UNITED NATIONS DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

Agenda: -The impact of manmade and natural

disasters on lives of people and the implementation of the

Sendai Framework.

A word from the Executive Board Dear Delegates,

We welcome you to the DPS Rajnagar Extension Model united nations conference 2019! It

is our contends to be your executive board for this conference.

The agenda which is to be discussed for the committee united nations office for disaster risk

reduction is “The impact of man-made and natural disasters on the lives of people and the

implementation on Sendai Frame work”

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction [UNDRR] aims to prevent new

and reduce existing disasters risk strengthening. The resilience of people, systems and

approaches. DRR sits at the heart of the world’s most pressing concerns: climatic change;

displacement, urbanization, pandemics protracted crisis and financial systems of collapse.

We expect that this background guide will be helpful for your research but using this

background guide instead of your research will be highly discouraged by us. This is to only

shape your idea of your research. We recommend you to prefer UN websites only! For good

research. Before the committee starts there are few things which we would like to point.

We recommend you to research upon your country policy in depth. Throughout the two

days of the conference a highly diplomatic behavior is to be maintained by the delegates. A

good hold over the language with the use of over top pronunciations and fancy vocabulary

does not make you the better one by default. If you are well researched that will

automatically attract attention.

With this we suggest the delegates to research on policy background to maintain quality

debate. we will try our best to help you as much as we can. you are free to contact us if you

come with any problems or doubts. So, We are looking forward to the conference with the

utmost excitement, make new friends, explore new ideas, think out of the box, roam around

and conquer. Most importantly research should not be rigid but it should be smart. We are

eager to meet you all! See you soon guys!

Regards,

Annanya Siri Tanmay Awasthi

(Chairperson) (Vice Chairperson)

Introduction A disaster is a result of natural or man-made causes that leads to sudden disruption of

normal life, causing severe damage to life and property to an extent that available social

and economic protection mechanisms are inadequate to cope.

It is an undesirable occurrence resulting from forces that are largely outside human

control. It strikes quickly with little or no warning and requires major efforts in providing

statutory emergency service.

Classification of Disasters

Disasters are classified as per origin, into natural and man-made disasters. As per

severity, disasters are classified as minor or major (in impact).

Natural disasters are sudden ecological disruptions or threats that exceed the

adjustment capacity of the affected community and require external assistance.

Natural disasters can be broadly classified into categories including geophysical such as

earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; hydrological such as floods; meteorological such

as hurricanes; climatological such as heat and cold waves and droughts;

and biological such as epidemics.

Man-made disasters can include hazardous material spills, fires, groundwater

contamination, transportation accidents, structure failures, mining accidents,

explosions and acts of terrorism.

Causes for Occurrence of Disaster

Environmental degradation: Removal of trees and forest cover from a watershed area

have caused, soil erosion, expansion of flood plain area in upper and middle course of

rivers and groundwater depletion.

Developmental process: Exploitation of land use, development of infrastructure, rapid

urbanization and technological development have caused increasing pressure over the

natural resources.

Political issues: War, nuclear power aspirations, fight between countries to become

super power and conquering land, sea and skies. These have resulted into wide range of

disaster events such as Hiroshima nuclear explosion, Syrian civil war, growing

militarisation of oceans and outer space.

Industrialization: This has resulted into warming of earth and frequency of extreme

weather events has also increased.

Impacts of Disasters

Disaster impacts individuals physically (through loss of life, injury, health, disability)

as well as psychologically.

Disaster results in huge economic loss due to destruction of property, human

settlements and infrastructure etc.

Disaster can alter the natural environment, loss of habitat to many plants and animals

and cause ecological stress that can result in biodiversity loss.

After natural disasters, food and other natural resources like water often becomes scarce

resulting into food and water scarcity.

The disaster results in displacement of people, and displaced population often face

several challenges in new settlements, in this process poorer becomes more poor.

Disaster increases the level of vulnerability and hence multiply the effects of disaster.

Case Study of India

India is vulnerable, in varying degrees, to a large number of disasters. Around 59% of

the landmass is prone to earthquakes of moderate to very high intensity.

About 12% (over 40 million hectares) of its land is prone to floods and river

erosion.

Close to 5,700 kms, out of the 7,516 kms long coastline is prone to cyclones and

tsunamis.

68% of its cultivable area is vulnerable to droughts; and, the hilly areas are at risk

from landslides and avalanches.

Moreover, India is also vulnerable to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear

(CBRN) emergencies and other man-made disasters.

Disaster risks in India are further compounded by increasing vulnerabilities related

to changing demographics and socio-economic conditions, unplanned

urbanization, development within high-risk zones, environmental degradation,

climate change, geological hazards, epidemics and pandemics.

Clearly, all these contribute to a situation where disasters seriously threaten India’s

economy, its population and sustainable development.

Worst Disasters in India

Kashmir Floods (2014) affected Srinagar, Bandipur, Rajouri etc. areas of J&K have

resulted into death of more than 500 people.

Uttarakhand Flash Floods (2013) affected Govindghat, Kedar Dome, Rudraprayag

district of Uttarakhand and resulted into death of more than 5,000 people.

The Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004) affected parts of southern India and Andaman

Nicobar Islands, Sri Lanka, Indonesia etc., and resulted in the death of more than 2 lakh

people.

Gujarat Earthquake (2001) affected Bhuj, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Kutch, Surat,

Surendranagar, Rajkot district, Jamnagar and Jodia districts of Gujarat and resulted in

death of more than 20,000 people.

Odisha Super Cyclone or Paradip Cyclone (1999) affected the coastal districts of

Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Balasore, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Ganjam etc., and resulted into death

of more than 10,000 people.

The Great Famine (1876-1878) affected Madras, Mysore, Hyderabad, and Bombay and

resulted into death of around 3 crore people. Even today, it is considered as one of the

worst natural calamities in India of all time.

Case Studies

Coringa Cyclone (1839) that affected Coringa district of Andhra Pradesh and Calcutta

Cyclone (1737) are some other instances of natural calamities faced by the country in

the past.

The Bengal Famine in the years 1770 and 1943 affected Bengal, Odisha, Bihar very

badly and resulted into death of nearly 1 crore people.

Bhopal Gas tragedy (December, 1984) is one of the worst chemical disasters globally

that resulted in over 10,000 losing their lives (the actual number remains disputed) and

over 5.5 lakh persons affected and suffering from agonizing injuries.

In recent times, there have been cases of railway accidents (Dussehra gathering on the

railway tracks crushed by the trains in 2018),

fire accidents in hospitals due to negligence and non implementation of existing

mandatory fire safety norms,

collapse of various infrastructure constructs like flyovers, metro tracks and

residential buildings due to poor quality of construction, illegal addition of floors and

recurring floods.

Stampede at large public gathering like Kumbh Mela caused by poor people

management and lack of adequate infrastructure to monitor and manage large crowd

gathering.

Stages in Disaster Management

Disaster Management efforts are geared towards disaster risk management.

Disaster Risk Management implies the systematic process of using administrative

decisions, organisation, operational skills, and capacities to implement policies,

strategies and coping capacities of the society and communities to lessen the impact of

natural hazards and related environmental and technological disasters.

These comprise all forms all activities including structural and non- structural measures

to avoid (prevention) or to limit (mitigation and preparedness) adverse effects of

hazards.

There are three key stages of activities in disaster management:

1. Before a disaster: to reduce the potential for human, material, or environmental losses caused by hazards and to ensure that these losses are minimised when disaster strikes;

2. During a disaster: to ensure that the needs and provisions of victims are met to alleviate and minimise suffering; and

3. After a disaster: to achieve rapid and durable recovery which does not reproduce the original vulnerable conditions.

The different phases of disaster management are represented in the disaster cycle

diagram.

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)

Disaster Risk Reduction is the concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through

systematic efforts to analyse and reduce the causal factors of disasters.

Pre-Disaster risk reduction includes-

Mitigation: To eliminate or reduce the impacts and risks of hazards through proactive

measures taken before an emergency or disaster occurs.

Preparedness: To take steps to prepare and reduce the effects of disasters.

Post-Disaster risk reduction includes-

Rescue: Providing warning, evacuation, search, rescue, providing immediate assistance.

STAGES IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Relief: To respond to communities who become victims of disaster, providing relief

measures such as food packets, water, medicines, temporary accommodation, relief camps

etc.

Recovery: This stage emphasises upon recovery of victims of disaster, recovery of damaged

infrastructure and repair of the damages caused.

Disaster Risk Reduction with respect to

Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 1: Target 1.5, which relates to building the resilience of the poor, further

strengthens the position of disaster risk reduction as a core development strategy for

ending extreme poverty.

Goal 2: Target 2.4 supports the immediate need to advance actions in mainstreaming

disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation into agriculture sector planning and

investments in order to promote resilient livelihoods, food production and ecosystems.

Goal 3: Target 3.d, relates to strengthening early warning and risk reduction of

national and global health risks presents an opportunity to further actions to promote

resilient health.

Goal 4: Target 4.7 focusing on building and upgrading education facilities

and promoting education for sustainable development, contribute significantly to

resilience-building in the education sector.’

Goal 6: Target 6.6, which relates to protecting and restoring water-related

ecosystems, will significantly contribute to strengthening the resilience of communities

to water-related hazards.

Goal 9: Targets 9.1 related to developing sustainable and resilient infrastructure

development are vital not only to protect existing infrastructure but also future

infrastructure investments.

Goal 11: Action targets under this goal (11.1, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5, 11.b and 11.c) focusing on

upgrading urban slums, integrated urban planning, reducing social and economic

impacts of disaster risk, building the resilience of the urban poor, adopting and

implementing urban policies in line with the Sendai Framework and building

sustainable and resilient urban infrastructure, are strategic opportunities to ensure

increased capacity to support cities, to protect current and future development prospects

and to build safer, more resilient cities throughout the world.

Goal 13: Target actions under this goal, focusing on strengthening resilience and

adaptive capacity, capacity building and integrating climate change measures into

policies and plans, awareness raising on climate adaptation and early warning (Targets

13.1 to 13.3 and 13.a to 13.b) provide opportunities to strengthen the integration

between disaster and climate resilience and to protect broader development paths at

all levels.

Goal 14: Target action 14.2, focusing on the sustainable management and protection as

well as strengthening resilience of marine and coastal ecosystems, can contribute to

reducing disaster risk and increase in demand for healthy marine and coastal ecosystems.

Goal 15: Target actions 15.1 to 15.4 and 15.9, focus on managing and restoring forests,

combating land degradation and desertification, conserving mountain ecosystems and

their biodiversity and integrating ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and

local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies.

These targets are also in line with the Sendai Framework focus on building

environmental resilience through the inclusion of ecosystems in risk analysis and

planning.

Challenges in Disaster Risk Reduction

There are insufficient levels of implementation for each monitored activity. For

example, Disaster Risk Management plans or a risk sensitive building codes exist but they

are not enforced because of a lack of government capacity or public awareness.

There is lack of local capacities to implement disaster risk management. Weak capacity

at the local levels undermines the implementation Disaster preparedness plans.

Absence of integration of climate change into Disaster Risk Management plans.

There is divergence of obtaining political and economic commitments due to other

competing needs and priorities such as poverty reduction, social welfare, education etc.

require greater attention and funding.

Due to poor coordination between stakeholders, there is inadequate access with

respect to risk assessment, monitoring, early warning, disaster response and other

Disaster related activities.

Insufficient investment in building disaster resilient strategies, also private sector

are least contributors in the share of investment.

Sendai Framework

The Sendai Framework is a 15-year, voluntary, non-binding agreement which recognizes

that the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be

shared with other stakeholders including local government, the private sector and other

stakeholders. It aims for the following outcome:

The substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the

economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses,

communities and countries.

The Sendai Framework is the successor instrument to the Hyogo Framework for Action

(HFA) 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. It is the

outcome of stakeholder consultations initiated in March 2012 and inter-governmental

negotiations held from July 2014 to March 2015, which were supported by the UNISDR

upon the request of the UN General Assembly.

UNISDR has been tasked to support the implementation, follow-up and review of the Sendai

Framework.

The Seven Global Targets

a. Substantially reduce global disaster mortality by 2030, aiming to lower average per

100,000 global mortality rate in the decade 2020-2030 compared to the period 2005-

2015.

b. Substantially reduce the number of affected people globally by 2030, aiming to lower

average global figure per 100,000 in the decade 2020 -2030 compared to the period

2005-2015.

c. Reduce direct disaster economic loss in relation to global gross domestic product (GDP)

by 2030.

d. Substantially reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic

services, among them health and educational facilities, including through developing

their resilience by 2030.

e. Substantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk

reduction strategies by 2020.

f. Substantially enhance international cooperation to developing countries through

adequate and sustainable support to complement their national actions for

implementation of this Framework by 2030.

g. Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning

systems and disaster risk information and assessments to the people by 2030.

The Four Priorities for Action

Priority 1. Understanding disaster risk

Disaster risk management should be based on an understanding of disaster risk in all its

dimensions of vulnerability, capacity, exposure of persons and assets, hazard

characteristics and the environment. Such knowledge can be used for risk assessment,

prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response.

Priority 2. Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk

Disaster risk governance at the national, regional and global levels is very important for

prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery, and rehabilitation. It fosters

collaboration and partnership.

Priority 3. Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience

Public and private investment in disaster risk prevention and reduction through structural

and non-structural measures are essential to enhance the economic, social, health and

cultural resilience of persons, communities, countries and their assets, as well as the

environment.

Priority 4. Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to “Build Back

Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction

The growth of disaster risk means there is a need to strengthen disaster preparedness for

response, take action in anticipation of events, and ensure capacities are in place for

effective response and recovery at all levels. The recovery, rehabilitation and

reconstruction phase is a critical opportunity to build back better, including through

integrating disaster risk reduction into development measures.

The natural disasters of 2018 in figures

When compared with the record losses of the previous year from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma

and Maria, the indications at the start of 2018 were that it would be a more moderate year.

However, the second half of the year saw an accumulation of billion-dollar losses from

floods, tropical cyclones in the US and Japan, wildfires and earthquakes. The overall

economic impact was US$ 160bn, of which US$ 80bn was insured.

A comparison with the last 30 years shows that 2018 was above the inflation-adjusted

overall loss average of US$ 140bn. The figure for insured losses – US$ 80bn – was

significantly higher than the 30-year average of US$ 41bn. 2018 therefore ranks among the

ten costliest disaster years in terms of overall losses, and was the fourth costliest year since

1980 for the insurance industry.

In particular, Hurricanes Michael and Florence in the Atlantic, and Typhoons Jebi, Mangkhut

and Trami in Asia all left their mark. Overall losses from tropical cyclones in 2018 came to

roughly US$ 57bn, of which US$ 29bn was insured. There was also an extremely high impact

from wildfires in California that produced overall losses of US$ 24bn and insured losses of

US$ 18bn. Over the course of the year, 29 events each resulted in an overall loss of US$ 1bn

or more.

Roughly 50% of global macroeconomic losses from natural catastrophes in 2018 were

insured, a significantly higher percentage than the long-term average of 28%. North

America accounted for 68% of insured losses, Asia for 23% and Europe for 8%. The

remaining losses of less than 1% were divided between South America, Africa, Australia and

Oceania.

Payouts by the insurance industry helped to boost catastrophe resilience, in other words,

the ability after a disaster to return to normality as quickly as possible. However,

industrialized countries still account for the vast majority of insurance payouts following

natural catastrophes. There has been a steadily growing willingness in these countries to

take out cover against natural hazards since the 1980s. The situation with insurance

protection in emerging and developing countries is quite different, despite the fact that, for

financially weak and low-income countries, improving risk management and resilience-

building systems is an important way of mitigating the impact of humanitarian disasters

and promoting sustainable economic growth.

Regrettably, 10,400 people around the world lost their lives in natural disasters this year.

This groups 2018 with the years 2016, 2014, 2000, and three other years in the 1980s, in

which the victim toll was around 10,000. Geophysical events accounted for 34% of all

fatalities. This is much lower than the 49% figure over the period 1980–2017. Storm events

claimed 24% of the victims, roughly the same as the 26% average since 1980. However, the

picture was very different for the number of lives lost in flood events. This year's figure of

35% was substantially higher than the 14% average. The reason for this was large-scale

flood events in Asia and Africa.

Earthquakes with and without tsunamis in August, September and December in Indonesia

claimed the lives of over 3,000 people. These proved to be the events with the highest

number of fatalities in 2018, followed by floods in India, Japan and Nigeria. Worldwide, 273

people were killed in wildfires over the course of the year. This is the second highest

number in the time series since 1980 and is only surpassed by the extensive fires in

Indonesia in 1997, which claimed the lives of 375 people. Heading the list in 2018 were fires

in Greece with 100 fatalities and the US with 108.

Half of the global overall losses from natural catastrophes in 2018 of US$ 160bn were

insured, significantly more than the long-term average

NUMBER OF EVENTS

The Munich Re NatCatSERVICE registered 850 events in 2018. Geophysical events such as

earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions accounted for 5% of the total. Storms made

up 42%, floods, flash floods and landslides 46%, while 7% fell into the categories of heat,

cold and wildfire. Generally speaking, the distribution followed the long-term trend

towards a greater number of storms and floods. The continents most affected were Asia

(43%), North America (20%) Europe (14%) and Africa (13%).

Munich Re categorises events from small loss to major disaster according to overall losses

and/or number of victims. On this basis, 12% of events in 2018 fall into the highest

categories, 3 and 4 (severe events and catastrophes). Category 2 makes up 28% and

category 1 (small-scale loss events) comprises 60%. This continues the trend towards a

greater number of small-scale, high-frequency events with a lower magnitude of loss. This

is the category most strongly influenced by reporting, and is therefore subject to the

greatest uncertainty.

North America (including Central America and the Caribbean)

North America was badly hit by two types of events in particular. Firstly, the 2018 hurricane

season again resulted in high losses of US$ 31bn, of which US$ 15bn was insured.

Hurricanes Michael and Florence were responsible for the bulk of the burden. These losses

admittedly fall short of the record overall loss of nearly US$ 230bn in 2017 and insured

losses of US$ 93bn. In addition, billion-dollar losses resulted from major wildfires, such as

the Carr Fire that devastated California in July/August and the Camp and Woolsey Fires of

November. Taken together, these events caused overall losses of US$ 24bn, of which US$

18bn was insured. A total of 110 people were killed in 15 major wildfires.

South America

South America experienced an extremely low number of natural disasters in 2018. The

NatCatSERVICE database registered just 51 significant events. A total of 144 people were

killed and losses amounted to some US$ 1bn. There were 72 hydrological events, consisting

primarily of flooding, flash floods and landslides. Other categories included storms (20%),

earthquakes (6%) and climatological events (around 2%).

Europe

Europe can look back on a loss year that was similar to 2014, 2015 and 2017, with a total of

113 events and overall losses of US$ 16bn (€13.5bn). Some US$ 6bn (€5bn) was paid out in

insured losses. In particular, the severe drought that affected large areas of Europe in 2018

resulted in widespread losses in agriculture and forestry. This drought produced an overall

loss of around US$ 3.9bn (€3.3bn), making it the year's costliest event in Europe. Only a

small portion of this (US$ 280m or €230m) was insured. In addition, two winter storms,

Friederike and Burglind, swept across Europe in January, leaving in their wake overall

losses of US$ 4bn (€3.1bn), of which around US$ 3bn (€2.4bn) was insured. In mid-October,

the remnants of Tropical Storm Leslie battered France, Portugal and Spain.

Africa

Around 100 significant events were registered for the continent of Africa. Almost 1,200

people were killed, the majority in flood events and flash floods in Nigeria and Kenya.

Overall losses for 2018 are estimated at US$ 1.4bn. Because of the low insurance density,

however, insured losses are extremely low.

Asia

Asia was the worst affected continent in terms of the number of events. It accounted for

43% of all events worldwide and for 74% of fatalities in 2018. Overall losses came to US$

59bn. This corresponds to roughly 37% of the global loss burden. US$ 18bn of the total was

insured, which corresponds to just 24% of insurance industry payouts worldwide. A total

of 7,750 people lost their lives in natural disasters in the region, with Japan and Indonesia

particularly affected.

Indonesia was hit extremely hard by tsunami events. These were triggered by earthquakes

and undersea landslides that occurred on the slopes of the active volcano Anak Krakatau.

Australia/Oceania

Around 40 events in Australia and Oceania caused overall losses of approximately US$

1.5bn, of which US$ 540m was insured. On 20 December, a hailstorm in Sydney caused

insured losses of at least US$ 200m, making it one of Australia’s ten largest hail losses of all

time. Smaller losses were incurred in Australia and New Zealand from cyclones, storms,

wildfires and flash floods.

Sendai Framework and Conflict Prevention

Disaster risk reduction with respect to

Societal Tensions

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, adopted by U.N. member states a

year ago, is designed to reduce existing levels of risk, and to prevent new risks emerging, in

relation to both man-made and natural hazards.

By consensus among UN member states, there are no explicit references to conflict in the

text, which articulates guidance on reducing mortality and numbers of people affected by

disasters. Nonetheless the Sendai Framework does clearly identify many of the drivers of

risk that can give rise to either conflict or a natural hazard-related disaster, when little or

nothing is done to mitigate or eliminate them.

Addressing fundamental issues that underpin risk - including poverty, poor governance,

land use, human rights violations, exclusion, environmental degradation, drought and

climate change - under the umbrella of disaster risk reduction creates a global platform for

addressing risk in a way that ushers it into the mainstream of daily political and civil life.

The new Global Report on Internal Displacement tells us that disasters triggered by

natural hazards caused twice as many new displacements in 2015 as conflict and violence.

There were 19.2 million new displacements associated with disasters in 113 countries in

2015, and several of these countries are no strangers to conflict, which gave rise to 8.6

million new displacements in 28 countries last year.

As Jan England, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, points out, in the case

of Sudan, displacement “ostensibly caused by conflict has been traced back to root causes

such as drought and environmental degradation, and a food crisis that became a famine

because of government neglect and changing regional demographics”.

In Yemen last year, Socotra - the only governorate of that war-torn country unaffected by

internal displacement as a result of conflict - was unusually hit by two tropical cyclones in

November, forcing 56,000 people to leave their homes.

Climate change and rapid urbanization are adding to the mix of risk in ways that will keep

global risk modellers busy for years to come. But common sense tells us that disaster risk

reduction properly applied can alleviate societal tensions and help mitigate the impact of

man-made and natural hazards in ways which reduce tension and the likelihood of conflict.

Through convening the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) later this month, U.N.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a new era in international relations - “one in

which safeguarding humanity and promoting human progress drives our decision-making

and collective action”.

ATTENTION TO THOSE WORST HIT

Two key sets of factors are linked to higher levels of violence: socio-economic factors that

entrench poverty, exclusion and inequality; and politico-institutional factors that can

precipitate a crisis of governance.

The U.N. member states that have endorsed the Sendai Framework have also endorsed the

guiding principle that “Disaster risk reduction requires an all-of-society engagement and

partnership. It also requires empowerment and inclusive, accessible and non-

discriminatory participation, paying special attention to people disproportionately affected

by disasters, especially the poorest.”