From emergency assistance ro risk management : policy implications for the future.

Paper from International Conference on Disaster Management Cooperative Networking in South Asia, 28th to 30th November 1999, New Delhi

During the past 40 years there has been an evolution in the understanding and practice of what may be called by various constituencies emergency assistance, civil defence, civil protection, disaster management, humanitarian assistance, disaster prevention, and most recently risk and disaster management. While their roots may be similar, it is essential at the close of the 20th century to recognize differences in their respective functions and constituencies. These trends have marked a movement from popular perception initially associated with the provision of charitable assistance by specialized services to people in need, to a current policy-driven motivation for increased public and professional participation in assessing risks and developing disaster-resistant communities through partnerships. This paper presents policy initiative crucial to prevent hazards from becoming social and economic disasters that have emanated from the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction and which rely upon basic principles to shape the future directions for sustained international and multi-disciplinary commitment for disaster prevention. A global process has now begun to make apparent the quite distinctive constituencies, different ways of working, diverse information requirements of hazards and means for further risk reduction in the future. This creates a much more diverse and multi-sectoral nature of participation among actors in a shifting matrix of interests and contributors, for which more fluid and shifting relationships will have to prevail in the future