June 5, 2007—Ying Sirisuk lost her grip on her 4-year-old sister as a tsunami thundered ashore at the fishing village of Ban Nam Khem, Thailand, on December 16, 2004.
“We got separated later because the waves struck us so hard I couldn’t hold her hand any longer,” says Ying, who survived by clinging to a floating mattress. Her sister’s body was never found.
Ying’s family was among tens of thousands who lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand in one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent memory.
The Indian Ocean tsunami catastrophe, with its 270,000 deaths and high damage costs, stirred new interest around the world in responding to and preparing for natural disasters, especially in countries where large numbers of people live in threatened areas.
An interim tsunami warning system now operates in the Indian Ocean, thanks to collaboration between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. A full-fledged system is expected to be in place by the end of 2007.
Nations and institutions are looking for other ways to protect an estimated 3.4 billion people living in areas prone to at least one natural hazard, such as flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes. A Global Hotspots Analysis conducted by the World Bank and Columbia University estimates 105 million people are exposed to three or more natural hazards.
Earthquake Readiness in Turkey
Over 17,000 people died in Turkey's Marmara earthquake on August 17, 1999, primarily because 20,000 substandard multi-storey buildings collapsed and buried people in the rubble. Hundreds of thousands were left homeless.
The disaster caused the World Bank, already involved in post-disaster reconstruction projects in the country, to shift its approach in Turkey from simply rebuilding to preparing for the next major earthquake.
"The government of Turkey did not respond effectively to the 1999 Marmara Earthquake - that was a major problem-so one of the first things we did was help the government to establish the Turkish Emergency Management Agency, with the goal to improve government capacity to respond effectively in a case of a catastrophic disaster," says Bank disaster prevention and recovery specialist Wael Zakout.
The Bank supported the training and equipping of search-and-rescue teams (these teams were one of the first to provide assistance to Pakistan Earthquake victims in 2005), and worked with several partners to help the government create the systems and institutional infrastructure to reduce the impacts of disasters and improve response.
The Bank also supported the government's effort to revise the building code and improve the enforcement of building regulations and land use plans. It financed construction-material laboratories to test material used for construction and ensure buildings can withstand a major earthquake.
In addition, the Bank supported the creation of the Turkish Catastrophic Insurance Pool, and provided a US$180 million contingent facility until the pool accumulated its capital. The Bank support made the earthquake disaster premium affordable to many Turkish families. In 2006, around 2.6 million families have already bought earthquake insurance," says Zakout.
"We cannot prevent disasters, but we can help governments reduce their impact," he adds.
The gathering is expected to become the main global forum for all parties involved in disaster-risk reduction, namely governments, UN agencies, international financial institutions, regional bodies, civil society, the private sector, and the scientific and academic communities.
“It’s an opportunity for all of us, as part of one global community, to reaffirm that it’s better to invest in disaster prevention than wait for an event to happen and then mobilize international assistance for reconstruction,” says Saroj Kumar Jha.
The facility rapidly mobilizes teams from national and international agencies to respond to disasters. The teams develop damage and loss assessments that form the basis for recovery and reconstruction planning, so governments can “rebuild and build better,” says Jha.
More important, in many ways, however, is the facility’s other main mission: to support countries at high risk for natural disasters so that they develop and implement disaster risk mitigation strategies before any natural catastrophe occurs.
Jha says the facility will help 40 governments identify risks and formulate strategies to minimize them in the next fiscal year.
He says donors have already pledged some US$50 million to the facility, with more pledges expected.
Climate Adaptation
The Bank itself has long been helping governments rebuild post-disaster, and has recently revised its operational policies to provide even more flexibility and responsiveness in the wake of a disaster., The GFDRR, however, will allow the Bank to focus more strongly on preventing or minimizing disasters, including helping countries adapt to the expected effects of climate change. “It’s becoming an increasingly important part of our work,” Jha adds.
“There is significant scientific evidence now that more disasters will occur in the coming years because of changing climate,” he says.
As a result, there is a “great deal of urgency among the international community to start working on how disasters can actually be prevented.”
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