Summary
Highlights
In 2008, Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta with winds up to 140 kmph, causing over 130,000 deaths and affecting 2.4 million people. Less than two weeks later, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province killed over 70,000 and injured 370,000. These events highlighted inadequate community preparedness, poor early warning systems, and environmentally damaging practices like deforestation and unregulated construction, which exacerbated the death toll.
While not all disasters are preventable, many can be predicted. The Red Cross and Red Crescent aim to reduce disaster impact through community-level actions, awareness creation, health initiatives, and emergency preparedness plans. Their strength lies in a network of volunteers who provide support before, during, and after disasters, working with local governments to build safer, more sustainable livelihoods.
Disaster preparedness now includes accounting for changing weather patterns, as more disasters are weather-related. Floods, cyclones, and typhoons are hitting new areas or increasing in impact. The Mekong River serves as an example where Red Cross volunteers monitor water levels for early warnings and assist with evacuations and relief during annual floods. During dry seasons, they educate villagers on emergency preparations, including identifying safe zones, food storage, first aid, and hygiene.
The Red Cross has planted over 20,000 hectares of mangrove forests in Vietnam, which mitigate the effects of typhoons and protect coastlines and property. School children are involved in these projects, fostering environmental awareness. The success of early warning systems was demonstrated during Typhoon Durian in 2006 in Vietnam, where timely evacuation of over 600,000 people resulted in only 68 deaths, a significant reduction compared to Typhoon Linda nine years earlier that claimed over 3,000 lives.
The Indonesian Red Cross, a pioneer in climate change issues, collaborates with various agencies to reduce the impact of weather-related disasters. Their activities range from preventing Dengue fever outbreaks to raising doorsteps in flood-prone areas of Jakarta. The Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Change Center in the Netherlands supports these efforts, focusing on community-based disaster preparedness and risk reduction for all types of disasters, not just the large-scale ones.
The Red Cross works closely with local communities, empowering individuals to take the lead in disaster risk reduction. In Laos, volunteers help villagers identify risks and implement simple, effective actions like designating safe evacuation points. In the Philippines, Red Cross volunteers combine modern technology like GPS with traditional local knowledge to assess land-use planning and reduce future disaster risks.
The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is committed to enhancing disaster risk reduction. Leveraging its auxiliary role to governments and its vast volunteer network, the movement is developing new approaches. Currently, 20% of all emergency appeals are allocated to risk reduction, underscoring its importance. The increasing number of natural disasters and climate-related hazards necessitates greater preparedness and stronger, more resilient communities, requiring partners to adopt risk reduction with similar urgency.