By Nobuyuki Asai
Note: The writer belongs to the Office of Peace and Global Issues, Soka Gakkai International (SGI), based in Tokyo. He attended the 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction conference, held in Cancun from May 22 to 26 – The Editor
TOKYO (IDN-INPS) – Clarification of numerical targets was one of the main issues in this conference. According to an expert, relevant statistics standards vary from country to country and, while their unification is a challenge, it was agreed on this occasion that steps should be taken in this direction. Further progress was also made with announcement of the formation of a civil society disaster risk reduction (DRR) advisory group aimed at putting people at the centre of DRR.
With most of the official conference sessions being held with a national or regional rather than local community perspective, collaboration across different sectors was often mentioned, with the stress being put on promotion at local community level in order to contribute to mobilising people more.
This is certainly a starting point but it is to be hoped that good cases be presented on future occasions and that relevant targets resonant with local community level initiatives be generated.
Role of faith-based organisations (FBOs)
In this sense, FBOs showcased unique initiatives at the Cancun meeting.
On May 23, for example, Act Alliance and Soka Gakkai International (SGI)co-organised a pre-conference titled ’Locally-led Disaster Risk Reduction by Faith-Based Organisations – Implementing the Sendai Framework’, at which Act Alliance’s presentation was similar to its Ignite Stage presentation.
CADENA, a Jewish NGO based in Mexico, described its humanitarian activity which covers several countries.
In its presentation, SGI noted that there are over one thousand SGI community centres across Japan, which are where most of the organisation’s activities are based. A review committee is in place at each of these centres and these committees are currently using various scenarios to draft guidelines for helping SGI respond to major disasters. These guidelines cover, for example, the measures to be taken at the time of a disaster while hundreds of people are gathered at a centre, when evacuees seek shelter late at night, or when there is nobody at a centre.
Every year, in the Shikoku region of Japan where a major earthquake is often forecast to hit, SGI been reaching out to over five thousand youths to survey their awareness of disasters. This kind of survey is highly appreciated by experts because it targets young people who are often not connected to their local community. The overall findings of these surveys show that young people tend to depend on social media as a main source of information and that they are often unaware of local evacuation venues in emergency situations. SGI desires to share these findings with experts and government officials so that they can be used for more efficient relief efforts in the future.
In the Q&A session, there was a comment from an advisor to Rikuzentakata City in Japan, which was severely affected by the Great East Japan earthquake of 2011. He said that, while understanding the proactive commitment of FBOs to disaster recovery, from a municipal office’s perspective uncoordinated activity by various aid agencies can cause problems in the area. In the discussion that followed, it was agreed that by respecting general standards for humanitarian NGOs, such as CHS Alliance and The Sphere Project, FBOs can obtain trust from other stakeholders.
Joint statement
FBOs released the following joint statement and submitted it to the Global Platform.
We urge State parties to engage FBOs and LFCs [local faith communities] in a meaningful and substantive way in implementing SFDRR [Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction]
Specifically by:
Collaborating with FBOs and LFCs and use their capacity to communicate to local communities to raise level of understanding and awareness on DRR and climate change (SFDRR priority 1);
Involving FBOs and LFCs to help monitor DRR impact at household and community level based on the set of SFDRR indicators for purposes of better risk governance; (SFDRR priority 2)
Using and encouraging the collaborative networks of LFCs/FBOs across the globe to respond to the impacts of disasters and climate change by raising investments for resilience at local, national, regional, and global level; (SFDRR priority 3)
Allocating resources to FBOs and LFCs to develop and implement DRR measures, both in terms of risk mapping, prevention/mitigation and resilience building projects/activities, as well as preparedness activities and early action against disasters; (SFDRR priority 3)
Engaging and supporting FBOs in relief and post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation to galvanise local humanitarian response/preparedness and to facilitate effective and efficient initiatives that will enable communities to BUILD BACK BETTER (SFDRR priority 4)
Local faith-based networks reach every corner of our communities and nations and are capable of contributing substantial material and social resources necessary for risk prevention, reduction and humanitarian action. Faith-based groups are key to the localisation of risk reduction, resilience building and humanitarian action because they are among those at the first line of defence in preventing avoidable disasters. They are also among first responders in emergencies providing shelter during evacuation, basic needs (i.e. food, water, clothing, shelter) of those affected during emergencies, and social capital for healing and recovery.
Faith-based organisations (FBOs) and local faith communities (LFCs) can complement other aid sectors’ activity at the grassroots level, thereby contributing and acting as a vector to localise humanitarian response and preparedness, as well as enhance mainstreaming of risk reduction measures in recovery and development programming. Faith, in all its forms, constitutes a natural and important element in the lives of billions of people with over 84 percent of the world identifying with a religious group. Faith drives people to take action. During the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, we have heard testimonies of communities that have relied on faith and faith institutions as part of their coping mechanism in times of disasters.
Faith has enabled communities to become better stewards of their environment and has enhanced social capital through communication, sharing, and compassion for others. Faith has thus offered courage, comfort and hope. Faith contributes to the coping and adaptive capacities of many people and can be a powerful element in reducing vulnerabilities and, thus, reduce disaster risk. It is an integral element that needs to be taken into account in disaster risk prevention and reduction. [IDN-InDepthNews – 11 June 2017]
Photo: NGOs briefing the media. Credit: SGI.
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