PHA-Exchange> Earth Summit - PRESS RELEASE from the HUAIROU COMMISSION AND GROOTS INTERNATIONAL- ON DISASTERS AND WOMEN 2

[UNNIKRISHNAN P V (Dr)]

                    HUAIROU COMMISSION
                                   Women, Homes and Community

Email:  huairou at earthlink.net                    New York:             Tele:  718-388-8915 

www.huairou.org                                                                    Fax:   718-388-0285

URGENT                PRESS RELEASE          

Istanbul, Turkey; August 21st 2002

"PLACE  WOMEN  AT  THE  CENTRE  OF  DISASTER  RESPONSE  

STRATEGIES",  Huairou Commission urges the planners and 

the international community to do a 'reality check'.  

"Place women at the centre of any initiative to respond to the devastating impacts of natural disasters. The experiences of women in Turkey and India in responding to a series of earthquakes that shook these two countries last decade show that women-centred initiatives alone will help to put the lives of the affected communities back in place." This is the key demand coming out of an international consultation held at Istanbul on the eve of the World Summit on Sustainable Development at Johannesburg (26 Aug -4 Sep, 2002).

The consultation at Istanbul was facilitated by the Huairou Commission and GROOTS International, two international coalitions who have been actively involved in facilitating women-centred disaster response strategies. The consultation brought together a group of disaster-affected communities, grass root women groups, non-governmental organizations, relief agencies, academicians and international experts.

"We need to think differently and act differently. The international community has a collective responsibility to place women at the center-stage of disaster response strategies," said Ms. Jan Peterson, Chair Person of Huairou Commission. 

Disasters, despite their devastating nature also provide opportunities for new community equations. " It was only after the earthquake that we came together to take collective action and now we feel more powerful," said Ms.Hamiye, a grassroots leader from Women's  Cooperative in Izmit, the industrial province of Turkey. 

In 1999, two devastating earthquakes killed over 20,000 people in Turkey. Over 340,000 houses were damaged or destroyed and the industrial province of Izmit was shattered. Another earthquake reconfigured the landscape in Gujarat (India) in 2001 killing over 15,000, leaving a long trail of mortality and morbidity.

"Programmes such as  'Disaster Watch' and  'Community to Community' exchanges have energised women's groups of Izmit (Turkey) and Gujarat (India). Learning from practice is a tool for empowering communities. It further helps to transform a crisis into an opportunity for rebuilding. For better results, International agencies need to invest in building local capacities and community-based disaster reduction initiatives," said Ms. Prema Gopalan, director of Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP), India.

"Disaster response and rehabilitation is not just about efficiency. It is also about a better governance and the use of disaster aid in which women can play a critical role. Their experience can help to formulate more pragmatic disaster management policies," said Ms. Sengul Akcar of the Istanbul based Foundation for the Support of Women's Work (FSWW). 

The call to place women at the centre of disaster response initiatives comes at the most appropriate time. In the last decade, the total number of people affected by disasters has tripled to 2 billion. There has been a five-time increase in the total direct economic loss during the same period.

These grim statistics remind us about the difficult road the world has travelled since the Rio Summit in 1992. The United Nations' International Strategy for Disaster Reduction is expected to boost its efforts after the Johannesburg Summit. However, the UN strategy needs support and synergy of different constituencies, especially women and grassroots groups. 

The World Bank estimates that 97% of the natural disaster related deaths each year occur in developing countries. The percentage of economic loss in relation to the GNP in developing countries far exceeds that in developed countries. The devastation that each disaster causes reverses the social development in these countries by decades. Perennial poverty, bad planning and lack of community-driven strategies further neutralize the recovery. 

"It is true that the devastating impacts of disasters have gained visibility since the Rio Summit. But the challenge is to place the affected communities and the most vulnerable, especially women, at the centre stage" said Ms. Sandra Schilen, Global facilitator of Groots International, a coalition of grassroots groups. Schilen and her coalition network partners from Asia, Africa and South America will moot this concept during the Global Summit at Johannesburg.                                                                                      

On the eve of the Johannesburg summit, grassroots groups make 3 key demands;

  a.. Be innovative: Initiate disaster response strategies in consultation with the community in general and women in particular. 
  b.. Invest with vision: The donor agencies and the UN must make a long-term commitment to disaster response programmes. 
  c.. Ensure synergy: The UN, Government, Non- governmental and private sectors must find common grounds for collaboration. This will help to optimize the scarce resources that often miss the target.
 

Jan Peterson                                       Prema Gopalan

For media enquiries :  India : +91 (0) 98450 91319 &  New York: +1 9175327055

During the Earth summit, the Huairou Commission and GROOTS International representatives can be contacted at Johannesburg : 

Mobile phone : 027.82.858.9440 (Sandra  Schilen or Prema Gopalan); 

Phone - 011-615-9744            :     Email: GROOTSss at aol.com 



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message forwarded by : 

Dr. Unnikrishnan PV
Co-ordinator: Emergencies & Humanitarian Action, OXFAM INDIA
E-mail: unnikru at yahoo.com 
Mobile: + 91 (0) 98450 91319
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CONTACT DETAILS  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
OXFAM INDIA
Vijaya Shree, 4th A Main, Near Baptist Hospital, (off) Bellary Rd, Hebbal, Bangalore-560 024 - INDIA 
Ph: 91 (80) 363 2964, 363 3274 ; Fax : 91 (80) 391 4508 (attn: Oxfam India)
E-mail: oxfamindia at vsnl.com     Web-site: www.oxfamindia.org




 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20020822/1cbccd09/attachment-0001.html>