SE11: Launch of Wind Disaster Related Group

Description

Wind-related disasters such as Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008 and Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh in 2007 have had significant impacts on our society, especially in terms of the shocking number of deaths and injuries to people and the attendant property loss. It has been reported that 80-85% of natural disaster economic losses in the world are caused by extreme wind related events, and it is hypothesized that global warming has the potential to further exacerbate this scenario through an increase in the number and intensity of weather-related disasters. However, in the past UN/ISDR framework, there was no professional organization focusing on Wind-Related Disaster. Although some wind-related organizations like the International Association for Wind Engineering (IAWE) have been effectively working to develop technologies, codes and standards for wind hazard mitigation, there has been a dearth of coordinated activities with other international groups like the UN and NGOs to bring these technologies to work for less fortunate communities in low lying areas, which are often struck by devastating wind storms like hurricanes / typhoons with attendant escalating loss of life and associated perils they bring to the region. Therefore, an emerging issue is to establish an International Group for Wind-Related Disaster Risk Reduction for the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action in the area of wind-related disaster risk reduction.

Wind-Related Disasters, e.g., tropical cyclones, are generally accompanied by storm surge, heavy rains, floods, landslides and lightning. This has created a pressing need for pooling of expertise and for cooperative actions to reduce losses from various types of natural disasters. Despite this recognition of the critical need for cooperative actions in Wind-Related Disaster Risk Reduction (WR DRR) activities among various professional organizations, there have been no notable collaborative efforts among the various groups in the past.

The proposed International Group for Wind-Related Disaster Risk Reduction will establish linkages and to coordinate various communities, e.g., IAWE, to serve as inter-agency coordinators with a charter to work with international organizations involving agencies of the UN and involved NGOs, and to empower them with the responsibility to serve as a bridge between policy makers and agencies responsible for actually carrying out the DRR at the local community level. All its efforts are directly related to the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action in the area of wind-related disaster risk reduction.

Background Papers

> International Group for Wind-related Disaster Risk Reduction [DOC, 28.00 Kb]

Presentations

> International Group for Wind-Related Disaster Risk Reduction [PDF, 7.32 Mb]

Outcomes

Note: this is an interim report pending publication of the Conference Proceedings from the 2009 Global Platform.

> Report from SE11 [PDF, 40.76 Kb]