[Mb-civic] A needless toll of natural disasters - Eric Schwartz - Boston Globe Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

  A needless toll of natural disasters

By Eric Schwartz  |  March 23, 2006  |  The Boston Globe

WHEN A MUDSLIDE in the southern Philippines wiped out the village of 
Guinsaugon and killed more than 1,000 people last month, it was the 
latest in a seeming spike in developing world natural disasters.

The numbers impacted by recent calamities are indeed staggering. The 
earthquake that leveled large parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir 
last October killed about 75,000 people, and left some 3 million 
homeless. About a year earlier, the Asian tsunami caused the deaths of 
230,000 people and the displacement of 1.5 million. In these two 
tragedies, governments, international organizations, and private 
individuals were asked to provide urgent assistance, and they 
contributed some $20 billion to relief and recovery.

The bad news is that more and more people are being affected each year 
by natural disasters, and most of the populations are in the developing 
world. Since 2000, some 1.6 billion have lost their homes or livelihoods 
or have suffered other damage. This continues an upward trend over the 
past several decades and represents a four-fold annual increase, on 
average, from the decade of the 1970s.

In 2004 alone, disasters caused some $100 billion in damages and 
impacted the lives of about 140 million people.

One might reasonably take the apocalyptic perspective and conclude that 
this growth in damage caused by natural disasters comes from an increase 
in the number and magnitude of hazards like earthquakes and hurricanes. 
But while greater storm severity in recent decades is one risk factor, 
it cannot fully explain the large increase in overall effects -- 
especially as there is little indication of a greater incidence or 
severity of earthquakes and other natural hazards.

Rather, it is human behavior that is primarily responsible. Worldwide 
migration to coastal areas has made populations far more vulnerable to 
hurricanes, and nearly 50 million people worldwide face risk of flooding 
due to storm surges. Environmental degradation has only accentuated this 
problem. In some areas of Sri Lanka, for example, mangrove trees 
provided critical coastal defenses during the tsunami and saved many 
lives. But where the mangroves had been depleted, the tsunami left a 
path of death and destruction in its wake.

Rapid urbanization, population growth, and poverty have also contributed 
to increased levels of risk. There are now some 400 cities with 
populations of more than one million people, the overwhelming majority 
of which are in poor countries -- where public education on disaster 
preparedness is in short supply and citizens have limited ability to 
construct homes to meet whatever building codes may exist.

The good news is that human practices and development patterns can often 
be altered to prevent natural hazards from becoming full-blown natural 
disasters. Even when practices cannot be changed completely, there are 
other ways to mitigate manmade risks. These may have been the most 
important lessons coming out of the Asian tsunami.

In India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Maldives, and Thailand, governments 
are working to develop and implement not only an Indian Ocean early 
warning system for tsunamis, but also domestic legislation and policies 
that bring preparedness from national capitals to local communities -- 
through measures such as stronger building codes, public education, safe 
access areas for emergencies, and private insurance for homes and 
businesses. But to succeed, these and other disaster mitigation efforts 
around the world will require substantial resources and a major 
reorientation of development priorities.

At present, however, only 4 percent of the estimated $10 billion in 
annual humanitarian assistance is devoted to prevention, and neither 
donors nor affected governments have offered the kind of financial 
commitments that would turn their increased rhetorical support for 
prevention into reality. This is a tragedy, as every dollar spent on 
risk reduction saves between $5 and $10 in economic losses from disasters.

Next week in Bonn, government experts from around the world will gather 
under the auspices of the United Nations for the Third International 
Early Warning Conference, to promote systems to protect communities 
against a wide range of natural hazards. Governments, international 
organizations, and nongovernmental organizations will showcase dozens of 
key early warning initiatives, valued at nearly $200 million, to enhance 
the protection of vulnerable populations.

The Bonn session provides a unique opportunity for governments to 
demonstrate their resolve to make progress on disaster reduction through 
full funding of these efforts. Such action would be a fitting tribute to 
the memories of the more than 300,000 victims who perished in disasters 
over the past two years, and it would offer the prospect of a brighter 
future for hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Eric Schwartz is the UN secretary general's deputy special envoy for 
tsunami recovery.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/03/23/a_needless_toll_of_natural_disasters/
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