The recent events that took place in the Indian Ocean and the great coverage that has been given to this catastrophe have once again awakened interest in this topic on the part of the different Organisations involved in it. The reality is that the images disseminated were moving and affected all levels, Governments, International Organisations, Regional and Sub-regional Organisations, the general population, etc. Today, those powerful images have stirred everyone’s conscience.

The question that we ask ourselves is: why do we have to wait for major calamities or such powerful images before we react? Why, if we know that we are living in situations involving risk, do we not seek to remedy these situations before an event of great magnitude occurs?

It does not matter which strategies are sought nor the work plans that are made, the reality is that those very events are the ones that are shouting from the roof tops that we must be better prepared. It would appear as though Mother Nature is aware of this human weakness. Whether this is true or not, the fact that the Indian Ocean disaster occurred just one month before the World Conference for Disaster Reduction has had a special effect on its participants in terms of commitment.

The World Conference for Disaster Reduction was held in Kobe , Hyogo , Japan on January 18 - 22, 2005 . The date of the meeting sought to highlight the formidable recovery of the Japanese people following the Great Earthquake of Hanshin-Awaji that struck on January 17, 1995 . It should be underscored that not only did the Japanese society recover from the event, but it has been able to reduce its vulnerability through better preparedness on the part of its societies to handle events of this nature.

The mandatory action to be taken is to conduct an internal analysis and ask ourselves: are we learning from our experiences, and despite the calamities we have encountered, are our societies better prepared?

The aforementioned Meeting produced the Declaration of Hyogo and the participants acknowledged that the international community has managed to accumulate countless experiences with respect to risk reduction, and in this field it is important to highlight the leadership of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) and the way in which it has been able to encourage the region to focus on prevention strategies and tasks. The region’s response agencies are undertaking great efforts in the area of prevention since it has been recognised that this has a huge impact at all levels of the society.

Within the Declaration of Hyogo, participants recognised the intrinsic link that exists among disaster reduction, sustainable development and the eradication of poverty, among others. Moreover, they stressed the importance of teamwork including governments, regional and international organisations as well as financial institutions, civil society, including non-governmental and volunteer organisations, the private sector, in addition to the scientific community, in other words, everyone!!

Now, we can say that the framework has been set or that it has always existed, but the time has come to take concrete action that would enable us to learn from our own experiences and those of others, both the successful and unsuccessful ones, and in this way we will have better prepared societies that are resistant to disasters. It is time for action.

It is not necessary to wait for or to announce a new catastrophe so that through joint efforst, we could have a Greater Caribbean that is better prepared.

Mr. Carlos Dávila Sánchez is the Director of Natural Disasters and Transport of the Association of Caribbean States. The views expressed are not necessarily the official views of the ACS. Feedback can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org

15 February, 2005