UK Launches New Plan to Cut Impact of Natural Disasters Around the World

Building earthquake-proof houses and investing in early warning systems are some of the simple ways to save lives and reduce the devastation caused by natural disasters outlined in a new policy published by the Department for International Development today. The plan entitled “Reducing the Risk of Disasters” was launched by development minister, Gareth Thomas, at the HQ of the international NGO Tearfund in London.

Gareth Thomas said:

“Disasters make it more difficult to make poverty history and it is always the poorest that suffer the most.

“Natural disasters will continue to increase in number and intensity because of climate change and there is nothing we can do to stop hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes from striking. But what we can do is help put simple measures in place such as better built houses, schools and hospitals alongside more hi-tec early warning systems to reduce the loss of life.

“The UK government will work with NGOs like Tearfund, the UN and national governments to help ensure countries are better prepared to reduce the vulnerability of people to natural hazards.”

Marcus Oxley, Tearfund's Disaster Management Director, said:

"Tearfund welcomes DFID's disaster reduction policy, as we know from first-hand experience the devastation and suffering disasters are causing in the developing world. The key issue now is that the policy is transformed into the life-changing action that is so desperately needed in the world's poorest regions."

DFID announced in 2005 that in future 10 per cent of funds spent on disaster relief will be invested in ways to reduce the impact of disasters in the future where this can be done effectively.

The new policy sets out ways to do this, including:

• a new training programme currently being designed for DFID staff to help them integrate disaster risk reduction into DFID’s work with NGOs and governments;
• a call for improvements in the international system such as the UN’s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and stronger institutions within disaster-prone developing countries;
• working with other governments, World Bank and the UN to get disaster risk reduction measures included as a key issue in poverty reduction strategies; and
• measures to reduce the risk to the poor by supporting effective local action to predict or better deal with natural disasters.

Natural disasters wreak havoc, taking lives and devastating the economy and infrastructure of developing countries. The Asian tsunami claimed around 180,000 lives and the Pakistan earthquake a further 70,000 victims and both have had a long-term impact on the economic development of affected countries.

The aim of the new policy is to reduce the impact of disasters on the poor by reducing their vulnerability to those disasters. Following the Asian tsunami in December 2004 it is estimated the number of people living below the poverty line in Banda Aceh, increased by up to 50 per cent.

The economic losses from disasters in the 1990s totalled over $600 billion – greater than the economic losses of the four previous decades combined.

Investing in disaster risk reduction is proven to work. For example, potential losses of $12 billion having been averted in China from an investment of $3 billion in flood control measures over 40 years. The World Bank and US Geological Survey calculated that economic losses worldwide from disasters during the 1990s could have been reduced by $280 billion worldwide if $40 billion had been invested in mitigation and preparedness.

Action on disaster risk reduction, including a simple early warning system on the island of Simeulue near Indonesia, reforestation in Vietnam and earthquake-proof housing in Peru have already saved lives and proven to be cost-effective investments from which we can learn lessons on better coping with disasters.