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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI13042463/00001
Notes
- Scope and Content:
- The document “Disaster: How the Red Cross Red Crescent Reduces Risk” focuses on highlighting how National Red Cross Red Crescent societies are using community-based low-tech disaster risk reduction (DRR) to mitigate losses related to historically devastating natural hazards. It also engages in a discussion of what DRR is, how it has become a major component of the work done by the IFRC, moving it beyond a narrow focus on simply responding to disaster scenarios. The first case presented was Bangladesh’s response to Cyclone Sidr that hit the southwest coast on November 15, 2007. Though 3,400 people were killed as a result, without active reforestation programs to reduce flooding and mudslides, embankments to reduce storm surge, forecasting and warnings, what was a tragedy could have expanded to a national catastrophe. Bangladesh’s Red Crescent Society volunteers were able to evacuate hundreds of thousands before the storm with only megaphones and drums. Their preparedness programme has 42,000 trained volunteers and over 2,000 designated shelters. Community-based volunteers played a significant role in increasing the awareness of their populations by performing street theater, going into classrooms, and meeting with women’s groups. Mozambique shares a similar story as far as successfully evacuating vulnerable populations. Nearly 100,000 people were moved during major flooding affecting significant portions of the country in 2008. This was critical considering that floods in 2000 resulted in considerable loss of life. No deaths, injuries, or major disease outbreaks were directly linked to the flooding in 2008, a measurable difference from the past. The IFRC has launched a number of DRR initiatives, such as the Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction in late 2007, and the Framework for Community Safety and Resilience in 2008. These are based on the notion that acting prior to a natural hazard event significantly minimizes the impact of disasters. Programmes are more and more focused on tackling the long-term factors producing vulnerability to disaster, particularly unplanned urbanization, population growth, and environmental degradation. More recently the global economic upheaval has led to dramatic declines in infrastructure spending necessary to improve roads, water supplies, sewage systems, drainage systems, and upgrading makeshift housing. This has led to increased vulnerability. Further exacerbating the vulnerability of these populations is the rise in the number of climate-related disasters including major storms, flooding, heat waves, and droughts. ( English )
- Subject:
- Disaster Risk Reduction ( English )
- Citation/Reference:
- (2009). Disaster: how the Red Cross Red Crescent reduces risk. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Florida International University
- Rights Management:
- Any part of this handbook may be cited, copied, translated into other languages or adapted to meet local needs without prior permission from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, provided that the source is clearly stated.
- Resource Identifier:
- FI13042463
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