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..Press
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UNESCAP News Services
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Date 12
January 2005
Press Release No: N/01/2005
UNESCAP : DISASTER SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM WOULD HAVE PREVENTED
MASS DEATH TOLL
Bangkok (United Nations Information Services)
-- Current losses from the tsunami would have been much lower
if the Indian Ocean had a similar disaster warning system to
the Pacific, said Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Mr. Kim Hak-Su at
an International Meeting on Small Island Developing States.
“If the disaster surveillance system that
already covers the Pacific region had existed in the Indian
Ocean, let me assure you that the tone of this International
Meeting would have been considerably brighter,” he said.
Mr. Kim said that ESCAP is committed to establishing
a Task Force Team for Tsunami Disaster Management. ESCAP will
also assist governments in integrating environmental considerations
into economic and social policy-making and strengthening institutions
to address poverty and urban squalor.
The statement was delivered at the International
Meeting for the 10-year Review of the Barbados Programme of
Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States hosted in Port Louis by the Government of Mauritius from
10-14 January 2005. UN Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan will
be attending the High-Level segment of the meeting.
The Barbados Programme of Action recognizes that
small island developing states (SIDS) have “unique vulnerabilities
and challenges to achieving sustainable development.”
Almost half of the 51 SIDS worldwide are members
or associate members of ESCAP.
“Small island developing states, despite
their implementation of the Plan, continue to be environmentally
as well as economically and socially vulnerable,” Mr Kim
said.
“Economic growth varies considerably and
foreign investment and assistance have declined in many of these
states. National economic strategies and development frameworks
need to focus on stabilizing long-term economic growth,”
he said.
“It is, therefore, essential that measures
to ensure the economic resilience of these islands are effective
and can respond to the challenges faced by them.”
Mr. Kim urged governments to provide tangible
assistance to SIDS including technical expertise and resources.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=13021&Cr=tsunami&Cr1=
For further information please contact:
UN Information Services Bangkok
Tel: +(66-2) 288-1861-69, Fax: +(66-2) 288-1052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org
For more information about the Mauritius Conference on Small
Islands, please visit these url:
http://www.un.org/smallislands2005/coverage/
http://www.un.org/smallislands2005/
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