Chapter summaries- Canadian Red Cross

Chapter summaries

Section One: Focus on Community resilience

Chapter 1 - From risk to resilience

International media portray disaster-affected communities as helpless victims dependent on outside aid. Yet beyond the headlines, survivors from Bam to New York have saved and supported each other, even when all seems lost. What enables people to survive, adapt and bounce back from crisis? Humanitarian and disaster relief organisations assess needs, hazards and vulnerabilities – but have done little to understand power relations and inequalities, or to analyse the resources available within communities and to build on those strengths. We must prioritise resilience, rather than just reducing vulnerability. For if we cannot understand local capacities and enhance them, we perpetuate the idea that ‘we know best’ and that only ‘risk’ matters. We thereby ignore the most important resource for managing disasters: people’s own strategies to cope and adapt.

Chapter 2 - Heatwaves: hidden disaster

Up to 35,000 people died in Europe's 2003 heatwave. In the US, heatwaves kill more people than windstorms, earthquakes and floods combined. Why are authorities so poorly prepared?

Heatwaves trigger silent disasters, so few are aware of the dangers. The elderly in urban areas – often physically weak and shut out of sight – are worst affected. In France, 70 per cent of the dead were over 75. Summer 2003 was Europe's hottest for 500 years. But heatwave deaths are driven more by social marginalisation and poverty than by climate change. Fewer people died in southern Europe, where the elderly are more integrated into family life. Early warning can save lives, but preparedness should be complemented by a fundamental change in attitudes towards the elderly.

Chapter 3 - Resilience in rural India

Between 1994 and 2003, disasters killed 68,671 Indians and affected 68 million people each year. Our three case studies, from Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, reveal the principles behind strengthening community resilience to disaster. The ideas, resources and motivation to increase resilience often lie hidden within communities. Aid organisations are most effective when they act as catalysts, empowering local communities to help themselves in times of crisis, through co-operation and improved access to financial and specialist support. Working with both marginalized people and more established community members is challenging. Finding the right entry-point is essential – to build trust, while meeting real needs. Success is based on upgrading the skills, status, livelihoods and cohesion of those at risk, so they can cope with and recover from whatever hazards confront them.

Chapter 4 - Bam earthquake sends warning

Bam's earthquake, on 26 December 2003, killed around 30,000 people, injured 30,000 more and destroyed 85 percent of the city's buildings – including many modern structures. While 34 international rescue teams found 22 people alive, local Red Crescent teams saved 157 lives. Neighbours saved hundreds more. Iranian provinces supported sectors of the city, sending volunteers to help. Local organisations of 'white beards' coordinated the community.

What about other cities at risk? A similar quake could kill 700,000 in Tehran. Involving local people is crucial – they have the knowledge and expertise to make Iran safer. But the urgency to integrate risk reduction into development has been lacking. Two key areas are being addressed: training in sound building practices and public awareness of disasters.

Chapter 5 - Preparing communities in the Philippines

Landslides across southern Philippines in December 2003 killed 200 people and left thousands homeless. From 1990 to 2000, 35 million people were severely affected by natural disasters. Typhoons strike once a month during the storm season. Since 1994, the Red Cross has trained volunteers in community-based disaster preparedness (CBDP) and helped implement disaster reduction measures, such as building seawalls. The process of raising disaster awareness by involving communities and government is seen as important as the physical product. But CBDP projects are too donor-driven, short-term and hazard-focused. They ignore the impact of livelihoods and political factors on vulnerability. To avoid imposing pre-conceived, ineffective mitigation measures, agencies must carefully analyse the social, political and economic factors underlying resilience.

Chapter 6 - AIDS in southern Africa

Last year, AIDS killed over 2.2 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. The virus is combining with food insecurity, poverty, worsening healthcare, uncontrolled urbanization and common disease to threaten unprecedented social calamity. Within a decade, Swaziland will lose half its working population. Where HIV prevalence is highest, life expectancy will drop below 20 years by 2020. Food aid is no answer – a new aid paradigm is needed. Only a developmental approach, building on local priorities and capacities, can ensure interventions are effective and sustainable. A multi-dimensional response is needed, supporting livelihoods, irrigation, nutrition, education, clean water and sanitation – as well as disease prevention and care. Success depends on building coalitions between international aid organisations and community groups, NGOs and governments.

Chapter 7 - Surviving in the slums

Half the world lives in urban areas, and numbers are accelerating. Uncontrolled growth forces people to settle on dangerous land. Garbage and sewage are left out, and rainwater cannot soak away. Diseases from dirty water and sanitation kill 2.2 million people a year. Municipalities exacerbate disaster, as they often fail to consider the poor. In Mumbai, 92 per cent of inhabitants are 'illegal' squatters. They cannot raise loans, call the police, vote, or attend schools and clinics. They are denied refuse collection, clean water or toilets. Threats of eviction prevent them improving their homes. To support resilience, aid organisations must understand how slum dwellers perceive disasters, break down barriers to coping, boost livelihoods, and improve relations with municipalities.

Section Two: Tracking the System

Chapter 8 - Disaster data and trends

Last year, disasters killed 77,000 people, including over 30,000 in Europe (mainly due to August's heatwave). Drought/famine continues to be the world's deadliest disaster, killing 275,000 people worldwide since 1994. The number of 'natural' and technological disasters rose two-thirds over the decade to average 707 per year (1999-2003). Despite this, average death tolls dropped from 75,000 per year (1994-1998) to 59,000 per year (1999-2003). Numbers affected continued to climb, averaging 303 million people per year (1999-2003). Since 1994, disasters in countries of high human development have killed an average of 44 people per event, compared to 300 people per disaster in countries of low human development. Meanwhile, in 2002, official aid grew 11 per cent to US$ 58.3 billion.