Community-based disaster management discussed in Beijing

A policy dialogue on community-based disaster management (CBDM) policies in Asia was held in Beijing on Tuesday.

It gathered government officials and experts from China, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Nepal and representatives from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to discuss the theme of "Sharing and Learning on Community-Based Disaster Management in Asia."

The meeting, the first of its kind, heard about national approaches on CBDM, ways to build community resilience in the formulation of a post-2015 international framework for disaster risk reduction, and prospective global and regional cooperation on disaster resilience policies.

Lai Hongzhou, senior official from China's Ministry of Civil Affairs, said at the meeting that due to government efforts in disaster control in the last three years, the proportion of direct economic losses caused by natural disasters in China's GDP has been kept within 1.5 percent.

For the post-2015 international framework on disaster risk reduction, Lai suggested promoting a green economy strategy by balancing efforts on disaster loss mitigation and benefit enhancement, establishing a global foundation for disaster risk assessment and response, and improving national and regional governance for disasters.

Mary Hunt, of the Department for International Development of the UK, emphasized in her speech the significant challenge natural disasters pose to growth and poverty reduction work globally.

"Economic globalization has spurred growth but has also led to a massive increase in hazard exposure, as new private and public investment have been concentrated in hazardous areas, such as cyclone and tsunami-prone coastlines, flood-prone river basins and in earthquake prone-cities," she said.

Christophe Bahuet, country director of UNDP China, highlighted the CBDM Asia project as "a good example of collaboration through which the UNDP can help generate and disseminate knowledge as well as experience of community-based disaster risk reduction in China, Bangladesh and Nepal."

While the government generally leads disaster control work in China, citizens in Bangladesh and Nepal are more proactive in disaster prevention or reduction work at local levels.

According to Satya Brata Saha, joint secretary from the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief in Bangladesh, 49,365 volunteers are involved in providing cyclone early warning and response across the country under its Cyclone Preparedness Programme.

Also, over 26,000 urban community volunteers in Bangladesh's six major cities (Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Rangpur, Khulna and Cox' s Bazar) operate under the country's Fire Service and Civil Defence network.

Meanwhile, Nepal has promoted women's roles in disaster resilience, with many Nepalese men having left the country for work in neighboring India or China.

"We make special plans for them, based on their basic needs when disaster happens; we provide training classes for them and teach them how to organize during the event. We also give them special tools for the relief work," said Gopi Khanal, joint secretary of Nepal's Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development.