Disaster Reduction Day raises public awareness
World Vision is at the forefront together with the government and other organizations in raising public awareness on disaster risk reduction.
During the joint meeting with the National Disaster Management Committee (NDMC), United Nations agency and various international organizations, World Vision is becoming well-known as an international humanitarian relief organization.
The activity was in observance of the annual ASEAN Day of Disaster Management and United Nations International Day for Disaster Reduction every second Wednesday of October.
A total of 500 participants composed of Ministers, deputy ministers, diplomats, corps members, civil servants, soldiers, policemen, and students were in attendance.
The aim of the event is to raise awareness in the community regarding disaster risk reduction, the impact of disasters and the importance of disaster preparedness.
World Vision Lao and other organizations discussed the issues on disaster risk reduction and preparedness and presented evidences on what is currently happening with regards to disasters on the rise in Laos in recent years.
The Chairman, Lieutenant General Deputy Prime Minister Duangchai Phichit addressed the participants on the annual acceleration of national disasters that are caused by a variety of factors like environmental degradation and global warming that have resulted in global natural disasters causing loss of human lives and properties around the world.
He shared about the severe earthquake in Haiti and floods in Pakistan last year, which killed more than 10,000 people. Several disasters this year did not spare developed countries as well like the flooding in Australia, quake in New Zealand and the quake and tsunami that hit Japan.
In Lao, three tropical storms that hit the country from June to August caused widespread flooding that severely affected over 400,000 people in 12 provinces. The disasters left 30 people killed, damaged houses, agriculture, transportation and other infrastructure. The estimated economic loss amounts to more than $220M.
According to Lt Gen Duangchai, the government has recognized disaster management as an important issue that has a great impact on national social-economic development. The Lao NDMC has developed a national strategy for disaster management.
The focus of the strategy is on creating community awareness about the social-economic effects of disasters and to reduce the impact of emergencies through relief, recovery, preparedness and response.
Meanwhile, UN Resident Representative Mr. Timothy Schaffer said, “This year’s observance of these international days on disaster management and risk reduction recognizes the vital role of children and young people. These young people must be included in disaster preparedness plans.”
He added, “Risk reduction education for children on climate change adaptation is one of the ways to prepare them for disaster events.” Sixty percent of the population in Laos are age 25 or under.
The UN also shared the challenges regarding disaster risk reduction implementation.
“Few governments give disaster reduction management a high place in their political agenda and few countries are able to quantify their investments in disaster risk reduction. Governments will continue to face huge and growing losses if they don’t decide to invest today for a safer tomorrow,” said International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Programme Officer, Mr. Julio Cesar Serje.
World Vision Laos has a Disaster Risk Reduction strategy which is being implemented in several ADPs starting in FY2012.