Governance and early warning systems, the key to disaster risk assessment

The United Nations General Assembly designated 13 October as the ‘International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR)’ to raise awareness among worldwide governments and the public of the importance of taking measures to minimise disaster risks.
Considering that natural disasters negatively affect the livelihoods of many people and cause considerable material damage, especially in developing countries, this date represents, according to the UN, "an opportunity to acknowledge the progress being made toward preventing and reducing disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods, economies and basic infrastructure in line with the international agreement for reducing global disaster risk and losses".
Follow the actions related to this day with the hashtags #DRRDay and #EarlyWarningForAll
In 2022, the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction will focus on the Sendai Framework: "Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessment for people by 2030". A goal that is in line with the theme of World Meteorological Day 2022: "Early warning and early action", which aimed to emphasise the importance of hydrometeorological and climate information for disaster risk reduction. The words of UN Secretary-General António Guterres in March this year reinforce the urgent need to achieve this goal.

Transforming governance for a resilient future
Cities are particularly vulnerable to increasingly frequent and extreme weather hazards
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 focuses on taking action on the three dimensions of disaster risk (hazard exposure, vulnerability and capacity, and hazard characteristics) in order to prevent the creation of new risks, reduce existing risks and increase resilience. In this regard, it provides Member States with a series of concrete actions that can be taken to protect the benefits of development against disaster risk and recognises that "the primary role of reducing disaster risk rests with the state", but that it is nevertheless "a responsibility that must be shared with other actors, such as local governments, the private sector and other stakeholders".
Cities are particularly vulnerable to increasingly frequent and extreme weather hazards, so municipal and regional governments must work urgently to prepare for and respond to disasters. This is why the Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is conducting a global campaign to develop more resilient cities in line with another of the Sendai Framework targets: To substantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, weather-, climate- and water-related disasters caused more than 2 million fatalities and $3.6 trillion in economic losses between 1970 and 2019. Moreover, during the same period, the number of recorded disasters increased fivefold and economic losses increased sevenfold, according to the State of Climate Services Report 2020. These are worrying figures that highlight even more the need to invest in understanding risk as the basis for sustainable development. "Nothing undermines sustainable development more than disasters," said António Guterres in the sixth edition of the United Nations Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR2022).
The same report warns that if current trends continue, the number of disasters per year globally may increase from around 400 in 2015 to 560 per year by 2030, a projected 40 per cent increase over the life of the Sendai Framework. It also stresses that as the world urbanises, risk is concentrated in the most densely populated areas, "many of which are not designed to withstand their current levels of hazard exposure, let alone those anticipated as a result of climate change".
If current trends continue, the number of disasters per year globally may increase from around 400 in 2015 to 560 per year by 2030
The UNDRR stresses that governance systems must evolve rapidly and "recognise that the challenges for the economy, the environment and equality can no longer be separated". To this end, RAG2022 notes that the keys to building resilience are measuring what we value, designing systems around how people make decisions about risk, and reconfiguring governance and financial systems to work collaboratively and across silos.
International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction #IDDRR 2022 theme
Early warning systems
According to the UN, floods, droughts and storms are the most frequent natural disasters, accounting for about 90 per cent of the more than 1,000 disasters recorded since 1990. In fact, according to the WMO Atlas of mortality and economic losses due to extreme weather, climate and hydrological events, water-related disasters top the list of disasters in terms of both human and economic losses over the last fifty years.
It is important to be aware that disaster risk reduction is an investment and to recognise the importance of environmental protection
In this context, it is important to be aware that disaster risk reduction is an investment and to recognise the importance of environmental protection to prevent natural disasters and mitigate their effects, so that water management itself is positioned as one of the key points to address this challenge and the implementation of new technologies included in the digital transformation process that the sector is currently undergoing is the starting point.
Thus, within the UNDRR plan, early warning systems (EWS) "help public officials and managers plan, save money in the long term and protect economies". They use integrated communication systems that collect, process and interpret data to help communities prepare for weather-related hazards (floods, droughts, heat waves or storms), predicting the frequency and intensity of these events and reducing response times. The EWS consists of the Hydrographic Information System, which obtains the necessary measurement data in real time (rainfall, river levels or flows); the Decision Support System, which uses hydrological response modelling to identify risks and their possible effects; and the Population Warning System, which alerts the authorities and the affected population in order to ensure their protection and minimise damage.