World’s poorest nations need global aid to improve disaster preparedness – UN

Despite a global effort to improve disaster preparedness, least developed countries (LDCs) remain ill equipped to deal with the impact of natural calamities and need further international aid to do so, according to a senior United Nations development official.

“In the case of the most vulnerable countries, we must realize that the impact of disasters becomes doubly magnified,” the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, Anwarul K. Chowdhury, told the General Assembly yesterday.

“Firstly, they have limited, if any, areas where they can evacuate affected populations to,” he said at a session devoted to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

“Without international assistance, many of them do not have the ability to tackle the resultant shortage of shelter, food, fuel and medical needs of affected populations, let alone effectively take up reconstruction and rehabilitation.”

Mr. Chowdhury acknowledged that in Africa, which has 34 of the world’s 50 LDCs, the African regional strategy for disaster risk management had received strong backing from the African Union (AU). Furthermore, in the Caribbean and Pacific regions a number of initiatives were underway to bolster disaster preparedness.

“The progress to establish early warning systems to the extent that present day technology allows us has been heartening to note, especially after the Asian tsunami,” he said, referring to last December’s Indian Ocean disaster which killed more than 200,000 people in a dozen countries.

A tsunami early warning system, based on quake and tidal sensors, speedy communications, alarm networks from radio to cell phones, and disaster preparedness training in vulnerable regions, gives people time to flee to higher ground before the waves strike.

In December, several hours passed between the quake that spawned the tsunami and landfall of the waves in many of the afflicted countries.