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30 March 2006
Launch of DFID’s Disaster Risk Reduction Policy
Gareth
Thomas, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development,
will today launch DFID's new Disaster Risk Reduction Policy Paper at Tearfund. This
policy provides a framework for DFID to integrate disaster risk reduction
measures more effectively into its own work, as well as strengthen the
international system’s capacity to manage disaster risks, helping to reduce the
threat that disasters pose to sustainable development and the Millennium
Development Goals.
DFID made a public commitment to reducing disaster risk in
its 1997 White Paper
(310
kb) and has supported a number of international organisations
in tackling disaster risk reduction, including UN agencies and the International
Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent. However, in the wake of a series of
large-scale disasters, including the 2004 Asian Tsunami, the 2005 Niger
humanitarian crisis and the Pakistan earthquake, it is clear that both DFID and
the international community must do more.
In his speech on humanitarian reform in December 2004, Hilary Benn committed DFID to giving a higher priority to disaster risk reduction. DFID’s new Disaster Risk Reduction Policy and corresponding Implementation Plan sets out how this commitment will be put into practice. Its goal is to contribute to sustainable development through reducing the burden of disasters on the poor and most vulnerable.
Read the Disaster
Risk Reduction Policy Paper(657
kb) and
Summary
Implementation Plan(8
kb)