Tsunami Provides An Opportunity To Rethink Disaster Management: World Bank

Contacts:

In Tokyo:
Tomoko Hirai, +81-3- 3597-6650                               
thirai@worldbank.org,

In Washington, DC:
Damian Milverton, 202-473-6735
dmilverton@worldbank.org

KOBE, JAPAN, 17 January, 2005 – The December 26 tsunami provides an opportunity to rethink the world’s approaches to natural disasters and development, a World Bank expert on hazard risk management said today as the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction opened.

Margaret Arnold, the head of the World Bank’s Hazard Management Unit, said while tsunamis and hurricanes cannot be stopped, preparing for them by properly involving communities, developing better building codes, designing better coastal structures and improving management of coral reefs and mangroves could go a long way towards limiting their impact.

“We know that prevention pays when it comes to hazard risk management,” Ms Arnold said. “For example, Samoa in the South Pacific invested time and money on hazard reduction efforts after it was hit by two severe cyclones in the  early 1990s. When another serious cyclone hit in 2004, the country was better prepared and no one died. The storm was not without cost, however, as there was $US30 million in physical damage. Had the risk management measures not been in place, the damage would have been 5-8  times worse.”

Developing countries suffer the most when natural disasters hit: more than 95 percent of all deaths caused by disasters occur in developing countries and losses due to natural disasters can be 20 times greater (as a percent of GDP) in developing countries than in industrial countries.

Since 1980, the World Bank has financed more than 150 post-catastrophe reconstruction projects worth about $US14 billion. World Bank President James Wolfensohn said last week on his return from a tour of tsunami-affected countries, that the Bank could provide more than $1 billion and perhaps as much as $1.5 billion for  longer-term reconstruction efforts in the affected countries.

“Donor agencies and governments are slowly starting to recognise that disaster preparedness and adaptation to climate change need a far higher level of priority in development assistance – especially in vulnerable and low-lying regions like the Pacific islands,” Ms. Arnold said.

“Not only does development assistance need to better address disaster prevention, we also need better incentives for countries to invest in it.”

“Poorly planned development can turn a recurring natural phenomenon into a human and economic disaster,” she said. “Allowing dense populations on a floodplain or permitting poor building codes in earthquake zones is as likely as a natural event to cause casualties and losses. Allowing the degradation of natural resources also increases the risk of disaster.”

The World Bank is working to  help countries to reduce human suffering and economic losses caused by natural and technological disasters by helping poor countries to respond more effectively  and to integrate of disaster prevention and mitigation in  development.