UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UNDRR Press conference

Good morning, everybody.

My name is Dennis McLean from the Communications Office of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

It's my pleasure to invite you to this press briefing hosted by UNDOR, in which the main speakers will be Mami Mitsutori, the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Certain Disaster Risk Reduction, and Dr Vladimir Reibinen, the Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.

And of course, this briefing is to mark the anniversary tomorrow of the Great E Japan Earthquake and tsunami, uh, tsunami risk is one of the most terrifying of all natural hazards.

Over the last 25 years, some 260,000 people have lost their lives in about 50 such events.

So without any further ado, I'd like to ask Madam, it's Tory to open the briefing.

Thank you very much, Dennis.

So today is a very solemn day of remembrance for the over 18,400 people who died or went missing as a result of that terrible event which happened 10 years ago tomorrow.

Teaching us harsh lessons about how to manage to manage disaster risk even in a country which is renowned for its culture of disaster preparedness and experience of these events.

Very recently, a swarm of earthquakes off the coast of New Zealand followed by a tsunami alert for many of the Pacific islands.

This was a further reminder on how real the tsunami ****** is around the Pacific's Ring of Fire.

But it's not only in the Pacific.

The Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, the North East Atlantic, the Mediterranean and other seas are also vulnerable to tsunami risk.

So this anniversary is an appropriate moment to draw attention to the fact that 680 million people live below just 10 metres above fee level, putting them at risk from the deadliest of all sudden onset disasters, which has claimed over 260,000 lives in some 50 events over the last 25 years.

It is important that UN Member States include tsunami preparedness as part of their efforts to deliver on the safe ocean outcome of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, which gets under way this year.

Significant work, I know, has already been done by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, also known as IOC, UNESCO and warning system operators to raise public awareness of this risk.

But giving population growth and how easy it is to forget past tragedies.

It is important that this effort is scaled up over the next decade.

Communities that know how to respond to the signs of a tsunami also understand better the life saving behaviours necessary to survive extreme weather events such as floods and storms, which have been increasingly exponentially over the past 20 years.

And these communities are better informed about evacuation routes and shelters when warnings are issued by national disaster management agencies and National Weather stations.

These alerts save lives, but we can do much better.

We will now hear shortly from Doctor Vladimir Rabini about the Tsunami Ready programme being pioneered by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.

But I'd like to close by just mentioning 2 things that I feel are very important lessons learned from the 10 year ago Great E Japan earthquake and tsunami.

For Tsunami Ready preparedness programme.

The first thing is that it is very important, it is actually the most important thing, that early self evacuation is really implemented when a strong earthquake is felt.

10 years ago, the initial warning underestimated the size of the tsunami, which reached up to 40 metres in some places, and it was also the case that tsunami walls and other barriers did not offer enough protection.

Breakwaters and sea walls cannot always protect lives and property, so early evacuation is the key.

My second point is that the tsunami countermeasures taken when the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was designed and slated in the 1960s, they were considered acceptable in relation to the scientific knowledge at that time.

However, some years before the 2011 disaster, new scientific knowledge had emerged about the likelihood of a large earthquake, but unfortunately sufficient action was not taken to protect the facility and this resulted in fuel meltdowns at 3 reactors, causing a major release of radioactivity.

So we must always base our measures on evidence and we must also keep updating our measures in accordance with the latest scientific evidence.

So with this, I close my opening remarks and I will hand it back to Dennis.

Dennis, thank you.

[Other language spoken]

So now I'd like to give the floor to Doctor Vladimir Reibinen from IUCUNESCO in Paris.

The floor is yours.

Thank you very much Dennis and also thank you mummy for introducing myself and also for inviting to to speak to to to the journalist, because journalists are very important in setting the scene for living in a better world.

So few words about the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, simply IUC.

So we are the home of ocean science in the United Nations system.

And So what we do is that we develop and I would say also inspiration for different elements of of what is required to deliver ocean science for sustainable development.

That means global observing system, research on issues that are not so well known, exchange of data on the basis of all of the generation of certain services like tsunami warning services like harmful algal blooms services.

Also use of that data in various assessments like IPCC or various ocean assessments, assessments of biodiversity because we have a huge loss of biodiversity in the ocean where I would say 90% of species leave and then we have to communicate this to policy.

This is a huge work.

And the tsunami warning system is a mitigation system as well.

Is is an important part of that.

That system requires, I would say technological and also social part.

So from technology we need to detect the the, the earthquake.

We need to understand whether it's going it is going to generate a tsunami.

We have to understand whether tsunami the, the area of the tsunami.

We have to communicate that message.

And then people have to run.

This is called the last mile.

But you know, people tend to sit unfortunately.

And this we have to also solve that problem.

And we are actually trying to use all means to, to, to achieve progress in this area.

[Other language spoken]

Our first system was installed in the Pacific in 1965 after a disaster in 1960 in Chile after an earthquake of of the Machinde of 9.5.

Then we had the Indian Ocean Tsunami warning system installed and also in the Caribbean system in the Caribbean area, also in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean because most of this 2004 tsunami and also the Tohoku Grand tsunami, the big tsunami and earthquake was a lesson.

After that we have the SYN diaphragm for Disaster Risk Reduction that also was signed in that area.

So we now are embarking on the very important developments in the tsunami warning system under the new programme or new campaign of United Nations.

You see in 2017 proposed to United Nations educate of ocean science for sustainable development, because every facet of sustainable development, poverty, food, energy, climate and many other sustainable development goals really if you think deeply depend on ocean science.

And we started this, we, we proposed to United Nations that decade, the development mutation plan with the community, which including the disastrous reduction part of the United Nations system.

And now we're embarking on filling this decade this programmes, one of these programmes will be focused on the tsunami.

So we will upscale the scientific, technological, communicational and also social part of the system.

We hope very much that by the end of 2000, this decade, in 2030, we will have all tsunami prone communities, tsunami ready communities.

They will know what needs to be done.

They will be equipped with means to escape from tsunami and when the tsunami strikes, they will actually really evacuate and save their lives.

So this is a very noble goal and would like really to count on your support and communicating that goal and make our world a little bit safer because safe ocean is one of the social, social outcomes of this decade of ocean science for sustainable development.

Thank you so much for your attention to this issue.

[Other language spoken]

The floor is now open to any questions from participants.

You simply have to raise your hand if you have a question for either Doctor Ray Binnan or Madame Mitsutori.

111 question I've received is how practically, how practically can you manage to reach such a large number of people exposed to tsunamis?

I mean, if the figure is as **** as 680 million people, how, how can how can such the vast exposed population be actually reached in practise?

And this is a question to me.

I I I assume, right.

Well, both of you, yeah.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Mami.

So, you know, first of all, you know, that number refers to the total number of people that are going to live within 10 metres of height from the coastal zone.

So when that tsunami strikes, then the number of people who are exposed to that tsunami needs to be determined first.

We are determining the areas in which there will be different ranges of tsunami waves and their time of arrival.

So it's not about 600 million people, it's about those people, I would say in the order of maybe millions that will be subject to to this or that tsunami warning.

And but they but they have to prepare this 600 million people.

So if there is a fraction of them that is supposed to be under risk, this fraction acts and this requires education.

But the technically that warning should come from the warning system, from from through the civil defence system, from a multiple hazard only warning system communication side.

And we have to engage communications and communications has failed, have failed on several occasions including during the Tohoku tsunami, also very recently during the Paulo Earth earthquake and then in Indonesia because the towers were down and there was no communication.

So this communication through sirens is very important, but also what is important that people run because if they experience a very in in the coastal zone, if they experience a very strong earthquake or if they experience not so strong earthquake, but you know, long time with with several tremors, it means the tsunami may be coming.

So two ways communication and then preparedness are the the mainstream activities that we would like to develop during the decade of ocean science.

[Other language spoken]

Well Dennis, in addition to what Vladi you know just mentioned, I would say that the establishment of multi hazard early warning systems across the globe is very important for tsunami and all other disasters.

This is one of the seven global targets of the Sendai framework which is to increase access to multi hazard early warning system.

And I see that there is an increasing amount of focus among, excuse me, both the donor communities who wants to invest in this area of early warning, early action and also in the part of the recipient countries.

And I'm talking a bit broadly here, not only about tsunami, but for example, in the African continent, we now have an African road map, which is a early warning system network that will at the end hopefully cover the whole continent.

So the the point here is that early multi hazard, early warning system which is tailored to the hazards that that specific region, that specific city country is facing is important to have.

It has to be a system that is well established but also well maintained, well manned.

And as Vladimir mentioned, it also has to be combined with education to the people so that they do respond to the early warning.

And that is why we put the four words together.

Early warning, early action opportunity.

[Other language spoken]

We have a couple of hands raised in the chat room.

I'd, I'd like to open the mic for Peter Kenny, please.

[Other language spoken]

My my question is for Mr Tory.

You've partially answered the question, but the two stand out.

Tsunamis of the 21st century have probably been the Indian Ocean one and the Fukushima one in terms of media attention.

So do you think that as a result of the systems that you have put in place, the world, the developed world says, such as Japan and the developing world are better prepared to handle tsunamis in the future?

[Other language spoken]

To 1st mention actually, Mr Kenny, the Second World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction was going to take place in January of 2005.

Now there was very, very little attention to this conference and there were even some member states saying why do we need this?

And then on Boxing Day of 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami happened and not only the countries which were devastated, but the countries from which the tourists went to these places and perished.

Northern Europe including understood the importance of Disaster Risk Reduction and being prepared no matter where you are.

So that was a big moment.

And after that, the early warning system, which was not really there in the old Indian Ocean, was established.

Now after 1211 as well, there has been a lot of progress.

So we talked about education, both Vladimir and myself.

Japan is now, for example, funding project of education for early warning early action at schools in around I think more than 20 Asian countries and educating children that they need to respond to these early warnings.

We are also at UNDR taking forward a project together with WMO and ITU and UNESCO, I believe, on training journalists, especially the broadcasting companies on how they should broadcast about disasters when they come, but also on the prevention side.

And it is a project through which we have already trained more than 400 journalists from developing countries.

So I do feel that there has been progress.

And to mention one thing, although so many people perished in in Japan 10 years ago, actually 97% of the people who lived in the area which was devastated by the tsunami survived.

So I do think that, you know, these are all proof that we are doing better, more lives are saved, but we can even do much better.

[Other language spoken]

Doctor Ryabinen, would you like to add anything to that?

You know, I would like just to maybe this is a feeling that indeed the humankind learned on disasters, but after the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, we established 2 mos systems in the Caribbean and Northeast Atlantic without waiting for a disaster there.

I would like also to say that on this phone I usually receive warnings about different places and different tsunamis.

And last week there was a little little tsunami in the Mediterranean.

So, you know, people shouldn't underestimate the the scale of tsunamis and, and, and even a small tsunami of the order of several tenths of centimetres creates a lot of energy that is destructive.

So because of the tsunamis are important, even if they're not so **** 4040 metres like in Tohoku is, is real disaster.

This is catastrophe and, and you know, but even even smaller tsunamis are very important.

And the last week the tsunami that was happened actually in earlier that was happening in the Pacific actually affected almost all countries in the Pacific and people were ready in Chile, in North America, in, in, in, in, in Russia, in Australia and nobody died.

So this is how it all works.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks for for taking my question.

A question on the 680 million, I think it was, does that number refer to all people living in coastal areas between sea level and 10 metres altitude or only is that number all only for people living in tsunami prong coastal areas?

Then my next question would be Mr Rabinen said that some his hope is that all coastal communities get tsunami ready or disaster ready.

Is there a rough estimate how many people live in coastal areas that are not?

How many people in coastal areas live in communities that are not tsunami ready at this point?

Doctor Rabinen, would you like to take that question first?

Yeah, you know, I would like to to refer to the first question to to Mami, because I think she introduced that that that number.

But when it comes to the tsunami ready communities, I think the the current level and this is a a result of very significant effort is of the order of 10s of communities in different parts of the world.

But we speak about indeed millions and millions of people.

So, so that is the level of ambition, but the the current level of preparedness is catastrophically low.

Let me just abstain from numbers and give you a qualitative response.

So also, but if if mind we would like to answer that the first part of the question or I can try.

Yes, the number is my understanding is as literally as I mentioned that 680 million people live below 10 metres above sea level.

So there is a risk, but it's not that you know that as Vladimir mentioned, that all these people that, that there is a acute tsunami risk.

But these things, you know, are important to look from broad perspective.

So that is why I gave this #680 million.

So in terms of responding to your question, the former is correct.

And Dennis, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, the figure of 680 million was cited by the Director General of UNESCO on World Tsunami Awareness Day last year, November the 5th, when she participated in one of our events online.

So the the figure comes from UNESCO research I believe.

Back to you, Doctor Ivan.

And have you anything further to add to that?

I think maybe maybe I was deemed colleagues would ask to repeat the question because, you know, I, I, I still lost track a little bit.

Albert, could could you repeat the question please?

Actually, I, I, I just like Mr Rabinin to, to expand a little bit on his statement that the current level of preparedness is catastrophically low because Mr Mizutoris, you know, seem to be saying that, you know, things are going in the right direction and now you're saying level of preparedness is catastrophically low.

So can you a little bit on that?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for this question.

This is well, both sides of both responses are right, because I think we are moving from the Ground Zero to to to the number of communities that actually I I signed certificate for certain communities that show that the tsunami ready.

So this requires drills and you know, for example, last last week there was a drill in in the Mediterranean and, and, and, and continue drills even the in this communication drills and preparedness.

So we speak about, I would say around 30 different communities that are ready now recognised as ready, but we, we have to upscale this, I would say at least two orders of magnitude more.

[Other language spoken]

So I wouldn't say this catastrophic law because we are moving forward, but you know, we have to embrace many more communities.

And I would say indeed, we have to be ready to work with thousands of communities and now we work with 10s of communities.

That is the scale of the issue that would like to tackle.

[Other language spoken]

So adding to what Vladimir mentioned, the area of early warning, early action is 1 area where we are making progress, although not enough because also when we look at cyclins, for example, a couple of decades ago when there was a cycling in Myanmar or Bangladesh, hundreds of thousands of people died.

Now because of early warning system and early action and also better shelters, the number has gone down dramatically.

But the other thing that we also need to know is that the amount of economic loss that happens with these tsunamis and also, you know, cyclins and hurricanes is you know is catastrophic.

And so there are many, many things that we need to do in terms of Disaster Risk Reduction.

And I would say that making sure that critical infrastructure are resilient and to start with not built in places where there are acute risks of these natures, that is one thing that we need to do better.

So the list of things that we need to do in preventing better is long.

And and so that's what we're talking about.

And I think in terms of saving lives, we're doing a better job.

But again, I wouldn't say that where our job will never end.

Over to you, Dennis.

[Other language spoken]

Well, I don't see any any hands raised at present.

So I don't know if you would both like to say some closing words before we wrap up, please via the mail.

[Other language spoken]

So I'll, I'll go first, but I hope you will also say something.

So yes, I would like to say that our work is becoming more and more dependent on science and science is ready to deliver.

But it is very important for people to understand the role of science and also to be prepared.

And we call it ocean literate.

We have to be also the climate literate, Disaster Risk Reduction literate.

And this is where the role of mass media education is so important because people tend to sit and and and watch tsunami rather than run, run away from tsunami.

And I can give you an example when during this 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 1 girl, whose name is Steely Smith was able to convince 100 people to live from the beach and save their lives.

So education and schools, you know, propagation of that knowledge through you journalists, your mass media is very important.

[Other language spoken]

Last word to you, Mami.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Dennis.

I just wanted to mention that that tsunami is, of course, you know, one of the deadliest disasters that when they happen, they **** and they maim and they destroy.

And until we need to, tsunami awareness is very important.

But I would also like to add that from the study that we published last year in October, the disasters that are becoming much more rampant is, are those related to climate emergency.

And the number of climate emergency disasters have doubled during the past 20 years compared to the previous 20 years.

Now this all tells us that Disaster Risk Reduction, prevention, preparedness from wherever, whichever angle you enter, whether it's through tsunami because it has happened in your country, whether it's cyclins because it has, the whole notion of prevention and preparedness has never become so important.

And especially now when we are living in COVID-19, which is a disaster, which was written into the same day framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, biological hazard related a disaster.

So I think that the whole theme is becoming crucial for our survival or sustainable development.

And I echo Vladimir and saying that, you know, in order to raise awareness for the importance of prevention and preparedness, the role of media is so important.

Media is written into Sendai framework as an important stakeholder in which we will tackle the issue as the whole of society.

So I thank you for joining us today.

And I hope that you know, we cannot prevent many hazards from coming, but we can prevent them from becoming a disaster.

And we'd like to keep on moving forward this this job with your support.

[Other language spoken]

Well, thank you very much to Mami Mitsutori and Vladimir Rehabinen for this half hour briefing.

And thank you all for joining us.

And we will be issuing a press release later today outlining our position regarding tomorrow's anniversary.

So thank you all and thanks to our colleagues at, you know, in the Palais here in Geneva for their support, their Technical Support.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Dennis.

Thank you very much for all the participants.

Thanks very much, Miami, Dennis.

[Other language spoken]

UNDRR Press conference - 10 March 2021