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International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
Platform for the Promotion of Early Warning

 

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 UN/ISDR
 Platform for the Promotion
 of Early Warning
 Hermann-Ehlers-Strasse 10
 D-53113 Bonn, Germany
 Tel.: 0049 228 815 0300
 Fax: 0049 228 815 0399
 email  isdr-ppew@un.org

 
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Need for earthquakes early warning systems
Related to the severe earthquake in China (magnitude 7.9) on 20 May 2008 many questions have been raised about possibilities of saving people’s lives. The emphasis should be put on disaster risk reduction including early warning systems:

“We know how to make buildings more resistant to earthquakes, but this knowledge is still not yet well disseminated among decision-makers who enforce building codes for houses, schools and hospitals” says Salvano Briceño, Director of the UN secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR). Fouad Bendimerad, Chairman of the Board of the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI), underlined this statement: “We have the knowledge and the technology” to avoid the collapse of building. “But there are fundamental problems … We must address the structural issues related to the safety of the buildings through integrating disaster risk reduction considerations in urban planning.”
Read the UN/ISDR press release and the interview.

Besides secure constructed buildings early warning systems should be in place. Earthquake alert systems furnish only a few seconds of warning, but that can be enough time for people to take protective measures.

The principle behind earthquake early warnings is fairly straightforward. Earthquakes begin with tremors called P-waves that have short wavelengths and generally do little damage; they may not even be felt by humans. Seconds later, the exact number of seconds depends on distance from the quake's epicenter, longer-wavelength tremors known as S-waves arrive and inflict damage as they shake buildings and landmasses. Early warning systems consist of seismographs that detect the P-waves and send out electronic alerts.
Japan, an earthquake-prone country, launched an early warning system in October 2007 that delivers warning via mass media, including television and the Internet. Other countries like Taiwan and Mexico are developing systems on the same basis.

Additionally, diverse early warning projects are dealing with the implementation of this warning technology on the local scale. An example is the German development association for international earthquake prevention measures (IEP e.V.). It is a non-profit association, which supports projects concerned with earthquake prevention measures.

Early Warning Systems can Save Lives
After a Category 3 storm ripped through Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta region on 3 May 2008, the United Nations secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction stressed the importance of having life-saving early warning systems and preparedness programmes in place when cyclones strike.
Read Press Release.
Third International Conference on Early Warning
27-29 March 2006
Bonn, Germany
The checklist is an outcome document of the EWC III. It was generated in order to help governments and communities implement people-centred early warning systems.

The checklist was translated into 19 Indian Ocean languages.



Early Warning – From concept to action:
the Conclusions of the Third International Conference
on Early Warning
Fore more information visit www.ewc3.org
Tsunami Flash Appeal Report
The report of the United Nations Tsumani Flash Appeal Project "Evaluation and Strengthening of Early Warning Systems in Countries Affected by the 26 December 2004 Tsunami" was compiled by the UN/ISDR Platform for the Promotion of Early Warning based on the final reports of the 16 direct implementing partners.
Megaphones save thousands in Banglades
A simple early warning system that used local volunteers shouting through megaphones to warn people about the impending cyclone saved thousands of lives when Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh last week, and the system proved so effective that it might even become a model for other countries. Read more.
Final Version of the Global Survey of Early Warning Systems
An assessment of capacities, gaps and opportunities toward building a comprehensive global early warning system for all natural hazards, is now on-line available.

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