By Karen Stiller

With a predicted increase in extreme weather, the world’s humanitarian agencies need to move immediately from a model of disaster response to disaster preparedness.

This urgent call for global action comes in Planet Prepare: Preparing Coastal Communities in Asia for Future Catastrophes, a recently released report from World Vision. It states that we are at a unique time in the world’s history, when more and more people are forced to live in coastal areas that are a high-risk zone for floods and storms.

Increase in Severe Weather
Scientists predict that those very weather systems, like the severe cyclones that recently devastated Myanmar and Bangladesh, will only increase in number in coming years—hitting hardest in the very areas where these vulnerable populations are congregating.

The report says that the women, men and children who live less than ten metres above sea level and near the coast in Asia, are among “the most vulnerable communities on Earth.”

The natural ecosystem that might have once protected coastal communities has been degraded over the years from rapid population growth and uncontrolled development, making living conditions in the face of future disasters even more precarious.

Wake-up Call
Planet Prepare is a wake-up call for the world to the disastrous impact of climate change on the world’s poor and the urgent need to prepare now for the inevitability of more disasters.

“Even if greenhouse gases were reduced to zero tomorrow, an unstoppable pattern of environmental degradation and negative climatic change has been set in motion that is already severely eroding the security and livelihoods of millions of poor people across the Asia Pacific Region,” says the report.

An immediate attempt to halt and reverse the environmental impact of climate change is required, including “decarbonizing the global economy.” A global shift from countries responding to disasters to preparing for the inevitability of them is a non-negotiable for the world’s poor.

This will require steps including:

• strengthening the ability of villages and cities to cope with disasters induced by climate change
• educating the children in vulnerable areas on how to respond when disaster strikes;
• establishing and implementing early warning systems; and,
• building infrastructure that can better withstand the onslaught of climate-change induced disasters.

A Shift in Thinking
Planet Prepare calls for governments around the world to shift their thinking from providing emergency aid money after disaster strikes, to investing billions in being prepared for disasters to strike. The report also stresses the hope and possibilities for change available to the global community.

“It is worth remembering that while natural disaster events are largely inevitable, they need not evolve into humanitarian emergencies. If communities prepare and steel themselves against disasters, disasters need not steal progress made in human development.”

Learning and Doing More
For full details, you can download the Planet Prepare report.

Disaster preparation for vulnerable communities is one of the key benefits of child sponsorship. Click here to sponsor a child.