Regional Strategy for Disaster Risk Assessments in the See Region

Regional Strategy for Disaster Risk Assessments in the SEE Region

Prepared by: GRIP/UNDP

1. Background

Effective Disaster Risk Reduction strategies and action plans are built on a good understanding of the problem of the risks and disasters a country or community is facing. This understanding can only be achieved through an evidence-based Disaster Risk Assessments (DRA) that considers the hazards and the physical, social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities as well as the ways in which hazards, vulnerabilities and the elements at risk change in the short- and long-terms. A DRA is a multi-disciplinary process that needs to involve multiple stakeholders and requires close cooperation and collaboration of different organizations and institutions. In this context, on 23 February 2009, the European Commission adopted a Communication on a Community approach on the prevention of natural and man-made disasters setting out an overall Disaster Prevention Framework and proposing measures to minimize the impacts of disasters. The Communication advocated the development of EU and national policies supporting the disaster management cycle: Prevention- Preparedness - Response - Recovery. The Council Conclusions on a Community framework on Disaster Prevention within the EU, adopted on 30 November 2009 emphasized that hazard risk identification and assessment, disaster impact analysis, risk scenario development, risk management measures, and regular reviews of DRR effectiveness are major components of the EU Disaster Prevention Framework and of prevention policies at all levels of government, and stressed the potential for an added value of EU work in these areas. Accordingly, the European Commission has worked out an agenda for action and published EU’s guidelines for National Risk Assessment and Mapping in December 2010. It has become mandatory for the member states of the European Commission to conduct National Risk Assessment (NRA) to create comparable...