ManagementAuthority (NEMA), as the latter is aregulatory body and its mandate does notinclude preparedness, response andmitigation against disasters.

Threat of avian flu outbreak

Bird flu (avian influenza) has been aproblem in Asia since 2003 and hasspread to Europe. Avian influenza is lethalfor chicken and other bird species, and isquite serious for humans, killing 40-60 percent of those infected. The disease isspread through direct contact withinfected wild birds/poultry and theirproducts, contact with contaminatedsurfaces, and exposure to infecteddroppings or environments contaminatedwith the virus.

The risks for the spread of avian influenzato Kenya are migratory birds flying fromaffected areas and trade in poultry andpoultry products from affected areas,which is enhanced by Kenya being amajor transit point between globaldestinations.

A multi-sectoral National Avian InfluenzaEpidemic Preparedness Task Team hasbeen established with technical workinggroups on surveillance and epidemiology,information, education, public educationand social mobilization, laboratorycapacity and research, infection preven-tion and control, as well as others.Actions so far taken by the Ministry ofHealth include: issuance of alerts tohospitals, awareness creation on theproblem through the media, consultativemeetings and collaboration with livestockcounterparts, enhanced disease surveil-lance and procurement of protective gearfor healthcare workers and others.

Members of the Kenyan National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction



Mr. Jacky Roland RandimbiarisonExecutive Secretary,

National Relief Council (CNS)

Madagascar

Madagascar’s participation in the January

2005 World Conference on Disaster

Reduction has determined the strategic

direction for CNS (National Relief Council)

activities in 2005 and those planned for

2006.

Efforts made in 2005 to implement the

country’s National Strategy for Disaster

Risk Management (DRM) focused on

building institutions and institutional

capacity, strengthening mechanisms and

means for building people’s resilience to

hazards, and adopting disaster risk

reduction (DRR) approaches to emergency

preparedness and response activities.

It is to be noted that as a result of its

geographical location, relief and wind

characteristics, Madagascar invariably has

been vulnerable to a wide range of natural

hazards aggravated by man-made factors,

the negative effects of which being major

hindrances to national development.

Overall objective & major events in2005

With inadequate resources (infrastructure,financial, human), CNS did its best toundertake disaster impact prevention andmitigation in 2005.

The overall objective of CNS in 2005was “To build further technical capacityat all levels and optimize risk and disasterimpact mitigation”. Activities andinterventions carried out by CNS, in closecooperation with the country’s NationalPlatform, were listed in the 2005 AnnualWork Programme (PTA in French).

Madagascar, in 2005, experienced somedevastating disasters, including thefollowing: cyclones Ernest and Felapi inthe southwest early in the year; an inter-tropical convergence zone in the south-southeast and southeast; floods in someparts of the northwest, north and middle-

east; a fresh upsurge of fires in severaldistricts; cases of malnutrition in thesoutheast; and the impact of theDecember 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami onthe southeast coast town of Manakara.

Activities in 2005

Institution building & institutional capacity

building

• CNS continued with its implementa-tion of the country’s National Strategyfor Disaster Risk Management in 2005.Major actions related to disasterissues - to be implemented by theMinistry of Interior and Administra-tive Reforms - are mentioned in theGovernment’s General Programme.

• In close cooperation with CNS, theDisaster Stakeholders’ BrainstormingCommittee (CRIC in French), whichserves as a National Platform for DRR,played an important role in theimplementation of the NationalStrategy. CRIC is made up of repre-sentatives of line ministries, financialdonors, UN executing agencies,NGOs, associations, religious commu-nities and major development projects.CRIC contributes to the identificationof prevention, preparedness, emer-

gency relief and recovery measuresand actions.

• Disaster risk management committeeswere established in at-risk zones atregion, district and commune levels toharmonize various interventions.

• The President of the Republicdemonstrated his personal commit-ment to DRR by donating 20,000 USdollars to UN/ISDR activities inAfrica.

Identifying, evaluating and monitoring

disaster risks; strengthening early warning

systems

• CNS is developing a National EarlyWarning System with support fromCARE International. To that effect,regional workshops were held. Allrisks are taken into consideration inthe System and specific indicators arebeing developed for monitoringpurposes.

• The cyclone and tsunami earlywarning system is already operational.Cooperation is under way betweentechnical bodies and administrativeauthorities to improve the system.

• Early warning-related informationhave been disseminated to regions,

MADAGASCAR: Disaster Risk Reduction Activities in 2005

& Prospects for 2006

Some participants in training on disaster risk management



districts and communes which, inturn, sensitize the population.

Applying knowledge, innovation�and

education to develop a culture of safety

and resilience at all levels

• Capacity building training sessionswere organized in at-risk andvulnerable district capitals. Thesessions were attended by region anddistrict officials, mayors andrepresentatives of neighbourhoodresidents and NGOs operating atneighbourhood level. Instead of the 11regions initially targeted, CNSachieved a 120 per cent result bycovering 13 regions. Among varioustopics touched on during the sessions,the internationally-applied conceptsof vulnerability, risk and resiliencewere introduced to the participants.

• Implementing the recommendationsof the Hyogo Framework for Actionhas been taken into consideration inschool curricula. Teacher cards, noticemaps and teachers’ books are beingused for teachings on some disaster-related issues.

• The Antananarivo UniversityGeophysics Observatory Institute iscarrying out applied research work onearthquakes in cooperation with theDirectorate-General of Meteorology.Such a cooperation forms the basis ofpublic awareness related to warnings

event of cyclones, floods, fires,droughts and tsunamis.

• Monitoring and aid distributioncommittees were established in at-riskzones. Being not part of thecommittees, local governmentauthorities are in charge ofimplementation monitoring and reportto higher-level authorities.

• Emergency plans were also developedduring the same training sessions.Their implementation will be ensured,as needed, by local officials.

• Regarding the malnutrition casesobserved in the southeast part of thecountry, response actions were taken,especially relief distribution, theestablishment of needed centres, food-for-work activities, training and seeddistribution under CNS coordination.These actions will still be under wayin the first quarter of 2006.

Prospects for 2006

• Strengthening the mainstreaming ofDRR into national policies.

• Reducing people’s and property’svulnerability and improving aware-ness, facilitation and communicationactivities so as to reinforce the cultureof resilience.

• Helping to reinforce the safety ofinfrastructures and equipment, andensuring prompt interventions byCNS in the event of a disaster.

dispatched by the CNS, Madagascarbeing a participant in a recent « EarlyWarning Workshop for the East Coastof Africa ».

Reducing risk factors

• Biodiversity and ecosystemconservation now features as apriority in the country’s environmentalpolicy.

• The Ministry of National Educationand Scientific Research will bemobilized for people’s food security inthe event of a disaster like flood.Grassroots communities haveidentified a water-resistant plant thatcan serve as a basic food commodityin times of crisis.

• During the above-mentioned trainingworkshops, region, district andcommune officials unanimouslyagreed for maximum implementation ofthe existing town planning policy,stressing that no building permitwould be delivered in at-risk zones.

• All priority environmental protectionand risk factor reduction measures willbe mainstreamed into regional andcommunal development plans forrelevant areas.

Strengthening disaster preparedness for

effective response at all levels

• The above-mentioned trainingsessions in various regions alsofocuses on actions required in the

Dr. Olusegun OjoDeputy Director,

Relief and Rehabilitation

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)

Nigeria

Nigeria has established an ISDR National

Platform, with the official launch taking

place through a national consultative

meeting in the capital, Abuja, on 13 and 14

October 2005.

As an eminent person in global diplo-macy, Nigerian President OlusegunObasanjo has been raising awareness andcommitment on the importance ofdisaster reduction in the context ofsustainable development among Africanheads of state. In Nigeria, the NationalEmergency Management Agency(NEMA) has been collaborating withUN/ISDR Africa to promote themainstreaming of disaster reduction intovarious aspects of national development.

NEMA coordinated in March 2005 aNational Roundtable Discussion ofgovernment departments, the NationalAssembly, the private sector and civilsociety. It was resolved to establish aNational Platform of Stakeholders forDisaster Risk Reduction, with NEMAdesignated as focal secretariat. To launchthe Platform, the above-mentionednational consultative meeting was heldon 13 and 14 October 2005 in Abuja.

NIGERIA: ISDR National Platform launched



Objectives & Participation

As an overarching objective, this initia-tive is to ensure that disaster risk reduc-tion becomes a national and local priority.The consultative meeting was held toprioritize goals and strategies formainstreaming disaster risk reduction intopoverty reduction and sustainabledevelopment in the country.

Over 200 diverse stakeholders,comprising of federal and staterepresentatives, the private sector, NGOs,the media and international organizations(UN agencies and donors) participated inthe two-day event. Nigerian EnvironmentMinister Dr Iyorchia Ayu, whorepresented the President, NEMADirector-General Mr Alhaji S.S. Markarfiwere among the dignitaries participatingin the Platform launch.

Proceedings

The Platform was inaugurated by thePresident of the Federal Republic ofNigeria, represented by EnvironmentMinister Dr Iyorchia Ayu. The Nigerian

reduction, community mobilization anddiverse strategies to build national andcommunity resilience to disasters. Thenational economic adviser to the presi-dent was represented by a high-rankingofficial of the National Planning Com-mission.

The coordinator of the National PovertyEradication Programme, the UNDP

country resident representative andthe president’s special adviser onmigration and humanitarian affairs,who is also the representative of thedirector-general of NigerianInstitute for Social and EconomicResearch, chaired and madepresentations during thematicsessions.

At the end of the inauguration,three feature articles and other shorttexts were disseminated throughdaily newspapers to domesticate theoutcomes of the January 2005Second World Conference onDisaster Reduction in Japan (i.e.the Hyogo Framework of Action)

for diverse policy makers and develop-ment practitioners. This was to enablethem to mainstream disaster reductioninto their various activities.

A communique entitled “AbujaDeclaration for Disaster Risk Reductionin Nigeria” (see full text below) wasadopted by participants. In summary, theDeclaration makes a wake-up call tomainstream disaster risk reduction intonational development activities and the

need for appropriate local andinternational resources to be devoted todisaster reduction issues.

Recommendations for the way forward

Agreement was reached on the wayforward, focusing on the need to attractfurther input and build consensus on adraft “Action Plan for Disaster RiskReduction for Nigeria”. The meetingrecommended that the draft Plan besubjected to a further process of consul-tation to attract relevant representativestakeholders to arrive at the final ActionPlan.

Three follow-up meetings with a maximumof 20 strategic stakeholders in disastermanagement and national developmentwere thus recommended to be held inBauchi, Lokoja and Ebonyi States beforethe end of the first quarter of 2006.Modalities for the implementation,funding and sustainability of the variousfinal activities of the draft Action Plan forDisaster Risk Reduction would bediscussed and agreed during thesemeetings.

In conclusion, the interim committee ofthe National Platform for Disaster RiskReduction expressed its sincere gratitudeto the director-general and generalmanagement of NEMA for the fundingand championing of the cause of disasterreduction in the country. It also called forcontinued support from NEMA at thisfoundation stage, in view of the Agency’scoordinating role in disaster management.

president and the NEMA director-general, in their keynote addresses, calledfor a paradigm shift and the need tomainstream disaster risk reduction intoNigeria’s national development planningand programmes, especially in activitiessuch as poverty eradication. About 15key papers were presented by strategicstakeholders to address issues of disaster

Nigeria Environment Minister, Dr IIyorchia Ayu


Main banner at Nigerian National Platform launch


1.0. PREAMBLE

1. In accordance with the Hyogo Declaration, African Regional Strategy

and Plan of Action in Disaster Risk Reduction, and the persistent calls by

the UN/ISDR, and conscious of the need to ensure that disaster risk

reduction becomes a national and indeed local priority, desirous also that

Nigeria would not be left out of the global concerns and initiatives on

disaster risk reduction, a two day Stakeholders Platform in Disaster Risk

Reduction in Nigeria was held at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers between

October 13 and 14, 2005 under the auspices of the National Emergency

Management Agency (NEMA). The Platform, which represented over 100

stakeholder institutions, including the media and civil society, was

inaugurated by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed

Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Honourable Minister of

Environment, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, who represented the President, and the

Director General of NEMA, Alhaji S. S. Markarfi, were among the

dignitaries at the Platform.

2. Concerned that disaster risks are on the increase globally;

3. Aware that both natural and human-induced disasters can be reduced

and indeed prevented;

4. Aware also that good disaster risk reduction strategy begins well before

disaster strikes and continues well after;

5. Mindful that disasters slow down progress towards the achievement of

the Millennium Development Goals;

6. Eager that disaster risks reduction be systematically integrated into

policies and programs for sustainable development and poverty reduction

in Nigeria, the Platform discussed the following 3 key sub-themes:

1. Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into National Development

Programming & Strategies for Nigeria.

2. Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable National Development.

3. Multi-Stakeholders’ Role in Disaster Risk Reduction.

2.0. OBSERVATIONS

1. Very aware of the urgent need for collaboration among all stakeholders

in order to promote regional, national and local implementation of disaster

risk reduction strategies;

2. Being also aware of the need to develop and adopt the Nigerian Plan

of Action and national mechanisms for disaster risk management;

3. Noting that abuse of due process is a significant cause of disaster in

Nigeria, such as in cases of collapsed structures and fire outbreaks that

consume data on fraudulent financial transactions;

4. Noting also that disasters in Nigeria so far are induced more by conflict

and development choices than by natural sources;

5. Recognizing that communities occupy the frontline position in response

activities in times of disaster;

6. Convinced that risk management programs would require appropriate

financial and moral support by development partners and stakeholders;

7. Thankful that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, having

pledged to be the chief advocate of disaster reduction in Nigeria and

Africa, is now leading the campaign for Government to mainstream

disaster reduction strategies into development and poverty reduction

programs, the Platform, in concluding its two-day deliberations, resolved

to make recommendations and resolutions to give effect to the identified

strategies for disaster risk reduction in Nigeria.

3.0. RESOLUTIONS

Whereas the Platform has extensively explored the sub-themes in a two-

day plenary session;

Whereas the foregoing observations have been extensively discussed by

the Platform;

Whereas also there is need to make declarations that would form the

reference points for the country, the Platform hereby solemnly resolves that:

3.1. We, as individual members, shall encourage the institutions and

organizations we represent to:

a. Mainstream disaster risk management and prevention into their

programs, tapping all available resources, including satellite-based,

GIS, early warning and vulnerability mapping facilities now in the

country;

b. Develop and foster strategies associated with pre-disaster and post

disaster management, including education and public enlightenment

programs and progress, evaluation mechanism and insurance and

reinsurance facilities for risk mitigation;

c. Earmark and contribute resources to disaster risk reduction programs

at the national, state and local levels, including especially programs

designed to build the capacity and resilience of local communities;

d. Support the campaign for sustainable population growth as a poverty

reduction strategy;

e. Devise ways to obtain the participation of vulnerable communities in the

design and implementation of disaster risk reduction plans;

f. Incorporate disaster risk reduction into the educational curriculum at all

levels.

3.2. We, as the National Stakeholders Platform, hereby mandate NEMA

to:

a. Institute the process of finalizing the Nigerian Plan of Action for adoption

by the Platform before the end of the first quarter of year 2006;

b. Devise appropriate strategies, in consultation and collaboration with the

relevant government offices, to mainstream disaster mitigation into

NEEDS, SEEDS and LEEDS frameworks.

3.1. States and Local Government should, without further delay,

establish Disaster Risk Reduction Stakeholders Platforms and

Disaster Management Funds at their levels.

3.2. Finally, we:

I. Invite the Federal Government to incorporate the principles of “polluter

pays” into our environment laws, or vigorously implement them where

they exist, to deter those responsible for human-induced disasters;

II. Commend the federal Government for the war against corruption;

III. Express our profound gratitude to President Obasanjo for leading the

Campaign for governments in Nigeria and Africa to incorporate disaster

risk reduction strategies into development and poverty reduction

programs;

IV. Thank development partners and the media for their support for the

Platform.

Abuja Declaration for Disaster Risk Reduction in Nigeria



Mr. Michel VieilleDirector General,

Disaster risk and Management Secretariat,

Office of the President,

Seychelles

The Seychelles has established an ISDRNational Platform. The launch took placeduring a national workshop held in thecapital, Victoria, on 4 and 5 November2005.

The frequency and intensity of stormsand other hazards affecting theSeychelles is increasing. Events such asthe 1997 floods, the 1999 bush fire, the2002 tropical depression with windsexceeding 120 km per hour, the 2004floods and the December 2004 IndianOcean tsunami followed by torrentialrains negatively impact the socio-economic status of the Seychelles. Yet,many individuals and organizations haveremained reluctant to pursue riskreduction as a key activity and objective,or even to protect their own projectsagainst potential hazards.

In this context, the national governmentof the Seychelles has increased its effortin disaster management and thepromotion of disaster risk reduction. TheNational Disaster Secretariat in the Officeof the President organized a workshop on4-5 November 2005 to launch a nationalplatform for implementation of theInternational Strategy for DisasterReduction (ISDR), with support from UN/ISDR Africa.

Objectives & Participants

The overarching goal of the nationalworkshop was to promote multi-level andmulti-sectoral cooperation andcollaboration in disaster reduction, andintegration of disaster reduction intonational development planning, policiesand activities, through the launch of aninclusive national platform for disasterrisk reduction. To facilitate a shift inemphasis from disaster response to riskreduction and integrated disastermanagement, the workshop:

• Provided a forum to evaluate progressmade in disaster reduction andidentify gaps and constraints;

• Provided an opportunity to discussand agree priority actions for theintegration of disaster reduction intonational sustainable developmentplanning and programmes;

• Officially launched the SeychellesMulti-Hazard Early Warning System.

Delegates from the ministries ofenvironment, local government, landtransport, land use and habitat, cultureand health were present. Also attendingwere district administrators and regionalcoordinators from throughout the islandsparticipated, as did the National MetServices, police, fire brigade, defenceforces, Social Division, SeychellesBroadcasting Corporation, Members ofthe National Assembly and the NationalArchives. The Red Cross Society of theSeychelles, Seychelles FarmersAssociation, Seychelles Fishing BoatOwners Association. The NationalDisaster Secretariat and the UN/ISDRSecretariat also participated. In total,there were approximately 60 participants.

Proceedings

The workshop was opened by Mr RolphPayet, acting chairman of the NationalDisaster Committee. This was followed bya series of presentations, providing thecontext for ensuing discussions. Afterreviewing the main points of the NationalPolicy for Disaster Management currentlyunder development, the National DisasterSecretariat provided a review of thehazards faced by the Seychelles. Adescription of the proposed early warningand response sequence, as an importantcomponent of the disaster managementcycle, then followed.

The Secretariat further summarized someproposed changes to the NationalDisaster Committee. Gaps in need ofurgent attention, critical areas andlessons learned from past experiences of

both individual components as well as theoverall process of disaster managementwere reviewed.

The National Meteorological Servicelaunched the national Multi-HazardEarly Warning System. Three colourlevels are to be used, with yellowindicating an advisory, orange warninglevel 1 and red warning level 2.Thresholds based on observed data forfloods, wind, tropical cyclones andtsunamis have been developed. A posterusing descriptive text to identify theintensity of the hazard and thus urgencyof the warning level has also beencreated, which further informs the publicon how to respond to a warning.

The Red Cross Society of the Seychellesprovided a review of the international RedCross movement and the four core areasof action currently guiding the movementboth at international and national levels,one of the four areas being disasterpreparedness and response.

Current disaster management practices

Following these presentations, delegatesheld rigorous discussions on currentdisaster management practices in theSeychelles. Several gaps were identified,including: a need for decentralisation,lack of coordination, the need to mobilizefinancial and technical resources, lack ofpreparedness, lack of public educationand involvement, the utility of riskidentification, assessment and mapping,the need for community-levelassessments for both risks andvulnerabilities, and the need fordevelopment of an information bureauand better media relations to avoid mixedor false messages.

Major factors that contribute to thesegaps include disaster risk reduction notbeing a national priority, lack of politicalcommitment, lack of understanding of theimplications of not reducing risk and thegeography of the Seychelles limiting theamount of land available for humandevelopment. However, many national

SEYCHELLES: National platform for disaster reduction

launched



policies, strategies and frameworks,including those of the ministries ofenvironment and local government, aswell as the Red Cross Society, currentlyaddress some of the existing gaps indisaster reduction and response. Thesepolicies, however, are sometimes ignoredor not properly implemented.

Urgent actions that can increase theefficiency of disaster risk reduction anddisaster management include thedevelopment of a targeted list ofrecommendations from the NationalPlatform to convince national governmentof the need for action, focused fund-raising, hazard assessment and mapping,use of the national policy to ensure thatall sectors of development (projects)include disaster risk reduction provisionsand increased information campaigns.

Outcome: national priorities for action

Delegates agreed the following prioritiesof action for the Seychelles Nationalplatform for Disaster Risk Reduction,listed in order of priority:

1. National leadership and ownershipshould be built into the finalizationprocess of the National Policy,strategy and work plan for riskreduction and disaster management.

2. National Platform members shouldwork both collectively andindividually to lobby for politicalcommitment to mainstream disasterrisk reduction into developmentpolicy, planning and programmes.Participatory approaches should beencouraged, including involvement ofhigh-level politicians.

3. Mobilization of financial resources atnational and local levels is crucial forrisk reduction and disastermanagement. Efforts should be madeboth internally (lobbying for resourceallocation from national and localgovernments) and externally(partnerships with the private sectorand mobilisation of support fromdonors, international organisationsand the UN System).

4. The newly-established multi-hazardearly warning system should bestrengthened by advocating theimportance of early warning among

policy- and decision-makers, and bypreparing the general public forpositive response to early warningsthrough education, workshops andpublic awareness activities atcommunity level.

5. Knowledge enhancement trainingshould be provided to educationalinstitutions and the mass media. Theiractive participation in building aculture of disaster prevention andresilience of communities to disasters,for example mainstreaming disasterrisk reduction into school curriculaand weekly radio/TV programmes,should be encouraged.

6. Communication networks andinformation-sharing should beenhanced among and within allstakeholders, especially betweennational and local governments andamong all sectors related to disasterrisk reduction, for example throughstrengthened networks (using moderntechnology), regular consultations, e-mail, web sites, etc.

7. Coordination between the nationaland district levels should bestrengthened. The coordinationstructure as well as roles andresponsibilities should be wellarticulated in the national policy andwork plan for risk reduction and

The Seychelles National Platform members

disaster management. Multi-stakeholder consultations anddecision-making processes must betransparent and empowercommunities.

8. Capacity must be built throughdisaster risk reduction training, andmaterial and tools to facilitateunderstanding and mainstreaming ofdisaster risk reduction intodevelopment programmes must bedeveloped.

9. Contingency plans should bedeveloped at national and districtlevels to increase the effectiveness ofrelief assistance to affectedpopulations.

10.Regional collaboration should beenhanced through information sharingsuch as best practices.

It was also agreed that the NationalDisaster Secretariat would develop theterms of reference of the NationalPlatform for Disaster Risk Reduction, andthat the Platform would then determinethe frequency of its meetings based onthese terms and related needs.



SENEGAL & WORLD BANK

IDA to fund disaster risk reduction under poverty reduction

Mr. Abdoulaye Ndiaye1

Director of Civil Protection,

Dakar, Senegal

The International Development

Association2 (IDA) and the Senegalese

government – represented by the

Senegalese Economy and Finance Ministry

– have called for the implementation of

priority actions identified by the Senegal

Plan of Priority Actions for Major Risk and

Disaster Reduction, in the framework of

the country’s poverty reduction strategy.

This emerged from negotiations held in

Washington from 17 to 20 October 2005 on

a Second Support Credit for the

Senegalese Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Mobilizing necessary resources

The Plan of Priority Actions aimseventually to make disaster reduction agovernment priority and mainstream itinto national and local economic andsocial development plans and intosustainable development and povertyreduction programmes. The objective ofthe Plan is substantial reduction of thecountry’s vulnerability to risks, calamitiesand disasters by 2015 – which conformsto the implementation period for theHyogo Framework for Action adopted bythe Second World Conference on DisasterReduction held in January 2005 in Kobe-Hyogo, Japan.

Earlier, the Senegalese government hadexpressed its commitment to mobilize,with bilateral and multilateral partners,necessary resources for theimplementation of the Plan.

The Plan of Priority Actions

The Senegalese Plan of Priority Actionsfor Major Risk and Disaster Reductionemerged from the following sequence ofevents. During a review of the country’sPoverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)in June 2005, The Directorate of Civil

Protection was invited to take part inworkshops organized by the Economyand Finance Ministry’s National PovertyReduction Monitoring Unit and by theSocial Development Fund Agency. TheDirectorate of Civil Protection was askedto draft proposals on how to mainstreamdisaster risk reduction (DRR) measuresinto the PRSP. The Plan of PriorityActions was submitted to the PovertyReduction Monitoring Unit to beconsidered for incorporation into thePRSP.

It is to be noted that earlier in the year,after the above-mentioned January 2005Kobe World Conference, the Senegalesegovernment had embarked on a processof re-energizing the country’sinstitutional framework for disaster riskmanagement, mainly by: (1) establishing aNational Platform for DRR; and (2)developing a DRR Strategy Documentconforming to the PRSP.

Expected results, planned activities

The Plan’s expected results

• Long-term results (by 2015): DRRStrategy’s substantial contribution topoverty reduction.

• Medium-term results (by 2010): DRRStrategy fully operational andattached to Poverty ReductionStrategy following formal recognitionand strategic evaluation.

Planned Activities for 2005-2010

• Re-energizing the institutional andstrategic framework by establishing aNational Platform for DRR (in line withsub-regional, regional andinternational disaster risk managementsystems) and adopting a NationalDRR Strategy Document; the Strategybeing a vision shared by all actors anda unifying factor to all sectoralinitiatives taken in the field of disasterrisk management.

• Strengthening the legal and regulatoryframework in line with ongoingchallenges in the fields ofenvironment, land use and town andregional planning, etc.

• Developing and implementing sectoralprogrammes seeking to containdisasters like major industrialaccidents and floods.

• Developing a culture of disaster riskreduction.

1 Abdoulaye Ndiaye is also the current chairman

(2004-2006) of the General Assembly of the

International Civil Defence Organization (ICDO), and a

member of the Africa Advisory Group (AAG) on

Disaster Risk Reduction.

2 The International Development Association (IDA) is

part of the World Bank Group. It helps poorest

countries reduce poverty by providing low-interest or

interest-free loans and grants for programmes aimed

at boosting economic growth and improving living

conditions.

Mr. Abdoulaye Ndiaye, Director of Civil Protection



Mrs. Beatha O. SwaiDirector

Disaster Management Department

Prime Minister’s Office

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The launching of the Tanzanian national

platform for disaster risk reduction took

place during a national workshop from 28

to 29 November 2005 in the capital Dar-es-

Salaam. 25 participants attended the

event, representing various organisations

that are key stakeholders of disaster risk

reduction.

Tanzania experiences a variety of bothnatural and man-made disasters includingdrought, floods, epidemics, fire, strongwinds, accidents (road, industrial, marine,aviation, railway), earthquake, pestinfestation, influx of refugees andvolcanic eruptions. These disasters havegreatly disrupted development gainsmade over the years.

Disasters cause serious loss of lives,damage to property and infrastructure,and environmental degradation. TheGovernment is increasingly concernedover the country’s vulnerability todisasters, as well as a lack of mechanismsto reduce vulnerability, prepare for eventsthat may occur and respond to thepopulations’ needs in an effective wayonce the disasters strike.

Government Response

The Government has begun to takecountermeasures to protect the nationagainst the impacts of disasters. Thisincludes capacity strengthening of theDisaster Management Department(DMD), establishment of the DisasterManagement Centre at the UniversityCollege of Lands and ArchitecturalStudies, development of a DisasterManagement Policy, and implementationof disaster Vulnerability Assessments inall 21 regions which subsequently lead tothe development of hazard maps. Thelatter report provided an important input

to the development of NationalOperational Guidelines (NOG), adocument itemising responsibilities ofstakeholders in disaster managementprocess.

Disaster policy clearly recognises theimportance of involving as manystakeholders as possible in all stages ofdisaster management. One of the keyrecommendations in the document is toform a national disaster forum. Thisforum is intended to provide anopportunity for a wider group ofstakeholders to share information andexperiences for better implementation ofrisk reduction initiatives.

In realizing the multi-stakeholderchallenge to disaster risk reduction, thegovernment of Tanzania asked UN/ISDRAfrica to help establish a nationalplatform for disaster risk reduction. Theplatform was subsequently launchedduring a national workshop, held 28-29November 2005 in the capital Dar-es-Salaam.

Opening of the Workshop

The Director of Disaster ManagementDepartment Mrs. B. O. Swai, on behalf of

the Permanent Secretary in the PrimeMinister’s Office, opened the workshopwith an address underscoring theimportance of disaster reductionstrategies and the commitment andsupport of the Government to theestablishment of the National DisasterRisk Reduction Platform. Mrs. Swaifurther shared with participants theobjectives and expectations of theNational Disaster Risk ReductionPlatform.

The history of global disaster riskreduction initiatives set the stage for theHyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015(HFA), which came out of the secondWorld Conference on Disaster RiskReduction held in Kobe Hyogo Japan inJanuary 2005. Of specific importance arethe five priorities for action listed in theHFA.

The establishment and functioning ofnational platforms is the first key activityunder the Priority 1 of the HFA. Anational platform serves as a keyinstitutional framework to facilitatecoordination across sectors and tomaintain a broad-based dialogue at thenational level for promoting awarenessamong relevant sectors.

TANZANIA: National disaster risk reduction platform

launched

Mrs. Maria Bilia, Assistant to the Director, Disaster Management Department in Tanzania, making a presentation

during the workshop



Proceedings

After the opening remarks andintroduction by the Director the followingpapers were presented and discussed:

• An overview of Disaster Managementwas presented by Mr. D. Kirway of theDisaster Management Department(DMD). He took the participantsthrough the definition of a disasteraccording to Act No. 9 of 1990 and theDisaster Management Policy. He alsoexplained the Disaster Profile inTanzania; Key stakeholders inDisaster Management, DecisionMaking Process in DisasterResponse; Strengths and Task Aheadin Disaster Management.

• National Disaster Management Policywas presented by Ms. Bilia of (DMD).This policy was passed by theGovernment in 2004 as a generalguideline on disaster managementactivities in the country. The policyalso set an Institutional Frameworkfrom the National to Community leveland specifies key stakeholders ofdisaster management in the country.

• Trends in Global and RegionalDisaster Reduction and theInternational Strategy for DisasterReduction were presented by Ms.Noroarisoa Rakotondrandria from UN/ISDR Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. Sheexplained the meaning of ISDR whereit came from; how is it implementedand the rationale of the NationalPlatform for Disaster Risk Reduction,its objectives and members andguiding principle for effective nationalPlatform. She also pointed outlessons learnt and difficultiesencountered in implementation ofplatforms in different countries and aframework for disaster risk reduction.

• Development and Disaster RiskReduction was presented by Mr. IbKnutsen of UN/ISDR Africa fromNairobi. He explained about thepossible threats to developmentposed by disasters. He linked disasterrisk management and povertyreduction, disaster risk managementand climate change; disaster riskmanagement and governance. Finallyhe shared with participants objectivesof the World Conference on Disasterreduction.

• Poverty Reduction and Disaster RiskReduction in Tanzania was presentedby Ms. Nanai of DMD. She started bydefining poverty reduction and adisaster. She also explained disastermanagement initiatives done by thedepartment of Disaster management toreduce risk in the country. Shecontinued with Sectors initiatives thataddress related issues on disaster riskreduction and limitations on reducingrisks.

• Ms. M. Bilia shared with participantsa paper on an overview of DisasterManagement Sector PoliciesImplementation. The paperhighlighted Sector Policies related todisaster management in the country.Sector policies explained were from sixministries namely; Home Affairs,Agriculture. She also linked theDisaster management Policy withRural Development Strategy andactivities done by NGOs.

• Mr. Ib Knutsen of UN/ISDR Africafrom Nairobi reviewed the HyogoFramework for Action 2005 - 2015 andDeclaration. He linked disasters andtheir impacts to development; disasterrisk management as a cross-cuttingissue and its relation to povertyreduction, water resourcesmanagement, agriculture and land use,governance, climate change andsustainable development. He alsopresented the World Conference onDisaster Reduction.

Recommendations

After the two-day discussions,participants made the followingrecommendations:

1. Review and adoption of financial andfunding mechanisms to supportNational Disaster Risk Reductionactivities. The issue of financial andprocurement arrangements governingdisaster response and expenditure(Procurement Act)

2. Review of the existing legal frameworkand adoption of legislators thatsupport National Disaster RiskReduction. The issue ofcompensation to disaster affectedpersons and property was alsodiscussed together with insuranceand safety net mechanisms.

3. Link and align Disaster ManagementPolicy to National Growth and PovertyReduction Strategies. Uptake ofdisaster risk reduction strategieswithin sectoral and departmental plansand strategies and the adoption of amulti sectors approach to disastermanagement.

4. An effective information managementsystem to support risks reductionactivities is needed. Access totechnologies that enhance earlywarning information andconsideration of traditional systemsand practices that support disasterrisk reduction is required.

5. Link Disaster Management Policy andSectoral Policies in order to supportdisaster risk reduction issues.

6. The Disaster ManagementDepartment (DMD) should be anExecutive Agency instead of thecurrent set up where by DMD is underPMO.

The Way Forward

Mrs. Swai presented keynotes onproposed Technical Committees (TCs)under the National Platform in thecountry. After discussion byparticipants, four TCs were formed as away forward for implementation ofactivities of the National Disaster RiskReduction Platform. The developed TCsare:

1. Policy, Legal and InstitutionalFramework (led by the PresidentOffice Planning and Privatisation)

2. Disaster Risk Assessment andMonitoring (led by the PrimeMinister’s Office)

3. Knowledge Management andEducation (Led by the Ministry ofCommunity Development, Gender andChildren)

4. Disaster Preparedness and Response(led by the Ministry of Home Affairs)

After the formation of the TCs, therapporteurs Ms. Baruani and Mr. Kwame,presented the Tanzania Follow-up of theHFA for 2005–2015. Under its guidance,the TCs were assigned responsibilitieswhereby they were required to present anAction Plan with a timeframe by March2006.




UGANDA: Mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction under

way

Mr Martin OworHead of Disaster Risk Reduction Division,

Department of Disaster Management & Refugees,

Kampala, Uganda

The Government of Uganda has, over therecent past, embarked on mainstreamingdisaster risk reduction (DRR) intosectoral programmes and activities of lineministries and Departments ofGovernment.

Disaster risk reduction concerns havebeen mainstreamed into the NationalPolicy for Water and Sanitation and theNational Health and Nutrition StrategicPlan. They are being mainstreamed intothe National Plan for Education andSports.

DRR a poverty eradication factor

Mainstreaming disaster risk reductioninto the programmes and plans of therelevant line ministries is of crucialimportance. Indeed, from a developmentperspective, disasters should not be seenas isolated random acts of nature. Ratherdisasters should be viewed as expectedconsequence of poor risk managementover the long term. From this perspective,both risk reduction and wider disastermanagement are clearly multi-disciplinary processes which require theengagement of a wide range ofstakeholders.

Risk reduction is therefore adevelopmental imperative for achievingsustainable growth, as well as a strategythat protects the lives and livelihoods ofthe most vulnerable and hence a povertyeradication factor.

However, as government ministries anddepartments always have multiple and oftencompeting priorities, disaster risk reductionhappens not to be always a top priority. Byintegrating disaster risk reduction issuesinto ministerial policies, we place disaster

risk reduction issues amongst the core areaof focus.

School curricula revised to includeDRR

As indicated above, school curricula arebeing revised to include disaster riskreduction education. The UgandaMinistry of Education and Sports inparticular is well placed to influence thefuture of society through teachingchildren how to minimize the riskscommunities face from both natural andhuman-induced disasters.

Students will first learn about disasterrisks their own society and location faceand how to minimize them. They will

also learn about disaster risks affectingother communities in theirneighbourhood and the rest of thecountry.

To begin with, teachers will be trained tounderstand disaster risk reduction andadequate numbers of reading materialwill be produced in English and locallanguages.

The Government of Uganda is grateful toUNDP for availing two experts who areassisting the Department of DisasterManagement in mainstreaming disasterrisk reduction into plans and programmesof other line ministries.

Ugandan Women and children


2005 United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster

Reduction

Could you give me some statisticsabout the impact of the Dzud? Howdoes it affect the Mongolian peopleevery year?

Mongolia is a large but sparselypopulated country which oftenexperiences extreme climate conditions.The economy is dominated byagriculture, especially livestockhusbandry. Dzud is the Mongolian namefor severe winter weather storms in whichextreme cold, heavy snow and strongwinds prevent cattle and other animalsfrom feeding over long periods of time.The consequences of dzud can be verysevere, especially when it involves theloss of livestock that is fundamental tothe economy. If a dzud occurs incombination with another type ofdisaster, the damage can be catastrophic.For centuries, dzuds have caused seriouslosses to livelihoods with importantresulting social and economic impactsthroughout the country. According tohistorical records, there were 15occurrences of dzuds in the 18th century,31 in the 19th century and 43 in the 20th

century.

Climate conditions in the period between1990-1999 were very favourable forMongolia. Livestock grew from 25million to 33 million animals. This was aperiod of considerable success for theherders who comprise almost 50 per centof the country’s population and for theeconomy of the country as a whole.Dzuds then occurred in Mongolia in1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 with theireffects compounded by accompanyingdroughts in the summer months. Theperiod was also marked by some humanfactors in that there was only limitedpreparedness for such potential andaccumulated disasters. Thirty-four peoplelost their lives due to dzuds andsnowstorms and more than 8.4 millionlivestock perished from the direct impactof dzud-related disasters. These losses tothe country were estimated at more thanUS$ 330 million. Many thousandhouseholds lost all their livestock,seriously increasing their levels ofpoverty.

(more on the interview on the next page)

The UN Sasakawa Award Jury has namedMr Chimeddorj Batchulluun of theNational Emergency ManagementAgency (NEMA) in the Government ofMongolia as the 2005 Laureate for hisefforts in raising awareness about theimpact of the dzud on pastoral livestock.

Dzud, a Mongolian term for “whitedeath”, refers to a winter condition thatdestroys or limits access to grazing stuff,preventing animals from eating and thusfrom surviving during the winter monthsfrom October to May.

Mr Chimeddorj Batchulluun provided amodel for effective risk reductioncombining traditional and cultural valueswith modern technical capabilities toincrease the resilience of herdingcommunities in Mongolia.

Mr Chimeddorj Batchulluun is the 18th

laureate of the UN Sasakawa Award forDisaster Reduction. He received thecrystal trophy and 40,000 US dollarsduring a ceremony that took place on 12October 2005 - the International Day forDisaster Reduction - at the new ISDRAsia office in Bangkok, Thailand.

Two certificates of Distinction wereawarded to Mr Claude de Ville de Goyet,former director of the EmergencyPreparedness and Disaster ReliefCoordination Programme in the Pan-American Heath Organisation (PAHO)and to Mr Jaime Parejo Garcia, chief ofthe Rescue Dog Unit at the Fire Brigadein Sevilla, Spain.

Claude de Ville de Goyet received theCertificate of Distinction for his valuableefforts to minimize the number of victimsand material losses in hospitals beforenatural hazards strike. Jaime ParejoGarcia developed an innovative methodthat improves the efficiency of dogrescue in the searching of survivorsburied during natural hazards. His systemhas been extensively promoted throughfire fighters and community volunteers inmany countries in Latin America, theCaribbean and Europe.

Interview with2005 Laureate of UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster

Reduction

Mr. Chimeddorj Batchulluunof Mongolia

UN/ISDR World in Action

A Certificate of Merit was awarded to theSimeulue community, in Indonesia, thatsuffered a strong earthquake in 1907.Since then, the local government hasundertaken regular and diverse activitiesto maintain its community aware ofpotential disasters and to sustain an

acute degree of awareness andpreparedness. This approach led to savingthousands of lives during the IndianOcean tsunami on 26 December 2004. Ofthe 83,000 Simeulue communitymembers, only seven lost their lives tothe tsunami.


Mr Chimeddorj Batchulluun of Mongolia, the 2005 Laureate

many meetings with ambassadors,diplomats and representatives ofinternational organizations where I wasable to provide reports to them about thesituation of local herders and theirextremely severe living conditions. I amproud that I have had a chance to meetand work with many specialists andrepresentatives from internationalhumanitarian organizations.

During the period of dzud, the MongolianMinistry of Foreign Affairs and theUnited Nations Office representative toMongolia issued an appeal forinternational assistance based onsurveys and conclusions prepared by ourworking team. More than 15 countriesand 20 international humanitarianorganizations provided cash and andextended their assistance. This enabledus to implement many projects andprogrammes to help in decreasingpoverty. I am very proud of mycontribution to disaster management.

UN/ISDR World in Action

What did you do to reduce the impact

of this natural hazard on herders’

communities?

I grew up in a family of herders and Ispent my childhood in livestock pastures.Later, working for an emergencymanagement organization, I participatedin the following activities to reduce theimpact of dzuds on livestock:

• I studied the impact of bookletsdistributed by the Central and localgovernment during the dzud disasterof 1999-2000 and concluded that theywere very effective for young localauthority leaders and herders.

• During the dzud period, specialattention was given to thebroadcasting and dissemination ofbest practices and measures to betaken to prepare for and help toreduce the effects of the disaster.

• As the manager of the NationalEmergency Management Agency ofMongolia, State Standing EmergencyCommission and Disaster MitigationDivision, my primary responsibilitieswere to collect and processinformation in real-life situations inlocal areas, such as assessing thedamages to submit it to the Centralgovernment for rapid decisions andimplementation. I think I havecontributed to reducing the impact ofdzuds with my hard work.

• One of my main duties has been toorganize training sessions, meetingsand discussions jointly with theGovernment and agencies, localauthorities and NGOs. These wereable to introduce traditionalknowledge and herding methods toyoung herders to help prevent dzuds.I also provided psychologicalassistance to herders in difficultsituations.

How do you work with the

meteorological services?

The meteorological and hydrologicalservices of our country provide regularweather forecasts and warnings onhazardous phenomena on a daily, weeklyand monthly basis. In order to improvedisaster warning and disaster prevention,we work closely with the Institute of

Meteorology for delivering timelywarnings to herders so they can use themmore effectively. We also organizemonthly and weekly radio meetings withthem about weather forecasts and totransmit urgent information. We alsoconduct joint research on hazardousphenomena and previous disasters.

How did you combine the cultural and

traditional knowledge with modern

capacities?

Mongols have a rich experience andknowledge on how to overcome naturaldisasters and have indeed a specific wayof living and dwelling close to nature.The teaching of traditional knowledgeabout weather forecasting and its effectson livestock has become an importantpart of our approach to disastermanagement. We organize trainingsessions, meetings and discussions forthe younger members of the community.We publish articles in newspapers andbooklets on traditional herding as well asgiving lectures too, for the generalpopulation.

How did you work with the

international community to make

dzuds known and better understood?

The international community and thehumanitarian organizations have given usinvaluable assistance and support indisaster response and recovery whendzuds occurred in our country. I have had


UN/ISDR AfricaNairobi, Kenya

A Regional Consultative Meeting on Early

Warning for the East Coast of Africa was

held from 17 to 19 October 2005 in Nairobi,

Kenya, under the auspices of the Early

Warning Strengthening Project of the

United Nations. Ten African countries

agreed on regional priorities for action to

address early warning and disaster

reduction.

Background

In response to the December 2004 IndianOcean tsunami, the internationalcommunity mobilized to provide short-term humanitarian support to tsunami-affected countries and address the long-term need for more effective early warningsystems. UN/ISDR is coordinating, withsubstantial input from theIntergovernmental OceanographicCommission (IOC) of UNESCO, a multi-partner response through its Platform forthe Promotion of Early Warning (PPEW),joining the broader UN Flash Appeal.

The Early Warning Strengthening Projectoutlines a partnership approach tosupporting the integrated development oftsunami early warning systems,recognizing the numerous UN and otherorganisations that contribute toimproving countries’ disaster riskmanagement and risk reduction. Inparticular, the project supports UNESCO-IOC in its leadership to establish the coreelements of a tsunami early warningsystem. While focusing primarily ontsunami, the broader context of multiplehazards, risk management and riskreduction is also recognized and activelyconsidered.

Context

With support from WMO and UN/ISDR,UNESCO-IOC has led expert assessmentmissions to 19 countries throughout theIndian Ocean, eight of which are in Africa.

It was found that the African countriessuffer from inadequate preparedness fortsunami and related risks, including a lackof effective early warning and public/political awareness.

To address these gaps, UN/ISDR Africais supporting the regional implementationof the above-mentioned Early WarningStrengthening Project, continuing itstradition of working in collaboration withAfrican officials and institutions to helpreduce disaster risk. The reviewedworkshop aimed to begin prioritizing andaddressing the aforementioned gaps, aswell as initiate regional collaboration forenhanced early warning and disasterreduction.

Workshop participants, objectives

The workshop was attended by 35officials, including delegates from all 10African countries on the Indian Ocean -Comoros, Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar,Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles,Somalia, South Africa and Tanzania – andrepresentatives from UN/ISDR Africa,UN/ISDR-PPEW, UNEP, UNDP, IFRC(International Federation of Red Crossand Red Crescent Societies) and ICPAC(IGAD Climate Prediction and ApplicationCentre).

The specific objectives of the workshopwere to: (1) Increase knowledge of andcapacity for disaster risk reduction,particularly on early warning; (2) Promoteintegrated disaster risk reduction, earlywarning and public awareness at theregional, national and community levels;and (3) Foster enhanced regionalcooperation on early warning in theAfrican Countries on the Indian Ocean.

Proceedings

The workshop was facilitated by twoAfrican experts: Dr Chris Hartnady,Research and Technical Director of SouthAfrica-based earth science consultingfirm Umvoto Africa (Pty) Ltd and ProfGerard Rambolamanana, Head of theLaboratory of Seismology in theMadagascar Geo-Physics ObservatoryInstitute. The event was opened by theKenyan assistant minister of specialprogrammes in the Office of the President,Dr Wilfred Machage. Thereafter, each dayof the workshop was dedicated todifferent components of tsunami earlywarning and risk reduction.

Monday 17 October: Day 1 focused onthe hazard of tsunami and disaster riskreduction in general, starting with areview of the UN/ISDR and international

Eastern, southern African coastal, island states reinforce

early warning in aftermath of Indian Ocean tsunami

Participants of the Early Warning Workshop in Nairobi

UN/ISDR Africa in Action


frameworks for disaster risk reductionwith emphasis on the January 2005Hyogo Framework for Action. After atechnical overview of the risks andconcepts of tsunami and other naturalhazards facing the eastern coast of Africa,each country shared their experiencesfrom the December 2004 event. Thisincluded reviewing the tsunami impacts,lessons learned, as well as strategies andactivities to address future risks. The dayconcluded with a plenary discussion oncountry tsunami experiences andresponses.

Tuesday 18 October: Day 2 wasdedicated to early warning, beginningwith overviews of both UN/ISDR-PPEW(Platform for the Promotion of EarlyWarning) and UNEP-DEWA (Division ofEarly Warning and Assessment). After anintroduction to people-centred earlywarning, delegates shared best practicesand lessons learned in early warning fromeach of the countries. Focused groupwork to identify early warning gaps forthe eastern coast of Africa then followed.The day ended with plenary discussionand agreement on the early warning gapsfaced by the region.

Wednesday 19 October: The morning ofDay 3 focused on public awareness andeducation. A review of successful publicawareness experiences outside of Africawas provided. This was followed byplenary discussion on best practices inpublic awareness and education. Theafternoon of Day 3 looked to the future,first establishing the regional needs forearly warning, and finally agreeing onregional priorities for action.

African experiences from December2004 tsunami

During the discussions, it became clearthat in Africa, Somalia had experiencedthe greatest impact of the tsunami,followed by the Seychelles. Manycountries, especially those further south,had felt little or no effect. Africa was quitelucky that the tsunami occurred duringlow tide, thus reducing the impacts. Theregion was generally unprepared fortsunami, with previous disaster riskmanagement efforts focusing on other,better known hazards. In some countries,protection against tsunami was providedby natural systems such as coral reefsand mangroves.

During the tsunami, most countriessuffered from lack of coordination at alllevels, particularly between governmentagencies. It became clear that propergovernment response and early warningrequired multiple and well-coordinatedagencies. At the same time, using themedia required a difficult balance: whileoften useful, in some cases non country-specific or unclear information led toundesirable population responses.

In many cases where early warnings wereissued, the population was reluctant toleave and some instead, out of curiosity,moved towards the coast. There was adistinct lack of public awareness andalmost no pre-determined escape/evacuation plans and routes.Communication with local communitiespresented a further challenge. During the28 March 2005 Sumatra earthquake, somepopulations panicked because they nowknew more about tsunami, but responseplans and preparedness measures werenot yet in place.

Future events (tsunami and others) couldhave major negative socio-economic andenvironmental impacts on the region,such that the December 2004 tsunami hasmotivated both political and public willand action.

Regional gaps in early warning

In response to the tsunami, national earlywarning programmes are being developedor enhanced, with many basiccomponents already existing but needingproper integration, coordination andutilization. Risk assessment andidentification, particularly for tsunami,including risk zonation and mapping, isgenerally inadequate throughout theregion.

Technical monitoring systems are needed,including seismic stations, tide gaugesand buoys for tsunami, and rain gauges,radar and river gauges for floods andtropical cyclones. Bolstering the utility ofsuch systems, regional data sharing,particularly in real-time, must bestrengthened. However, without properhuman resources, in particular technicalexpertise, implementation of suchsystems remains a challenge.

There is a regional lack of high-levelpolitical and media awareness, with

concurrent action and response plans.While programmes are being implementedat technical level, the media and high-level government officials must be madeaware of and integrated into responseplans. Challenging this is politicalinstability that often leads to rapidchanges in ministries and staff, resultingin loss of institutional memory. The needfor permanent national platforms fordisaster reduction was thus highlighted.

In order to reach vulnerable communities,understandable communication in locallanguages, highlighting the use of colourcodes for different early warning levels tomanage illiteracy, is needed.

A fundamental challenge is themobilisation of adequate and sustainablefunding. Delegates felt that a regionalcentre or focal point for early warningcould help address many of these issues.

UN/ISDR Africa in Action

“While the December 2004

tsunami was terrible

disaster, it also provided a

window of opportunity for

establishing proper early

warning and disaster

reduction programmes (in

10 African countries).” This

is a comment made by

officials from eastern and

southern Africa.

Regional gaps in public awareness,

education

A primary component of people-centredearly warning is public awareness andeducation, to ensure that vulnerablepopulations not only understand therisks they face, but also know how toreact if a warning is issued.

As contingency plans are established, allstakeholders from the government to thepublic must be made aware of theirexistence, individual responsibilities andexpected responses. The training ofnational focal points and responsibleofficers is required on the different meansand utilities of public awareness andeducation. Practice drills are needed.


Mechanisms for dissemination of bothwarnings and educational material areneeded to ensure that information reachpeople at risk in a timely andunderstandable manner, includingmegaphones, sirens and radios. This canbe supported through the identificationand utilisation of existing communicationchannels, as well as traditional andreligious teaching and communicationmethods. National education curriculashould include disaster managementtopics and activities, starting from theprimary education level.

An inventory of standardized andavailable public awareness material,including from regions outside of Africa,should be compiled and adapted to localcultures. Regular publications on risksand preparedness, including reports,posters, radio/TV shows and magazine/newspaper articles should be encouraged.

Outcome: regional priorities for action

All delegates agreed that, while theDecember 2004 tsunami was a terribledisaster, it also provided a window ofopportunity for establishing proper earlywarning and disaster reductionprogrammes. Based on the reviewed gapsand acknowledging both regional andnational needs, the delegates were able toagree on regional priorities for action onearly warning and disaster reduction forthe eastern coast of Africa:

• Establishment of a regional centre orfocal point for early warning anddisaster risk reduction, the terms ofreference and constitution of whichare now being finalized;

• Enhancement of technical observationnetworks (gauges and measuringstations) with improved regional dataprotocols and exchange;

• Better synchronization of nationaldisaster reduction platform activities.In some countries, national platformsneed still to be developed;

• Capacity building for technical datacollection, monitoring and evaluation,as well as risk identification andanalysis;

• Education and sensitization of policymakers on disaster awareness,reduction and preparedness.

Certain issues, for instance publicawareness and education, were identifiedas regional gaps that had to be addressedat national and local levels.

AU CommissionDirectorate for Rural Economy & Agriculture

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The First African Ministerial Conferenceon Disaster Risk Reduction was held on 7December 2005 at the AU ConferenceCentre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Organized jointly by the AU Commissionand UN/ISDR Africa, the Conference waschaired by the Republic of CongoMinister of Forest Economy andEnvironment, Mr Henri Djombo.

The Conference was preceded by anAfrican Experts’ Meeting held on the twoprevious days - 5 and 6 December 2005 –at the same venue (see separate article ).

41 African countries represented

The Conference was attended by Africanministers in charge of DRR, Africanambassadors to the AU, other high-ranking government officials and AfricanDRR experts from the following 41

African countries: Algeria, Angola,Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi,Cape Verde, Central African Republic,Chad, Comoros, Congo Republic, Côted’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo,Egypt, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea,Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho,Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius,Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria,Republic of Guinea, Saharawi ArabDemocratic Republic, South Africa,Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland,Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia andZimbabwe.

The following organizations, institutionsand UN agencies were also represented:AfDB (African Development Bank),UNECA (UN Economic Commission forAfrica), UNDP (United NationsDevelopment Programme), UNDP/BCPR(Bureau for Crisis Prevention andRecovery), UNEP (United NationsEnvironment Programme), WMO (WorldMeteorological Organization), ITU(International Telecommunication Union),WHO (World Health Organization),

WHO/World Aids Campaign, FAO, UN/ISDR, ICPAC (IGAD Climate Predictionand Applications Centre), ECOWAS(Economic Community of West AfricanStates), UN/HABITAT, AAS (AfricanAcademy of Sciences), WFP (World FoodProgramme), International Food PolicyResearch Institute (IFPRI), JICA (JapanInternational Cooperation Agency), UN/OCHA (Office for the Coordination ofHumanitarian Affairs), some foreignembassies in Ethiopia, and South Africa-based earth science consulting firmUmvoto Africa (Pty) Ltd.

Opening statements

The AU Commissioner for Rural Economyand Agriculture, Mrs Rosehub Kurwijila,made a welcoming statement followed bystatements by representatives of AfDB,UNECA, UNDP, UNEP, WMO, ITU, WHOand FAO.

The Ethiopian Minister of State forAgriculture and Rural Developmentopened the meeting. The Director of UN/

First African ministerial conference on DRR held; next AU

summit may discuss DRR

Partners in Action


ISDR, on behalf of the UN Under-Secretary-General for HumanitarianAffairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator,delivered a keynote address.

Egypt to establish African disaster risk

reduction centre

The African ministers considered theArab Republic of Egypt’s proposal tocreate a Regional Disaster Risk Reductionand Management Centre and commendedEgypt for the initiative. They agreed onthe principle for the creation ofcontinental centre and further suggestedthe need to establish sub-regional andnational disaster risk reduction andmanagement centres. To this end, theyrequested the AU Commission, incollaboration with Egypt, to convene anexperts’ meeting of member states toundertake further analysis and defineworking modalities for the Egypt-basedcentre.

Recommendations

After considering the Recommendationsand Programme of Action (for theImplementation of the Africa RegionalStrategy for Disaster Risk Reduction)forwarded by the Expert’s Meeting, theAfrican ministers adopted the Programmeof Action, recommending the followingpriorities:

Policies & Regulatory Frameworks

• Review existing policies, legislationand strategies to provide guidanceand direction for mainstreaming DRRin development planning, and fordefining responsibilities of allstakeholders in disaster riskreduction;

• Make integration of disaster riskreduction a development priority andaddress DRR in all developmentprogrammes, poverty reductionpolicies and strategies;

• Integrate gender concerns in the DRRprocesses at all levels;

• Integrate environmental dimensionsinto DRR so as to mitigate severity ofdisasters to facilitate recovery andrehabilitation after disasters;

• Establish appropriate regulatoryframeworks, policies, rules andprocedures at national, regional and

international levels for an effectiveuse of ICT (Information &Communication Technology) fordisaster reduction taking into accountspecial needs of people withdisabilities;

• Ensure that an early warning networkis an integral part of disaster riskreduction;

• Create an enabling environment byproviding incentives for investorsinterested in DRR.

Institutional Arrangements

• Establish multi-stakeholders nationalplatforms with the view to having allthe skills and knowledge required foraddressing risk reduction indevelopment processes;

• Hold biennial meetings of experts andministers responsible for disastermanagement;

• Establish and strengthen national-level coordination mechanisms fordisaster risk reduction.

Capacity Building

• Include DRR in school curriculum atdifferent levels to build a culture ofprevention against disasters;

• Undertake capacity building at alllevels;

• Develop databases, handbooks andmanuals for DRR training purposes;

• Strengthen National Meteorologicaland Hydrological Services (NMHSs)

and increase investments in theobservation, communication anddissemination of warnings andforecasts;

• Establish and strengthen regional andnational capacity for multi-hazardobservation, communication anddissemination of warnings andforecasts.

Information & Knowledge Management

• Establish comprehensive earlywarning systems and networks atnational, sub-regional and continentallevels, including the need to link toadvanced technologies such as GIS,remote sensing;

• Make effective use of the media forinformation dissemination;

• Develop and incorporate innovativeICT applications, solutions andservices into new and existing earlywarning systems such as TV, radio,mobile phones and Internet;

• Communicate hazards in an easilyunderstandable manner and makethem accessible to decision makersand the public in a timely manner;

• Give due emphasis to informationmanagement and sharing, particularlyto trans-boundary sharing ofinformation.

Resource Mobilization

• Allocate resources for theestablishment and maintenance ofearly warning systems and integration

Officials during the opening ceremony

Partners in Action


of DRR in development processesthrough national budgetary allocationto ensure ownership and commitment;

• Set up a target of at least 5 per cent ofthe budget at sub-regional, nationaland local levels for investment in DRRactivities;

• Undertake an objective assessment todetermine the resources needed at alllevels for DRR implementation;

• Establish and strengthen disastertrust funds at national, sub-regionaland regional levels.

Partnership

• Promote and strengthen partnershipbetween national, regional andinternational institutions, for supportof DRR activities;

• Study possibilities of implementingpartnership between the public,national governments and theinsurance and reinsurance sectorswith a view to sharing the risks ofdisaster.

Monitoring & Evaluation

• Establish mechanisms that can trackand measure progress in DRR

implementation;

• Establish a mechanism that wouldenable development and applicationof standardized tools.

DRR poised to be on agenda offorthcoming AU Summit

It emerged from the conference thatdisaster risk reduction would feature onthe agenda of the AU Executive Councilfor submission to the AU Assembly ofHeads of State and Government takingplace in Khartoum, Sudan, from 16 to 23January 2006.

AU CommissionDirectorate for Rural Economy & Agriculture

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

An African Disaster Reduction Experts’Meeting was held on 5 and 6 December2005 at the AU Conference Centre inAddis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Organized jointly by the AU Commissionand UN/ISDR Africa, the meeting washeld in preparation for the First AfricanMinisterial Conference on Disaster RiskReduction (see separate article in thisissue) which took place the following day,on 7 December 2005, at the same venue.

Participants from 41 African countries

The meeting was attended by expertsfrom the following 41 African countries:Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana,Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde,Central African Republic, Chad, theComoros, Congo (Republic of), Côted’Ivoire, DRCongo, Egypt, Ethiopia,Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia,Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya,Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius,Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria,Republic of Guinea, Saharawi ArabDemocratic Republic, South Africa,Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland,

African disaster reduction experts meet ahead of first African

ministerial conference on DRR

Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia andZimbabwe.

The following organizations, institutionsand UN agencies were also represented:AfDB (African Development Bank),UNECA (UN Economic Commission forAfrica), UNDP (United NationsDevelopment Programme), UNDP/BCPR(Bureau for Crisis Prevention andRecovery), UNEP (United NationsEnvironment Programme), WMO (WorldMeteorological Organization), ITU(International Telecommunication Union),WHO (World Health Organization),

WHO/World Aids Campaign, FAO, UN/ISDR, ICPAC (IGAD Climate Predictionand Applications Centre), ECOWAS(Economic Community of West AfricanStates), UN/HABITAT, AAS (AfricanAcademy of Sciences), WFP (World FoodProgramme), International Food PolicyResearch Institute (IFPRI), JICA (JapanInternational Cooperation Agency), UN/OCHA (Office for the Coordination ofHumanitarian Affairs), some foreignembassies in Ethiopia, and South Africa-based earth science consulting firmUmvoto Africa (Pty) Ltd.

Participants at the Experts’ meeting organized by the AU Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Partners in Action


Opening addresses

Delivering a keynote address, UN/ISDRInter-Agency Secretariat Director MrSalvano Briceno underscored theimportance and timeliness of the FirstAfrican Ministerial Conference onDisaster Risk Reduction (taking placeafter the experts’ meeting), given that theAfrican continent was still reeling fromthe impacts of recent disasters such asfloods, volcanic eruptions and locustinvasions. He called for strong politicaland financial commitments to the issue ofintegration of disaster risk reduction(DRR) in development processes, whichis a precondition for sustainabledevelopment and poverty reduction onthe continent.

The UN/ISDR director commended theAfrican Regional Strategy for DisasterRisk Reduction which, he said, hadstrategic objectives and orientationscorresponding to priority areas set out inthe January 2005 Hyogo Framework forAction (HFA). He also observed that 18out of the 45 countries that havecommunicated their national plans toimplement the HFA to the UN/ISDR werefrom Africa. Furthermore, 15 Africancountries had already establishedNational Platforms for DRR. He stressedthe need for collective efforts andcombined knowledge from allstakeholders to reduce risks andvulnerability. Governments would need,he said, to set their own priorities asregard the implementation of the AfricaRegional Strategy. Finally, Mr Bricenoreiterated the UN/ISDR Secretariat’scommitment, through its Regional Officein Nairobi, to supporting the process ofdisaster risk reduction within theframework of the HFA in the years tocome.

Opening the meeting, Dr BabaganaAhmadu, the AU Commission Director ofRural Economy and Agriculture, recalledthe work undertaken by the AUCommission, NEPAD Secretariat andpartners to develop strategies andprogrammes to implement the January2005 Hyogo Framework for Action inAfrica. He urged the experts to lookclosely into all facets of action relevantfor the successful implementation of theAfrica Regional Strategy for Disaster RiskReduction.

He further urged them to make pertinentrecommendations to the Ministers,including on priority areas for action forthe continent for the short and mediumterm that will foster partnershipdevelopment and cooperation at all levelsfor the promotion and realization of riskreduction on the continent. Heemphasized the need to pay due attentionto the roles of Regional EconomicCommunities (RECs) and regionalfinancial institutions and organs inintegrating DRR in development policiesand programmes. Finally, heacknowledged, with deep appreciation,the invaluable support that theCommission and NEPAD Secretariatreceived from the ISDR Secretariat,particularly its Regional Office in Nairobi,the African Development Bank, theUnited Nations Development ProgrammeBureau for Crisis Prevention andRecovery (UNDP/BCPR), the UnitedNations Environment Programme (UNEP)and other UN agencies and Africanspecialized institutions during thedevelopment of the Programme of Actionfor the Implementation of the AfricaRegional Strategy for Disaster RiskReduction.

Presentations

Various presentations were made duringthe experts’ meeting:

1. “Overview of the DevelopmentProcess and Major Components of theAfrica Regional Strategy for DisasterRisk Reduction” by Mr Foday Bojang,Head of Division of Environment andNatural Resources, AU Commission;

2. “The Hyogo Framework for Action2005-2015: Building the Resilience ofNations and Communities toDisasters” by Dr Olusegum Ojo of theAfrica Advisory Group on DisasterRisk Reduction;

3. “Programme of Action for theImplementation of the Africa RegionalStrategy for Disaster Risk Reduction”by Mr Foday Bojang, Head ofDivision of Environment and NaturalResources, AU Commission;

4. “Best Practices and Lessons Learntfrom Establishment of NationalPlatforms in Africa” by Mrs MariaBilia of the Disaster Management

Office of Tanzania;

5. “Integration of Disaster RiskReduction into National DevelopmentPlanning, Policies and Programmes”by Mr Kenneth Westgate, AfricaRegional Adviser on DisasterReduction, UNDP/BCPR;

6. “Activities of the ECOWAS Region inthe Area of Disaster Risk Reductionand Management” by Mr DouayeFaye, ECOWAS representative;

7. Other presentations by ITU andWMO.

Working groups

The meeting broke up into six workinggroups to review the Africa Programme ofAction based on the following sixstrategic areas of intervention:

• Increased political commitment todisaster risk reduction.

• Improved identification andassessment of disaster risks.

• Increased public awareness ofdisaster risk reduction.

• Improved governance of disaster riskreduction institutions.

• Integration of disaster risk reductionin emergency response management.

• Overall coordination and monitoringof the implementation of the AfricaRegional Strategy.

Outcome

The outcome of the working groups’subsequent plenary discussions of theseareas of intervention proposed for thefollowing improvements.

• Establishment of national platformsand their roles in DRR for sustainabledevelopment.

• Means and mechanisms forimplementing the Africa RegionalStrategy for DRR.

• Cooperation for disaster risk reductionin Africa.

• Ways to increase national, sub-regional and regional commitments toresource mobilization and allocation toDRR integration into development inAfrica.

Partners in Action


Erin Bryla1 & Ulrich Hess2

The World Bank,

Washington, D.C., USA

Severe weather risk, such as droughtdisaster risk, can be insured in Africa.This emerges from a pilot programmeunder way in Malawi. The index-basedweather insurance is a better alternativeto traditional agricultural insurance.Better still, it allows farmers to accessfinance.

In Malawi, a pilot programme of weatherindex-based insurance has allowedgroundnut farmers to manage droughtrisk and access finance that waspreviously unavailable to them. The pilotdemonstrates the feasibility of market-based weather risk insurance and itsmajor benefits for accessing finance fordrought-resistant crop varieties, whichreduces disaster risk.

The problem: impact of weather risk onagricultural finance

In the agricultural sector, weather risk ispervasive and remains one of the majorconstraints limiting agri-businesses andfarmers from accessing financial servicesand investing in higher return productionactivities. While weather risk is not theonly risk that farmers face, it hasenormous impacts on farmers’ incomesand their ability to repay loans.

From the lender’s perspective, farmers(particularly small farmers in developingcountries) lack traditional collateral andoften have a limited credit history.Therefore, loan recovery andcreditworthiness are directly linked tofarmers’ seasonal revenues. As a result,banks which wish to diversify theirlending portfolio into the agricultural

MALAWI: Weather insurance helps farmers manage drought

sector are constrained by their inability tomanage systemic risk in agriculture,notably drought.

The Commodity Risk ManagementGroup (CRMG) at the World Bank hasbeen piloting index-based weatherinsurance for developing countryproducers, agricultural businesses andbanks. CRMG has been working in anumber of countries around the world topilot this approach, including India, Peru,Ukraine and Ethiopia, among others.Most recently, CRMG worked with localstakeholders in Malawi to pilot index-based weather insurance for the 2005-2006 crop season in order to enhancegroundnut farmers’ ability to managedrought risk and in turn access credit.

Managing drought risk a “win-win” forboth farmers and lenders

Groundnut farmers, in Malawi, hadtraditionally relied on local seed forproduction but had shown interest in

planting with certified groundnut seed inorder to improve revenues. Certified seed,while more costly, has a number ofbenefits over local seed, such as a higherresistance to diseases like fungalinfections which can destroy a crop. Inaddition, certified seed can be marketedas a named variety of groundnut seedrather than a generic version. However,the main limitation inhibiting farmers fromutilizing this seed had been lack of accessto credit to buy this more expensiveinput.

The pilot introduces weather index-basedinsurance as a new product to theMalawian insurance market to helpprotect farmers against drought and todetermine if banks would have a greaterwillingness to lend to weather insuredfarmers. One of the groups interested intesting this approach was the NationalSmallholder Farmers’ Association ofMalawi (NASFAM) which, among otherservices, provides agricultural marketingfor its member farmers who are organized

• Ways and means for resourcemobilization from UN System anddonor communities.

The experts adopted their report andagreed to submit it to the First African

Ministerial Conference for considerationand approval of their recommendationsand the Programme of Action for theImplementation of the Africa RegionalStrategy for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Partners in Action

(See previous article on AU ministerialconference)

Distribution of food aid to rural communities in Southern Africa (Photo: 2005

WFP/Maulid Warfa)


into clubs, and enables farmers toundertake higher return activities.

NASFAM, in conjunction with theInsurance Association of Malawi andwith technical assistance from the WorldBank and Opportunity International Bankof Malawi (OIBM), designed an index-based weather insurance contract thatwould payout if the rainfall needed forgroundnut production in four pilot areaswas insufficient for groundnutproduction. Because these weathercontracts could mitigate the weather riskassociated with lending to farmers, OIBMand Malawi Rural Finance Corporation(MRFC) agreed to lend farmers the moneynecessary to purchase certified seed ifthe farmers bought weather insurance.

A cost efficient alternative to

traditional agricultural insurance

Crop insurance has been tried in manydifferent countries all over the world, butthe policies have relied on measuringactual yield losses through on-farmassessment of damage. To determine theextent of yield damage and the payout,loss adjusters inspect farmer’s fields.

This traditional way of insuring crops isextremely costly to administer, inparticular when it comes to smallholders.The costs of “moral hazard” (that isfarmers having incentives to alter theirbehaviour due to the insurance cover)and the costs of “adverse selection” (theinsurer tends to get the bad risks becauseit knows less about the actual risk thanthe insured) tend to exceed smallholders’willingness to pay. This is wheregovernments start subsidizing insurancepremiums in countries such as the USA,but the environmental and marketdistortion costs of this approach areoverwhelming.

To deal with the limitations of thetraditional insurance approach, theMalawian pilot is utilizing an innovativeindex-based weather insurance productwhich uses a rainfall index based on datafrom national meteorological stations as aproxy for yield losses. By identifying theimpact that deviations in rainfall have onyields, it is possible to determine payoutsfrom an insurance policy.

Index-based insurance has a number ofadvantages over traditional insuranceproducts. One of its primary benefits is

objective determination of payouts basedon the index. In essence, by measuringchanges in the weather relative to theneeds of the particular crops, it ispossible to estimate losses of farmersnear the weather station. Its second keybenefit is timeliness of payouts: almostimmediately after a critical weather period,the insurance company can triggerpayouts to farmers, because weather datais reported on a real-time basis to theinsurer.

Design key for meeting demands ofclients, financiers

The primary risk to groundnut in Malawiis drought during critical growth periods.The contracts that were offered in each ofthe four pilot areas were designed tocompensate farmers when there was adeficit rainfall during the growing season.

Each contract has three phases withdifferent levels of rainfall triggeringpayments in order to take into accountthe different rainfall needs during thethree major phenomenological stages ofthe plant: “establishment and vegetativegrowth”; “flowering and pod formation”;and “pod filling and maturity”. Thecontracts also contains a “no sowingcondition” which would trigger a payoutto farmers if a minimum level of rainfallwas not received in order for the farmer tosuccessfully sow the plant during theinitial stages of the contract.

For the pilot, 892 farmers, organized infarmers’ clubs of 10-20 members,purchased weather insurance from theInsurance Association of Malawi to bothmitigate their weather risk and accessfinance. Because they bought insurance,the farmers have now received loans fromOIBM and MRFC. These loans stipulatethat the bank will be the first beneficiary ifthere is a payout from the insurance.

In addition, NASFAM, which willpurchase the majority of the groundnutproduction from the participating farmers,has agreed to pay the first proceeds fromthe sale of the produce to the bank. Ifthere was no drought, the farmers wouldbenefit from selling the higher-valueproduction. The farmers receivedinformation and training on the projectjointly by NASFAM, OIBM and MRFC inorder to make sure they fully understand

the costs and benefits before contractingthe weather-insured loan product.

Great potential for managing risk,extending agricultural financeoutreach

Duncan Warren, head of Crop Productionat NASFAM, sums up the goals and thepotential benefits of linking weatherinsurance to financing as follows:“Drought is one of the major risks in rain-fed agricultural production. In the eventof a drought, the farmer may face lowyields or even total crop failure. If thefarmer uses production loans, he/she maynot be able to pay for the loan. While thefarmer may be granted reprieve throughanother loan, he/she still has to pay theprevious loan, and hence has doubled theliability. The Drought Insurance PilotProject has offered an option so that he/she will be covered by the insurance andwill not face the distress of having to paytwo seasons’ loans in one year.”

Since the pilot is ongoing, the fulloutcome of is yet to be seen. So far thisarrangement, input lending coupled witha weather insurance policy, has allowedthe farmers in the pilot areas to accessfinance that would have not beenavailable to them otherwise. It has alsoallowed the participating banks to expandtheir lending portfolio while managingtheir risk. In subsequent years, thestakeholders and CRMG are looking toscale this work up to other crops such asmaize and other areas in Malawi.

This is the first such deal for index-basedweather insurance in Africa outside ofSouth Africa, but we expect this deal todemonstrate the feasibility of market-based weather risk transfer, and webelieve it shows that access to financecan be enhanced across Africa thanks tothis tool. This deal also shows thatsevere weather risk, such as droughtdisaster risk, can be insured, which hasstrong implications for disaster risktransfer programmes.3

1 Consultant, Agricultural & Rural Development,

Commodity Risk Management Group (CRMG), The

World Bank, Washington, D.C., USA

2 Senior Economist, Agricultural & Rural

Development, Commodity Risk Management Group

(CRMG), The World Bank, Washington, D.C., USA

3 See the recent Ethiopia Drought Risk Transfer

Programme launched by WFP and “Refocusing

Disaster Aid” by Joanne Linneroth-Bayer and others,

Science Magazine, 12 August 2005, Vol. 309


Mr. Keflemariam SebhatuProgramme Coordinator,Humanitarian Affairs, IGAD Secretariat

Djibouti

The Inter-Governmental Authority onDevelopment (IGAD1) held a three-dayconsultative meeting in Nairobi, Kenya,from 25 to 27 August 2005, with seniorgovernment officials from disaster riskmanagement institutions of IGADmember states participating. The meetingwas held in collaboration between IGADSecretarait and UN/ISDR Africa.

The purpose of the meeting was to reviewand finalize an outline of a new trainingmanual on disaster risk management,which is to be elaborated and tested forits validity and appropriateness beforebeing finalized. The manual is to be partof a training package that will alsoinclude other material.

Opening the meeting, PermanentSecretary Mr Mahabub Maalim of theKenyan Ministry of Water Resources andIrrigation stressed the need for synergiesat all levels. Whether between differentministries and responsibilities of nationalgovernment, or between nationalgovernments and regional strategies,disaster risk reduction cannot besuccessful without strong coordinationand inter-linkages, he said.

Mr Keflemariam Sebhatu, IGAD’sProgramme Manager, HumanitarianAffairs, provided a brief overview ofIGAD’s Disaster Risk Management(DRM) Programme, noting that thecurrent workshop would make animportant contribution to the educationand training component of IGAD’s DRMstrategy.

As chair of the IGAD DRM Programme,Mr Martin Owor, who is Uganda’sassistant commissioner for DisasterReduction, stressed that one of thegreatest causes of poverty in the IGADregion was disasters, thus stressing theimportance of the work at hand.

Training package

The meeting and the development of thetraining manual was facilitated by twoexperts: Mr Ron Cadribo, director ofProgrammes, African Institute for CapacityBuilding (Lesotho); and Dewald vanNiekerk, director of the African Centre forDisaster Studies, North-West University(South Africa).

The manual is to be part of a trainingpackage that will also include a workbook,a poster depicting a roadmap for disasterrisk reduction, additional reading and aCD-ROM containing all of these materials.After presentation of the outline and firstdraft of the proposed training manual, theobjectives of the workshop werereviewed:

• To discuss, revise and agree on thetraining manual outline;

• To regionalize and internalize thetraining package through IGADexperiences;

• To agree on the way forward.

The focus of the meeting was thus on thegeneral content of the training manual,stressing consideration of regionalexperiences and needs.

Input from participating national expertswas crucial to ensure that the trainingmanual was complete in terms of coveredtopics, provide necessary tools toimplement successful training, be practicaland adaptable for each member state’sneeds, and include disaster risk reductionissues and experiences unique to theIGAD region.

Consensual approval was reached withregards to the general outline of thetraining package, with discussionsdelivering valuable insight into criticalpragmatic and regional issues to beincluded.

Sharing, compilation of regional

experiences

Country examples of disaster risk

reduction activities that contribute toachievement of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs), as well astheir links and similarities to programmesin other IGAD countries, were discussed.It was noted that many countries hadsimilar programmes in place, for instancewith regards to drought impact reduction,livelihood diversification and support,health management and conflictresolution

Delegates reviewed national governanceinstitutions in their countries, includingpolitical commitment, policies, plans/strategies, coordinating institutions andmechanisms, and remaining challengesand gaps. It was found that propergovernance structures were present inIGAD countries, although internalcoordination was sometimes challenging,and that effective policies were in somecases not yet completed.

A discussion and information compilationon training, education, research andpublic awareness followed. Memberstates highlighted the focus of some oftheir initiatives, describing also whichinstitutions were implementing theprogrammes and what lessons could belearned from these experiences. Similarly,experiences with early warning systems inthe IGAD region were shared.

Defining the specific hazard beingmonitored, level of implementation of thesystem, and responsible agencies,delegates discussed best practices.Parallels between programmes in thedifferent IGAD countries could beestablished.

Review of proposed roadmap

As a component of the training package,a proposal for a roadmap (in poster form)towards the implementation of disasterrisk reduction at national level waspresented. The roadmap was developedutilising and linking directly to theJanuary 2005 Hyogo Framework forAction. Further guidance came from

IGAD develops training package on disaster risk

management

Partners in Action


IGAD’s own disaster risk reductionstrategy and from UN frameworks forsustainable development (MDGs,UNDAF2 and CCAs3).

Started as a somewhat generic flow chart,delegates discussed ways to adapt theroadmap to IGAD member states’collective and individual needs. First andforemost, the strategic goals of theroadmap ought to be in line with those ofthe IGAD Disaster Risk ManagementStrategy. Distinction was also neededbetween global, regional and sub-regionalstrategic imperatives, with issues such asconflict resolution being of greaterimportance to IGAD than other sub-regions. The delegates gave furtherrecommendations for priority actions,sectoral involvement, cross-cuttingissues, general considerations and role-players of importance.

The way forward

Concrete action for the way forwardincluded a review, feedback andadaptation procedure to finalize thetraining manual. A two-week trainingcourse would be held to test the trainingmaterial before final production. To insurethe continuity of both the process andthe outcomes, it was recommended thatthe delegates participating in this meetingalso attended the training course,together with additional delegates fromeach member state.

The consultative process used todevelop the training material ensureslocal ownership by incorporating memberstates’ needs and desires. At the sametime, disaster risk reduction is aconstantly developing process, such thattraining material and programmes will

need regular updating to incorporate newdevelopments and approaches.

The long-term way forward stresses thecreation of an enabling environment fordisaster risk reduction at national level.Five components need to be developed tosupport this enabling process: (1) anational policy; (2) proper legalframeworks; (3) a national strategy; (4)adequate financial resources; and (5) anational platform. Public and politicalawareness is of great importance, anddisaster risk reduction must bemainstreamed into the strategies of all lineministries.

1 Regional economic community for East Africa and

Horn of Africa countries.2 UN Development Assistance Framework3 Common Country Assessment

Mr. Thierry ZafimahitaDeputy Executive Secretary, CNS

(National Relief Council)

Antananarivo, Madagascar

The Southern Africa DevelopmentCommunity (SADC) is shifting to a morepro-active approach to disastermanagement, both on the ground forspecific high-risk issues and atinstitutional level. A task force has beenput in place to evaluate theimplementation of its DisasterManagement Strategy.

Pre-rain season assessment meeting

SADC’s Disaster Management TechnicalCommittee (SDMTC) held its Pre-RainSeason Assessment Meeting inWindhoek, Namibia, on 19 and 20September 2005. The meeting wasofficially opened by Namibian DeputyPrime Minister Dr Libertina Amadila andchaired by Mr. M. Ua-Ndjarakana,permanent secretary in the Cabinet of theRepublic of Namibia. The main purpose ofthe meeting was to assess the region’scapabilities to deal with natural and otherdisasters as well as harmonize regional

levels of preparedness, mitigation andreconstruction.

Primary meeting topics were preparationsfor the rain season and strategies tostrengthen disaster management in SADC- reviewed later in this article. Furtherissues of discussion included enhancedengagement of international collaboratingpartners to assist in capacity building fordisaster coordination, preparedness andvulnerability mapping

In this connection, defence and securityforces can play a crucial role in disasterresponse. Under SADC’s StrategicIndicative Plan for the Organ (SIPO), theSADC Secretariat’s Directorate forPolitics, Defence and Security, throughthe Regional Peacekeeping TrainingCentre, has scheduled training andexercise programmes for search andrescue in the event of disasters. It wasrecommended that the training shouldinvolve experts from disastermanagement offices of member states.

Preparation for rain season

Although there might be some localiseddifferences, in general the rain season is

expected to be normal to above normal inmost of the southern part of the SADCregion. With the exception of the northernarea of the DRCongo, which is expectedto register normal to above normal rainfall, the northern region of SADC isprojected to have normal to below normalrainfalls. These projections may bedistorted by cyclones.

Regional Remote Sensing recommendedthat efforts should be made to getagricultural inputs in place before thestart of the rains. Good managementpractices such as planting with the earlyrains, staggered planting to cater for dryspells, and planting different varieties ofcrops for alternative scenarios, should beencouraged.

The Water Division reported that withregard to the current status of watersupply, storage levels in most reservoirswere very low. If a poor rainy seasonoccurs, there would be negative impactson hydropower production, irrigation anddrinking water supply. The situationcould however normalise with abovenormal rainfalls.

It was recommended that Member States’

SADC member countries hold pre-rain meeting, revise

disaster management strategy

Partners in Action


disaster management units should informmembers of the communities to closelyliaise with national meteorological andhydrological services for short- andmedium-term forecasts.

Task force evaluation of DisasterManagement Strategy

After the above meeting held in Namibia,the SDMTC (SADC’s DisasterManagement Technical Committee)requested a task force to review theregion’s Disaster Management Strategy,align it to the Regional IndicativeStrategic Development Plan (RISDP) andthe Strategic Indicative Plan for the Organ(SIPO), as well as develop a five-year planof action and a work plan for 2006-2007.

The task force is comprised of Namibia,South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe,which were involved in drafting theoriginal Disaster Management Strategy,plus new SADC member Madagascar. Itheld its first meeting on 7 and 10November 2005 in Madikwe Game Park,South Africa.

Revision of region’s disastermanagement strategy

Implementation of the original SADCDisaster Management Strategy in 2001was not well coordinated. In addition, thecontent of the Strategy reflected theinstitutional set-up in member states andthe Secretariat at the time, which hassince changed. The United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP) wasinstrumental in the development of theoriginal SADC Disaster ManagementStrategy.

The following gaps were noted in theimplementation of the DisasterManagement Strategy:

• Disaster management within theSADC Secretariat is not put in theright department. Disaster Risk &Management is actually under theBoard of Directors of the Social andHuman Development and specialprogrammes.

• No responsible of disaster riskmanagement within the Secretariat.

• Lack of sustainable financialmechanism. Fund on emergency isuncertain. The financial resource ofthe Secretariat is based on classicalphenomena such as hazards, disasters,flash appeal, donor funding. No

financial resource is allocated todisaster reduction activities.

• Most of member countries do nothave sufficient funds to implementrecommendations from the currentstrategy. They always rely on donorsand Secretariat funding.

Therefore, the Task Force recommendedthat the new Revised Strategy shouldhighlight the followings:

• Revisions should also ensure that thenew Strategy is in line with globaldisaster risk reduction practices andapproaches developed since 2001,notably recommendations andguidelines from AU/NEPAD and UN/ISDR.

Disaster Risk Reduction should beincluded in the new Strategy. The Plan ofAction should emphasize on each phaseof disaster management: response,rehabilitation, reconstruction, prevention,mitigation and preparedness. The Taskforce members recognised the substantiverestructuring done at the Secretariat leveland made the followingrecommendations: (a) commitment fromSADC Secretariat to edit the actualStrategy, publish the new StrategicDirections and concept of DRR (disasterrisk reduction); (b) introduction of newchapters in the current strategy; and (3)adoption of the revised Strategy through asub-regional workshop to be organized bythe SADC Secretariat.

The UNDP had also pledged to continuesupporting SADC in the area ofinstitutional capacity building byproviding and funding a technical advisorto the Secretariat. Due to conflictingobjectives and regulations, this has notyet occurred. This issue is to beemphasized with UNDP and beprioritized in a new cooperation formula.

Strengthening disaster management atSADC Secretariat

The SADC Disaster Management Unitwas created when the original DisasterManagement Strategy was approved in2001, and was placed in the Directorateof Social and Human Development andSpecial Programmes. There is currentlyno focal point for disaster management,and this institutional set-up has beenunsuitable for proper disastermanagement.

In view of SADC’s restructuring and alsonoting that disaster management in mostmember states is located in high officessuch as the Office of the President orPrime Minister, the SDMTC recommendedthat disaster management was shifted tothe Office of the Executive Secretary, alsobecause of its crosscutting nature.

After studying the current structure, theTask Force members recommended that aDisaster Risk Reduction Unit (instead ofthe current Disaster Management Unit)should be under the Office of theExecutive Secretary. Therefore, oneofficer should be nominated to assure thetransition period. This should be assuredby experts on DRR and from the sub-region, and rotated between memberstates on a regular basis. In the long term,the transitional Unit should betransformed into a permanent Unit in DRRunder the Office of the ExecutiveSecretary.

Development of a disastermanagement trust fund

Current disaster management funding isbased on post-disaster appeals, with noresource made available for preventionactivities. Member states do not have thefinancial means to implement therecommendations of the current Strategy,depending on resources from the Officeof the Executive Secretary and donors.

The Task Force recommended that a trustfund be developed to ensure a moredependable and permanent fundingmechanism for disaster managementactivities. The resources of the TrustFund would come from member states aswell as donors and collaboratingorganisations. Such a trust fund shouldalso be replicated in each member state.

The way forward

Proposed chapters are to be added to theoriginal Strategy, and a SDMTCworkshop for validation of the proposalsis to be held in January 2006. The revisedStrategy is to be submitted for approvalby the SADC Council of Ministers inFebruary 2006.

The Task Force recommended that theOffice of the Executive Secretary committo publishing the Disaster ManagementStrategy in order to make the newinstitutional organisation and riskmanagement concepts known.

Partners in Action

Issue 6, 2006

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