Written by Bahaa Al Ramley

 

Translated by Rana Al- Hajj

 

 

 

 “Time is running out. We have less than eight years to achieve the goals set out in the Hyogo Framework for Action, while we sense some tangible progress. However, the harsh reality imposed by certain practices and short-sighted policies lead to a continuous increase in the weakness of our societies. Thus, I urge all governments and all regional and local authorities to make the disaster risk reduction a priority and to take accelerated steps to make communities safer by making more investments in human and financial resources. Safety has a price, what better can there be than investing in the future?”

 

 

 Those are the words of John Holmes, the United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, whose warnings echoed through the United Nations halls as he implored world decision makers to exert resolute efforts in a bid to invest in more means of social protection in the face of the escalating threats of natural disasters.

 

The United Nations raised the alarm after statistics  showed that more than 200 million people have been affected every year by ‘natural’ disasters since 1991. Two-thirds of the recorded disasters since 1994 were floods and storms. These included record rainfall episodes, extraordinary floods, and unprecedented storms distributed across each of the five continents. The severity of Hurricane Mitch alone eliminated more than 10 years of development gains in some parts of Central America.

 

 

 

It was equally a period of extremely severe and protracted droughts, at times accompanied by record-setting temperatures in many parts of the world. The years 1998, 2002, and 2003 globally averaged were the warmest on record. Exceptional heat waves in Asia and Europe killed thousands. Such natural conditions combined with human behavior as unprecedented and often uncontrollable wildfires occurred on all five continents.

 

 

The period witnessed one of the past century’s most intense El Niño episodes in 1997-1998, resulting in the widespread droughts, flooding and other weather changes. These events had a heavy impact on agriculture and food security, health and infrastructure. Losses have been estimated at 20,000 lives and $35 billion in material damages.  

 

 

January 2005's Hyogo World Conference on Disaster Reduction which took place in Japan-Hyogo was launched with the strong resonance of the powerful earthquake and tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean region on 26 December 2004. The tragedy of those estimated 300,000 deaths and billions in material losses highlighted dramatically the importance of risk awareness, early warning, vulnerability reduction, and sustained attention to disaster and risk management.

 

 This was expressed in the Hyogo Declaration which created a tangible commitment to the adoption of the visionary Hyogo Framework for Action for 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters is a guide for our disaster reduction efforts in the next decade.

 

 This step was of significant importance because thousands of committed leaders and political figures, experts, practitioners, academics, volunteers, dozens of broad and specialized figures gathered to seek solutions. It has resulted in the international community recognizing the necessity and the realistic potential for building the resilience of nations and communities. Through the adoption of a ten-year plan of action, the conference undertook a commitment to decrease substantially the loss in lives and social, economic and environmental assets of communities and countries around the world.

 

To reach aspired for results, the conference set a number of priorities to start from:

 

 

 

- To help make communities and nations more resilient in the face of natural disasters

- To mobilize resources and empower populations

-  To galvanize global action and build experience

 

 

 Among the UN conferences on disaster reduction, this report only addresses Hyogo conference because Lebanon has finally joined the global campaign launched by the Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction. Lebanon completed its first national report in this context for the period extending between 2009 - 2011, a thing which has shown that despite Lebanon’s major focus on the political and security situation, it was able to make a progress, albeit small and partial on some of the themes. Lebanon still requires great efforts, notably at the level of alarms development, early and scientific research to identify risks, evaluation, mitigation of harm caused, not to mention the need to update existing laws.

 

 

 In addition, Lebanon began to engage in all activities organized by the United Nations in the context of its global campaign to counter the threat of disasters, and in this context, a conference was held at the Lebanese Governmental Serail titled "Lebanon is Getting Ready” marking the "International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction". The conference was held under the auspices of Prime Minister Saad Hariri,  in the participation of UNDP Resident Representative Marta Ruedas. Some footage was displayed on the importance of disaster risk reduction, whereas Municipality Heads in Lebanon signed their names under the global campaign for disaster risk reduction.