Rethinking Disaster Reduction - A Development Challenge

Natural disasters are not just an humanitarian issue, but a development issue

January 21st, 2005

Coinciding with the World Conference on Disaster Reduction held in Kobe from January 18 to 22, the TDLC and Kobe University Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies held a seminar entitled *Rethinking Disaster Reduction - A Development Challenge* on January 21.

The seminar featured presentations from Maryvonne Plessis-Fraissard, the World Bank’s Director of Transportation and Urban Development, Margaret Arnold, the Bank’s Hazard Management Unit Program Manager, and Professor Yujiro Ogawa from Fuji Tokoha University College of Environment and Disaster Research who participated from Kobe. The seminar was moderated from the TDLC by Colin Lonergan, TDLC Operations Manager.

Ms. Plessis-Fraissard spoke on the Bank’s overarching disaster reduction strategy, linking it closely to its core mission of poverty reduction. Natural disasters have a far greater impact on less developed communities and countries, and Ms. Plessis-Fraissard argued that they present not simply humanitarian issues, but serious development issues.

Margaret Arnold then described the Bank’s involvement in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami. She described how the Bank helps to rapidly assess conditions and needs and then works with partner governments to develop relief and reconstruction strategies. Importantly, these strategies must focus on integrating risk reduction for the future, so that affected regions are less susceptible to subsequent disasters.

Having recently returned from Sri Lanka where he witnessed the destructive power of the tsunami first-hand, Professor Ogawa provided an account of his visit. He said that while the media had shown much footage of the immediate devastation, there was additional damage not easily apparent. Sea water had flooded far inland, for example, destroying rice crops in addition to the livelihoods of fishing communities closer to the coast.

Following the presentations the floor was opened to questions from the audiences in Tokyo and Kobe. Questions ranged from the Bank’s relief efforts to donor coordination and the possibilities of microcredit initiatives to help stabilize and grow affected communities.

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