Preparing the world for disaster.

• Author: d'Adesky, Anne-christine
• Position: 1990s declared the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction - Cover Story

Rejecting the fatalism of the ancients, world leaders have declared the 1990s the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. Relying on science and technology, as well as human resources, they have embarked on an ambitious disaster prevention plan to minimize the damage caused by natural hazards that still claim over a million lives each decade. Now in its second year, the Decade reflects "an idea whose time has come", in the words of United States National Academy of Sciences President Frank Press, who first proposed the concept in July 1984.

The Decade was proclaimed by the forty-fourth UN General Assembly on 22 December 1989. UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar stated: "The Decade offers an opportunity for the United f Nations to demonstrate its catalytic ability to bring together the diversity of skills, resources and groups needed to stem the losses from natural disasters . . . It has the moral authority to call for disaster reduction efforts by all nations, including the developing ones where the toll from such disasters is most tragic in terms of human losses and economic setbacks."

One does not have to go as far back as Biblical times to recall the death, damage and injury caused with thousands more earthquakes, cyclones, wildfires, avalanches and tornadoes. The volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius near Pompeii, Italy, in 79 A.D. took 20,000 lives; the lesser-known 1931 flooding of the Hwang-ho River in China, 3.7 million lives.

While many deaths were caused by either drowning or fire, disease outbreaks stemming from natural disasters also resulted in fatalities. When earthquakes strike populated areas, buildings collapse, people are killed, and water supplies and waste removal systems are devastated.

Air and food supplies may become contaminated, debris and decay build up and, within a short time, an outbreak of cholera or typhoid may occur. Depending on the severity of the disaster and the swiftness of relief operations, people may suffer from malnutrition and be displaced to become refugees.

It is a generally accepted fact that it is virtually impossible to prevent most natural disasters from occurring. What experience has taught, however, is that we can act to forestall or alleviate their impact on people, property and the environment.

Today, such factors as urbanization, growing population density and poor engineering have contributed to the negative impact of natural disasters on cities and communities. The damage caused by disruption of the development process. Hence, just as "natural" and "man-made" disasters may be linked, so are the issues of development and disaster prevention.

Years of effort wiped out

"Disasters very often wipe out years of efforts and investments in development", said UN Disaster Relief Co-ordinator M'Hamed Essaafi. The Geneva-based Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator (UNDRO) acts as the umbrella organization in charge of responding to "emergency" or "sudden" disasters (see story on page 46).

"In disaster-prone countries, disaster mitigation must be considered as part of the development process and should therefore be included in the development plans of these countries", Mr. Essaafi said. An UNDRO study completed last year illustrates this point. During...