DOHA: Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) will launch the World Disasters Report 2014 (WDR) today at Katara.
The event is organised in cooperation with International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC).
The report explores different ways in which culture affects disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation and how disasters and risk influence culture.
It examines why people choose to live in hazard-prone locations, and how culture and beliefs enable them to live with risks they face.
The report looks at the organisational culture of agencies working in the fields of disaster risk reduction and adaptation, and challenges the widespread faith in community-based activities.
It also considers culture in relation to housing and reconstruction, as well as healthcare and medicine.
The indicates starting points for organisations to better align their actions with the way people think and act.
It comprise eight chapters: The Links Between Culture and Risk; How Religion and Beliefs Influence Perceptions of and Attitudes Towards Risk; Taking Livelihoods Seriously; The Myth of Community; Culture, Risk, and the Built Environment; Culturally Sensitive Public Health: The HIV/Aids Disaster and Beyond; Putting Culture at the Centre of Risk Reduction; and Disaster Data.
The IFRC Secretariat will publish the full report in English and a 40-page summary in Arabic, French, and Spanish.
The report offers an opportunity to shed light on important issues and activities of national societies and the secretariat around the world.
It acts as a humanitarian diplomacy platform of interest for donors, government agencies, and the media.
The report will hopefully become the basis of developing post-Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 policies and international action plans, including World Humanitarian Summit to be held by the United Nations in Istanbul, Turkey, in May 2016.
The report is about people and disasters. It is about vulnerable people most likely to be affected by disasters and local institutions which provide the mainstay of disaster prevention, preparedness and relief.
This is the 21st edition of the report, which has been published annually by IFRC since 1993.
The launch will feature keynote speech by Dr Aisha Yousef Al Mannai, QRC Vice-Chairwoman, on behalf of Chairman, Dr Mohamed bin Ghanem Al Ali Al Maadheed; opening remarks from QRC Secretary-General, Saleh bin Ali Al Mohannadi; Terry Cannon, WDR Lead Author; Matthias Schmale, Under-Secretary-General, National Society and Knowledge Development, IFRC; and Fadi Hamdan, the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa (Mena) Senior Adviser for Disaster Risk Management.
Reema Al Merekhi, Head of QRC’s Risk Reduction Team, will give a presentation on the ‘Safe School’, a programme implemented by QRC at Qatari schools to raise awareness of how to deal with emergencies such as earthquakes, fires, accidents, and others.
A panel discussion will feature 30 high-profile guests, including heads of missions and UN and IFRC representatives.
The Peninsula
