De arabiske lande har ikke et moderne beredskab, der kan tackle de mange naturkatastrofer, der rammer regionen. Det går ud over civilbefolkningen, påpeger FN, som støtter konference om emnet i disse dage i Jordan.
AQABA (Jordan), 19 March 2013 (UN News Service): Given the risks in Arab States of earthquakes, landslides and other disasters, hundreds of senior officials and civil society leaders are meeting at the first United Nations-backed conference for the region aimed at agreeing on a common position on disaster risk reduction.
“Arab countries have made significant progress on the development front over the past decades,” said Jordan Ryan, Director of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery at the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
“However, such gains are put in jeopardy because of weak systems for disaster preparedness, which make the population vulnerable to a multitude of environmental disasters, especially in urban areas.”
Over the course of three days, participants at the First Arab Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, being held in Aqaba, Jordan, will work on creating benchmarks for reducing disaster risk in their cities. The conference is expected to transition into a consultative forum which meets on a regular basis, according to organizers.
“A shocking absence of enforced building construction standards, a sharp rise in urban poverty, and the growing and unchecked impact of climate change are among other factors that must make us even more determined to act decisively,” Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan, President of the Royal Scientific Society and co-host of the conference, said.
Addressing national ministers, senior government officials, city mayors, and representatives of civil society, bilateral development agencies and the UN, Princess Sumaya said the meeting comes at a crucial time in the Arab world and necessitates a disaster risk plan specifically suited for the region.
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