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Kobe, 20 January 2005: The World Conference on Disaster Reduction
was designed as a milestone event to increase the profile of disaster
reduction in development planning and practice. The discussions and debates
during the Conference provide a unique opportunity to promote strategic
and systematic approach to address vulnerabilities and to reduce risks
to natural disasters. Global commitment to the reduction of disasters
has been growing although actual materialization is still slow.
It is time to turn commitments into action in order to make communities
more resilient, as stressed in an opening address by Jan Egeland, United
Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Humanitarian
Relief Coordinator on Tuesday, ‘’all disaster prone countries
should adopt clear, local-oriented disaster reduction policies and plans,
underpinned by dedicated structures and resources – all disaster
prone countries should integrate disaster risk reduction measures explicitly
into their national development and poverty reduction plans.’’
Only three weeks after the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the
world gathering is a platform for participants from 150 countries to review
the Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World and identify priorities for the
next ten-year plan of action. Addressing the third High Level Round Table
on ‘Emerging Risks – What will tomorrow hold?’ on 19
January, Mr. Daniel Biau, Deputy Executive-Director of UN-HABITAT, highlighted
that rapid urbanisation and the related challenges of poverty, poor governance
and lack of capacity particularly in developing countries can increase
both risk and opportunities in urban areas. Mr. Biau indicated that participatory
land-use planning should be seen as a key element of disaster prevention
and that local authorities should play a greater role in risk management.
He further stated that relief efforts need to bring in a longer-term objective
that catalyses development including vulnerability reduction and disaster
mitigation measures.
In an opening of a Thematic Session ‘Addressing the root causes
of vulnerability of human settlements in megacities’, Mr. Dan Lewis,
Chief of Disaster, Post-conflict and Safety Section of UN-HABITAT, stated
‘cities are places where disaster are the most complex to prevent,
mitigate and manage. Concepts of sustainability and sustainable development
offer a valuable framework for integrating urban risk reduction with other
social and environmental goals – before, during and after a disaster’.
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For further information, please contact: Sharad
Shankardass, Spokesperson & Head, Press & Media Relations Unit,
or Ms. Zahra Hassan, Media Liaison, Tel: (254 20) 623153, 623151, Fax:
624060, E-mail: habitat.press@unhabitat.org,
Website: www.unhabitat.org. Numbers
in Mauritius: 254 733 760 332 and 230 716 7503 |