KOBE, Japan (AlertNet) – As countries grappled on Wednesday with the creation of a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) called for a multi hazard alerting system to cover all forms of natural and human made disasters from typhoons to oil spills.
UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said that while it was important to focus on preventing a repeat of the destruction caused by last month’s killer tsunami in Asia, the concept of disaster prevention should be broadened to include the range of hazards facing vulnerable people worldwide.
That includes so-called technical hazards such as chemical accidents and nuclear meltdowns, which are not on the agenda at this week’s World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan.
“We must be aware that in terms of preparedness, especially on the local level, the more technical oriented disasters must have the same attention,” he told AlertNet. “We must have the same warning system. We must have the same preparedness, and education of the people.”
Technical disasters claim about 9,000 lives a year, compared with at least 30,000 deaths by natural disaster. The best known manmade crises in recent years include the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986 and the 1984 chemical poisoning in India’s Bhopal.
Toepfer said the principles behind early warning systems were the same for hazards of all sorts, whether caused by extreme weather, seismic shifts or human error.
“Such systems must incorporate more than technology,” he said. “They should represent a new way of thinking that ensures environmental stability factors, based on local wisdom and knowledge, are built into disaster plans.”
He also called for a greater integration of environmental issues in disaster preparation and response, adding that destruction of coral reefs and mangrove swamps in some areas struck by the Indian Ocean tsunami may have worsened the devastation of the killer waves.
"You have to use the environment (to help prevent) natural disasters," he said. "The conviction has grown that we need the integration of nature in the early warning system."
