LONDON (AlertNet) - Despite the massive death toll from the Indian Ocean tsunami, the truth is that natural disasters are claiming fewer lives every year, even as the number of people affected soars. And far fewer would die if governments put more effort into simple prevention measures.
Natural disasters have killed about 730,000 people in the past 10 years, taking into account the Indian Ocean tsunami.
But the death toll is coming down due to better preparation and prevention. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, deaths from natural disasters during the 1970s stood at nearly 2 million.
The dramatic decrease in deaths in recent years comes despite the fact that the number of people affected by disasters annually is now three times more than it was in the 1970s.
Simple measures -- even in the poorest communities -- can save lives, from early warning systems, evacuation and rescue training to first aid.
EARLY WARNING
Earth observation satellites provide data on hurricanes and tornadoes, volcanoes and earthquakes, drought, floods and wildfires. Satellite technology is able to predict where hurricanes and drought are likely to hit, and when volcanoes are likely to erupt.
In many developing countries, even the best technology would not save lives. However, early warning systems can be crucial to alert communities to upcoming calamitous events.
Since 1965, 26 countries have collaborated in an early warning tsunami system in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, located near Honolulu, Hawaii, monitors seismological activity throughout the Pacific Basin.
Tsunami warnings are issued -- hours before landfall -- based on the estimated distance a possible tsunami could travel. Warnings are sent to local, state, national and international actors as well as the media. The U.S. Coast Guard broadcasts warnings over medium frequency and very high frequency marine radios. Coastal sirens are also used.
Experts say that an Indian Ocean tsunami warning system modelled on the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre would have saved lives.
LOW-TECH OPTIONS
But many of the countries affected by the December 2004 tsunamis in the Indian Ocean do not have the infrastructure that would allow them to benefit in the same way from warnings transmitted via television and radio. Villages washed away by the tsunami lack modern communications networks and telephones.
“I think it would be a massive undertaking to have a full-fledged tsunami warning system that would really be effective in many of these places," Jan Egeland, the United Nations disaster relief coordinator, told reporters after the tsunami disaster.
One answer, as in other poor countries, is to use low-tech options, such as warning sirens. In Bangladesh, officials warn local populations about cyclones on bicycles. In India, officials have planted mangrove forests to protect fishing villages from tsunamis.
Even in coastal towns of Alaska, like Seward, which was hit by a tsunami in 1964, relies on low-tech measures, such as signs pointing out evacuation routes and brochures made available in hotels and at camp sites to inform tourists about what to do in case of a disaster.
CUBAN EXAMPLE
In Cuba, which is often cited by experts as exemplary in its use of effective early warnings for hurricanes, the government relies on the public’s awareness of risk and a community-based messaging system to reach all areas. It also relies on long-term planning and drills. Preparedness exercises involve most of the population.
Cuba’s system allows for the direct communication with government representatives in provinces and municipalities. Public service announcements are also disseminated, on the state-owned television and radio stations.
"The Cuban way could easily be applied to other countries with similar economic conditions and even in countries with greater resources that do not manage to protect their population as well as Cuba does," said the head of the U.N. International Secretariat for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), Salvano Briceno.
"From an early age, all Cubans are taught how to behave as hurricanes approach the island.”
According to the UN/ISDR, Cuba holds an annual two-day training session to help people prepare for hurricanes.
Two days before a hurricane strikes, entire communities of people -- all versed in interpreting information from the Cuban Institute of Meterology -- begin implementing emergency plans.
Local authorities assist the most vulnerable people. Transport is organised and hospitals and schools are converted into shelters.
Read more on Cuba in Talking Point, A Tale of Two StormsLEARNING FROM EACH OTHER
Elsewhere in the Caribbean, countries have banded together to share information.
In 2002 the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) met in Guatemala to adopt a shared early warning and emergency response systems to deal with flooding and other natural disasters.
The ACS agreed to develop a system of information exchange and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the ACS countries in dealing with disasters, with the goal of helping each other.
In some cases, expertise and resources from developed countries is being harnessed to aid countries in developing their own disaster reduction programmes.
In 2004, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation published a disaster-reduction strategy for the Central Asian countries of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, which are prone to earthquakes, flooding, avalanches and rock slides.
The countries already shared bilateral agreements on cooperation in the event of natural disasters, but the report found that general awareness for natural disaster risk was very low or inexistent. The main objective, it concluded, was to raise awareness across the region.
PUBLIC AWARENESS
Early warning systems are useless without public awareness. Many people do not even know about the risks they face.
Curiosity about receding waters before a tsunami, or a misunderstanding about the calm in the eye of a storm, are deadly.
The press reported that a 10-year-old British girl, Tilly Smith, saved 100 other tourists in Thailand by recognising the signs of an incoming tsunami from lessons at school.
Journalists have also found countless stories where local people read the weather right, and persuaded those around them to seek safe ground.
For tsunamis and hurricanes, the most effective early warning systems include preventive measures along beaches and low-lying areas, communication and regular training. Experts agree that solutions do not need to be expensive. Other cost-effective measures include evacuation planning and rescue training.
Awareness raises the capacity of local communities to protect themselves. In Mali, one of the world’s poorest countries, government has joined forces with the U.N. Development Programme to work with local authorities and civil society organisations to develop a rapid response to flooding of the Niger and Senegal rivers.
Communities will also receive disaster management education and training.
ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE
Awareness about environmental degradation, also plays a role, though educating a population about the dangers of deforestation, for example, is less likely to result in immediate effects.
In Haiti, where people depend on wood to make charcoal for cooking, deforestation is a necessary evil. With no substitute for fuel, Haitians have no choice but to cut down trees.
The result is deadly. On an island stripped of trees and topsoil, heavy rainfall flows unchecked down mountains and hills, resulting in floods and mudslides. Nearly 3,000 Haitians lost their lives in flooding in 2004.
Deforestation has proved deadly time and time again. On an island stripped of trees, heavy rainfall cannot be absorbed. Instead it sweeps down mountains and hills, swallowing everything and everyone in its path.
When catastrophe comes knocking, we tend to seize on factors seen as contributing directly to the death toll. Blame the storm itself, blame the environment, blame the lack of evacuation plans.
But increasingly, disaster experts are widening their focus to include the underlying causes of a country’s vulnerability to natural disasters. In Haiti’s case, these include grinding poverty, an extremely volatile political situation and powerful external forces.
Ben Wisner, hazards specialist with the Environmental Studies Programme at Oberlin College, Ohio, and University of London’s Benfield Hazard Research Centre, makes the case for connecting the dots.
“The reason they (the root causes of vulnerability) cannot be overlooked is that without political stability and good governance, an early warning system and other preventive and preparative measures are unlikely,” he said.
Read more in our Talking Point: Why is Haiti so prone to disaster?
As in Haiti, peoples’ efforts to eke out a living or merely survive in countries such as Mauritania and Somalia threaten even the best efforts to combat environmental degradation.
In Mauritania, which is threatened by desertification, the government has implemented large-scale reforestation campaigns and water-saving irrigations schemes. It is also fighting illegal wood cutting and the setting of bushfires.
In Somalia, land clearing, over grazing and the demand for firewood contribute to desertification. As in Haiti, charcoal is the only source of energy for cooking and heating.
LOCAL ANSWERS
The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ World Disasters Report 2004 focuses on the importance of community resilience in response to disasters. It urges aid organisations to harness the skills and ingenuity of local people affected by disasters and lay to rest the myth of helpless victims.
The report argues that it pays to put communities themselves in charge of defining their needs and designing their own solutions.
When a massive earthquake in the southern Iranian town of Bam in December 2003, international rescue teams rushed to get there. But 34 international search and rescue teams from 27 countries found just 22 people alive, while local Iranian Red Crescent rescue teams saved 157 lives.
A six-day search and rescue mission from Europe (five dogs) costs $50,000. The same money provides a two-year training programme for three Iranian dogs and handlers.
Following 2001's Gujarat earthquake, 9,800 slum-dwelling families in Bhuj city invested $290,000 of their own money into improving homes and livelihoods, according to the Disaster Mitigation Institute of Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
In Bangladesh, people bury seeds and non-perishable foods to protect them from rising flood waters.
In the Philippines, people have planted mangroves, participated in the building of seawalls and dikes, sand-bagged sections of rivers, and built evacuation centres.
