Written by David Whittier
In the world of risk reduction and emergency management, there is value in consistency. Having a commonly understood set of objectives, standards and best practices make us more effective and able to work together. Disasters don’t respect international borders, so having a common framework is important.
The Sendai Framework is just that. It was adopted by UN member states on 18 March 2015, at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction at Sendai City in Japan. In the 10 years prior to 2015, over 700,000 people had died, 1.4 million injured and 23 million made homeless as a result of disasters. The total economic loss was estimated at more than $1.3 trillion. The Sendai Framework is intended to present an opportunity for countries to:
- Adopt a concise, focused and forward-looking framework for disaster risk reduction,
- Consider the experience gained through the regional and national strategies/institutions and plans for disaster risk reduction,
- Identify ways for countries to cooperate in implementing this framework
The goal of the framework is to “prevent new and reduce existing disaster risk through the implementation of integrated and inclusive economic, structural, legal, social, health, cultural, educational, environmental, technological, political and institutional measures that prevent and reduce hazard exposure and vulnerability to disaster, increase preparedness for response and recovery, and thus strengthen resilience.”
The framework document includes 13 guiding principles and lays out 4 priorities for action:
- Understanding disaster risk,
- Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk,
- Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience, and
- Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
It’s a document with its share of bureaucratese (being the UN and all), but it lays out a roadmap, encourages cooperation, and is becoming a source of reference for the Emergency Management community in BC. To have a look at it yourself, check out: https://www.unisdr.org/files/43291_sendaiframeworkfordrren.pdf
