EMI supports building a Local Government Alliance for DRR in Asia
EMI officials joined the rest of the ISDR Asia Partnership (IAP) members in a conference to organize a Local Government Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction on 11-13 August 2009 in Incheon, Republic of Korea. The alliance will serve as the primary consultative group of Asia for UN/ISDR’s Global Campaign on Urban Risk Reduction 2010-2011.
EMI’s General Secretary Atty. Violeta Seva explained the rationale behind the campaign in a session titled Making Cities Safer- Mobilizing Local Action towards Risk Reduction. She outlined the major challenges that urban areas are faced with when it comes to dealing with disaster risks. Some of these include unplanned urbanization, inadequate construction standards, climate change, and the compounding effects of various risk factors on the poor and less privileged. In response to such challenges, Atty. Seva said that a campaign for urban risk reduction will greatly help in enhancing the public’s awareness of urban risk, in getting both national and local governments to invest more in urban risk reduction, and in mainstreaming risk reduction measures in local urban planning and development.
The conference was followed by a meeting of the IAP partners from 13-14 August 2009. The meeting focused on the preparatory work for the 4th Asian Ministerial Conference on DRR, updating of Regional Mapping of DRR Initiatives in Asia, and review of the Asia Pacific HFA Regional Synthesis Report. EMI’s Associate Technical Director Dr. Tabassam Raza presented the issues and recommendations identified by the IAP Ministerial Conference Working Group. They proposed some improvements in the conference’s program details particularly on the topics under the technical sessions. Atty. Seva, on the other hand, presented EMI’s DRR initiatives in Asia during a session spearheaded by the IAP Regional Mapping Working Group.
The 4th Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction will be held in Incheon, Korea on 25-28 October 2010 with a provisional theme, “Disaster Risk Reduction for Climate Change Adaptation: Convergence and Technology.”
