WMO Disaster Risk Reduction Programs - Executive Council

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GENEVA 000599 SIPDIS STATE PASS TO IO FOR DISSELKOEN AND USAID FOR DCHA STATE PASS NOAA FOR JHAYES, WBOLHOFFER, DTHOMPSON ASTANA, BANGKOK, BRUSSELS, BUDAPEST, JOHANNESBURG-OFDA REP ROME, SAN JOSE, USUN NEW YORK FOR - OFDA REP US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY - FOR DR. DAVID APPLEGATE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID UN SENV WMO ECOSOC SUBJECT: WMO Disaster Risk Reduction Programs - Executive Council Review ¶1. Summary. During the recent WMO Executive Council (EC) meeting in Geneva from June 3-12, members reviewed the progress of WMO Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Service Delivery (SD) programs. The EC Working Group for DRR and SD (WG DRR/SD) is chaired by the U.S. Permanent Representative, Dr. Jack Hayes (Assistant Administrator of Weather Services for NOAA). The DRR program is gaining momentum both within the WMO and among Members. Agreement was reached at the meeting that WMO Member countries, Technical Commissions and Regional Associations (RA) will work together towards developing end-to-end multi-hazard early warning systems within each region. In WMO Regional Association IV, which includes North America, Central America and the Caribbean, there is a WMO DRR pilot project to strengthen flood and flash flood warning and response systems in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua. NOAA and the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) will host a visit by Dr. Maryam Golnarghi, Director of the WMO DRR Program, from July 7-9 in Washington where she will meet with federal agencies and donor organizations with the aim of increasing collaboration on DRR. End Summary. ¶2. The Disaster Risk Reduction program of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) addresses Disaster preparedness, mitigation and response to potential hydro-meteorological hazards. Hurricanes, tsunamis, severe weather, winter storms, floods and flash floods are high-impact weather that greatly affects the global community. According to a recent survey by WMO, sixty percent of the countries surveyed indicated there was no effective response capability by the government and when disasters occurred, the best they could accomplish was to provide relief and aid to victims after the event. The principle WMO Disaster Risk Reduction program goal is to link National Hydrological and Meteorological Service (NMHS) forecasts and warnings to effective emergency response programs to minimize impact to the population at risk and to mitigate economic losses. The DRR program along with the Working Group on DRR and SD are focused on establishing end-to-end multi-hazard early warning systems for developed and developing countries. End-to-end systems are complex. For example establishing a true end-to-end system would involve collecting and sensing data, modeling and analysis, creation of warning messages and end-user products, dissemination of warnings and products through appropriate and pre-defined channels which include disaster management agencies for initiating evacuation actions to save lives. If any of these components are weak and not functioning properly then warnings cannot reach the end-user such as the person in the floodplain or emergency responders, resulting in humanitarian losses. Different regions and countries experience different weaknesses in their end-to-end system operations. For example in the Caribbean and Central America region (WMO Regional Association IV),a weakness of the end-to-end system is the disconnect between NMHS's and disaster management agencies. In South America (RA-III) communications is the principal weakness. Agenda Highlights -------------- ¶3. The report of the WG DRR/SD was accepted by the EC. The report outlined a two-year work plan to build end-to-end multi-hazard early warning systems, facilitate coordination with partners, build capacity, and to establish public education programs and pilot projects. The program will develop a document titled "Role of NMHS's in Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems". The document will define best practices based on selected country programs and lessons learned from pilot projects. This publication will also be used as a text book in training workshops now being scheduled. ¶4. Dr. Hayes, WG DRR/SD Chair, reported to the EC that the WG had developed its work plan for the next two years and that the WG also would develop a strategic and operating plan for consideration by the next Congress. One of the major goals of the WG is to transfer project responsibility and resource mobilization to the RAs and Members as well as to work more closely with development agencies because the WMO Secretariat has limited capacity to manage projects and the ultimate goal is to develop effective end-to-end multi-hazard warning systems in all countries. GENEVA 00000599 002 OF 002 ¶5. The SD program needs organization & guidance. The WG DRR/SD requested the Secretariat to develop a framework for a Service Delivery Policy over the next two-years. This framework will facilitate the cost-effective development of SD capacity. Through this framework, NMHS's will receive guidance on interacting with various user communities to understand their requirement, then understand how to use this information to achieve effective service delivery results for a wide range of user needs. This program will also continue to build successful regional forecast demonstration projects over the next two-years that expand the number countries and hazards so as to realize a regional implementation of these demonstration projects. ¶6. The WMO pilot project in Central America is funded by the World Bank and many UN, regional, national and local partners are committed to this project. A goal of this project is to demonstrate how an end-to-end multi-hazard early warning system can be implemented in a region with strong Member leadership, regional support and can integrate with other cross-cutting activities such as the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) also being implemented in RA IV. The RAIV WIGOS demonstration project goal is to provide mosaic regional radar data to the countries in the region. This new product will be extremely helpful in composing warnings by NMHS's and for use by end-users such as disaster management agencies in preparing to respond to potential high-impact and/or severe weather. GRIFFITHS