Experts say Asia prone to disasters
Experts say Asia prone to disasters
Agence France-Presse, Singapore
Asia is the most disaster prone region in the world and
governments must develop a culture of preparedness for
calamities, experts at a conference here said on Wednesday.
Rapid urbanization has increased the vulnerability of Asian
cities to disasters, experts from the Asian Disaster Preparedness
Center (ADPC) said in a paper presented at a conference here on
making Asian cities safer.
"In Asia, we are faced with the challenge of dealing with an
urbanizing population in a most disaster prone region. Disasters
causing huge loss of life and property in the region result in
severe setbacks to the development process," said Aloysius Rego
and Christine Apikul in their paper.
"Asia is the most disaster prone region in the world," they
said, citing data showing that the region accounts for 42.6
percent of the total number of disasters worldwide.
Between 1992 and 2001, an average of 46,000 people were killed
and 180 million people affected by disasters annually in Asia,
they said.
"This represents nearly 75 percent of fatalities and 90
percent of the world's affected population every year," they
added.
Over the past three months alone, there was an earthquake in
Indonesia, flashfloods and landslides in Thailand, as well as
severe flooding in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
A powerful typhoon hammered South Korea and drought has hit
many parts of India.
Complicating the natural calamities is the rapid growth of the
population of Asian cities.
By 2030, more than 50 percent of Asia's population is
projected to live in cities, up from 37 percent currently, they
said.
"As cities grow, economies grow, more houses are built, more
infrastructure are constructed, and often times marginalised
populations are pushed to more vulnerable areas, the disaster
risks increase," they said.
However, while cities are increasingly vulnerable to disasters
they are vital economic engines and the proceeds from the wealth
they create could be used to lessen the impact of these
calamities.
The paper proposed that Asian city authorities adopt a
comprehensive policy approach in dealing with disasters to
"mitigate" their impact. Such a policy should be put in place
before a disaster strikes, when it has already struck and during
the recovery and reconstruction phase.
In the past, Asian governments responded only to emergencies
as they occurred, "with hastily arranged ad hoc relief
operations" by bringing biscuits and blankets to the stricken
populace, the authors said.
Training and public awareness should also be promoted on the
community, provincial and national levels, they said.
However, many national disaster management offices in Asia
"remain relatively weak, under-funded and under-staffed both in
numbers and qualifications," they said.
"They are often still narrowly focused on the relief and
response operations instead of long-term mitigation activities
that require the cooperation and coordination of other government
departments," they added.
The authors suggested the development of a "culture of
disaster mitigation" across social sectors and levels by
promoting general awareness.