Using Proactive Means in Reducing Vulnerability to Natural Disasters

Abstract eng:
The number and severity of natural disasters have increased continuously over recent decades, especially in developing countries. The World Bank has estimated that 97 percent of all human deaths due to natural disasters occur in these countries. The geographical situation and people’s unawareness and lack of preparedness in developing countries are among the main causes which make them suffer more severely from the effects of natural disasters. Meanwhile, the reaction and response to disasters have been more reactive than proactive in almost all disaster prone countries, particularly the underdeveloped and developing ones. There is a need therefore, to reverse the trend of increasing worldwide vulnerability, by providing “access to knowledge and technology”, “increasing the public awareness”, and “considering the safety measures” as the main and key factors in development. Based on the existing evidence, most of the time, these vulnerabilities are the results of the human errors rather than the nature’s forces. And therefore, suggested developed and implemented proactive tools can help the vulnerable communities to protect themselves, their livelihoods and settlements from the impacts of disastrous natural hazards. This paper intends to address these proactive means, already developed and implemented in many countries, in order to show their feasibility, practicality, usefulness, along with their social and cultural outcomes. The paper particularly discusses how these factors can contribute in safety and resilience of the most vulnerable groups of the society, the children, in upcoming future natural disasters, especially in developing countries, with considering Iran as the case study.

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