UN urges Asia to set up disaster fund

UN official says $16.7b was spent on relief efforts last year; two more quakes strike - off Java and Sulawesi
Straits Times 17 Oct 09;

JAKARTA: Indonesia was rocked by two earthquakes yesterday, less than a day after a top United Nations official said governments in Asia's most catastrophe-prone areas should set aside one-tenth of their development funds to limit the risk of disaster.

The world spent US$12 billion (S$16.7 billion) on humanitarian responses to disasters last year, and 99 per cent of those killed by natural phenomena were in the Asia-Pacific region, said Mr John Holmes, the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, during a visit to Jakarta on Thursday.

'A 10 per cent figure of what you are spending on response or even on development should go into disaster risk reduction because that is a good investment,' he said.

Mr Holmes toured West Sumatra on Wednesday, visiting areas where a magnitude 7.6 quake late last month triggered landslides and killed 1,117 people.

Before visiting Indonesia, Mr Holmes had stopped in Manila, also badly hit by tropical storms recently.

The United Nations official said that the Indonesian and international response to the earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra, was one of the more successful he had seen, but that building codes needed to be enforced to minimise the impact of the next natural disaster.

'All development measures should have disaster risk reduction measures built into them,' he said, adding that disaster risk reduction should also be built into discussions on a world climate pact that will take place in Copenhagen in December.

'That also has to be part of the wider Copenhagen discussions and negotiations in December in order to ensure that not only do we focus on reducing emissions to tackle climate change at its source but also to make sure we are focusing on the adaptation side,' he said.

'In other words, helping developing countries cope with the effects of climate change which are with us right now and disaster risk reduction is very much a part of that.'

Indonesia, which sits on one of the world's most active seismic fault lines, has several active volcanoes and is prone to earthquakes and heavy flooding.

A strong earthquake struck off Java island yesterday, rocking office buildings in Jakarta and sparking panic closer to the epicentre, officials said.

The epicentre of the 6.4 magnitude quake was in the Sunda Strait off the western coast of Java, Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Early yesterday morning, Kendari in south-east Sulawesi was rocked by a 5.8 magnitude quake, which caused residents to rush out of their houses in panic.

Its epicentre was located at a depth of 20km and 88km north-east of Kendari, according to the meteorology and geophysics agency. Both quakes were not powerful enough to cause a tsunami.

On Monday, an earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale rocked the Melonguane area in North Sulawesi.

REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

A wave of natural disasters
Straits Times 17 Oct 09;

Sept 2: A 7.0-magnitude earthquake hits West Java, killing more than 30 people. The temblor rocks high-rise buildings in Jakarta and can be felt in parts of neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.

Sept 26: Tropical storm Ketsana slams into Manila and surrounding areas, triggering landslides and widespread flooding. The government declares a nationwide state of calamity. More than 330 people are killed.

Sept 29: Typhoon Ketsana roars into central Vietnam after gathering strength over the South China Sea. It leaves more than 120 people dead.

Sept 30: A 7.6-magnitude earthquake rocks West Sumatra province, devastating the provincial capital of Padang. The authorities have revised the death toll upwards to 1,117 people.

Sept 30: India is hit by the worst flooding in 100 years. More than 260 people are reported killed, mostly in the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Oct 3: Typhoon Parma wreaks havoc in northern Philippines. The second major storm to strike the Philippines in two weeks kills close to 300 people.

Oct 8: Melor, the first typhoon to make landfall in Japan since 2007, damages homes, topples trees and causes travel chaos on the main island of Honshu. It leaves four people dead.

Oct 16: Two quakes, hours apart, strike Sulawesi and off Java island respectively. There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

U.N. urges Asia to spend more on disaster preparedness
Sunanda Creagh, Reuters 15 Oct 09;

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Governments in Asia's most catastrophe-prone areas should set aside one-tenth of their development funds to limit the risk of disaster, especially given the impact of climate change, a U.N. official said on Thursday.

The world spent $12 billion on humanitarian responses to disasters last year, and 99 percent of those killed by natural phenomena were in the Asia Pacific region, said John Holmes, the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, during a visit to Jakarta.

"A 10 percent figure of what you are spending on response or even on development should go into disaster risk reduction because that is a good investment," he said.

Holmes toured West Sumatra on Wednesday, visiting areas where a magnitude 7.6 quake in late September triggered landslides, killed more than 1,000 people and destroyed more than 130,000 homes.

Before visiting Indonesia, Holmes had stopped in Manila, which was been badly hit by tropical storms recently.

Holmes said that the Indonesian and international response to the earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra, was one of the more successful he had seen, but that building codes needed to be enforced to minimise the impact of the next natural disaster.

"All development measures should have disaster risk reduction measures built into them," he said, adding that disaster risk reduction should also be built into discussions on a world climate pact that will take place in Copenhagen in December.

"That also has to be part of the wider Copenhagen discussions and negotiations in December in order to ensure that not only do we focus on reducing emissions to tackle climate change at its source but also to make sure we are focusing on the adaptation side," he said.

"In other words, helping developing countries cope with the effects of climate change which are with us right now and disaster risk reduction is very much a part of that."

Indonesia, which sits on one of the world's most active seismic fault lines, has several active volcanoes and is prone to earthquakes and heavy flooding.

In December 2004, a magnitude 9.15 quake off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province triggered an Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India, with around 170,000 killed in Indonesia's Aceh alone.

A recent tsunami in Samoa also caused widespread destruction. (Editing by Sara Webb)

INDONESIA: Climate change worsening disasters, says UN
IRIN Reuters Alert 16 Oct 09;

JAKARTA, 16 October 2009 (IRIN) - Climate change is contributing to more frequent and deadlier natural disasters, and governments need to speed up measures to mitigate their impact, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, warns.

Holmes, in Indonesia for a two-day visit after a deadly 30 September earthquake off West Sumatra, warned there would be more intense typhoons, flooding, droughts and forest fires because of climate change.

"Look at the trend. How many [disasters] there are and how bad they are, not only here but also in Central America, and it's perfectly clear what's happening and that's what scientists said would happen," Holmes, also the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator, told IRIN in an interview on 15 October.

"To me, that means there's a link between climate change and more frequent disasters," he said.

Given this, governments should be better prepared, and take measures to reduce the impact, he said.

"That means people not living in areas that are flood-[prone]; it means making sure buildings are not in areas that are flood-[prone]," said Holmes.

Holmes also said recent disasters in the Asia-Pacific region made negotiations for a new climate change deal - which are faltering - all the more important.

The Asian region has been hit by several disasters in recent weeks, including devastating floods in the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Nepal, affecting millions.

About 99 percent of those killed by natural disasters were in the Asia Pacific region, said Holmes.

"Obviously it's important to reduce emissions, that's fundamental to stopping climate change in the end. But in the meantime, whatever we do about emissions, the results are already with us for the next 50 years," he said.

Separately, Holmes urged disaster-prone Asian countries to spend one-tenth of their development funds on efforts to reduce disaster risks.

The international community spent US$12 billion on disaster relief last year. "A 10 percent figure of what you are spending on response or even on development should go into disaster-risk reduction because that is a good investment," he told reporters.

Funding for West Sumatra

Holmes travelled to quake-hit areas in West Sumatra and met the head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), as well as humanitarian agencies.

He said the UN would release about $7 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund for aid efforts in West Sumatra, including 12 projects focusing on emergency shelter, nutrition, reopening schools and health sector support.

The UN on 9 October launched a $38 million appeal to help the Indonesian government meet the needs of quake survivors.

The BNPB has revised the death toll from the earthquake to 1,117, including those missing and believed buried in landslides.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest situation report on 15 October that 198,200 households needed emergency shelter.

Lack of access to remote areas remains the major obstacle to providing aid to survivors, but the Indonesian Military (TNI) has agreed to deploy 500 soldiers to rebuild roads or create new access routes to affected areas, OCHA said.

Reconstruction delays

Oxfam Indonesia's humanitarian programme manager, Sébastien Fesneau, said survivors needed tarpaulins, tents and plastic sheeting for shelter - as well as food.

But he said rebuilding houses would prove a greater challenge, because the brick industry in West Sumatra had been paralysed by the quake.

"It will be a problem when we are looking for adequate building materials, and this could possibly delay the reconstruction phase," Fesneau told IRIN.

Some NGOs were considering building transitional shelters using bamboo or coconut trees pending the availability of building materials, he said.

Fesneau also said many survivors had been forced to sell their belongings to meet their basic needs, resulting in what he called "asset erosion".

"We will introduce a cash transfer programme targeting the most vulnerable groups to ensure their belongings will not be sold," he said.