DISASTER PREVENTION

UNESCO MISSIONS

Objectives
The Organization plays an advocacy role on the need for a shift in emphasis from relief and emergency response to prevention and increased preparedness and education of potentially affected populations. The approach supported by UNESCO stresses the merit of preventive approaches through the design and dissemination of mitigation measures, proper information education and public awareness.
UNESCO acts as a catalyst, particularly in capacity building and in regional and international cooperation. UNESCO plays a major role in the creation of scientific institutions and/or in the improvement of facilities of existing institutions by strengthening their scientific infrastructure and access to information, as well as by facilitating opportunities for training and research.
In furthering an interdisciplinary approach to natural hazards, UNESCO should attempt to reach out to the following considerations:

• To assert an active role in the combat that it is engaging since 1960 against natural hazards through a new 'culture' based on disaster prevention which is exercised by the advance of science and technology and their applications, multidisciplinary education and training, disaster awareness of the policy-makers, the community leaders and the public,
  
  
• To affirm further the alignment of its programmes with the new emerging needs of hazard-prone Member States, particularly developing and least advanced countries, who are legitimately aspiring for security and limited vulnerability,
  
  
• To consolidate its partnership potential for donors and development funds seeking to engage further in disaster prevention rather than mere relief and recovery.

The purposes of UNESCO in the field of natural disasters are: to promote a better understanding of the distribution in time and space of natural hazards and of their intensity, to set up reliable early warning systems, to devise rational land-use plans, to secure the adoption of suitable building design, to protect educational buildings and cultural monuments, to strengthen environmental protection for the prevention of natural disasters, to enhance preparedness and public awareness through education and training communication and information, to foster post-disaster investigation, recovery and rehabilitation, to promote studies on the social perception of risks.

UNESCO's strategy
UNESCO action is carried out through networking and strengthening of regional and international co-ordination systems, direct partnership with Member States, field implementation of operational projects, reconnaissance and advisory missions, and preservation and dissemination of data, seminars and training courses. Constant co-operation is maintained with competent international and non-governmental bodies.