Review of the WMO DRR Programme activities in the area of MHEWS as a contribution to the WMO DRR Priority (2005 to present) Session 2: Background UI-EAG MHEWS, 19-21 April 2016, Geneva James Douris Project Officer WMO Disaster Risk Reduction Services Division Weather and Disaster Risk Reduction Services Department
First Symposium on Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (WMO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, May 2006) Recommended to share knowledge and experience from good practices in some countries; Identified four countries of good practice: Shanghai Emergency Preparedness Programme, Vigilance system in France, Tropical Cyclone EWS in Cuba, and Bangladesh Cyclone Preparedness Programme. Expert Meeting on NMHSs Participation in Disaster Risk Reduction Coordination Mechanisms and Early Warning Systems (Geneva, Switzerland, November 2007) Reviewed the role that NMHSs have in DRR mechanisms at the national to international levels Developed a standard outline for documentation of good practices in MHEWS. 45
DRR ProgrammeMajor Meetings Second Experts Symposium on Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems with Focus on the Role of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (Toulouse, France, May 2009) Finalized the documentation methodology to systematically document good practices in EWS. Recommendations on development of guidelines for WMO Members on MHEWS Training Workshop on Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems with focus on Institutional Coordination and Cooperation (Pula, Croatia, October 2009) Utilized the standard outline for documentation of good practices in MHEWS to train participants on good practices in EWS; Engaged participants in moderated discussions to assess EWS capacities, gaps and needs in South East Europe 46
Training Workshop on Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems with focus on Institutional Partnerships and Coordination (San Jose, Costa Rica, March 2010) Shared experiences and lessons learnt from five good practices (Cuba, France, Italy, China/Shanghai and USA) with senior officials from DRM Agencies and NMHSs from the participating countries Identified existing regional initiatives in support of DRR and particularly EWS Documented national capacities and gaps related to planning, legislative, institutional and operational aspects of EWS and identify national priorities for strengthening of EWS capacities Identified concrete areas of regional cooperation to support national EWS. Recommend that a systematic documentation of capacities, gaps and needs in the Caribbean be conducted (side meeting). WMO to lead the implementation of a EWS project in the Sarapiquiregion of Costa Rica. 47
Technical Cooperation Workshop for the Development of the Caribbean Regional Cooperation Programme in Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems, (Christ Church, Barbados, 2010) Built on the outcomes of the MHEWS workshop in San Jose, Costa Rica (March 2010) Provided feedback on the draft Caribbean Assessment (Strengthening of Risk Assessment and MHEWS for Meteorological, Hydrological and Climate Hazards in the Caribbean) Made recommendations that should be considered when designing a project to strengthen risk assessment and MHEWS in the region
Workshop on Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems for Urban Areas (San José, Costa Rica, December 2013) Participated by high-level representatives from national DRM agencies, NMHSs, and municipal governments in Central and South America, Cuba, and Mexico Identified that there is clear evidence of a lack of development of EWS in Central America i.e. policy & legislation, institutional capacity development & operational cooperation among EWS stakeholders, feedback mechanisms Strong interest in strengthening EWS and recommended documentation of good practices from Central America similar to the book on Institutional Partnerships in MHEWS. This would be a significant resource for countries in Latin America for strengthening their EWS. Participating countries from South America requested holding similar workshops as this one in their region to facilitate dialogue and knowledge transfer among them.
The International Expert Symposium on Multi-hazard Early Warning Systems and Service Delivery, WMO Side Event at the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) (Sendai, Japan, March 2015) The meeting discussed: Trends toward very high resolution unified regional modelling platforms to support weather and climate prediction More efforts are needed to shift from the existing the single-hazard early warning systems approach to a MHEWS approach While scientific advances in weather forecasting and warnings have been made in many countries there have not been significant improvements in the response to these warnings Role of Catastrophe risk insurance in societal resilience The importance of resistant and resilient infrastructure homes, schools and other public buildings, roads and bridges Ensuring people are prepared to take appropriate action