Natural Disasters Called Threat to Growth in Western Hemisphere

Measures needed to lesson effects of disasters, says OAS official

Natural disasters are threatening development in poor countries in the Western Hemisphere and elsewhere in the world, an Organization of American States (OAS) official says.

Speaking May 16 at a forum on natural disasters at OAS headquarters in Washington, the OAS Assistant Secretary-General Albert Ramdin said "extraordinary" hurricanes such as Mitch, Ivan and Katrina that struck the hemisphere in recent years "are constant reminders of the devastation wreaked by tropical storms." But Ramdin added that much more attention is needed to the damage caused by earthquakes, floods, mudslides, volcanoes and drought conditions.

Ramdin said concern also is increasing over the effects of global climate change on glaciers and the polar ice caps that raise sea levels "enough to damage many low-lying islands and cities."

Suriname and Colombia are the latest examples in the Western Hemisphere, where floods have devastated the lives of the local population. The United States announced May 12 it was providing $50,000 to Suriname's Red Cross for the purchase and distribution of relief supplies where flooding has affected directly an estimated 30,000 people, prompting Suriname's government to designate southern parts of the country as disaster areas.

The United States announced May 15 it also was providing $50,000 to Colombia, where flooding has caused 112 deaths, injured 212 people and affected 127,000 others across 26 departments (provinces) or administrative regions. (See related article.)

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contributed in 2005 more than $14 million in relief and reconstruction aid to Central America and southern Mexico after hurricanes struck that region.

In addition, the United States and the other nations involved in the Summit of the Americas process have expressed support for addressing the special problems of the Caribbean's small island states. These problems include environmental vulnerability, illicit drug trafficking, illegal trade in arms, increasing levels of crime and corruption, the transportation of nuclear waste and economic vulnerability (particularly in relation to trade), health threats such as HIV/AIDS and increased levels of poverty. (See related article.)

The OAS's Ramdin said "the importance of preventing natural disasters cannot be too forcefully stated." Ramdin said the fears about the damaging effects of natural disasters come as weather forecasts are predicting higher than normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean basin in 2006. The forecasts, he said, predict Atlantic basin hurricane activity for 2006 to be about 50 percent above the norm for the period between 1990 and 2005.

Ramdin called on OAS member states to "seek the adoption of measures to prevent and mitigate the disastrous effects of natural upheavals." He pointed to OAS resolutions that encourage the formation and sharing of individual country disaster preparedness and disaster response and mitigation plans to encourage more effective support from the international community.

Source: U.S. Department of State

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