WASHINGTON D.C. -- The Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) have formed, in conjunction with the World Bank Disaster Management Facility, the World Institute for Disaster Risk Management. The Institute (DRM) will be a wide-ranging advisory and analysis group dedicated to helping countries use applied research to mitigate loss of life and property from disasters.
Located near Washington, D.C., at Virginia Tech's Alexandria Research Institute, the DRM will draw upon expertise throughout the ETH system, Virginia Tech, and other affiliated universities.
More major natural disasters occurred in 1998 than in any other year on record. Yet the risk is not fully understood or accounted for. Forty of the world's 50 fastest growing cities are in earthquake zones. Half the world's population lives in coastal zones. Ten million people are at constant risk of coastal flooding. Three million people per year are made homeless by flooding.
"Many governments, especially in developing countries, lack an adequate institutional framework for applying cost effective and reliable technologies for early warning disaster prevention and mitigation," said Charles Steger, president of Virginia Tech. DRM will work with governments, international agencies, private enterprises, and NGOs that have an interest in disaster risk reduction for sustainable social and economic development.
"We want to create a network for applied research, imple-mentation and information dissemination in the field of disaster risk management. DRM brings together key institutions of the governmental sector, the private sector, and the research community," said Stephan Bieri, chief executive officer of the ETH Board of Directors. Bieri notes that one goal of the institute will be to "move beyond a post-disaster response mentality towards a culture of integral risk management and sustainable risk reduction."
DRM is initially established with seed monies from ETH, Virginia Tech, and Swiss Re, a major global reinsurance company. Ongoing operations of the Institute will be funded by grants and contracts from public and private sources interested in global disaster risk reduction.
The DRM Institute will work in conjunction with recently formed ProVention Consortium of the World Bank. In an announcement earlier this month the World Bank said it will aim to equip developing countries with the means to better cope with natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods and reduce the related loss of life and destruction. The Bank noted that in 1998, natural disasters claimed more than 50,000 lives and destroyed $65 billion worth of property and infrastructure.
Alcira Kriemer, a World Bank official leading the ProVention Consortium, adds, "The DRM as part of the ProVention Consortium can make a major contribution to the reduction of disaster losses and ending the cycle of poverty in disaster prone developing countries."
The DRM will provide technical, economic, and social analysis and advice for investment and infrastructure improvement that will reduce disaster losses. "We will draw upon and leverage the intellectual resources of some of the world's top universities. By applying science, technology, financial and economic analysis, and social science research we hope to help client governments, businesses, and non-government organizations in their understanding of risk in various countries," notes Fred Krimgold, co-director of DRM.
Krimgold notes that the toll of disaster loss is growing. The earthquake in Turkey on August 17, 1999 took more that 17,000 lives and cost more than $16 billion in material losses. The Venezuela floods of December 1999 cost over 30,000 lives and destroyed 23,200 houses and damaged another 64,700 according to the Venezuelan Civil Defense. "In both cases, the terrific toll of death and misery resulted from the failure of unsafe buildings located in hazardous areas," says Krimgold.
Roberto Meli, director of CENAPRED in Mexico City and member of DRM's advisory board, notes that the institute will concentrate on prevention and mitigation and not on rescue efforts. "DRM's mission is to enable people to anticipate disasters and take action to protect life, property, and development; and to avert disasters by sharing knowledge, building know-how, and mobilizing resources and forging partnerships with governments, private enterprises, international agencies, and NGOs."
"The Swiss government and its Washington Embassy are proud to have played a role in getting the DRM started. The creation of DRM may also pave the way for a new role for diplomacy in humanitarian aid -- a change in paradigm, focusing on investing in prevention in a larger sense rather than on repairing the damage caused by conflicts and disasters," said Swiss Ambassador Alfred Defago
"The rate of occurrence of extreme natural events has not increased but, the population in hazardous areas and the vulnerability of human settlements has grown dramatically over the past half century. The growth of disaster losses is largely the result of human decisions and human investments. Decisions about investment and development must be informed by the latest and best scientific knowledge on natural and technological hazards and the measures available to reduce disaster losses," says Krimgold.
DRM long-term strategy will focus on the most critical risk prone areas around the world. It will evaluate a county's risk in the context of a) vulnerability of critical infrastructures, b) vulnerability of habitat, c) interaction of risks with societal systems, d) vulnerability of ecological systems, e) design of monitoring systems, and f) public risk perception and awareness.
Other leading world universities to be part of DRM include the University of Texas (USA), the London School of Economics (UK), the Max Plank Institute (Germany), and George Washington University (USA), Bogazici University (Turkey), University of Buenos Aires (Argentina), University of Hong Kong (China), and Yokohama National University (Japan).