Transcript 42181

GLOBAL VULNERABILITY
REDUCTION (Part 2)
A HIGH BENEFIT- TO- COST LEGACY
TO LEAVE THE NEXT GENERATION
ACCELERATING REDUCTION OF EVERY
COMMUNITY’S VULNERABILITY TO NATURAL
HAZARDS WILL BE THE KEY TO SURVIVAL FOR
MILLIONS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
MAY 27, 2011
Walter Hays, Global Alliance for
Disaster Reduction, University of
North Carolina, USA
2000-2011’S NATURAL HAZARDS HAVE EXPOSED
THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY’S VULNERABILITIES
FLOODS
COMMUNITY’S POLICIES
INADEQUATE
LACK OF TECHNICAL AND
POLITICAL CAPACITY OF
COMMUNITY TO COPE
FAILURE TO USE THE
COMMUNITY’S KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
SEVERE WIND STORMS
EARTHQUAKES
DROUGHTS
LANDSLIDES
WILDFIRES
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
TECHNOLOGICAL HAZARDS
CLIMATE CHANGE
SPECIAL SITUATIONS
2010 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
THE YEAR OF “RECORD
AND NEAR-RECORD”
NATURAL DISASTERS
2010
Earthquakes, Floods, Volcanic
Eruptions, Severe Windstorms,
Tsunamis, Landslides,
Droughts, and Winter Storms
WAVE AFTER WAVE OF NATURAL
DISASTERS THAT KILLED OVER 260,000
AND CAUSED DIRECT ECONOMIC
LOSSES OF AT LEAST $222 BILLION
2010
… And the Impacts of a Record
Environmental Disasters in the
Gulf of Mexico and China and
Global Climate Change
DIRECT ECONOMIC LOSSES ESTIMATED
AT $50 BILLION
and INDIRECT LOSSES AT ??
THE DEADLIEST DISASTERS OF 2010
• January 12th A M7.0 Earthquake in
Haiti that killed 230,000, largely
because of the inadequacy of the
building code, leaving survivors
stuck in tent cities battling a
hurricane (Tomas), cholera outbreak,
and health-care problems for the rest
of 2010 and well into 2011.
HAITI’S DEATH TOLL REACHED
AN ESTIMATED 230,OOO+
PARALYZING DISASTERS OF 2010
•A
rare volcanic eruption in
Iceland that paralyzed air
traffic in Europe for
months—March 27.
IN 2010, EYJAFJOELL’S ASH PLUME
SHUT DOWN EUROPE’S AIR TRAFFIC
PARALYZING DISASTERS OF 2010
•A
blanket of snow and a
Nor’easter that paralyzed the
Washington, D.C. area and
eastern seaboard—February
6-7.
WEATHER SYSTEM OVER MIDATLANTIC STATES: FEB 5-6, 2010
Impacts: Government offices
closed, airports closed,
universities and schools
closed, interstate highways
closed, metro service
reduced or closed down,
power outages.
RECORD OIL SPILL (LEAK) IN GULF OF
MEXICO
• April 27---The explosion of British
Petroleum’s Deep Water Horizon oil
rig set into motion an environmental
disaster and a huge cleanup
operation costing billions of dollars.
DEEP WATER HORIZON:
APRIL 22
HURRICANE TOMAS WAS THE LAST
STORM OF THE 2010 SEASON
Tomas, as a CAT 2 storm, was
the “the worst in Saint. Lucian
history,” causing the loss of its
entire banana crop, which
along with tourism, is extremely
important to Saint Lucia’s
economy.
TOMAS: IMPACTS SAINT LUCIA
THE DEADLIEST DISASTERS OF 2010
• Heat Wave that destroyed
one-third of Russia’s wheat
crop and a week of Wildfires
that came close to the
radioactive waste land –July 29
RUSSIA: 600 WILDFIRES
BURNING IN 7 REGIONS
THE DEADLIEST DISASTERS OF 2010
• Floods that inundated one-
fifth of Pakistan –July 29
ONE-FIFTH OF PAKISTAN
AFFECTED
ONE OF THE HARDEST HIT NATIONS IN
•
2010 -- INDONESIA
•In a 24-hour period in October, Indonesia
suffered a deadly magnitude 7.7
earthquake, a tsunami that killed more
than 500 people and a volcanic eruption
that caused more than 390,000 people to
leave habitats and livestock and flee to
evacuation centers that had inadequate
health care facilities----October 25-27
A M7.7 EARTHQUAKE, A 3 M-TSUNAMIWAVE RUN UP, AND A LONG
ERUPTION OF MOUNT MERAPI
CAUSED LOSSES IN THE TENS OF
MILLIONS, DISPLACED OVER 340,000,
KILLING NEARLY 1,000 , AND
POTENTIALLY AFFECTING THE
HEALTH AND QUALITY OF LIFE FOR
THOUSANDS,
The M7.7 earthquake generated a
near-source tsunami with 3 m (10 ft)
waves that struck within 5 minutes
after the quake---so quickly that the
regional tsunami warning system
that was improved after the
December 26, 2004 tsunami
disaster, was ineffective..
70,000 EVACUATED AS
ERUPTION CONTINUES: NOV 2
REALITY CHECK:
We're now in La Nina (a period of
Pacific ocean cooling), so we
should be getting ready for a very
cold winter in 2010 and 2011 and a
violent, wet spring in 2011.
CLIMATE CHANGE CONTINUES TO BE
BLAMED AS AN EXACERBATING FACTOR
•“Climate change creates “blocking
episodes,” physical conditions that
prevent humidity or heat from
dispersing naturally, thereby
creating long-lasting snow or rain
storms, or prolonged hot, dry
spells”---United Nations.
THE ULTIMATE REALITY
CHECK OF 2010
Unless we devise and implement a
realistic, new, dynamic strategy of
capacity building, the next disaster
may be upon us much faster than we
can recover from the last one and we
will all share in an unnecessary
reduction in our quality of life.
2011 NEWS FLASH # 1
IT’S TIME TO
STOP
THE PERVASIVE INCREASE IN
COMMUNITY VULNERABILITIES TO
NATURAL HAZARDS NOW OCCURRING
IN EVERY COUNTRY.
2011 NEWS FLASH # 2:
EACH NEW GENERATION OF
PROFESSIONALS HAS ACCESS TO
MORE KNOWLEDGE AND BETTER
TECHNOLOGY
THAN THE GENERATION BEFORE
IT DID, SO….THE GOAL OF
STOP
IS REALISTIC!
STOP INCREASING COMMUNITY
VULNERABILITIES
GOAL: A GLOBAL SURGE TO ACCELERATE REDUCTION OF
COMMUNITY VULNERABILITIES TO NATURAL HAZARDS
FLOODS
IMPLEMENT COMMUNITY
POLICIES
INCREASE TECHNICAL
AND POLITICL CAPACITY
OF COMMUNITY TO COPE
INCREASE OWNERSHIP
AND USE OF KNOWLEDGE
AND EXPERIENCE
SEVERE WIND STORMS
EARTHQUAKES
DROUGHTS
LANDSLIDES
WILDFIRES
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
TECHNOLOGICAL HAZARDS
CLIMATE CHANGE
SPECIAL SITUATIONS
…BY CHANGING POLICIES AND PRACTICES
FROM REACTION TO ANTICIPATION
--- BY USING KNOWLEDGE TO
DECREASE RISK