Viet Nam: Rains cool off scorching northern and central regions
Source: Government of Viet Nam
Date: 13 May 2010
(13/05/2010 08:39:28)
A cold front from the north overwhelmed Vietnam’s northern region, which was at the peak of a severe heat wave which began on May 6, causing whirlwinds and heavy rains last Monday morning.
The National Hydro Meteorological Forecast Center said that the heavy rains flooded streets in Hanoi and Hai Phong cities as well as areas of the Nam Dinh Province.
In Lao Cai Province, the heavy rains and strong winds, 89-117 kilometers an hour, ruined 1,300 houses and schools. It is estimated that the province suffered a total loss of VND5 billion (US$263,000) with Lao Cai town and Bat Xat District suffering the worst damage.
In Cao Bang Province, the torrential winds damaged hundreds of houses, in many cases, blowing off entire rooftops.
However, the rains also supplied a considerable amount of water for reservoirs of Hoa Binh, Thac Ba and Tuyen Quang hydropower plants.
The central region, after a week suffering severe hot and arid weather, provinces from Quang Binh to Quang Ngai received welcomed showers on Monday afternoon. In Quang Binh Province, a three-hour shower reduced the temperatures from 40 Celsius degrees to 35 degrees. Local residents were very happy as the rains watered crops which had dried up in Bo River’s low section area.
In addition, the rains softened the salt penetration on the region’s large rivers and provided irrigation water for cultivation of 50,000 hectares of summer-autumn rice crops.
Meanwhile, in Quang Nam Province experienced tumultuous winds that severely damaged property within the mountainous district of Nong Son. Le Duc Thinh, deputy chairman of Que Lam Commune said that the whirlwinds left hundreds of houses and schools without roofs. Only over the past 20 days, three tornados and whirlwinds have swept through Nong Son District, causing a total loss of VND10 billion (US$526,000).
The national weather bureau said that by May 11, the rains would reduce in the north. Meanwhile, the cold front is expected move southward into the Central and Central Highlands areas, which might bring heavy rainfall to those regions.
In HCMC, the scorching heat continued through May 10, causing many children to suffer from heat-related illnesses.
VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed that the government cancels 38 approved hydropower plant projects in the central region as they pose serious threats to the environment and society.
Another 35 projects should be amended, it has said.
The recommendations came from the results of the MoIT’s inspection and evaluation of the planning, investment and operation of hydro-power projects in the central region, after the public and many National Assembly deputies expressed their suspection of the “contribution” of these projects to terrible floods last year in this region.
The projects, which were planned in nine provinces including Quang Nam and Dak Lak, were placed under a government-ordered review last November after several hydropower reservoirs were blamed for worsening floods during the Ketsana and Mirinae typhoons.
According to the ministry, the central and central highlands provinces currently are home to 393 hydropower plant projects, and Dak Lak Province has recently started studying 79 more “potential” locations for hydropower plants.
Also in its report to the government, the ministry said hydropower reservoirs in Quang Tri, Quang Nam and Phu Yen provinces that were blamed for worsening floods by discharging water during typhoons last year had complied with regulations on water release.
However, due to shortcomings in the capacity of staff operating the reservoirs and cooperation among related agencies, the release wasn’t conducted in a timely and effective way, the ministry said.
The Ministry also worried about the construction quality of hydropower works, which can turn hydro-power dams into “time bombs” and threats the live of million people.
Meanwhile, related to the conflict of water resources in the Vu Gia river between the central city of Da Nang and the investor of Dak Mi 4 Hydropower Plant in Quang Nam province, Da Nang has sent the conflict profile to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for consideration.
Deputy director of Da Nang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Huynh Van Thang, said that in case this ministry can’t solve the conflict, Da Nang would follow this case to the end, even bring it to the government.
“Without timely measures, when Dak Mi 4 blocks the flow next year, the Vu Gia downstream will fall into tragedy of drought,” Thang said.
Experts calculated that once this hydro-power plant runs, it will “take away” around 400 million cubic meter of water of the Vu Gia river downstream a year because this volume of water will run to the Thu Bon river.
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Hydro projects and deforestation contribute to central flood crises
09/11/2009
VietNamNet Bridge – Former Agriculture and Rural Development Deputy Minister Dr Vu Trong Hong spoke with Tuoi Tre Cuoi Tuan (Weekly Youth) about the role of hydro-electricity plants and deforestation in recent floodings.
More than 4,000ha of forest in Quang Nam Province have been destroyed to make way for the building of hydro-electricity plants. Was that necessary?
Previously, the former Ministry of Irrigation decided that the central region was an inappropriate area to build reservoirs. It took more than a decade for it to approve the building of a reservoir for the Ta Trach hydro-electricity plant in Thua Thien-Hue Province. Though the reservoir still releases flood water, it doesn’t happen often.
This highlights the fact the central region should not destroy forest to build small hydro-electricity plants because forests help stop flooding and ensure the supply of water to people in the central region.
Also, if deforestation continues, climate change and rising sea levels will make the region suffer greater misery.
Everyone knew deforestation would cause floods, so why do they still build hydro-electricity plants. Is it wrong?
If the forests still existed it would reduce flooding by preventing the concentration of water. The loss of the forests has caused major floods and devastation in the region.
Added to this, some hydro-electricity plants in the central region store water before the flood season for fear of not having enough rain to generate electricity.
So flood water flows into full reservoirs and causes them to spill over.
Does this mean the flood disasters have occurred as a direct result of deforestation and the wrong operation of some hydro-electricity plants?
That’s right. Deforestation has resulted in serious floods and the hydro-electricity firms have failed in their duty to curb flooding.
There is a contradiction between building hydro-electricity plants and flood prevention. Priority should be given to recognising this contradiction to stop creating disasters.
For instance, if a dam is weak it must be repaired and in doing so the loss of electricity generation must be borne.
Such should be the case in flood control, instead of continuously storing water and letting local people suffer from floods.
If private hydro-electricity plants have exposed shortcomings, why has Quang Nam had up to 53 approved hydro-electricity plants?
Obviously, it is not a reasonable plan and will continue to cause disasters, particularly if accompanied by deforestation.
They also are a disaster for the environment because all the indigenous plants are destroyed, causing changes to the ecology and biology. Toxic and very special creatures arise and salt water penetrates, leading to the destruction of forests for land.
The former irrigation ministry was obviously in a divided mind as it took more than a decade to decide to build the hydro-electricity plants.
Before that it took 30-40 years to make a decision to build a big reservoir. For a small reserve , it took up to 10 years. Now people are not so careful and the consequences are obvious.
Is it time to review the forest protection and hydro-electricity development policies?
It is time to raise the alarm about forest protection and hydro-electricity policies. Is it necessary to build so many hydro-electricity plants and pay such a high price: floods and biological degredation? Also, how will the Government respond to hydro-electricity plants which have been built?
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) once concluded the problems in the central region had exposed contradictions between the policies on forestry and hydro-electricity developments.
In the past, the irrigation ministry was in charge of building reservoirs. The Ministry of Forestry looked after forests. Later, they merged to form MARD which was responsible for all these issues.
But now, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Trade and Industry approve reservoirs and small hydro-electricity plants.
That is not appropriate. MARD should be responsible about building hydro plants that adversely impact forests and water sources.
It is important to devolve responsibility on provincial People’s Committees to avoid a situation where they don’t know how many hydro-electricity plants are operating in their localities.
Weathering the Storm: Options for Disaster Risk Financing in Vietnam
In the context of the National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention, Response and Mitigation approved by the Government of Vietnam, in 2009 the Ministry of Finance requested the World Bank to conduct a study on the financial protection of the state against natural disasters.
This study aims to build institutional capacity on catastrophe risk financing and to identify financial options which are affordable and effective to the Government of Vietnam, including both sovereign risk financing and private insurance instruments. The study relies on the following four components: (i) financial risk assessment; (ii) review of Government budgetary process for financing natural disasters; (iii) dynamic fiscal funding gap analysis; and (iv) options for the financial protection of the state against natural disasters.
Key Findings and Challenges
1. The annual average value of natural disaster losses, as reported by the public authorities, are estimated at one percent of GDP over the last 20 years, or US$ 900 million in 2008 GDP, and could exceed US$3.8 billion for a major disaster.
2. The official loss values may be under-estimated because the current post-disaster damage assessment and reporting system tends to under-report the financial value of the damages.
3. The Contingency Budgets are currently the main source of post-disaster financing of emergency relief and recovery expenditures by the Government of Vietnam.
4. The current Contingency Budgets have been able fund the post-disaster recovery needs in the period 2000-08, but they may be insufficient for more severe disasters.
5. Major reconstruction funding gaps have been identified between 2006 and 2008.
6. Disaster risk financing can provide financial incentives to prevention and preparedness activities and allow for rapid response once a disaster occurs.
7. A cost-effective disaster risk financing strategy should rely on an optimal combination of financial instruments including, but not only limited to, contingency budgets.
Options for Consideration
1. Government of Vietnam could formally allocate a portion of its contingency budget for natural disasters.
2. Government of Vietnam could also build up reserves dedicated to natural disasters from an annual budget allocation into the existing Financial Reserve Fund.
3. Contingency budgets and/or reserves could be complemented with a contingent credit.
4. Sovereign parametric disaster insurance could be further explored to protect against the fiscal impact of major events occurring every ten years or less frequently.
5. The Government of Vietnam could set up a dedicated reserve fund for natural disasters for the post-disaster reconstruction of public assets.
6. In the medium term, the Government of Vietnam could promote the development of the local property catastrophe insurance market, especially for private urban dwellings of middleand high-income households.
7. In the medium term, agricultural insurance could also be promoted through public privatepartnerships.
DWF Viet Nam in “Local governments and disaster risk reduction: good practices and lessons learned”
This collection of good practices shows how building the capacity of local institutions is key to sustaining disaster risk reduction, and demonstrates the immediate impact of local and national political commitments that institutionalise disaster risk reduction. It also showcases collaboration between local and national governments, civil society organizations and international agencies.
These good practices are intended to generate increased interest in the subject among local governments, community leaders, implementing agencies, policy makers and other stakeholders, and to inspire local governments and their partners to reduce disaster risks for the most vulnerable people in their local areas, by following and replicating these concrete examples.
The publication has been produced by the former “Local government alliance for disaster risk reduction”, in collaboration with the UNDP Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, the International Training Centre of the ILO and UNISDR. It is also seen as a contribution to the forthcoming 2010-11 World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Making cities resilient”.
It contains:
- Bangladesh: The Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme: Empowering local governments
- Canada: The Ontario Provincial Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment
- El Salvador: Strengthening connections between communities and local government
- Fiji: Beyond early warning and response: Risk-sensitive local development
- France: Memo’Risks: Students survey community risk knowledge
- Indonesia: Many partners, one system: An integrated Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) for Jakarta
- Indonesia: The joint management of Merapi Volcano
- Japan: Watch and learn: Children and communities study mountain and urban risks
- Nepal: Community-based poverty reduction for disaster risk reduction
- Pakistan: Institution-building and capacity building for local governments
- Peru: Empowering local government as leaders in disaster reduction and recovery
- Philippines: A permanent provincial coordinating office for disaster risk reduction
- South Africa: Developing and managing water resources - Viet Nam: Building local capacity and creating a local government network for cyclone risk
BANGKOK, 21 April 2010 (IRIN) - The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) is to conclude its activities in Myanmar’s cyclone-affected Ayeyarwady Delta at the end of May.
“The decision to wind down ECHO assistance to those affected by Cyclone Nargis was taken during the second half of 2009, as we assessed that the level of acute humanitarian needs had decreased significantly in the course of last year,” Christophe Reltien, ECHO’s head of office in Myanmar, told IRIN from Yangon.
“What is needed now is longer-term development assistance,” he said.
The last Nargis project funded by ECHO will officially end on 31 May 2010.
More than 138,000 people lost their lives when the cyclone slammed into Myanmar’s southern Ayeyarwady delta on 2 and 3 May 2008, affecting 2.4 million people and leaving nearly half of them in need of assistance.
ECHO’s mandate is to provide emergency assistance and relief to the victims of natural disasters or armed conflict.
“Overall, after 24 months of tremendous efforts by our partners and other organizations, the humanitarian situation can be categorized as satisfactory,” Reltien said.
However, challenges remain, he said, citing the re-establishment of livelihoods so that communities can again become self-sustaining.
“These needs have to be addressed in the medium- to long-term,” the ECHO official said.
Assistance to date
ECHO provided a total of 39 million euros (US$52.5 million) from 2008 to 2010 in emergency assistance to affected communities. It enabled more than two dozen partners to implement 37 programmes to provide for the immediate needs of the affected population through the distribution of non-food items, food aid, basic health care, water and sanitation, and shelter material.
’‘What is needed now is longer-term development assistance’‘
Over 1.35 million people in the delta, as well as in the Yangon area, benefited from the assistance.
Asked what ECHO would be doing next in Myanmar, Reltien said that the needs of the affected population had changed, and so would their programmes.
“We are moving from humanitarian aid to a more recovery/developmental form of assistance,” he said.
Other funds are now available, such as the multi-donor trust fund called LIFT (Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund), to which the EU is a major contributor, he added.
“This fund will support projects to address livelihood activities in the affected areas. There are also a number of other bilateral donors present to support the recovery effort,” Reltien said.
This year, ECHO will provide 9.25 million euros to fund a number of humanitarian projects around the country, up from 8.75 million euros in 2009.
Whirlwind and hail cause damage in Nong Son district, Quang Nam province
On 19 April, at 2.30pm, large areas of Nong Son district, Quang Nam province, were surprised by a big whirlwind along with hail that caused serious damages to crops and infrastructure.
On 19 April, at 2.30pm, large areas of Nong Son district, Quang Nam province, were surprised by a big whirlwind along with hail that caused serious damages to crops and infrastructure.
The hail occured in Que Loc and Quoc Trung commune, with stone diameter from 2 to 3 cm, and even some hail stones measuring 4cm. Together with the hail, there was a whirlwind with a strong intensity that caused damages to 100ha of spring-winter crop, about to be harvested, particularly in Que Trung commune. The hail and whirlwind blew 100 houses away and damaged a school in Que Loc commune. It also caused some broken roofs in Nong son district, fortunately without any dead or casualties.
After the disaster, Nong Son leaders visitied the affected areas to inspect and monitor the damages and to decide appropriate measures to recover and stabilize livelihoods and production.
Whirlwind in Lao Cai causes one dead and extensive damage
On April 15, 2010, Bac Ha district in Lao Cai province was affected by a whirlwind and heavy rain. As a result, one person died, dozens of roofs were blown away, and extensive damage was brought to farmlands.
Prune fields, at this time of the year in their growth period, were seriously damaged, causing a decreased production for this year.
According to Nguyen Thi Hoa, Head of Bac Ha People’s committee, the whirlwind passed through Bac Ha, Ta Chai, Na Hoi, Ban Pho, and Thai Giang Pho. Roofs were blown away and 30 houses, and 2 schools, Thai Giang Pho and Ta Chai, were damaged. The whirlwind also caused one dead; Thao Seo Vinh, 25 years old, resident in Khao Sao, Ban Pho, Bac Ha, died when his house collapsed.
Bac Ha district officials continue to collect damage statistics, mobilize search and rescue, provide immediate assistance and support to the affected households to recover their livelihoods.
ASEAN Leaders’ Statement on Joint Response to Climate Change
The 16 th ASEAN Summit adopted the ASEAN Leaders’ Statement on Joint Response to Climate Change in Hanoi on April 9.
Following is the full text of the statement:
We, the Heads of State/Government of Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Member States of ASEAN, on the occasion of the 16 th ASEAN Summit;
RENEWING our commitments made in the ASEAN Joint Statement on Climate Change to the 15 th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 5 th session of the Conference Parties serving as the Meeting of Parties (CMP) to the Kyoto Protocol (2009), the ASEAN Declaration on the 13 th session of COP to the UNFCCC and the 3 rd session of the CMP to the Kyoto Protocol (2007), and the ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Sustainability (2007);
Reaffirming that the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol constitute the current legal framework and legal instrument for the international community to combat global climate change and that comprehensive, effective and binding outcomes of the Bali Roadmap are essential for furthering the implementation of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol and should be addressed by a consensus-based and transparent manner;
Further reaffirming the principle of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and national circumstances;
Understanding that while the Copenhagen Accord is not a legally binding instrument, it provides elements that could be considered as inputs to the two-track process of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Actions (AWG-LCA) and the Ad-hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) aimed at reaching at a fair, equitable, and legally binding agreement that ensures a successful COP 16/CMP 6 in Mexico;
Noting the large number of countries associating themselves with the Copenhagen Accord;
Recognising that the Southeast Asian region is also vulnerable to climate change which will seriously affect most of aspects of livelihood and limit our development options for the future, including our efforts towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals;
Recognising the importance of sustainable forest management in ASEAN, which will contribute significantly to the international efforts to promote environmental sustainability and to mitigate the effects of climate change;
Sharing a vision for an ASEAN Community resilient to climate change, and supporting our national and global efforts to combat climate change consistent with our common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities;
DO HEREBY DECLARE TO:
Towards a global solution to the challenge of climate change at COP 16/CMP 6
1. Reaffirm our right to sustainable development and resolve to achieve the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC to stabilise atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system and within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner;
2. Urge all Parties of UNFCCC to work together to secure a legally binding agreement, particularly to limit the increase in average global temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level, and encourage all Parties concerned to engage in further discussions to elaborate appropriate provisions, which should be concluded at COP 16/CMP 6 in December 2010;
3. Urge developed countries to continue taking the lead by making more ambitious commitments and setting out specific and binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the mid-term and long-term;
4. Call upon developed countries to support developing countries, and take full account of the specific needs and special situations of the least developed countries and those most affected by climate change, with adequate, predictable and sustainable financial resources, transfer of technology, as well as capacity enhancement to enable adaptation efforts and nationally appropriate mitigation actions by developing countries through effective and new institutional arrangements;
5. Urge all countries, particularly developed countries, to ensure that their existing and future unilateral policies and measures as well as market-based mechanisms in addressing climate change will not negatively affect international trade as well as the sustainable economic and social development of developing countries, taking into full account the specific needs and special situations of the least developed countries;
6. Urge developed countries to fulfill their obligations under the UNFCCC and to provide scaled-up, new and additional, adequate and predictable funding to the developing countries, taking into full account the specific needs and special situations of the least developed countries and those most affected by climate change which shall be provided with incentives to continue to develop on a low emission pathway;
7. Encourage all developing countries to make active contributions to the global efforts through the development and implementation of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) on a voluntary basis, in accordance with their different national circumstances, while welcoming adequate financial and technical support that is made available to them;
8 . Encourage South-South cooperation to support ASEAN Member States in addressing the impacts of climate change through technical cooperation and capacity building;
9. Reaffirm that agreement on and effective implementation of Reduced Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)-plus mechanisms is critical for contributions by ASEAN Members States to mitigate emissions, and offers major opportunities for enhancing biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, as well as supporting the livelihood of local communities in a sustainable manner;
10. Work constructively together to ensure that the outcome of COP 16/CMP 6 will incorporate long-term cooperative actions to address climate change in accordance with principles and provisions of the Convention and the Bali Action Plan, in particular on mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology transfer, capacity building and taking into account the specific national circumstances of Parties and a future agreement of the Second Commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol;
11. Commit to actively contribute towards a successful outcome of COP 16/CMP 6;
Towards an ASEAN Community resilient to climate change
12. Continue to exchange views among ASEAN Member States on international climate negotiations under the UNFCCC, before and in Mexico (COP 16/CMP 6) as well as other related international conferences. In this regard, the newly established ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC) should work extensively to develop a common understanding/position of ASEAN in the coming COP 16/CMP 6 in 2010 in line with the Bali Roadmap;
13. Urge the ASEAN Climate Change Initiative (ACCI) to actively provide a consultative platform to further strengthen regional coordination and cooperation addressing climate change;
14. Enhance scientific collaboration including on the following areas:
Downscaling of climate change effects according to different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios for the Southeast Asian region and for local areas according to multiple models;
Detailed climate change impact assessment, vulnerability assessment, adaptation options and needs for the Southeast Asian region and sub-regions such as BIMP-EAGA and Greater Mekong Sub-region;
Formulation of needs and opportunities for greenhouse gas emissions mitigation with both domestic and international support in, for example water resources management and peat land management, forestry, agricultural, industrial and domestic energy efficiency measures, renewable energy generation, and transportation;
15. Engage in cooperation in research and development and knowledge sharing, including on agricultural management and practices so as to enhance food production, agricultural productivity and water resources sustainability, while adapting to the adverse effects of climate change and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from the sector, thus ensuring food security in the ASEAN region;
16. Commit ourselves to promoting programmes for raising domestic awareness on climate change and to inculcate habits towards a low emissions society, including through enhancement of education on climate change;
17. Incorporate mitigation and adaptation strategies into national development strategies and policies in line with sustainable development;
18. Enhance ASEAN participation towards strengthening international cooperation/efforts to address climate change and assess its impacts on socio-economic development, health, environment and water resources , including activities on building adaptive capacities and supporting mitigation and adaptation actions;
19. Encourage cooperation with other regional and sub-regional institutions such as, inter-alia, the Greater Mekong Sub-region and the Mekong River Commission (MRC), while welcoming the outcomes of the First Summit of the MRC in Thailand on 4-5 April 2010, which were reflected in the “Declaration on Meeting the Needs, Striking the Balance: Towards the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin” highlighting the sustainable use, management and development of water and related resources.
20. Collaborate on environmentally-sound technologies, towards low carbon and green economy;
21. Consider the possibility of developing an ASEAN action plan to better understand and respond to climate change;
22. Develop ASEAN climate change impact scenarios as the foundation to conduct an ASEAN report on climate change impact assessment so as to provide inputs to the Fifth Assessment Report (AR 5) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2015, taking into account related initiatives in other multilateral fora;
23. Strengthen ASEAN collaboration and cooperation with a view to enhancing regional awareness on environment, environmentally-sound technology and climate change towards better, research and education on these matters in the region.
Geneva - In the past decade, nearly 60 per cent of the people killed by disasters died because of earthquakes, the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) revealed today in a joint press conference with the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).
“Earthquakes are the deadliest natural hazard of the past ten years and remain a serious threat for millions of people worldwide as eight out of the ten most populous cities in the world are on earthquake fault-lines,” said Margareta Wahlström, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction.
“Disaster risk reduction is an indispensable investment for each earthquake-prone city and each community. Seismic risk is a permanent risk and cannot be ignored. Earthquakes can happen anywhere at any time. Risk reduction will be a main priority in the Haiti reconstruction process, and we will be working with our partners to ensure that it is central in the reconstruction” continued Wahlström.
According to the figures released today by CRED in Geneva, 3,852 disasters killed more than 780,000 people over the past ten years, affected more than two billion others and cost a minimum of 960 billion US$.
In terms of human losses, Asia is the continent that has been struck again and again by disasters during the last decade, accounting for 85 per cent of all fatalities.
After earthquakes, storms (22%) and extreme temperatures (11%) were the most deadly disasters between 2000 and 2009.
The most deadly disasters of the 2000 decade were the Indian Ocean Tsunami, which hit several countries in Asia (2004) leaving 226,408 dead; Cyclone Nargis, which killed 138,366 people in Myanmar (2008); and the Sichuan earthquake in China (2008), causing the deaths of 87,476 people. 73,338 people were also killed in the earthquake in Pakistan (2005) and 72,210 in heat waves in Europe (2003).
“The number of catastrophic events has more than doubled since the 1980-1989 decade. In contrast, the numbers of affected people have increased at a slower rate. This may be due to better community preparedness and prevention,” said Professor Guha-Sapir, Director of CRED.
Of the two billion affected people, 44 per cent were affected by floods and 30 per cent by droughts, while earthquakes accounted for 4 per cent.
The annual average death toll for the 2000 decade was 78,000, which is considerably higher than the 43,000 of the previous decade (1990s). But in the 1980s, the annual average of persons killed was almost as high with 75,000 owing to two major droughts and famines in Ethiopia and Sudan.
The average number of natural hazard events per annum in 2000-2009 was 385 compared to the annual average of 258 for the decade 1990-1999 and 165 for the decade 1980-1989.
The annual average of 96 billion US$ is more than twice as high as the respective figure for the 1980s (39 billion US$), but remains slightly below the 99 billion US$ annual average of the decade 1990-99.
In 2009, the total number of people killed and affected by disasters was lower than in 2008, as no major disaster occurred: 327 events killed 10,416 people, affected nearly 113 million others and caused a total of 34.9 billion US$ economic damages.
The 2009 figures remain also well below the 2000-2008 annual averages, which were 85,535 (deaths), 229,792,397 (total affected) and 102.7 billion US$ (economic damages).
The disaster with the highest death toll was the 7.6 magnitude earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia on 30 September, which killed over 1100. Furthermore, typhoons Morakot, Ketsana and Parma and floods caused many deaths in Asia, rendering the continent once again the most affected one. Six of the top 10 countries with the highest number of disaster-related deaths were in Asia.
“By far the majority of the people affected have been by climate-related events such as floods and storms,” said Professor Guha-Sapir. “Although these events are climate events, their impact on home settlements can be determined by non-climate factors such as urbanization, urban planning and deforestation.” CRED argues that these factors can be managed to reduce the impact of those events.
Note to the editor:
• The eight most populous cities on earthquake fault-lines are: Tokyo, Mexico City, New York, Mumbai, Delhi, Shanghai, Kolkata and Jakarta.
• CRED is a World Health Organization collaborating centre based in Brussels. Since 1988, CRED has been maintaining an Emergency Events Database known as EM-DAT. EM-DAT includes all disasters from 1900 until present, which fit at least one of the following criteria:
- 10 or more people killed.
- 100 or more people affected.
- Declaration of a state of emergency.
- Call for international assistance.
“I call for the need of world leaders to address climate change and reduce the increasing risk of disasters- and world leaders must include Mayors, townships and community leaders” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the opening of the Incheon Conference “Building an Alliance of Local Governments for Disaster Risk Reduction”, August 2009
Cities and local governments need to get ready, reduce the risks and become resilient to disasters. For the next two years and beyond, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) will campaign together with its partners for this to happen.
The 2010-2011 World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Making Cities Resilient” addresses issues of local governance and urban risk while drawing upon previous ISDR Campaigns on safer schools and hospitals, as well as on the sustainable urbanizations principles developed in the UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign 2009-2013.
My city is getting ready!
Mayors and their local governments are both the key targets and drivers of the campaign. Local government officials are faced with the threat of disasters on a day-to-day basis and need better access to policies and tools to effectively deal with them. The Hyogo Framework for Action 2005- 2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters offers solutions for local governments and local actors to manage and reduce urban risk. Urban risk reduction provides opportunities for capital investments through infrastructure upgrades and improvements, building retrofits for energy efficiency and safety, urban renovation and renewal, cleaner energies, and slum upgrading. Local governments are the institutional level closest to the citizens and to their communities. They play the first role in responding to crises and emergencies and in attending to the needs of their constituencies. They deliver essential services to their citizens (health, education, transport, water, etc.), which need to be made resilient to disasters.
But making cities safe from disaster is everybody’s business: National governments, local government associations, international, regional and civil society organizations, donors, the private sector, academia and professional associations as well as every citizen need to be engaged. All these stakeholders need to be on board, take on their role and contribute to building disaster resilient cities.
Get Involved!
Know more – Invest wisely – Build more safely
The overall target of the 2010-2011 World Disaster Reduction Campaign is to get as many local governments ready as possible, to span a global network of fully engaged cities of different sizes, characteristics, risk profiles and locations. The campaign is focusing on raising political commitment to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation among local governments and mayors; including through high profile media and public awareness activities, and will develop specific technical tools that cater for capacity development opportunities.
Viet Nam: National steering committee on climate change established
The Prime Minister has signed the Decision No.419/QĐ-TTg on establishing the National Steering Committee for the National Target Programme to respond to climate change.
Accordingly, the Chairman of the steering committee is the Prime Minister who is responsible for managing the steering committee and assigning tasks to relevant members.
The Standing Vice Chairman who is the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment will assist the Chairman to co-ordinate activities of the committee and submit to the Government policies to combat climate change.
Other Vice Chairmen are leaders of relevant ministries and sectors. They take charge in proposing solutions to implement the programme, working out plans to lure investment and balancing financial support to the programme and so on.
The steering committee will hold a meeting every six months.
For many the effects of Agent Orange continue to be felt
DANANG, 9 April 2010 (IRIN) - When US airplanes sprayed the jungle around Tran Thanh Dung with an orange mist during the Vietnam war, he did not know his children would suffer four decades later. At the time he was a child soldier with the Viet Cong, the communist guerilla group in central Vietnam.
“The American airplanes came right towards me and dropped a mist on the jungle, and the next day, the trees were dead,” he recalls. “We weren’t scared. We were confused.”
Tran was sprayed with Agent Orange, a herbicide used by the US army to kill off foliage in Vietnam and Laos in the 1960s and early 1970s, so the communist forces could not hide in the forests.
The defoliant was contaminated with dioxin, a chemical believed to cause birth defects in the children of those exposed, say health experts. Today, Tran’s 18-year-old son suffers from spina bifida, an ailment doctors said was caused by Tran’s contact with dioxin in the early 1970s.
Child victims like his son have “been forgotten”, Tran says. He wants the US government to reimburse the families of Vietnamese soldiers for the effects of the spraying. “The problems of the war will never leave us.”
Legacy of tragedy
The US sprayed about 75 million litres of Agent Orange around Vietnam, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of the US Congress. Most of the defoliant was sprayed in the war-ravaged central and southern provinces.
The Vietnamese government, meanwhile, estimates that as many as 400,000 people have died from illnesses related to exposure to dioxin, such as cancer.
It also claims that up to 500,000 children have birth defects, such as spina bifida, because their parents were exposed.
The US government insists that the direct spraying of Agent Orange on to people - as in Tran’s case - cannot be linked to any illnesses in Vietnam.
It does concede, however, that people can get sick from ingesting contaminated water and vegetable supplies.
“The United States Government advocates the use of sound science,” Jim Warren, the US embassy spokesman in Hanoi, told IRIN. He was referring to an alleged lack of evidence that suggests a firm link between certain illnesses and dioxin exposure.
Progress
Others say that since the US and Vietnam normalized relations in 1995, they have been making progress on the Agent Orange issue.
In 2007, the US government and the Ford Foundation, a New York-based NGO, began funding a clean-up effort at Danang airport, which is thought to be one of the most contaminated sites in Vietnam.
A government-funded centre for children with disabilities - many of them caused by Agent Orange
Danang is the fourth-largest city in Vietnam and one of the country’s poorest. During the 1960s, the US military stored dioxin at the airport, which then seeped into the local water supply and soil.
But even with the clean-up, some farmers still cannot grow crops on the contaminated soil - a factor that many say has hindered the economic development of poverty-ravaged central Vietnam.
“In some areas called hotspots, like Danang, people cannot use land for agriculture,” says Vo Quy, former head of the Center for Natural Resource Management and Environmental Studies at the University of Hanoi, in the capital.
“Land and forests are important for our country, and people depend on nature for their livelihoods. It’s very difficult for them to make a living in these areas.”
Children at risk
A 2009 assessment by a Canadian contractor determined that the clean-up reduced human exposure “significantly”. The main bulk of the cleaning-up project is expected to start this year.
However, the human toll created by dioxin remains, others say.
About 5,000 people in Danang might be ill from exposure to dioxin, of whom about 1,400 are children, according to the Danang Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, a Vietnamese NGO that runs rehabilitation centres for 100 disabled children.
The issue is not getting the funding it deserves, says Nguyen Thi Hien, the group’s president.
The government’s position is that many suffered as a result of their exposure.
“We need far more help from foreign donors,” Nguyen said, adding that she was disappointed the US “is not putting enough funds directly to helping the victims”.
The US government allocated US$1 million of a $3 million aid package in Danang to helping victims.
The entire $3 million went to three NGOs: East Meets West Foundation, Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH), and Save the Children. The projects were intended to provide services “without regard to the cause of disabilities”, David Moyer, assistant spokesman for the US embassy in Hanoi, told IRIN.
“The United States has contributed more than $46 million since 1989 to aid Vietnamese with disabilities,” Moyer added.
HANOI, April 9 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian leaders were set on Friday to adopt strategies for keeping economic growth on track, bolstering their political and economic community and making common cause on climate change.
The 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will keep “supportive policies” in place to consolidate the economic recovery, but will withdraw stimulus measures when private demand returns, a draft of their declaration to be issued when they wrap up an annual summit later on Friday said.
ASEAN finance ministers said at the end of their meeting on Thursday they expected the region to achieve 4.9-5.6 percent annual growth, up from 1.5 percent last year. [ID:nSGE6370FZ]
Economists have warned that large capital inflows pose a risk to the macroeconomic stability of some of the region’s economies, and the ministers said they were “cognizant” of those risks.
But Singapore’s Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam told a news conference no specific proposals were made about managing capital flows.
The draft declaration was filled with the usual ASEAN alphabet soup of acronyms, meetings about processes and hopeful homilies about the community they are trying to build.
But the summit, as often happens at ASEAN meetings, has been overshadowed by concerns about Myanmar’s widely derided election plans and unrest in one of its members. Thailand’s prime minister was forced to cancel his trip to Hanoi after declaring a state of emergency in Bangkok to control anti-government protests.
Myanmar’s election plan was not on the agenda, but still occupied the attention of the other nations’ leaders, concerned their most truculent member hurts the group’s credibility.
Indonesia and the Philippines have publicly criticised Myanmar’s election laws, which ban political prisoners, such as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, from running.
Her National League for Democracy, which won the last election in 1990 by a landslide but was denied power by the army, is boycotting this one. That move could make it difficult for the junta to portray the polls as free, fair, inclusive and credible.
Myanmar has so far kept the polling date a secret.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told the summit’s opening on Thursday that a statement on climate change would be adopted, “sending out ASEAN’s strong message on the international negotiating process for an effective climate change regime”.
The draft declaration states the leaders will also consider ways to strengthen their charter and community.
Foreign ministers on Thursday signed a protocol establishing a “dispute settlement mechanism” within the charter to resolve arguments between ASEAN member states, such as over territory.
Procedures for the mechanism, to be finalised at a meeting in July, completes the charter’s legal framework, ministers said.
The charter, adopted two years ago, will turn a region of 580 million people with a combined GDP of $2.7 trillion into a rules-based political and economic bloc over the next five years.
ASEAN has never censured Myanmar over its rights record and is unlikely to do so this time. But summit leaders may indicate to the junta’s representative, Prime Minister Thein Sein, that Myanmar is hurting the group’s credibility.
“The Myanmar issue still presents a problem when we want to take ASEAN forward to negotiate and deal with other groupings and countries,” Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said. “It presents a major limitation for us.”
ASEAN has always taken a gentle approach to the resource-rich country wedged between India and China—and a half-century ago, one of Asia’s most developed nations.
“We are not in a position to punish Myanmar,” Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said.
“ASEAN takes a very realpolitik position, which is that if China and India remain engaged in Myanmar, we have to. It is better that Myanmar remain in the ASEAN sphere than being a buffer state in between the two biggest countries on earth.”
ASEAN includes an absolute monarchy in Brunei, the junta in Myanmar, one-party communist states in Laos and Vietnam and robust democracies such the Philippines and Indonesia. Finding common ground is not always easy in this group, which also includes Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
HANOI, 30 March 2010 (IRIN) - Vietnam is bracing for further forest fires because of the continuing drought.
“The increase in forest fires is one of the most severe and visible impacts of the drought,” Pham Manh Cuong, a senior forest and environmental officer with the Vietnamese Forestry Directorate, told IRIN in Hanoi on 30 March.
Experts describe it as one of the worst the country has ever experienced. [see Record drought threatens livelihoods]
The Red River in the north of Vietnam is at its lowest level since records began in 1902 and salinization in the Mekong Delta has reached 70km inland in some places.
The drought began last August and is being blamed on El Niño, a cyclical warming pattern. Government efforts
“It’s the first time the government is dealing seriously with a drought,” Cristina Bentivoglio, a programme officer with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said.
“It’s considered an emergency, especially in the north and the Mekong Delta.”
According to the UN, 22 provinces in Vietnam are on high alert for forest fires.
More than 150 small and medium-sized fires have been reported, with about 1,600ha destroyed so far, according to a situation report dated 25 March.
Provinces in the far north are the most affected, though areas of the Mekong Delta, a key agricultural area, are also under threat.
About 70 percent of forest fires are due to slash-and-burn farming techniques.
“Poor or degraded” forests and those near dry agricultural fields or on sloping land are the most likely to burn, said Cuong.
The Forest Protection Department (FPD), under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has invested in an early forest fire forecast system, with satellite capacity.
“Forest fire warning maps are extracted from medium-resolution satellite images and weather information is updated on an hourly basis. These maps are very useful for detecting hotspots,” Cuong explained.
Fire forecasts are also being broadcast on local television and a hotline has been established.
It is not known when Vietnam’s drought will break though the wet season is approaching in the north.
Vietnam is affected by droughts every year, but this time it started earlier and will likely last longer. It is expected to last until the end of April, or the end of May in some provinces, the UN predicts.
New reports quoting the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Water Resources Department state that this year, nearly 80,000 of the total 630,000ha of arable land in the north is at risk from drought and more than 5,700ha will be forced to shift to other crops needing less water.
PHILIPPINES: Government must counter “culture of disaster”
MANILA, 26 March 2010 (IRIN) - Filipino authorities say the country has learned tough lessons in disaster risk management after the deadly storms last year, but warn that a “culture of disaster” still prevails.
Officials say the government has been working diligently to relocate thousands of families before this year’s typhoon season but raising awareness about disaster prevention and appropriating sufficient funds to head off potential problems remain major challenges.
According to the government’s Strategic National Action Plan, prepared with UN experts and released this month, the “commitment of a budget to DRR [disaster risk reduction] is not yet a practice” in this archipelago of more than 7,100 islands that is hit by an average 20 typhoons annually.
“Threats remain if the level of awareness about dealing with hazards is low and when little focus on risks is considered whenever one [has to] a make a decision,” the document, which spells out areas of vulnerability to strengthen institutional responses to disasters within the next 10 years, states.
“In the worst case, this behaviour may manifest a culture of disasters rather than a culture of prevention,” the study said, as it called on the government to step up funding for DRR. “The message is that risk awareness must penetrate all levels of government, and in households, firms and offices.”
It noted, however, that the current level of expenditure by government for disaster response was “nearly equal to the damage losses incurred during last year” at 0.31 percent of gross domestic product.
Poverty and vulnerability
Ida Mae Fernandez, regional programme officer of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which helped to relocate those affected by typhoons last year, said all too often vulnerabilities arose because of poverty.
While there has been a sustained increase in government’s dealing with the donor community to create a culture of resilience, years of poor urban planning have led to certain problems.
“From IOM’s interventions for and interactions with the affected communities post-Ketsana, what is more stark is the current lack of options of dry places to live in,” Fernandez told IRIN.
“A number of families have been offered relocation alternatives; still a significant number have nowhere to go, as of yet.”
Tropical storm Ketsana dumped record rains when it struck in late September, covering 80 percent of Manila. A week later Typhoon Parma battered the northern part of Luzon island, triggering landslides and damaging agricultural land. A third typhoon, Mirinae, came in October.
The government said more than 10 million people were affected.
While many have returned to rebuild their homes, about 25,000 remain displaced and would likely be staying in shelters until the next typhoon season arrives towards the end of May or early June.
Ricardo Saludo, head of the Philippine reconstruction commission created after the disaster, said those living in slums along riverbanks and waterways in Manila and surrounding areas were still vulnerable.
As of March, he said more than 8,700 families or about 61,000 people had been relocated at a cost of more than US$22 million.
All in all, he said the reconstruction programme for the housing sector alone involved the relocation of an estimated 125,265 families, with a bill projected at $650 million in the next two years.
“The scale of the housing reconstruction programme and the concern for viability and sustainability of resettlement areas require inputs from various sectors,” Saludo told IRIN.
“The reconstruction and rehabilitation is focused on building back better structures, with disaster risk reduction incorporated in the design and construction of facilities,” he said.
Local government units have also been told to enhance planning programmes, and ensure that henceforth they “should take into consideration the vulnerabilities of the communities to disasters”.
This means locating houses away from waterways and finding the funds to relocate existing slums.
People’s voice absent in Mekong river talks - activists
BANGKOK, 5 April 2010 (IRIN) - Millions of people living in and around Southeast Asia’s largest river, the Mekong, need a greater voice in determining its future, say activists.
“There needs to be more recognition of the voice of the people who depend on the river and what their vision of the river is,” Carl Middleton, the Mekong programme coordinator for the US-based NGO International Rivers, [http://www.internationalrivers.org/] told IRIN.
“Decision-makers should listen better to the people that are affected by [infrastructure] projects.”
His comments coincide with the conclusion of the first ever Mekong River Summit on 5 April in the Thai coastal town of Hua Hin, which brought together leaders from China, Laos, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Thailand and Myanmar to discuss its management.
The summit, organized by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) [http://www.mrcmekong.org/] to mark its 15th anniversary, comes at a critical time: the river’s water-level is at its lowest point in 50 years in Laos and northern Thailand.
Boat traffic has been halted along many parts of the 4,350km river, and fisheries and irrigation systems have been adversely affected.
Dams in China
While unusually low rainfall is widely believed to be responsible for the current low level of water in the Mekong, many environmentalists and NGOs claim China has exacerbated the situation by damming the river upstream.
China has four dams on the river and four more planned, but Beijing denies the dams are contributing to the current low level of the Mekong, and used the MRC meetings to reiterate its stance that natural causes are to blame.
“The current extreme dry weather in the lower Mekong river basin is the root cause for the reduced run-off water and declining water level in the main stem Mekong,” Chen Mingzhong, deputy director-general of China’s Department of International Cooperation, Science and Technology, told a conference on 2 April that preceded the international summit.
On 4 April, China’s delegation promised increased cooperation among Mekong river countries on water management issues, particularly concerning its dams. This comes after China agreed for the first time ever late last month to share water-level data at two dams.
“This is a positive step,” Middleton told IRIN. A lack of rainfall is obviously a very important factor in the low level of the Mekong, he said, but questions remain as to whether China’s dams have also exacerbated the situation, or whether the dams could be used to alleviate the problem.
The summit focused on regional cooperation in solving drought and flooding problems in the Mekong region. The final joint declaration covered how the river can be used to reduce poverty, boost sustainable energy development, help people adapt to climate change, improve infrastructure and increase the involvement of civil society stakeholders in planning and decision-making.
Q&A-Hopes battle fears in Haiti reconstruction challenge
PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 1 (Reuters) - Nations, multilateral institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world have pledged nearly $10 billion for Haiti’s reconstruction following the Jan. 12 earthquake.
World leaders say the commitments expressed at Wednesday’s donors conference in New York give the Western Hemisphere’s poorest state an historic opportunity to escape its poverty trap and “build back better” from the natural disaster.
Here are some questions and answers about the challenges involved in rebuilding Haiti:
DID THE DONORS’ PLEDGING CONFERENCE MEET EXPECTATIONS?
In terms of promised financing, it exceeded them.
The total pledged, $9.9 billion for the next three years and beyond, $5.3 billion for the next two years alone, was well over the initial short-term target of nearly $4 billion being sought by the United Nations, the conference organizer.
Haiti’s government has talked of a global needs figure of $11.5 billion, but donors seem to have heeded the appeal to deliver substantial sums quickly to tackle both continuing humanitarian needs and long-term reconstruction requirements.
Of course promises are one thing and delivery another, as shown by many donor pledging conferences that responded to other world disasters and conflicts.
“These pledges will need to turn into concrete progress on the ground. This cannot be a VIP pageant of half promises,” Philippe Mathieu of Oxfam said in New York.
WHO WILL LEAD HAITI’S RECONSTRUCTION?
The United Nations and major donors have all been careful to stress that the reconstruction will be Haitian-led, respecting the sovereignty of the world’s first black independent republic born in 1804 following a slave revolt.
But this is something of a diplomatic fig leaf as donors recognize that the administration of President Rene Preval, a mild-mannered agronomist, was crippled by the Jan. 12 quake, losing ministries and scores of trained civil servants.
An Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) is being co-chaired by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, and by Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.
On the Haitian side, the commission’s members include legislators, government officials, local authorities, union and business representatives.
International members include the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Community and donor states and institutions contributing more than $100 million to the recovery effort. These include the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, Venezuela, the European Union, the World Bank, the United Nations and the Inter-American Development Bank.
The IHRC will operate for 18 months before handing over to a Haitian Redevelopment Authority to be set up by the Haitian government. The World Bank will monitor the Multi-Donor Trust Fund created to pool the financial contributions.
How much say will ordinary Haitians have in the reconstruction? Probably very little. Most quake survivors sheltering in camps in and around the wrecked Haitian capital had no idea the donors conference was even taking place.
WERE WORRIES OVER TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY ADDRESSED?
Yes, but this does not mean these worries will go away.
Over decades of unrest and chaos in Haiti, the specter of corruption has become closely associated with the country’s unenviable image as an economic basket case located just two hours flying time from the richest nation on the planet.
Pressed about this at the post-meeting news conference, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other international figures took pains to stress that the reconstruction plan would have monitoring mechanisms to ensure funds were well supervised and spent.
Ban announced a “robust” Internet-based tracking system to report on the delivery of financial pledges, emphasizing performance and results. Each pledge would be published and assistance flows tracked through the web-based system being established by the United Nations with Haiti’s government.
This should allay some fears over corruption and misuse but they are likely to hang over the reconstruction effort.
WILL THE INITIATIVE FINANCE DEVELOPMENT, NOT DEPENDENCY?
This is the real test of the reconstruction initiative, to turn Haiti from an aid-dependent “Republic of NGOs,” as some derisively call it, into a viable sovereign state that can feed itself and stand on its own two feet economically.
Suggested strategies abound, including emphasizing the private sector in the reconstruction, but whether these can really unlock Haiti from its poverty trap remains to be seen.
“We need investment in the private sector in Haiti, both within Haiti and also from the diaspora, and also foreign investment,” President Preval said in New York.
Regine Barjon of the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce believes the army of foreign NGOs that have dominated development efforts in Haiti for decades should make way for private entrepreneurs, or concentrate on job-creating economic projects in agriculture or energy renewal.
Some fear Haiti’s reconstruction may trigger a free-for-all scramble by foreign companies looking to snap up lucrative rebuilding contracts in rubble removal, water and sewage, health, communications and other areas.
“If you don’t control the profiteering, some things will get done, but most money will go into non-Haitian pockets, or go only to some Haitians,” said Dr. Enrique Ginzburg, chief medical officer of the University of Miami’s Medishare and Global Institute initiatives.
The University of Miami has operated a multi-purpose intensive care unit in Haiti since the quake and has a proposal to rebuild the country’s health system. One of the university’s doctors, Barth Green, has suggested a cap on profits for reconstruction projects so Haiti can reap the major benefit.
There are doubts too about whether Haiti’s government can absorb and handle a flood of rebuilding contract proposals.
ARE ORDINARY HAITIANS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT RECONSTRUCTION?
They are hopeful but wary. Too many are used to seeing past foreign aid disappear into the pockets of corrupt politicians or pay the salaries of foreign consultants and experts.
“We hope the money will be used to really rebuild the nation ... Otherwise, we’ll be saying the New York conference never took place,” said Alvin Morisseau in Port-au-Prince.
“I’d like to see Haiti transformed, with houses, roads, and all Haitians living better and together,” said St. Cyr Guerline Occeda, a nurse. But she added: “Only God can change Haiti.”
Haitians want a bigger say in post-quake reconstruction
LONDON (AlertNet) - As donors gather in New York to pledge hundreds of millions of dollars for reconstruction in quake-devastated Haiti, many local groups feel they have been shut out of the action plan their government will present on Wednesday.
A total of $11.5 billion is needed to rebuild the impoverished country’s shattered infrastructure, economy, institutions and social services and to protect it from future disasters, the international community and the government estimate. The aim of this week’s conference, which will be attended by almost 140 nations, is to raise close to $4 billion for the coming 18 months.
The Action Plan for National Recovery and Development of Haiti, which will guide reconstruction efforts over the next 10 years, states it is a Haitian proposal because “key sectors of Haitian society were consulted”, including communities living abroad, mainly in the United States.
Yet some of the country’s largest non-governmental organisations (NGOs) say discussions with Haiti’s civil society were limited.
“The plan concocted in the name of the people without their participation will be presented in New York this week,” said agronomist Jean-Baptiste Chavannes, founder of Haiti’s Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP), which was set up in 1973 and has more than 50,000 members.
“There is nothing we can do before this meeting,” he said, adding that “the Haitian social movement must mobilise to ensure its voice is heard” from now on. “We cannot allow the government - which does not have the confidence of the people - to make all the decisions on building the country.”
Samuel Worthington, who will represent U.S. aid groups at Wednesday’s meeting, told AlertNet that Haitian NGOs complained at a meeting last week they had been given a copy of the government’s plan at the last minute and asked to validate it, which they felt unable to do.
“Since then they have recognised there are many good things in the plan, but they have not had a sense of ownership,” said Worthington, who heads U.S. NGO umbrella body InterAction.
TIGHT TIME FRAME
The need to make decisions on reconstruction quickly after the Jan. 12 earthquake - which killed possibly more than 300,000 people and left about 1.3 million homeless - has made a thorough consultation process difficult.
“In an ideal world, more time would have been required to have much deeper and much more consultation,” said Bruno Le Marquis, deputy director of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), who has been coordinating the pledging meeting with the U.S. State Department. “Given the time frame that was set for this particular conference, a lot has been achieved.”
Meetings with different sectors of Haitian civil society were held through March to elicit feedback on the government’s reconstruction strategy. And donors at Wednesday’s meeting will hear from the country’s private sector, NGOs, municipal authorities and diaspora, as well as from a U.N. initiative to gather the views of Haiti’s poor.
Anne Hastings, chief executive of Sevis Finansye Fonkoze (Fonkoze Financial Services), the country’s largest microfinance institution, participated in the gathering for the private sector and said her organisation feels fully engaged in the relief and reconstruction process.
With 41 branches around the country, Fonkoze is a major partner of international agencies, including UNDP, in implementing cash-for-work programmes which enable earthquake survivors to earn money. But Hastings told AlertNet the international community does often overlook existing institutions.
For example, it has been criticised for doing so during relief operations. Oxfam said in a report last week that the United Nations held coordination meetings in English, rather than French or the local language, Creole, and AlertNet was told that, on one occasion, five mayors who wanted to attend an aid agency meeting to discuss shelter were not allowed in because aid workers said they were not ready to talk with them.
ALTERNATIVE VISION
Local NGOs are determined to buck this trend and to promote an alternative model of development for Haiti - one based on social inclusion, political decentralisation, environmental sustainability and support for food production - which they plan to firm up soon at a national assembly.
MPP’s Chavannes says Haiti’s movement of small-scale farmers will organise a major debate in the first half of May to decide on its position. In the meantime, he adds, the urgent need is to provide seeds to avert a hunger crisis in rural areas, while another key priority is to create jobs in soil conservation, reforestation, the provision of drinking water and road construction.
Some international aid groups are also making efforts to understand the views of the people they are trying to help.
A survey of 1,700 Haitians commissioned by Oxfam found jobs are the most pressing need, followed by schools and homes. Respondents also said they had little confidence in their government’s ability to lead the reconstruction on its own, saying it should work jointly with Haitian civil society or a foreign partner.
And British-based charity Tearfund plans to set up temporary schools and provide funding to help people, including street vendors, restart their businesses after talking with more than 1,000 men, women and children in badly hit areas west of the capital.
Aid consultant Emilie Parry, who has worked with Haitian grassroots organisations since the 1990s, says community-based groups offer an invaluable network for reaching out to the poorest people.
“The need is so great, the challenge is so great that you need to utilise all of the resources available here,” she said.
The United Nations and the government will launch a website on Wednesday aimed at enabling the public to keep track of how much money has been donated by whom, and how the funds are being spent (currently available in English and French only).
* Haiti to ask the world for $4 billion to rebuild
* Donations for relief efforts have “stagnated,” U.N. says
UNITED NATIONS, March 31 (Reuters) - Haiti will ask the world on Wednesday for $4 billion to help it rebuild and modernize in the wake of the earthquake that destroyed the Caribbean nation’s capital and killed up to 300,000 people.
Some 120 countries, international organizations and aid groups will meet at the United Nations in New York to pledge support for a Haitian government recovery plan that includes decentralizing the economy to create jobs and wealth outside Port-au-Prince, the capital of some 4 million people.
Haitian Finance and Economy Minister Ronald Baudin told Reuters earlier this week that the country was hoping to obtain commitments of just over $4 billion over three years, $1.3 billion of which would be delivered in the first 18 months.
Haiti was already the poorest country in the Western hemisphere before the magnitude 7.0 quake struck on Jan. 12, with high unemployment and illiteracy among its 9 million people, almost 80 percent of whom lived on less than $2 a day.
Estimates of the total damage inflicted by the earthquake range between $8 billion and $14 billion.
“The country has the best chance in my lifetime ... to build a modern self-sustaining state,” former U.S. president Bill Clinton, a U.N. special envoy for Haiti, said in a speech last week.
The European Union and a coalition of U.S.-based humanitarian groups have indicated they are likely to pledge more than $2.7 billion for Haiti at the U.N. conference, while U.S. President Barack Obama has asked Congress for $2.8 billion in funds for Haiti relief and reconstruction costs.
Cheryl Mills, counselor and chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said on Tuesday that the United States was planning to help Haiti rebuild in the areas of agriculture, energy, health, security and justice.
The United Nations is also urging countries to support rebuilding Haiti’s government capacity after all but one of the country’s ministries were destroyed and almost a third of civil servants killed.
Donors and aid partners are insisting that Haiti directs the reconstruction, but monitoring mechanisms are being included in plans to finance the rebuilding effort. The World Bank is due to act as “fiscal agent” of a Multi-Donors Trust Fund to be created for Haiti.
But aid workers are urging donors not to ignore the immediate needs of more than 1 million homeless quake survivors still camped out in streets and open spaces, vulnerable to the approaching rains and hurricane season.
A campaign by the United Nations to raise $1.4 billion in humanitarian aid is still 52 percent short of its goal.
“The appeal has stagnated,” Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. “It is essential that the burst of generosity that we saw at the beginning of the crisis continues.”
Haiti: The people have spoken : Jobs. Schools. Homes.
These are the top priorities now for Haitians desperate to get their country back on its feet following January’s devastating earthquake. Those are the results of a survey of 1,700 people carried out by an independent Haitian polling consultant and funded by Oxfam.
March 28 (Reuters) - Haiti’s government, foreign donors and humanitarian groups will attend a pledging conference in New York on Wednesday aimed at securing funds and agreeing to a blueprint for the country’s reconstruction after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.
Here are some facts on the estimated scale of the damage inflicted by the quake, and the needs and strategies being considered to rebuild the Caribbean country.
DEATHS AND DAMAGE
- Haiti’s government has reported 222,570 people killed in the quake, but President Rene Preval says the real final death toll could be over 300,000. A similar number were injured.
- Around 1.5 million people were left homeless and displaced by the disaster. Around 600,000 fled the wrecked capital Port-au-Prince.
- Haiti’s government has estimated the economic damage and loss from the quake at close to $8 billion. Economists from the Inter-American Development Bank had previously given an estimated damage range of between $8 billion and nearly $14 billion.
- In Port-au-Prince, which concentrates 65 percent of Haiti’s economic activity, more than 100,000 homes were destroyed and over 200,000 damaged. More than 1,300 education centers and more than 50 hospitals and clinics collapsed. The country’s main port, presidential palace, parliament, justice palace and most ministries were destroyed.
- Leogane, a town southwest of Port-au-Prince, was 80 percent destroyed.
ESTIMATED NEEDS, RESPONSES
- In a report to donors and development experts preparing for the New York meeting, Haiti’s government estimated that $11.5 billion would be needed for the country’s reconstruction.
- A preliminary target amount of $3.8 billion was foreseen for an 18-month period starting October 1, 2010, to fulfill needs identified in the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment. World Bank officials have called this a “short-term target,” and there is recognition that much more is needed over the longer term.
- Haiti’s government is also asking for an immediate $350 million in direct budgetary support to help maintain essential state services and civil servant salaries and plug the gap caused by a drop-off in revenues following the quake.
- The European Union and a coalition of U.S.-based humanitarian groups have already indicated they are likely to pledge more than $2.7 billion in aid at the New York meeting.
- The governing board of the Inter-American Development Bank agreed last week to give $479 million in post-earthquake debt forgiveness and other relief to Haiti.
- U.S. President Barack Obama has asked Congress for $2.8 billion in funds for Haiti relief and reconstruction costs.
RECONSTRUCTION STRATEGIES
- The rebuilding plan being considered by donors foresees the creation of a Multi-Donors Trust Fund, to be managed by Haiti’s government and representatives of donors.
- Also envisaged is the setting up of an Interim Reconstruction Commission, to be chaired by Haiti’s prime minister and a United Nations representative, along with the establishment of a Reconstruction Agency for the longer term.
- Haiti’s government and donor partners are insisting on a decentralization strategy to be at the heart of the reconstruction plan. This will seek to “decompress” and decongest the crowded and wrecked capital and set up economic development poles in the rest of the country, to create jobs and industries.
- President Rene Preval has told private investors he sees them as the “backbone” of the reconstruction effort. One Haitian private investor, the Mevs family’s WIN Group, has already announced a major redevelopment and expansion project with a Florida-based company for the Varreux port terminal.
- The government and donors also foresee major reform and investment to revitalize Haiti’s weak, peasant-based farm sector, aiming for increased domestic production to reduce dependency on imported rice, sugar and poultry.
Haiti, donors face huge task to ‘build back better’
* March 31 donors conference to fund Haiti reconstruction
* Aim is not only to repair, but relaunch development
* Ordinary Haitians skeptical, worries over corruption
PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 28 (Reuters) - “Retou ala Vi. Ayiti Pap Peri” (Back to life, Haiti will not die) reads the banner in Creole stretched up beside a crowded camp of earthquake survivors in the heart of the wrecked capital Port-au-Prince.
Life, in the form of bustling pedestrians, chaotic traffic and teeming street markets, has indeed bounced back in the city after the devastating Jan. 12 quake that killed maybe more than 300,000 and turned streets into jumbles of rubble.
But a massive task of reconstructing the quake-shattered capital and its dependent nation—a small Caribbean state that was already a byword for poverty in the Western Hemisphere—now faces Haiti’s government and donors when they meet in New York on Wednesday to pledge funds and agree to strategies.
President Rene Preval and the country’s foreign partners have stressed that the rebuilding should seek not just to put back what was lost—the destroyed buildings, schools and hospitals—but lift Haiti out of the cycle of instability and underdevelopment that has kept it mired in misery for decades.
“Haiti is on its knees, we must get it to stand back up,” Preval said in a recent speech to private entrepreneurs.
Estimates of damage inflicted by the magnitude 7.0 quake, viewed by some as the most deadly natural disaster in recent history, range between $8 billion and $14 billion.
Participants in Wednesday’s conference will look to secure not only a major envelope of funds—an initial figure contemplates $3.8 billion over 18 months, much more for the longer term—but also a viable blueprint for Haiti’s successful future development.
This will try to tackle some of the restraints that have locked Haiti in a poverty trap for years.
Proposals include an urgent decentralization strategy to create jobs and wealth outside the capital of some 4 million people—more than a third of the country’s population—which has so monopolized national economic life that Haitians jokingly refer to it as the “Republic of Port-au-Prince.”
There are also calls to rally private investment to the reconstruction effort, for example in textile manufacturing, tourism, and agriculture, where cheap subsidized imports of rice and sugar have kept Haitian peasant farmers relegated to dirt-poor subsistence farming.
Supporters of Haiti, who include former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who spent his honeymoon there and is now the special United Nations coordinator for the relief effort, say the disaster provides an opportunity to “build back better.”
“This country has the best chance to escape its past that it’s ever had,” Clinton said last week in a visit to Haiti. “As horrible as this is, it gives them a chance to start again.”
STILL AN EMERGENCY OPERATION
But this hopeful vision must be set against the deep pessimism that seems to affect many ordinary Haitians, accustomed as they are to seeing the country’s resources, and foreign largesse, being monopolized by a small elite. The specter of corruption looms large in the national conscience.
“There might be some more money (from the donors), but those who need it won’t receive it,” said mother of three Gilene Morquette, as she jostled in a crush of women waiting to receive a Save the Children aid handout at a sprawling quake survivors’ camp in the city’s Petionville golf club.
Skepticism also gripped 47-year-old barber Raymond Martin as he showed reporters his destroyed barber shop in the ruined downtown city center. He lost a child in the quake.
“For Haiti to have a chance, the foreigners must be the ones who reconstruct,” he said. “I don’t want Haitians to govern, we should have a foreign protectorate here,” he said, touching off a debate on the still rubble-strewn street side.
There will be no foreign protectorate—donors and aid partners are careful to insist that Haiti’s government directs the reconstruction—but monitoring mechanisms are being included in plans to finance the rebuilding effort.
The World Bank is due to act as “fiscal agent” of a Multi-Donors Trust Fund to be created for Haiti.
But while the government and donors plan reconstruction, aid workers are urging them not to ignore the immediate needs of the more than 1 million homeless quake survivors who are still camped out precariously in streets and open spaces, vulnerable to the approaching rains and hurricane season.
“For us, this remains an emergency operation,” said Iain Logan, head of Haiti operations of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
He saw Haiti’s rebuilding as a bigger challenge even than the reconstruction after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. “In my professional lifetime, we’ve never had to rebuild a capital city, on which the whole country was fundamentally based.”
The European Union and a coalition of U.S.-based humanitarian groups have indicated they are likely to pledge more than $2.7 billion for Haiti at the New York conference.
U.S. President Barack Obama has asked Congress for $2.8 billion in funds for Haiti relief and reconstruction costs.
But there is recognition this will be a long job. “No one walks away from the scenes of devastation I’ve seen ... within 18 months. This is for the long haul,” said British International Development Minister Mike Foster, after a visit last week.
Posted by Guillaume on 03/29 at 02:03 AM
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Friday, March 26, 2010
Microfinance can play key role in Haiti’s reconstruction
BOGOTA (AlertNet) - Lending small amounts of money to Haitians can help kick-start the local economy and play a vital role in rebuilding the hundreds of thousands of businesses and homes destroyed by the Jan. 12 earthquake, the Inter-American Bank of Development (IDB) says.
While international aid agencies focus mainly on providing shelter, healthcare and food, major lenders like the IDB say microfinance institutions can enable quake survivors to recover their losses and get back on track, especially in rural Haiti.
“People can cope with disasters by restarting their business,” said Fernando Campero, senior financial specialist at the IDB’s multilateral investment fund.
“Haitians suffered significant losses because of the earthquake and microloans can help them get back capital, kick-start local economic activities and provide an opportunity for small businesses to access finance,” he told AlertNet by telephone.
The IDB, Haiti’s biggest source of financing, is providing millions of dollars in grants to local microfinance institutions to support their services, increase the number of customers they serve and ensure liquidity.
“In Haiti, there’s plenty of room for microfinance institutions to grow and specialise, especially in the housing sector,” said Campero.
Fonkoze, Haiti’s largest microfinance institution, is offering some of its 55,000 women borrowers extensions to pay back existing loans, providing new loans and in some cases writing off loans following the quake.
“We will recapitalise 6,000 clients who lost businesses and or homes following the earthquake through a recovery package including loan forgiveness and new loans,” said Leigh Carter, head of Fonkoze USA, the Haitian institution’s American arm.
Fonkoze’s customers, the majority poor women living in rural areas, are using the loans - of $180 on average - to buy everything from cooking pots and pans, building materials, fertlisers, seeds and livestock to rebuild their businesses.
Fonkoze is also gearing up to recruit new clients and scale up their microcredit services, offering loans of US$25 and less.
The microfinancier hopes to expand its microcredit programme by securing $5 million of donor aid to target Haiti’s extreme poor - defined as those living below $1 a day - who make up around half of Haiti’s population of 9.8 million.
“We have 200 women on the bottom rung of our programme, including people with no assets and no business, those who don’t know where to start,” said Carter. “We would love to take that up to 5,000 people.”
REMITTANCES PROVIDE LIFELINE
Since the earthquake, increases in remittance flows - money sent to Haitians by friends and relatives living abroad - mean microfinance institutions are playing an even more important role in providing cash to struggling Haitians to buy basic goods as, by and large, they are the only organisations that process remittance flows.
Even before the quake, around a third of Haitians relied on remittances to survive. In 2008, the million-strong Haitian diaspora sent home nearly $1.9 billion, accounting for some 20 percent of Haiti’s gross domestic product.
“Remittances have always been important in Haiti, but after the quake they have been super important,” said Carter.
During the first two months after the quake, remittances processed by Fonkoze almost doubled, totaling nearly US$9 million last month.
With 42 branches in rural areas unaffected by the quake combined with a large network of customers, Fonkoze and other local microfinance institutions are well positioned to reach people living in remote rural areas where traditional banks do not operate.
As hundreds of thousands of people continue to migrate from the wrecked Port-au-Prince to the provinces in search of a livelihood, the role of microfinance companies has become even more crucial.
Microfinance institutions also proved to be more resilient than traditional banks in the immediate days following the quake than traditional banks.
While the central banking system took nine days to partially operate again, microfinance institutions, like Fonkoze, were up and running within a few days and some branches did not close. In one town, Fonkoze set up a mobile bank to serve its customers.
In a stealth operation shortly after the quake involving the Pentagon, the United Nations, and various U.S. state agencies, $2 million of dollar banknotes were airlifted from the United States to Port-au-Prince by military planes and helicopters and were distributed to 34 Fonkoze branches across Haiti.
MICROCREDIT NOT THE COMPLETE SOLUTION
Since the 1980s, microcredit schemes have grown into a global phenomenon, receiving the backing of major aid agencies and donors including the IDB, the United States Agency for International Development and the U.N.
But critics argue that a lack of regulation of the microfinance industry, a rise in rogue microlenders, and high interest rates - sometimes up to 60 percent - put poor borrowers in a debt trap rather than lift them out of poverty.
Microfinanciers acknowledge that microcredit alone is not the complete solution to Haiti’s problems.
“Microcredit is one piece of a big puzzle. It’s an answer to provide real hope to women who are very poor, bring people up the ladder and it’s one way to energise rural areas,” said Carter.
“That’s just one piece of the pie, though, that goes along with investment by the private sector and investment in infrastructure,” she added.
Still for the majority of Haitians who do not qualify for loans from traditional banks, microcredit before and after the quake remains one of the few sources of cash and opportunity to start a small business.
his rapid assessment on the nutrition situation effected by Ketsana typhoon was conducted in Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Kon Tum and Gia Lai provinces under support from UNICEF and the National Institute of Nutrition.
In September, the Ketsana Typhoon slammed into the Midland and Highland area of Vietnam (from Quang Binh to Binh Dinh province) with a wind speed of 118 – 149 kph (kilometres per hour) and torrential rain. In addition, the heavy rain after this typhoon caused serious flooding. According to the latest report, the typhoon not only killed 163 people, and 14 persons still missing, and over 600 were injured, but also thousands of houses, public buildings and classrooms were destroyed. It influenced all aspects of society, the economy and life, especially the health of the people who live in affected areas. The most vulnerable groups in these areas are women, especially pregnant and the lactating women, and children under five.
After the typhoon, disease control activities and the collection of dead animals were rapidly carried out. In November 2009, 6 weeks after the typhoon, the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) conducted the survey with support from UNICEF and the Nutrition Cluster in order to recommend timely and suitable nutritional interventions, tools and policies. For this, it was very necessary to address the consequences of the typhoon that influenced household food security and nutrition status of pregnant women, mothers and children under five.
Resettlement a challenge for typhoon survivors in Philippines
MANILA (AlertNet) - On a sunny Sunday morning a group of people were hard at work in a village south of the Philippines’ capital, heaving bags of sand and digging away at a plot of land, their excitement palpable.
In two weeks, 26 families that have lost almost everything in typhoons which tore across the Southeast Asian country last year, will no longer be homeless. With materials donated by the local Red Cross and land leased for 10 years, they will soon have a roof over their heads in Pila.
An average displaced family in this area consists of seven people, so the one-bedroom houses being built will be a bit of a squeeze. But few are complaining about the space or location of their new homes after spending the last six months living with relatives or camped out in the village hall.
“Most of us are fishermen. We used to live near Laguna de Bay lake,” an elderly man said. “The new place is about a kilometre from the lake but it’s OK.”
Resettlement following a natural disaster is always a slow process, but aid agencies say scarce funding and a lack of suitable resettlement sites are added challenges in densely-populated Philippines of 92 million.
A series of typhoons—starting with Ketsana, which dumped a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours in September—killed more than 900 people and made 1.7 million homeless last year.
More than 9 million people were affected in some way by the storms which destroyed and damaged their homes, or swept away their means of making a living.
As of early March, 53 evacuation centres still house over 24,000 people. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands more have been living with relatives with no new homes in sight.
LAND IS THE KEY ISSUE
“The main limiting issue is land. Land is just not available,” said Joe Curry, country representative for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) which has been providing cash vouchers to families to buy building materials.
“People don’t have security of land titles and are living in very vulnerable areas. It’s an urban problem—this is a densely-populated city where a very significant population is very poor and lives in slum dwellings,” he told AlertNet.
More than 11 million people live in Manila and its surrounding areas. Of that number, over half a million live in slums on low-lying floodplains, precarious slopes, exposed riverbanks, within highly toxic zones and other areas unfit for settlement, according to Habitat for Humanity, a charity which provides housing to poor communities.
Many of the homes destroyed by typhoons were located in areas that have since been declared hazardous, such as the shoreline along Laguna de Bay, which means evacuees cannot return.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said relocation of people to safer sites is dependant upon suitable land being made available, either by government or other sources.
However, most land in and around Manila is privately owned and most landlords are unwilling to donate their land, even though it might lying unused, analysts said.
SHELTER NEEDS
Even when there is available land it is often further from the city and away from people’s livelihoods, aid workers said. The government, they said, had initiated schemes to encourage survivors from other provinces who have been living in Manila slums to go home but success has been limited.
A government official, who did not want to be named, said the land issue was a “serious concern” impeding recovery efforts, adding that: “There is not much we can do, but we cannot allow the survivors back in the shanties.”
Aid agencies said some residents have nevertheless rebuilt houses in the slums or continued to live along banks and shorelines, mainly due to livelihood concerns.
The closure of evacuation centres, which throws “the evacuees into any available plot”, has not helped, Paula Brennan, Oxfam Philippines’ Ketsana Response Manager said.
She cited government figures at the end of February which showed 34,198 houses were totally destroyed and 151,561 partially damaged.
“Clearly, there are many un-met needs in responding to shelter needs,” Brennan said. “And it seems that people are just pressured to return to unsafe areas as they are pressured out of remaining ECs (evacuation centres).”
Others said funding for reconstruction has been limited, compounded by the fact that many emergencies were going on elsewhere.
For example, the IFRC’s appeal for 16.3 million Swiss francs ($15.35 million) has been less than half-funded. The aid organisation has be able to provide transitional shelters for only 1,900 households out of the 6,500 targeted and shelter repair kits for 4,000 households out of the 10,000 targeted.
In the long term scientists are predicting more intense and more frequent storms as a result of climate change, which suggests that resettlement will continue to be a challenge for the archipelago, which already sees around 20 typhoons a year.
“In a lot of the disasters, there’s a big focus on building back better but I don’t think the disaster here caught the attention or have the resources necessary to do that,” CRS’ Curry said.
“And that’s a big worry—if there’s another major flood in the Manila area, the same people would be affected.”
FM Global CEO: Insurance Losses are Preventable, Not Inevitable
FM Global, the mutual commercial property insurer founded by the owner of a textile mill in 1835, still operates under the same philosophy it did 175 years ago: Insurance losses can be prevented.
“If you think about it, what we are really saying is losses are preventable versus inevitable,” said Shivan S. Subramaniam, chairman and chief executive officer of FM Global. “If you want to prevent them, you need an engineering approach. If you look at [losses] as inevitable, you use an actuarial approach.”
The company regularly beats the industry average in profitability. Its combined ratio was 67.2 for 2009, and its five-year combined ratio is 77.2, according to BestLink, which provides online access to A.M. Best’s Global Insurance & Banking Database.
Those are “very good numbers that say if you focus on preventing losses, and if you work with your clients—who also happen to be your owners—you will have a successful formula. This whole approach has worked well over time. We are still doing the same thing today that we did 175 years ago, although we aren’t doing it just in New England, we are doing it all over the world,” Subramaniam said.
FM Global wasn’t unusual in having a profitable year in 2009. “It’s turned out to be an amazing year for the commercial insurance market,” Subramaniam said. The lack of natural disasters, the lack of large losses and the huge upturn in the financial markets has led commercial insurers to post strong earnings, and underwriting profits, for 2009, he said. That trend may not continue.
“Everyone has a strong balance sheet and good underwriting profits, which means the marketplace is going to be very competitive—which means there will probably be some reduction in price levels,” Subramaniam said. “If you combine that with natural disasters returning to normal levels, I think the outlook is very possible that [the industry] will have an underwriting loss this year.”
FM Global said it’s too early to have a good understanding of the biggest insurance event so far in 2010, the Feb. 27 earthquake that struck Chile. “We expect that we would end up with less than our market share of losses, due to our loss prevention work,” Subramaniam said.
FM Global is unusual in that it uses an army of engineers to both study how to prevent losses as well as work with individual clients to help them prevent losses at their particular sites.
The company recently expanded its 1,100-acre research campus to include a 70,000-square-foot natural hazards lab, which includes an earthquake table, wind lab and flood lab, which allow researches to model how natural hazards impact buildings and their contents, and what can be done to help prevent losses from happening in the first place.
For instance, FM Global’s researchers found that the corners of a building’s roof are the weak spot when exposed to strong winds. “If you focus on securing the roof at the corners, you will have a higher degree of success in keeping the roof in place when the wind is blowing very hard,” Subramaniam said. “It changed the way we look at roof design.”
FM Global isn’t shy about sharing its findings. For instance, the company has “open source” fire modeling software that allows other researchers to share and build on FM Global’s work in studying the destructive capability of fire on different materials.
“We are always seeking ways to innovate and push the cause of property loss prevention further. We aren’t interested in having proprietary knowledge about these things,” Subramaniam said. Fire is hard to test because “you have to burn things down, and once it’s burned, you have to start all over again.”
However, by developing a fire computer model, Subramaniam hopes to find a solution that is more economical. “We want to bring our expertise into play, open it to the community who want to develop better approaches to computer modeling. This way everyone benefits,” he said.
FM Global currently has a Best’s Financial Strength Rating of A+ (Superior).
