UN chief António Guterres has convened an Advisory Board composed of top UN agency officials to meet for the first time to add “the political, technical and financial strength to ensure that Early warning for all become a reality for everyone, everywhere,” he said WMO in a press release.
Tuesday’s panel included development banks, humanitarian organisations, civil society representatives, information technology and insurance companies.
The agency said record-breaking Tropical Cyclone Freddy, which had caused severe disruption to vital services in Southeast Africa and triggered a deadly cholera outbreak, showed once again the scope of the pandemic. The importance of early warning systems can save lives and livelihoods from increasingly severe weather. .
Step it up
The coming months will see increased coordinated action, initially in 30 particularly at-risk countries, including small island developing countries and least developed countries. More countries are expected to be added as this important work with partners is accelerating.
At the same time, existing UN initiatives and lifesaving actions will continue and be reinforced, “ensuring the Early Warning for All campaign translates into a reality that saves millions of lives.” most vulnerable,” said WMO. , harnessing the power of modern mass communication.
Result time: Guterres
“Now it’s time for us to deliver the results. Millions of lives are hanging” Mr. Guterres said.
“It is unacceptable that nations and peoples have contributing least to creating the crisis is paying the highest price” he added.
Need improvement
“People in Africa, South Asia, South and Central America, and small island nations are 15 times more likely to die from a climate disaster. These deaths are preventable. Clear evidence: Early warning systems are among the most effective climate adaptation and risk reduction measures to reduce mortality from natural disasters and economic losses,” said Mr. Guterres.
- Over the past 50 years, the number of recorded disasters has increased fivefold, partly due to human-caused climate change, which is overloading our weather.
- If no action is taken, the number of medium- or large-scale disaster events is predicted to reach 560 events per year – or 1.5 events per day – by 2030.
- The arrival of extreme weather and the effects of climate change will increase the difficulty, uncertainty and complexity of emergency response efforts around the world.
Death is preventable
Half of the countries in the world currently do not have adequate early warning systems, and even fewer have a regulatory framework in which warning systems are linked to emergency plans.
“The unprecedented floods in Mozambique, Malawi and Madagascar from Tropical Storm Freddy emphasizes once again that our weather and rainfall are becoming more extreme and water-related hazards are increasing,” said WMO Secretary General, Professor Petteri Taalas.
“The hardest hit areas received monthly rainfall in just a few days and Socioeconomic impact is dire.”
“Precise early warning combined with coordinated disaster management on the ground prevented further casualties. But we can do even better and that’s why the Early Warning for All initiative is a priority for WMO,” he said.
Children at a school in Bali participate in tsunami preparedness training.
Beneficial for all rounds
He added that improved hydrological and weather services would also “be economically beneficial to agriculture, air transport, marine and terrestrial, energy, healthcare, tourism”.
WMO and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDR) is leading the Early Warning for All initiative, along with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
“The operation of this initiative is a clear example of how the United Nations System and its partners can work together to save lives and protect livelihoods from disasters,” said Mami Mizutori, Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction and UNDRR Head.
‘Moral imperative’
“Comprehensive and multi-hazard early warning systems close the ‘last mile’, which is among the best risk reduction methods against climate-related and geophysical hazards such as tsunamis.
“Achieving this is not only have clear goals inside Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction but one moral imperative also”.
