PRESS RELEASE: International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2022 - Early Warning and Early Action for All

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 13, 2022

International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2022 - Early Warning and Early Action for All

“Building resilience to climate change and reducing disaster risk and losses is vital to save lives and livelihoods, eradicate poverty and hunger and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.” Antonio Guterres - UN Secretary-General

October 13, 2022, has been designated by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) to promote a global culture of Disaster Risk Reduction. This year falls during the review of the Sendai Framework, which focuses on the progress thus far on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, adopted in March 2015. The review will end at a high-level meeting of the General Assembly in May 2023 with a political declaration.

The purpose of the Sendai Framework is to avoid creating new and reduce existing risks; if this is not possible, people-centred Early Warning Systems and Preparedness can enable early action to minimise the harm to people, assets and livelihoods. Early warning systems identify incoming hazards and ensure that the populations and various sectors at risk can receive an alert, understand it, and, most importantly, act on it. Therefore, an Early Warning System must trigger early action that is well-prepared and tested.

The Sendai Framework has seven global targets. This year's DRR Day will focus on Target G of the Sendai Framework "Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to people by 2030."

We have made many strides to improve our Early Warning Systems in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The DDME continues the annual mitigation of hazards through year-round campaigns, training workshops, simulation exercises and the introduction of the DDME ALERT Mobile App, which serves as an Early Warning Notification tool. This increased number of communication platforms will bring new opportunities to reach at-risk communities and assist the public in early preparation and emergency notifications. In addition to enhancing access to Disaster Risk Information, DDME continues to promote partnerships with all our primary stakeholders such as mobile-phone networks and media partners, to support disaster risk communication; TCIAA Department of Meteorology, in providing localised Impact-based Forecasting and Warning Services to the Turks and Caicos Islands for example.

However, there are always areas for improvement. Therefore, for the Turks and Caicos to accomplish Target G, we must establish Early Warning systems that are:

•  Multi-Hazard: they are designed to detect different hazards that may occur alone, simultaneously or cascade.
•  End-to-end: the system covers the entire range, from hazard detection to action, which includes providing understandable and actionable warning messages.
•  People-centred: this means designing the systems with people in mind to empower them to act on time and in an appropriate manner to reduce potential harm Hence the urgency to achieve this target was strengthened in March 2022 by the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, who said, “the United Nations will spearhead new action to ensure every person on earth is protected by warning systems within five years.”

As of April 2022, only 95 countries have reported on the existence of Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems through the Sendai Framework Monitoring System. We encourage you to download and explore your Early Warning Tool…DDME ALERT App…through you mobile App Play store for iPhone users visit: https://apple.co/3N37KhC for Android users: https://bit.ly/3N027AH .