From the perspective of the Programme that I represent, i.e. the United Nations Volunteers Programme, it will not surprise you that I will use this brief intervention to highlight the indispensible role that voluntary action and volunteers play in any strategy of disaster reduction, including early warning.

If, for instance, communities are to brace themselves for weather-related shocks, they must be provided with sufficient warning to be able to put emergency plans into operation.

In that connection it is worthwhile to recall that as part of the daily routine of weather observation of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), millions of volunteers give time to the most basic level of meteorological prediction: data collection. Every day, millions of farmers, fishermen, pilots and sea captains read hydrological and meteorological recorders, measure rainfall and test climactic conditions, reporting their findings to national meteorological and hydrological surveys around the world. In South Australia, for example, the Hawker family has recorded rainfall on a daily basis since 1860.

In 1999, the Irish Meteorological Society presented an award for diligent service to a 93-year-old man who had read hydrological metres every day for an unbroken period of 56 years.

These volunteers are in fact the core of modern weather reporting. Without their efforts, meteorologists would have a greatly diminished capacity to know about conditions in remote areas, negatively affecting their ability to provide accurate forecasts of weather patterns around the world.

That is one perspective .

Another perspective is that much can also be learned from the creative disaster prevention efforts of poor communities in developing countries.

As the UN Secretary General once said, prevention policy is too important to be left to governments and international agencies alone. Government and institutional interventions often prove to be insufficient and frequently are seen to be sporadic and only responding to crises. They are inclined to ignore local perceptions and needs and the potential value of local resources and capacities in the process.

It is thus also about recognizing and mobilizing potential victims as important actors; about involving communities and civil society which, as you know, is very much rooted in voluntary action.

And the outcome of the International Year of Volunteers 2001 has very much demonstrated that policy- and decision makers better not ignore this resource and that they can do a lot to nurture it through effective recognition, facilitation, networking and promotion.

If sufficient attention and investment is devoted to this sector, the involvement of local residents and communities in protecting their own resources is possible and can work

There are many examples and circumstances in which the contributions of individual volunteers and volunteer-involving organizations have proved to be invaluable. The dedication of volunteers, their solidarity and their determination to reaching results, their capacity for self-mobilization and the geographical spread and reach of their networks have helped make a difference.

And not only at the time when the disaster has occurred.

When the state of Orissa was hit by a devastating cyclone in October 2000, which left 13 million people affected through flooding and 600,000 homeless, many teams of volunteers (including UN Volunteers) impressed and inspired us all by the manner in which they helped local populations reestablish their livelihoods.
At the same time, and using ICT, the teams took the initiative to track and predict weather patterns which contributed to avoiding additional impact. Meanwhile, other Volunteers continuously increase their efforts to help more Indian villages prepare for disasters. Under a new disaster risk management programme launched in June 2003, these volunteers help create contingency plans and train more than three million people to form local emergency task forces. Some 125 districts across 12 states are expected to participate in this initiative.

This demonstrates in a nutshell what voluntary action is about – about doing more than just the obvious and putting people themselves as actors in the center. Governments and communities should capitalize more on the existence of locally-rooted and national volunteer movements and initiatives to help in disaster preparedness.

Factoring volunteerism into early warning sytems on the risks and impact of natural disasters and intraining for post-disaster recovery is a valuable option to consider. Elements to look into in this respect could include:

Legislation that encourages the formation of volunteer organizations and facilitates the implementation of their initiatives;
Measures to support and facilitate volunteer activities, such as seed funding, tax exemption, special leave for volunteering….;
Planning and organizing, on a systematic basis, training or other relevant activities to develop the organizational and operational capacity of volunteer groups;
Involving volunteer organizations in all discussions related to developing early warning of natural disasters and providing them enough room to share their views and experiences;
Integrating and coordinating their contributions within the national plan of action for early warning of natural disasters – both at the making and implementation phases;
Ensuring their participation in the monitoring and evaluation of the national plan of action, thus enabling them to learn from their own experiences as part of an overall collective endeavor in that area;
In sum, while the value of volunteering is widely acknowledged in times of crisis, its potential as a huge resource, locally available for early warning of natural disasters is hardly tapped. Harnessing this great asset early enough in the preparation for responding to natural disasters would be comparatively much more rewarding than keeping it as just a reactive instrument in times of actual disasters.

I would like to encourage you to keep this, often insufficiently recognized resource, in mind during your work over the next three days.

Thank you.