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9 AUGUST 2002

IHA/02/8
5 August 2002

UN UNVEILS A ROADMAP TO A SAFER WORLD BY REDUCING RISK
Living with risk- A global review of disaster reduction initiatives(9 August) Tokyo, Japan: United Nations chiefs launch a global review on disaster reduction
initiatives to call for a world in which earthquakes shake buildings but not economies; in which
cyclones bring drama but not tragedy, and in which floods drench landscapes without washing awayhope.
Living With Risk is a 400 page study of the lessons learned by experts and communities inresponse to hazards presented by natural forces - volcanoes, fires, hurricanes, tsunamis, landslides
and tornadoes – technological accidents and environmental degradation. The challenge is daunting:in the last decade, 4,777 natural disasters have taken more than 880,000 lives, affected the homes,
health and livelihoods of 1.88 billion people and inflicted economic losses of around $685 billion on
the world’s economies.
“Today’s disasters are often generated by, or at least exacerbated by, human activities,” says Kofi
Annan, Secretary-General of United Nations, in a foreword to the book. “ At the most dramaticlevel, human activities are changing the natural balance of the earth, interfering as never before withthe atmosphere, the oceans, the polar ice caps, the forest cover and the natural pillars that make ourworld a livable home. But we are also putting ourselves in harm’s way in less visible ways. At notime in human history have so many people lived in cities clustered around seismically active areas.
Destitution and demographic pressure have led more people than ever before to live in flood plains
or in areas prone to landslides.”Living With Risk examines the lessons of the UN’s International Decade for Natural
Disaster Reduction, which ended in 1999. It studies the traditional solutions that for centuries
protected communities in various parts of the world against flood, or windstorm, or fire or drought.
It examines the new pressures created by the explosive growth of the cities. It looks at the ways inwhich political imagination and better communication have already begun to save lives and build
hope for the developing nations.

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“There is nothing inevitable about death in an earthquake,” says Kenzo Oshima, UnderSecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. “Earthquakes don‘t kill people, unsafe buildings killthem. The earth’s natural forces are awesome – but they are also predictable. Tragically too many
people who have perished in a so-called “natural” disaster did so because, they, or their leaders,failed to see the hazard, and take steps to avert tragedy. Think of this study as a starting point on thejourney to a safer planet.”
The report examines the intricate links between economic development and environmental
insecurity; at the way the apparently random violence of nature – in the form of hurricane orearthquake – can shatter fragile economies and leave the poorest people with even fewer resources;
at the way smaller, less dramatic disasters can continue to cripple stricken communities long after
the camera crews and the relief agencies have moved on. The report calls for simple steps like risk
assessment, warning mechanisms and public safety to be built in to all development planning for thefuture.
“One of the most important demanding challenges when dealing with disaster reduction isthat while action or investment should help to solve a community’s immediate needs, it must at thesame time, reduce any risks from catastrophe. This is especially important in countries wheredevelopment is a survival issue “ said Sálvano Briceño, head of the UN inter-agency Secretariat ofthe International Strategy for Disaster Reduction launched in 2000, which today publishes the newprescription for a safer world. “For instance, early warning systems in remote parts, wherecommunication is scarce, could also serve as a channel for "normal" emergencies - accidents orhealth emergency. Education is certainly part of the answer. An educated population builds astronger and safer society.”
For example: in 1991, more than 139,000 people in Bangladesh perished when a tropical
cyclone coincided with a tidal surge. Since then, weather forecasters, government planners and local
volunteers have worked out swift, simple and cheap ways of warning the people most at risk, andgetting them to the nearest storm shelters. Tidal surges and cyclones are still a fact of seasonal life in
the Bay of Bengal. Now people are more prepared for them, and there are far fewer deaths. But
lessons learned in one region are not applied in another. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch damaged up to 70
per cent of the infrastructure in Honduras and Nicaragua. One year later the worst cyclone in 100years to hit the Indian state of Orissa. It affected ten times as many people as Mitch, destroying
18,000 villages in one night.
“Living with risk suggests a different future. Disaster reduction and attacking vulnerability is
the best of all bargains. It costs less, and it saves more lives, protects livelihoods and builds a better
future. Disaster risk reduction is part of sustainable development,” Mr. Briceño said.
Living With Risk is a road map to a better world, in which communities live with theenvironment, rather than at hazard from its natural forces. The document builds on the experience ofpoliticians, planners, civil engineers, bankers, insurance chiefs, geologists , meteorologists, socialworkers, doctors and emergency experts. It looks equally at the extra pressures implicit inworldwide warming because of human action and the simple but effective protection against drought,
flood and storm adopted by communities as diverse as the Inca people of the Andes, the villagers ofViet Nam and the merchants of Shanghai centuries ago.
“We must learn once again to live with nature,” said Mr Briceño. “I am not proposing hightechnology answers, or a return to some simpler world. The first is beyond the range of many
economies, and the second is fantasy. We are not asking for the impossible. We are simply
proposing that we understand the hazards better, why we are vulnerable, what the risks are, andbased on that, prepare and prevent more carefully.”
The full text of the publication is available on ISDR’s website (www.unisdr.org)
Contact person at the ISDR Secretariat: H. Molin Valdés (molinvaldes@un.org)* *** *