Japan shares lessons on ways information and communication technologies can help strengthen countries’ disaster risk management plans and empower communities facing disasters.

Otsuchi Town in Japan’s Iwate Prefecture was struck hard by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. More than 800 people lost their lives, including the mayor, and 500 people remain missing. Vital information and communication technology (ICT) services were also interrupted, making it hard for citizens to carry on their daily business.

Overview

The Kosi river rises in the Tibetan plateau of China and flows across Nepal into Bihar, joining the Ganges near Kursela, India. On 18th August 2008, the Kosi breached its embankments at Kusaha in Nepal’s Sunsari district, resulting in massive floods across Nepal and Bihar. The Kosi floods were subsequently declared a national calamity by the Government of India (GoI).

Resulting damages have accumulated to over US$25 billion in the past five years alone. To promote engagement in disaster and climate risk management practices, a new report analyses the elements that are driving increases in disaster risk and provides disaster risk management profiles for the countries in the region.

PREFACE

This report provides a five year retrospective on the experiences and successes of the Track I of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), which 'provides the financial and technical support to the ISDR system through the ISDR secretariat,' and identifies some pointers for 2013 and beyond.

This report was prepared by World Bank and GFDRR staff, with financial support from the Japan Policy and Human Resources Development (PHRD) and guidance from the Government of Japan.The report was written to support discussion at the Sendai Dialogue – a special event on Disaster Risk Management – co-organized by the Government of Japan and the World Bank as part of the Program of the WB/IMF Annual Meetings 2012. The report will also inform the Development Committee at the Annual Meetings 2012.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Victoria Salinas, Track III - Sustainable Recovery Team, who recently returned from Georgia, where she was working with the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Disaster Risk Management Team, World Bank to support the Government of Georgia to conduct a post disaster Joint Needs Assessment. The World Bank worked closely with the United Nations Development Program and United Nations agencies, European Union, and other national and international partners on this assessment..

CONCLUSIONES PRINCIPALES

• Las inundaciones son el desastre natural más frecuente, causando devastación generalizada, daños económicos y pérdida de vidas humanas.

• La región de Asia oriental y el Pacífico es particularmente vulnerable: En los últimos 30 años, la cantidad de anegaciones en Asia representó aproximadamente el 40% del total mundial.

FONDEN, Mexico’s Fund for Natural Disasters, was established in the late 1990s as a mechanism to support the rapid rehabilitation of federal and state infrastructure affected by adverse natural events. FONDEN was first created as a budget line in the Federal Expenditure Budget of 1996, and became operational in 1999.