Terry Cannon addressing the WDR 2014 launch event yesterday.
By Joey Aguilar
Staff Reporter
Disregarding culture while tackling disasters lessens the efficacy of risk-reduction efforts, Terry Cannon, lead author of the World Disaster Report 2014 (WDR), said yesterday.
“The argument of the WDR 2014 is that culture is a major factor affecting how people in organisations deal with disasters and yet it is often ignored,” he stressed.
Cannon was speaking at the launch of WDR 2014 at Katara – the Cultural Village. The event was attended by officials of the Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) headed by its secretary general, Saleh bin Ali al-Mohannadi and some diplomats.
The WDR 2014 lead author lamented that they rarely hear culture being discussed by disaster risk-reduction organisations.
Cannon said culture clash – between the community and the organisation (what they believe about risk don’t match up) – lessens the impact of efforts for disaster preparedness.
He reiterated the need to take culture more seriously despite its complexity and difficulty to understand.
Citing some cases such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Cannon said a culture clash is taking place between the affected people and the organisations that are trying to support them.
One such case was when the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and QRC were involved in a funeral – an occasion which also ends up spreading the Ebola disease further.
Some people in Ebola-hit parts of West Africa normally hug or kiss the corpses of their loved ones before burying them in their own backyards. It is a ritual and a way of saying goodbye to the dead.
“The outbreak demonstrates that all efforts to stop the deadly disease will be in vain if we do not address misconceptions and cultural beliefs through effective social mobilisation and behavioural change,” the IFRC said in a statement.
The WDR 2014 aims to bring complex issues into the open for discussion in a bid to come up with better disaster risk-reduction work. The first part tackles the effects of religion and other beliefs.
“The book also talks about preparedness for climate change because that is going to make disasters worst,” said Cannon.
He noted that hundreds of millions of people live in danger zones that are affected by hazards like floods, cyclones, earthquakes, volcanoes which are too serious and severe.
The WDR 2014 also included an annual summary of disaster information citing floods as the most frequent natural hazard followed by storms.
At least 44% of deaths caused by natural calamities was due to floods while 41% was due to storms.
Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines was considered as the worst natural disaster in the same year affecting 16mn people and the total loss was estimated at $10bn.
The total amount lost from natural hazards was estimated at about $118.6bn in 2013, the fourth lowest of the decade. It includes a flood in Germany with losses estimated at almost $13bn. It was followed by cyclone Phailin in India which affected 13mn residents.
Cannon noted that Ebola may be considered as the main disaster for 2014. However, he said past disasters whether natural or man-made can continue for a very long time.
