Amcdrr

Boost Efforts to Mitigate Disaster Risk

AS the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), for its implementation, requires collaboration of various stakeholders, such as local government and private sector.

With mission to encourage local governments to take action in reducing disaster risk, UCLG ASPAC in collaboration with UNISDR organized the pre-conference stakeholder group session, “Boosting Local Authorities Actions to Implement the Sendai Framework” on 2nd November 2016. This session was held as part of the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016 from 2nd – 5th November 2016 in New Delhi, India.

Welcoming 64 mayors, local authorities, and other related stakeholders mostly coming from Asia, UCLG ASPAC Secretary General, Dr. Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, in her welcome remarks urged mayors and local authorities to work together in partnership. “It is important because Asia is the most disaster-prone area in the world, a mix of factors account for the high mortality in the region due to disasters, including highly-dense urban areas, poor planning, the frequency and intensity of hazards such as earthquakes, typhoons, floods, droughts, wildfires and others.” This is where the SFDRR plays its role. It places strong emphasis on disaster risk management with intention to achieve substantial reductions in disaster losses over the next 15 years.

Agreeing with this, the Minister of Disaster Management of Government of Bihar India, Professor Chandrasekar mentioned several key points of achievement from State of Bihar India in implementing Sendai Framework into DRR roadmap. They

include reducing mortality, economic loss impact, attitude changes toward community, and development planning into department level. It is in line with the SFDRR target “e” which is providing an opportunity to promote local practices through development and adoption of local disaster risk reduction strategies/plans by 2020.

This session was also enriched with knowledge transfer from several cities.

Representatives from Bihar State, India, shared that Bihar was the first state in India having a DRR road map after Sendai Framework launched in 2015. Mayor of Nan City, Thailand, also informed attendees on his city’s experience in preventing and responding to flood; as his city is located in northern part of Thailand with high intensity of precipitation and prone to disaster such as landslide and flood. Ms. Madelaine Alfelor, Mayor of Iriga City, the Philippines, also shared her city experience in preventing and responding to major disasters such as typhoons, floods and earthquakes.

The contribution of the participants was also huge. The sharing and discussion was dynamic. From the discussion it was known that several important factors require particular attention in order to provide supporting environment for local governments to take necessary actions in mitigating impacts on disaster. Capacity building is one of it. Nepal, for instance, has provided its local authorities with necessary training to build their capacity in facing disaster setting. Discussion also found out that it was important to create a platform including local people and multi-level stakeholders and to capacitate them with necessary knowledge regarding early warning system. Other valuable finding was the needs to strengthen resilience of local health system, design and implementation of inclusive policies to ensure access to social safety and basic health care services, including maternal, newborn and child health, sexual and reproductive health, food security, nutrition, housing and education. Additional inputs also included the use of simple language in communication as well as creating mapping to know who is doing what and how to support each other.

Outcome of this pre-conference was the Statement of Action by Local Authorities Stakeholder Group which was submitted to this first AMCDRR held after the adoption of SFDRR in 2015 in Sendai (Japan).

Following AMCDRR in New Delhi, several cities and local governments have conducted immediate actions, including the “Local Implementation of the SFDRR: Making Cities Resilient (MCR) Campaign in the Philippines” led by Mayor Iriga, as well as the creation of safer community and rehabilitation support and an awareness training program for emergency preparedness in Kathmandu.