AGCI Session I: Natural Hazards and Global Change

Session Chairs: Louis Walter and E. L. Quarantelli - July 10 to 20, 1996

IV. Vision and Priorities for Action

 Hurricane Fran damage at Topsail Island, NC, September 1996. FEMA photo.

We simply cannot afford the high costs of unmitigated disasters and still achieve our national goals of debt reduction, adequate health care, full employment, and economic growth.

In order to understand the context of the actions proposed by the workshop, it is necessary to understand the participants' vision of our future attitude, approach and response to disasters. The elements of this vision, as stated below, might be considered as goals which we hope to reach. They are based on the fundamental precept that effective disaster reduction will require strong leadership by governments and the private sector stimulated by citizens' and communities' intolerance for the mounting losses caused by disasters. In this context, the workshop agreed on the following statement of Principle:

"Our society must reduce the needless costs and loss of life resulting from natural disasters. We simply cannot afford the high costs of unmitigated disasters and still achieve our national goals of debt reduction, adequate health care, full employment, and economic growth. We therefore call upon the President, Congress, and state, local, and private sector leaders to serve the people by taking a leadership role in natural disaster reduction."

Based on this Principle, we have the following vision of the future:

· The President and the Nation reaffirm their commitment to the National Mitigation Strategy by focusing attention and energy on natural disasters.

· We will develop a coherent approach and policy toward natural disaster reduction, adopting a systems approach, comprehen -sively considering all aspects of natural disaster reduction.

· We will support crucial elements of natural disaster reduction such as the:

· National Mitigation Strategy

· Subcommittee for Natural Disaster Reduction

· U. S. Global Change Research Program

· Second Assessment of Research and Applications on Natural Hazards (the second comprehensive effort to assess our ability to combat natural disasters, undertaken by the Hazards Center of the University of Colorado and funded by the National Science Foundation; the first assessment was performed a decade ago)

· International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction

· We will take every opportunity to instill the importance and merits of natural disaster reduction and sustainable development in children and young people, as well as the general public, throughout the world.

· In assessing risk and developing mitigation strategies and programs in local communities, states and the nation, appropriate attention will be given to inclusiveness and equity.

We call upon the President, Congress, and state, local, and private sector leaders to serve the people by taking a leadership role in natural disaster reduction.

· We will more effectively bring technological advances to bear on the task of natural disaster reduction. In particular, we will apply new and rapidly developing technologies for information acquisition, storage and dissemination, and encourage the availability and use of capabilities provided by classified satellite observing systems (those used by intelligence agencies).

· We will bridge the gap between research and practice through evaluation of the applicability of existing knowledge and technologies and the formation of applications programs.

· As a nation, as states, as local communities, as private industry and labor, and as citizens, we will make informed decisions regarding risk inherent in our lives, taking into account the future projections of trends.

· Individuals, organizations, and governments will accept responsibility for mitigating natural disasters by making land use and construction decisions which adequately incorporate natural hazard risk management.

· At the local level, we will encourage making decisions and taking actions which consider the long-term consequences of community development with regard to land use and zoning codes. We encourage a long-term view of consequences which often concern the vulnerability of infrastructure to future hazards.

· At the national level, we will develop, provide and evaluate tools and information for risk and hazard assessment at various scales, and for aggregating risks and vulnerabilities from a national viewpoint.

· We will build on the opportunities provided by the increased global concern about and importance of natural disaster reduction, applying what we have learned and implemented in this country, as appropriate, to other nations of the world. We will seize bilateral and multilateral opportunities to make a safer world and increase cooperation and trust among nations.

See Side Bar: William Anderson: On the underserved in natural disaster reduction

We encourage a long-term view of consequences which often concern the vulnerability of infrastructure to future hazards.

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