According to United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) a hazard is a process, phenomenon or human activity that may cause loss of life, injury, or other health impacts, property damage, social and economic disruption or environment degradation. Moreover, a disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts.
Disaster Risk Management (DRM) therefore is the reduction of disaster losses by applying risk reduction policies that are designed to reduce, manage and prevent disasters. DRM strengthens resilience against disasters and encourages sustainable development by targeting disaster risks. Disaster risks take into account the hazard, exposure and vulnerability of affected areas.
There are several types of Disaster Risk Management (DRM) policies. These include Prospective Disaster Risk Management, Corrective Disaster Risk Management, Compensatory or Residual Disaster Risk Management, and Community-Based Disaster Risk Management.
Prospective DRM seeks to prevent future and increased disaster risks. Corrective DRM seeks to reduce and manage present disaster risks. Compensatory DRM deals with the social and economic risks of disasters and mitigating their unavoidable effects on people. This particular policy assists individuals by implementing plans to prepare, respond and recover from disasters and also provides financial relief. Community-Based DRM promotes the involvement of locals in assisting and monitoring the risks of disasters in their areas. Local and indigenous peoples’ approach to DRM is a complementary approach that utilizes local, traditional and indigenous practices to assess, plan and implement risk reduction strategies and policies.
In January 2005, the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) was introduced by the UNDRR and the Government of Japan. Its purpose was to improve local and national efforts to substantially reduce the impact of disasters by 2015 while strengthening international cooperation. This was endorsed by 168 Member States and it became the vehicle for global and regional cooperation on Disaster Risk Reduction. However, HFA did not succeed and led to the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk 2015-2030 in March 2015. The Sendai Framework functions as a management tool to help countries make informed decisions, plan risk reduction strategies and allocate resources for risk reduction. Guyana is one of the many countries that has endorsed the Sendai Framework which strives to achieve its goals by 2030.
Disaster Risk Management (DRM) in Guyana is coordinated by the Office of the Prime Minister and the Civil Defence Commission (CDC). Through a partnership with more than 30 different agencies at the local, regional and international levels; the CDC manages and reduces the risks of disasters countrywide.
Hazard Mitigation
According the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) mitigation may be defined as the lessening or limitation of the adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters. The adverse impacts of hazards often cannot be fully prevented, but their scale or severity can be substantially lessened by various strategies and actions. The Commission is committed to updating its Multi-Hazard Plan to accommodate the ever-changing risks, and the Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS), an evolving project, is in the initial operational phase. This system is designed to accurately detect, notify and prepare relevant bodies and stakeholders for any impending hazard.
Disaster Preparedness
Disaster preparedness plays a critical role in mitigating the adverse health effects of disasters. Preparedness is defined by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) as knowledge, capabilities, and actions of governments, organizations, community groups, and individuals “to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recover from, the impacts of likely, imminent or current hazard events or conditions.” Preparedness efforts range from individual-level activities (such as first aid training), to household actions (e.g. stockpiling of equipment and supplies), community efforts (like training and field exercises), and governmental strategies (including early warning systems, contingency plans, evacuation routes, and public information dissemination). Perceived risk, disaster preparedness knowledge, prior disaster experiences, and certain sociodemographic characteristics such as gender, age, education, and family income have potential to affect an individual’s emergency preparedness and related behaviors. At the CDC, preparedness is a quintessential part of the plan to manage and combat risks and disasters.