Enhancing Early Warning Systems Identified as a Key Priority Area at the Hyogo Declaration

Priorities for Action 2005-2015

The WCDR concluded with 168 delegations adopting a framework for action calling on states to put disaster risk at the center of political agendas and national policies. The Hyogo Framework for Action: 2005-2015 aims to strengthen the capacity of disaster prone countries to reduce risks and calls upon international finance institutions to support this process by investing more in disaster risk reduction. There are five priority areas for action:

1. Ensure that disaster risk reduction is a national and a local priority with a strong institutional basis for implementation.

2. Identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and enhance early warning systems.

3. Use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels.

4. Reduce underlying risk factors.

5. Strengthen disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels.

Below is an excerpt from the Action Plan on the enhancement of early warning systems.

The starting point for reducing disaster risks and for promoting a culture of disaster resilience lies in the knowledge of the hazards and the physical, social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities that most societies face. Next comes knowledge of the ways in which hazards and vulnerabilities are changing in the short and long term, followed by action.

Key activities:

1. National and local risk assessments
    

1. Develop, periodically update and widely disseminate risk maps and related information in an appropriate format to decision-makers, the general public and communities at risk.

2. Develop systems of indicators for disaster risks and vulnerabilities at national and sub-national scales that enable decision-makers to assess the impact of disasters on social, economic and environmental conditions and disseminate the results to decision makers, the public and populations at risk.

3. On a regular basis, record, analyze, summarize and disseminate statistical information on disaster occurrence, impacts and losses through international, regional, national and local mechanisms.

2.  Early warning

4. Develop early warning systems that are people-centered, in particular systems with warnings that are timely and understandable to those at risk and which take into account the demographic, gender, cultural and livelihood characteristics of the target audiences and include guidance on how to act on warnings.

5. Establish, periodically review, and maintain information systems as part of early warning systems with a view to ensuring that rapid and coordinated action is taken in cases of alerts and emergencies.

6. Establish institutional capacities to ensure that early warning systems are well integrated into government policy and decision-making processes and emergency management systems at both the national and the local levels and are subject to regular testing and performance assessments.

7. Implement the outcome of the Second International Conference on Early Warning held in Bonn, Germany, in 2003, including the strengthening of coordination and cooperation among all relevant sectors in the early warning chain to achieve fully effective early warning systems.

8. Implement the outcome of the Mauritius Strategy for the further implementation of the Barbados Program of Action for the sustainable development of small islands and developing states, including establishing and strengthening effective early warning systems as well as other mitigation and response measures.

3. Capacity

9. Support the development and sustainability of the infrastructure and scientific, technical and institutional capacities needed to research, observe, analyze, map and where possible forecast natural and related hazards, vulnerabilities and disaster impacts.

10. Support the development and improvement of relevant databases and the promotion of full and open exchange and dissemination of data for assessment, monitoring and early warning purposes, as appropriate, at international, regional, national and local levels.

11. Support the improvement of scientific and technical methods and capacities for risk assessment, monitoring and early warning through research, partnerships, training and technical capacity-building. Promote the application of in situ and space-based earth observations, space technologies, remote sensing, geographic information systems, hazard modeling and prediction, weather and climate modeling and forecasting, communication tools and studies of the costs and benefits of risk assessment and early warning.

12. Establish and strengthen the capacity to record, analyze, summarize, disseminate and exchange statistical information and data on hazards mapping, disaster risks, impacts, and losses; support the development of common methodologies for risk assessment and monitoring.

4. Regional and emerging risks

13. Compile and standardize, as appropriate, statistical information and data on regional disaster risks, impacts and losses.

14. Cooperate regionally and internationally, as appropriate, to assess and monitor regional and trans-boundary hazards and exchange information and provide early warnings through appropriate arrangements such as those relating to the management of river basins.

15. Research, analyze and report on long-term changes and emerging issues that might increase vulnerabilities and risks or the capacity of authorities and communities to respond to disasters.

This section is extracted from the Declaration and Framework for Action Plan, which is available for download at the UN-ISDR website at: www.unisdr.org