Sweden: Crisis and disaster resilience

Referring to the March 11 Japanese triple disaster and humanitarian crisis, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency Director General Helena Lindberg raises the issue of 'complex megadisaster' as reminder of the extent of our own vulnerability. In her contribution to PublicService.co.uk, she highlights some of the important lessons drawn for these events, as well as the growing need for strategies based on a 'whole-of-society' perspective on safety and security.

Helena Lindberg looks at how the goal of a disaster resilient society should be addressed, through proactive mitigation, speedy response and recovery, as well as information sharing and 'cost transfer.' She presents the example of Sweden, where the 'whole-of-society' perspective on disaster resilience gained broad political support, leading to the creation of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB).

Listing the key challenges ahead, Helena Lindberg mentions the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) area and its need for practical frameworks for cooperation. She calls for a more systematic international exchange of best practices in order to push the PPP relationship to a new level of concreteness and respond to the demand for a 'global society' approach to disaster resilience.