The Australian and Indonesian governments will jointly establish a US$42 million disaster reduction facility in Jakarta. The facility, which will have with a staff of 12-14 people, will be operational by April 2009.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made the announcement on the sidelines of the APEC Leaders' meeting in Lima, 22-23 November.
The facility will support Indonesia's and the region's efforts to reduce the impact of disasters and improve nations' self-management capabilities through:
* Training and outreach
* Risk and vulnerability assessment; and
* Research and analysis of emerging regional threats.
A joint study commissioned by the two countries found existing disaster reduction mechanisms to be inadequate. It cited shortcomings in co-ordination, as well as an insufficient focus on preventing and mitigating disasters.
The report highlights the urgent need for investment in disaster reduction. It points out that the number and severity of disasters is increasing due to issues such as climate change, urbanisation, poor land-use planning and tension over access to resources.
‘Increasing globalisation means any single hazard is capable of having consequences far beyond those connected to immediate physical events,' warn the study's authors.
They estimate that in the future, the region was likely to experience several disasters per year that would kill more than 10,000 people. The regions greatest risk concerns are:
* The megacities in the Himalayan Belt, China, Indonesia and the Philippines, all of which are prime candidates for earthquakes
* Volcanic disasters, which occur at least once a decade in Indonesia, and once every few decades in the Philippines
* Tsunami, flood and cyclone disaster in the mega-deltas of Asia (for example, Bangladesh). The population explosion combined with increasing vulnerability to climate change puts these areas at particularly high risk;
* Pacific Island nations, where there is a high potention for disasters to overwhelm local and national government response and recovery capacity.
The study also found that for $1 invested in disaster reduction, $5-10 dollars are saved in avoided or reduced disaster impacts.
From:http://www.asmmag.com/news/australian-indonesian-disaster-facility
