19 January 2005

Kobe, Japan: Addressing senior United Nations and government officials at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) in Japan, UN Volunteers Executive Coordinator Ad de Raad today set forth a series of recommendations to strengthen volunteers’ engagement in disaster preparedness and response efforts.

Aimed at governments and policymakers, the recommended steps focus on advancing citizens’ participation in disaster mitigation. They include: creating legislation to encourage formation of volunteer involving organizations; involving volunteer-based organizations in the development of early warning systems for natural disasters; providing people with incentives - such as tax exemption and special leave - to volunteer; and ensuring volunteer groups’ participation in the monitoring and evaluation of disaster plans.

Mr de Raad said the recommendations are a small but effective sample of ways to harness the potential of voluntary work in reducing the impact of natural and human-induced catastrophes. In the light of last month’s tsunamis, much more needs to be done to ensure people who want to help can do so in an organized manner, he emphasized.

“In the wake of disasters, we have seen repeatedly how considerably large numbers of generally unskilled, untrained, and unaffiliated citizens are mobilized through volunteerism to lend a hand,” said Mr de Raad. “However, much of it is ad hoc and uncoordinated. At best, this can result in a considerable loss of effectiveness. At worst, undirected volunteers can become part of the problem in a disaster situation.”

At the conference’s opening ceremony on 18 January, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi recognized volunteers’ crucial contribution in helping his country recover from several major earthquakes and typhoons in the past, and also in Japan’s current disaster mitigation efforts.
“ The various volunteers who came from all over Japan and around the world in response to…[the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake in 1995] made contributions of a magnitude that was unparalleled in Japanese history and gave Japanese society an opportunity to see the importance of their role,” he said. “Many regions in Japan faced disasters just last year. In these instances too, many volunteers [were in] local communities and played an extremely significant role in the affected areas’ recovery and rehabilitation.”

Mr. de Raad and several officials from the UNV programme are attending the five-day conference to push forward the inclusion of volunteers in disaster reduction policies. The UNV delegation is participating in several forums to strengthen collaboration and support in this area.

This is the second World Conference on Disaster Reduction to be held. The first conference took place in Yokohama in May 1994 and set forth a plan of action called the Yokohama Strategy.

The strategy outlined a number of concrete guidelines for action on prevention, preparedness and mitigation of disaster risk for the period 1994-2004. The conference currently going on in Kobe will review the progress made since the Yokohama conference to define a new plan of action for the years 2005 to 2015. The new plan of action will also facilitate the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals - a set of time-bound targets to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.