Promoting Disaster Risk Reduction Culture

Promoting Disaster Risk Reduction Cultur

By: Tersoo Zamber, FRCN Headquarters

From time immemorial, the world has witnessed disasters of many forms including earth quakes, floods, drought, famine, terrorism and wars.

While some are human induced, others are natural but have claimed millions of lives, destroyed hard earned infrastructure and displaced many people as well as vulnerable to more disasters.

Although, there have been efforts to manage these disasters, however the United Nations realized the importance of a coordinated approach as years went by.

This was why in 1989, the United Nations General Assembly designated 13 October as the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction to promote a global culture of disaster risk reduction.

The Day is an opportunity to acknowledge global progress in preventing and reducing disaster risk and losses.

This year’s edition is coming shortly after the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, where the UN General Assembly last May, adopted a political declaration to accelerate action to strengthen disaster resilience.

The Day’s theme, “fighting inequality for a resilient future” aligns with the Sendai Framework which is the international agreement to prevent and reduce losses in lives, livelihoods, economies and basic infrastructure.

It has global targets and  indicators for measuring progress.

The Sendai Framework complements the Paris Agreement on climate change, with both frameworks interlinked to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

This year, the International Day will look at the reciprocal relationship between disasters and inequality.

It must be noted that inequality and disaster vulnerability are two sides of a coin.

For instance, unequal access to services, such as finance and insurance, leaves the most at risk exposed to the danger of disasters; while disaster impacts exacerbate inequalities and push the most at risk further into poverty.

This explains the exact situation around the world, Nigeria inclusive.

The current economic hardship is a disaster itself as Nigerians have never been subjected to hardship as such, in recent times.

Couple with lingering insecurity, persistent floods, incessant building collapse, frequent fuel tanker fires and mind boggling unemployment rate that have claimed many lives and increase poverty, the situation at hand has become unbearable for many citizens.

It is unthinkable that a country with plenty deposit of crude oil would be exporting to import its by-products including petrol, to sell to Nigerians at high cost, thereby worsening the already precarious economy.

Indeed, every facet of the life of an average Nigerian is met with difficulty, be it access to education, healthcare, food, electricity, housing, good roads, decent jobs, just to mention but a few.

This is due to the inequality measures orchestrated by a few privilege persons in positions of authority, making life meaningless to some. Such unpatriotic elements must be fought as the theme for this year, fighting inequality for a resilient future, suggests.

A culture of Disaster Risk Reduction prevents disasters, minimizes impacts even when disaster strikes and makes a people and community more resilient.

As Nigeria joins the global community to mark the international day for Disaster Risk Reduction, it behooves every stakeholder in the task of nation building to play a significant role in achieving a society of equality for a disaster resilient global village.

By so doing, the SDGs would not only be realized but human dignity and the sanctity of life would be upheld.

Edited By Grace Namiji