IN THE SPACE OF A SECOND.

• Position: Brief Article

This year is the last in IDNDR-the International Decade for Natural Disaster reduction. In its closing months, devastating natural disasters occurred in Turkey, Greece, Taiwan and in the Central American region, including the Caribbean, as well as the technological disaster in Chernobyl and the accident in Japan. This, argues Ambassador Water Balzan, Malta's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, cannot but instil a sense of priority in the international community to reflect further on the level of preparedness needed to meet and face similar catastrophes.

Earlier in his diplomatic career, Ambassador Balzan, who contributed this article, was his country's Permanent Representative at the Council of Europe on the Open Partial Agreement on the Prevention of, Protection Against and Organization of Relief in Major Natural and Technological Disasters.

Our planet is experiencing natural disasters on an unprecedented scale. The consequential negative socioeconomic and environmental impacts slow down and at times hinder and stall the sustainable development of countries. The international community has a distinct moral obligation to assist those countries which are mostly affected by such disasters, through the enhancement of its mechanisms for capacity-building, including technology transfer for natural for natural disaster preventing and humanitarian assistance, in cases when such cataclysmic phenomena occur. It is augured that the momentum generated by the 1999 World Disaster Reduction Campaign and the World Disaster Reduction Day, observed on 13 October, succeeds in creating the sense of urgency, which will to stimulate enough political will to strengthen initiatives aimed at preventing and reducing occurrences of natural and technological disasters.

In the phrase of the Secretary-General these phenomena call upon the international Community to shift from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention, aimed at addressing both disaster reduction and disaster relief, since the two are complementary and in no way does one exclude the other. Indeed, this becomes even more evident when considering that, in spite of the IDNDR efforts and accomplishments during the last decade the consequential human losses, as well as the social and financial costs of rehabilitation and reconstruction, continue to reach unacceptably high levels.

The United Nations has a special leadership role in this regard. Concerted action involving Governments and all...