- Statements
Greetings to all authorities and colleagues who work daily, all over the world, on disaster risk management.
First, we want to congratulate our colleagues from different countries for the work carried during Covid-19 pandemic, which has questioned our knowledge, challenged us and forced to double efforts and focus on both the urgent and the structural.
On the other hand, we want to make an announcement and extend an invitation.We are pleasant to announce that the Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean 2023 will take place on February 28th, March 1st and 2nd.We invite you all to come.Uruguay will be the host.This means a great challenge.It will be the first time that our country will host an event of this magnitude.
The central theme of the eighth edition will be technology as a fundamental tool to manage and reduce disaster risks.We will focus on its viability, development, financing and implementation.
Sendai Framework and Regional Action Plan states that policies and practices for disaster risk management should be based on an understanding of risk.This knowledge is essential for evaluation before disasters, prevention, mitigation once the risk materializes and application of adequate preparation and response measures.All this allows management to be more effective and comprehensive.And for all these issues, technology is a key factor.
Disaster Risk Reduction implies a set of complementary practices that work on the corrective, compensatory and prospective aspects of risk. For these practices, it is vital to have quality information for decision making.
On corrective risk management, it is essential to know the vulnerability of what is exposed to the different dangers, to reduce uncertainty and define effective strategies in terms of land-use planning, formulate public policies that improve the living conditions and promote cultural guidelines that incorporate care habits.Compensatory risk management needs technology to develop different types of early warning systems for different risks, to promote resilient practices, generate and apply response protocols, assess damage and losses, etc.And finally, prospective risk management, perhaps the least explored of these three complementary practices.To anticipate the appearance of new risks, and in order not to increase existing ones, it is necessary to focus on the development model.And again: information, knowledge, technology and innovation are really important.
It will be many months until the realization of the Regional Platform, but we are really excited.We see an opportunity to dialogue about common problems, capitalize experiences, good practices and lessons learned.An opportunity to contribute to the implementation of our global and regional commitments.And in this way, go one step further in disaster risk management and reduction, which results
We hope you can join us.