Strengthening Disaster Readiness. Moving from capacity to capability

Strengthening Disaster Readiness Moving from capacity to capability Peter Scott-Bowden Senior Emergency Advisor Operations Department of Emergencies World Food Programme 21 September 2011 Page 1 21 September 2011

BACKGROUND 21 st Century Disasters Frequency and magnitude of disasters have increased substantially, affecting over 225 million people every year. Combination of drivers: Climate Change, financial & social instability, demographic growth, urbanization; Trans-boundary threats (pandemics, nuclear incidents); Earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes; Globalization and fast spread of social networks add momentum. Disasters disproportionately affect developing countries. Page 2 21 September 2011

EFFECTS OF DISASTERS All disasters have cascading effects 2 nd Order Overload of services Absenteeism 3 rd Order Disruption of Critical Services e.g. food, transport network, energy (amongst others) 1 st Order Impact of event: Stress on Security and Govt Destruction Death, injuries Emergence of Fear Page 3 21 September 2011

LARGE SCALE DISASTERS Disasters response characteristics Large scale disasters (LSDs) must be planned not just at the national and provincial and local levels BUT also for large urban contexts LSDs demand a multi-sectoral response: different ministries different specialised agencies and programmes dependent upon both common ops platforms such as national disaster management centres providing leadership and a clear and well functioning supply chain system LSDs can affect regions + countries, but there is growing recognition that whole of society planning is required in disaster management Confidence and trust enhancement between different actors including the military and civil authorities, private and public sectors amongst others Will stress supply chain systems and access to critical services Will stress leadership at all levels Page 4 21 September 2011

TOWARDS A SAFER WORLD Practical approaches to advance disaster preparedness Towards a Safer World initiative: Goal Objective Implementation A world better prepared to respond to threats impacting the whole of society To inspire decision makers to act on lessons from pandemic preparedness to advance whole-of-society planning for future multi-hazard threats A series of activities conducted between September 2010 and September 2011. World Food Programme provides the leadership for the initiative, in collaboration with UNSIC, USAID and FHI 360 and with funding from USAID. Page 5 21 September 2011

TOWARDS A SAFER WORLD First phase: Data collection bio-security and animal health community level preparedness civil-military coordination travel and tourism health communications logistics humanitarian assistance private sector preparedness Data collection exercise from October 2010 to June 2011. Primary achievements and lessons of pandemic preparedness efforts of the past five years under 11 thematic headings documented by multidisciplinary teams. A book presenting their findings and recommendations for how to move forward has been published. whole of government planning multi-sector preparedness in Asia Page 6 21 September 2011

TOWARDS A SAFER WORLD Second phase (15-16 Sept 11): Conference TASW conference Whole of Society Multi-hazard Political Support Integration Risk Communications Centralized Planning / Decentralized Execution TASW conference hosted by UN/WFP in Rome on 15-16 September 2011 180 participants from various Governments, UN agencies, technical and specialized agencies, NGOs and private companies Conference participants identified 7 key tenets which were central to discussions in all groups and across all of the 11 themes previously identified Sharing of Lessons Learned Page 7 21 September 2011

WHOLE OF SOCIETY APPROACH Key components (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Health Whole-of-society approach Planning at all levels Critical interdependencies Severity-based response Respect for ethical norms Defense Water National Local Gvt Governments Law & Order District National Int l Org. Food Regional bodies Local Civil Society Int l community Community Int NGOs Large SMEs Finance Businesses Grassroot Energy Transport Telecom Page 8 21 September 2011

TOWARDS A SAFER WORLD Second phase (15-16 Sept 11): Conference TASW conference Whole of Society Multi-hazard Political Support Integration Risk Communications Centralized Planning / Decentralized Execution Sharing of Lessons Learned Need Where to link political future support was pandemic strong and preparedness disaster plans were efforts integrated integration to the as of broader part government of all core and hazards governance, private or sector multi-hazard initiatives stakeholders at Need approach flourished. all levels for centralized to is disaster critical to planning ensuring within management It is effective national particularly whole governments Effective messaging important of and society in due achieving response to centralization of information resourcing management for disaster the expertise preparedness integration and most critical of single efforts the resourcing private component sector methodologies. of was effective identified disaster a relatively response. Decentralized Increasing new concept importance within execution disaster of sharing based integrating management on of the lessons assumption that social media learned into is a key disaster impacts often differ risk in communication preparedness plans But from mechanisms region to region for capturing within a and country, disseminating as do cultural lessons and learned political were considerations. not sufficient Page 9 21 September 2011

TOWARDS A SAFER WORLD To download the book, visit: http://www.towardsasaferworld.org Page 10 21 September 2011