Annan Issues Report on Strengthening Global, Regional Response in Tsunami's Wake
New York, Jul 13 2005 2:00PM
Ahead of tomorrow's address to the Economic and Social Council by former United States President Bill Clinton, United
Nations Special Envoy overseeing recovery efforts from December's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, Secretary-General
Kofi Annan has issued his recommendations on how national, global and regional response to natural disasters can be
improved.
In a new report on strengthening emergency relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery after the massive 26
December earthquake and tsunami, which left an arc of destruction from Thailand to the Horn of Africa, Mr. Annan called
for the development and coordination of plans and services that can speed up overall response time in "sudden onset"
emergencies.
"The United Nations, governments and relevant civil society groups should commit to building and re-establishing
regional, national and local disaster response capacities so that the humanitarian system has immediate access to
deployable resources, particularly in disaster-prone areas," he says, adding that the UN should develop a more unified
field-level management structure to ensure response efforts are well coordinated and effective.
Among his other observations, Mr. Annan notes that it is now widely recognized that if there had been a regional early
warning system in place in South Asia, thousands of the nearly quarter of a million people killed in the disaster could
have been saved. But he adds that such a system will work only if it reaches all communities at risk and is supported by
appropriate legal and institutional frameworks, as well as corresponding local warning systems.
He suggests that the UN should foster such regional frameworks in line with the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015,
adopted by the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, held in Kobe, Japan just one month after the Indian Ocean
tragedy. Hyogo calls for among other things, a global commitment to speeding up disaster response time, as well as to
setting guidelines for disaster prevention and to developing people-centred early warnings systems that provide timely
information that is easily understandable by at-risk populations.
Mr. Annan also recommends, among other things, that the international community encourage the development of a common
mechanism within the UN to track and monitor humanitarian funds and funding. He also urges the disaster response
community to consolidate and disseminate the body of knowledge and lessons learned from the Indian Ocean tsunami and
other recent disasters that promotes institutional learning at all levels and guides future disaster management.
When Mr. Clinton address the Council tomorrow afternoon, he will give an assessment of the tsunami recovery effort and
highlight specific policy questions which need to be resolved. Following that, he will engage in a question and answer
session with delegates from the Member States.
ENDS