Over the past few decades, natural disasters have caused considerable loss of life and increasing economic damage, affecting the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Such disasters disrupt national economies, severely weaken the poor and vulnerable, and are recognized as major impediments to sustainable development and reduction of poverty. Addressing these issues require the integration of disaster and risk management into comprehensive development planning, built on improved knowledge base, commitment of decision makers and public participation, awareness and education.

Since time immemorial, water bodies have attracted human settlements and associated economic activities. With the pressure of growing population and its concentration in urban centres, the process has accelerated during the last decades, thus exposing ever-growing population to water-related hazards. The human, economic and environmental costs of such disasters have increased dramatically over the past 40 years. Today, about three quarters of all natural disasters are related to weather, water and climate and their extremes. Too much, too little or too dirty water is having an adverse impact on national economies and health resulting in long-term adverse consequences for the well-being of the people.

Progress in meteorological and hydrological sciences shows that the impacts of natural hazards can be reduced through preparedness and mitigation. Although natural hazards cannot be avoided, society can reduce its vulnerability and therefore lessen the associated risks and avoid them turning into disasters. A shift in disaster management approach to preventive and proactive strategies will have a large potential to reduce vulnerability of communities to cyclones, floods, droughts and other similar hazards. Planning ahead to mitigate disastrous affects of hazards enables decision makers to relieve the adverse impacts at least costs. Preparedness and mitigation measures play a key role in lessening the impact of a disaster.

However, both preparedness and mitigation have to be based on authoritative information. This includes forecasting and early warning services with increased accuracy and longer-lead time as well as providing long-term data and information for risk assessment, and for designing and implementing structural as well as non-structural mitigation measures. We have much to draw on WMO's extensive and unique system of in situ and satellite-based observations, its network of forecast and warning centres that use some of the most powerful supercomputers, and its extensive system of telecommunications, which enables all National Meteorological Services to exchange data and/or products and ensures the timely preparation and dissemination of short-, medium- and long-term forecasts and warnings. In addition, systematic studies of meteorological and hydrological phenomena and observations related to cyclones, severe storms, floods, landslides and mudflows are essential for a clear understanding of how and why natural hazards happen, and how they can escalate into disasters. In order to be prepared and to take action to meet the risk posed by disasters it is imperative to be informed of the risks involved, of the possible options to mitigate the risks and of the way to implement those options.

Early warning of disasters plays a vital role in all human endeavours and has to be combined with a strategy to respond to, and mitigate, their adverse effects. Disaster management is a multidisciplinary technical issue that has social, cultural and environmental dimensions. Therefore, disaster management strategies have to be developed, based not only on technical data but also on a strong social and cultural knowledge base.

World Water Day 2004, whose theme is "Water and disasters", provides an opportunity as well as a challenge both to all disaster managers and those involved in natural hazard forecasting and early warning in the National Meteorological Services and National Hydrological Services. It allows to reach out to various players through media, public awareness campaigns and community interaction. Let us use this opportunity for developing preparedness and response strategies, for enhancing public understanding of meteorological and hydrological forecasting, and for building the capacity of the communities to appreciate and understand in simple terms the various facets of disaster management. I would like to take this opportunity to invite Governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, the academia, the media and the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to synergize their knowledge and actions and to "be informed and be prepared" to mitigate the adverse impacts of natural hazards and, in particular, the water-related disasters, for the sustainable development of all nations.