World Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2022 and the importance of early warning and action

Weather of Arabia - Disasters caused by natural and technological hazards harm millions of people every year around the world. Hence, the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, which falls on October 13 of each year, aims to highlight the ways in which people and communities around the world reduce their exposure to disaster risks.

World Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2022

This year 2022, the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction focuses on Goal G of the Sendai Framework, which states: “Significantly increase the availability and access to multi-hazard early warning systems, information and assessments of disaster risk by 2030.” The urgency to achieve this goal was reinforced in March 2022 by the announcement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres that "the UN will lead new actions to ensure that every person on Earth is protected by early warning systems within five years ."

The primary objective of the Sendai Framework (adopted in Sendai, Japan) for disaster risk reduction is prevention. But when this is not possible, it is important to minimize harm to people through early warning systems.

This is especially important in the case of sudden or rapid hazards such as tsunamis, hurricanes and volcanic eruptions, but it is also important in the case of slow-growing threats such as drought and disease outbreaks.

It is not enough that an early warning system correctly identifies an incoming hazard, it must also ensure that populations and sectors at risk can receive the alert, understand it and, most importantly, act upon it. Hence, early warning must lead to early action, and in the case of rapidly spreading dangers, this sometimes means evacuation and the search for suitable shelter.

The purpose of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction

The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction was adopted in 1989, following a call by the United Nations General Assembly to promote a global culture of disaster risk awareness and reduction, and the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is celebrated on 13 October from Every year with the aim of educating people on how to take action to reduce their risk of disaster.

When disasters hit hard, they cause loss of life and great social and economic upheaval, and sudden disasters displace millions of people each year.

Many disasters are exacerbated by climate change, which has a negative impact on investment in sustainable development and its desired results.

Also, there is a need to urgently strengthen local capacities to reduce human disaster risks, and apply this to disasters of small and large severity, whether natural or human-caused, as well as environmental disaster risks, and related technological and biological risks.

The importance of early warning

1. Early warning saves lives.
2. Early warning within 24 hours can reduce the damage caused by a disaster by 30 percent.
3. Climate change is causing more frequent, extreme and unpredictable risks, making investment in early warning more urgent than ever.
4. Early warning systems must cover multiple risks. Hurricanes, storms, floods and tsunamis, but also to warn of heat waves, wildfires, droughts, sandstorms, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, disease outbreaks, technological accidents, pest outbreaks and many other dangers.

You may also be interested in: More than 11,000 weather-related disasters the world has witnessed during the past 50 years, resulting in more than two million deaths

The innovative early warning system of Arabia Weather

For its part, the Arab Weather Center provides many integrated weather solutions anywhere in the world, so that this helps in the decision-making process of the competent authorities accurately and before a sufficient period of time, including all weather phenomena related to weather such as rain, fog, dust, wind, temperatures and relative humidity. Even the waves rise in the seas and oceans.

More details about the early warning system to reduce the risks of air disasters, details from here