The Bangkok Declaration: A roadmap for disaster reduction

The 6th biennial Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) was held from June 22 - 26, 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand. It was organised by the Thai government in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDRR) with support from international and national development partners. The event represented a unique opportunity for governments and stakeholders in the region to reaffirm their commitment to the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA), a global blueprint for disaster risk reduction (DRR), which was adopted by 168 UN member-states at the 2nd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Kobe, Japan in 2005.
The conference brought opportunities for the government of Bangladesh and other DRR practitioners for exchanging their experiences on successful practices and innovative approaches in reducing and managing disaster risk by sharing community based DRR practices, institutional mechanisms, coordination efforts in government and non-government agencies.       
The Bangkok conference was considered significant for two reasons. First, it was the last inter-governmental meeting in the region before governments around the globe conclude the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 and adopt a new post-2015 framework for DRR. Thus, it has given the opportunity for countries and stakeholders in the region to review the progress of HFA implementation and determine priority actions necessary to accelerate the progress toward achieving the HFA goals in its final year. And second, it brought the opportunity to exchange views on increasing impact and risk of disasters in the Asia-Pacific in last two years including the super typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, floods in Thailand, China and India, earthquakes in Pakistan, Cyclone Mahasen in Bangladesh and analyse the increasing trends of medium and small-scale disasters that resulted in huge social, economic and environmental losses in the region.
Before going to the in-depth discussion, a very short look is required on the importance of the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. Since 2005, total five AMCDRRs have been organised with the aim of exchanging best practices, sharing innovations, preparing future plans and ensuring political commitment to successful implementation of HFA strategies. The first AMCDRR was organised by the government of China in Beijing in 2005 to facilitate  implementation of HFA and the outcome was 'The Beijing Action for Disaster Risk Reduction' focusing on Asia-Pacific governments' commitment and actions to reduce disaster risk through increased collaboration and strengthening of existing key regional cooperation mechanisms.
The second AMCDRR was hosted by the Indian government in New Delhi in 2007 which comes with 'Delhi Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia 2007' while the conference was called for enhancement of partnership in disaster risk reduction which include innovative public-private partnership, participation of civil society in local, national and regional level, as well as the involvement of the print and electronic media.  The 3rd AMCDRR was convened by the government of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur in 2008 with the theme of "Multi-stakeholder Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Asia and Pacific region," with a particular focus on public-private partnership for disaster risk reduction and community-based disaster risk reduction.
In 2010, the 4th AMCDRR was held in Korea with the aim of disaster risk reduction through climate change adaptation which adopted 'Incheon Declaration on DRR in Asia and the Pacific 2010'. This conference highly encouraged DRR stakeholders to enhance awareness and put more efforts to building capacity for DRR and CCA integration.
The 5th AMCDRR was hosted by the government of Indonesia in Yogyakarta in 2012 with the main theme of "Strengthening Local Capacity for Disaster Risk Reduction". As outcome of the conference reconfirmed the governments' commitment to integrate local level DRR and CCA into national development planning and to allocate sufficient financial resources for identification of risks at local level and to strengthen risk governance through improved participation, transparency, effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability.
The Bangkok Declaration recognised achievements of five pillars of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005 - 2015. The Framework has developed significant numbers of policies and institutions for disaster risk reduction, increased the understanding of risk, strengthened early warning systems, enhanced public awareness and disaster risk reduction education, beefed up preparedness capacities. It acknowledged that there are significant gaps and challenges in implementation of five priorities areas under the HFA for which more work needs to be done (Bangkok Deceleration: 2014). However, the Declaration called on all governments and stakeholders to put their attention on five issues and two strategic directions which may give clear direction for 'The Future, We Want'. These include enhancing resilience at local level, improving public investments for disaster and climate risk management to protect and sustain development gains, public-private partnership (PPP) for disaster risk reduction, promoting use of science and technology, enhancing governance, transparency, and accountability. The two strategic directions talks for post-2015 framework focussed on disaster risk reduction, building coherence between the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction and the concurrent processes on the Sustainable Development Goals and climate change arrangements.
As one of the signatories of 168 countries of HFA, the Bangkok Conference may help us to look back where we are with regard to the implementation of the basic commitments that we made in 2005 in the Hyogo Framework for Action. Followed by various international and national level commitments in disaster risk reduction including HFA, numerous measures have been proactively taken by the government of Bangladesh to address disaster risks comprehensively with the vision to reduce the vulnerability of the poor to the effects of natural, environmental and human-induced hazards to a manageable and acceptable humanitarian level.
Bangladesh has successfully formulated and enacted the Disaster Management Act, different plans, standing orders on disasters and appropriate institutional framework for implementation. This provides basic operational mechanism for all the relevant ministries and agencies.
The country successfully provisioned Disaster Management Act, many policies and guidelines for disaster management. The question remains whether DRR policy includes provisions for DRR mainstreaming into local development planning and guidelines for DRR mainstreaming through national/local development programming. The community/urban risk assessment process is yet to be mainstreamed into annual development planning. Local to national disaster management committees are far from holding their monthly/bi-monthly meetings, and working experience shows a less percentage of the members of the Disaster Management Committees is informed of their roles and responsibilities as per Standing Orders on Disasters (SoD).    The Disaster Management Act provisioned for district-level disaster funds. However, funds dedicated to DRR available at national and/or sub-national levels were yet to be initiated. The country significantly progressed for Cyclone Early Warning System (EWS) while a comprehensive EWS mechanism is yet to be developed and tested for flood, river erosion and Tsunami hazards. Although some of the non-government organisations and the Department for Disaster Management have experimented flood early warning system in some of the areas of the country, however a comprehensive and local needs and capacities adapted EWS guideline is yet to be developed while it should be understood and utilised by all. Links between EWS, Emergency Response Agency, national and sub-national disaster management authorities should be made.
Emergency response capacity mechanism is operational both at national and local levels and the strength of the mechanism has also increased. But the stakeholders look forward to have a clear mandate, chain of command and dedicated forces including Emergency Operations Centres, timely and effective response capacities tested by recognised bodies including capacities for search and rescue, first aid, CAMP management, stock piling. Scarcity of all of these was clearly found during Rana Plaza collapse. School-based disaster preparedness in connection with local disaster plans, disaster preparedness mainstreamed in teachers and school curricula is far from being  achieved.
Finally, it can be said that Bangladesh has made significant efforts towards disaster resilience in last one decade but effective redeeming of all the pledges is yet to be tested. There continues to be lack of coordinated implementation, lack of sustainability, access to modern technologies, access to information, and, of course, scarcity of resources. Lack of coordination among different departments hampers quick response in emergency. There is a need to complement disaster management vision of Bangladesh by building organisational capacity, sustainability and allocating useful resources which may turn the vision of the Hyogo Framework for Action into reality.
The writer is a Programme Officer - Urban Disaster Risk Reduction,             Oxfam. [email protected]