020.45 Disaster Assistance by Marie-Jo Floret <FLORET@UNICC.BITNET>
The Office of the Disaster Relief Co-ordinator, UNDRO was created in December 1971 as a focal point within the United Nations System to mobilize and co-ordinate international relief assistance in case of a disaster, as well as to promote preparedness and prevention of natural disasters. UNDRO is headed by the United Nations Disaster Relief Co-ordinator who reports directly to the Secretary-General. The Co-ordinator's responsibilities include:
(a) Mobilizing, directing, and co-ordinating the relief activities of the various organizations of the UN system in response to a request for disaster assistance from a stricken state;
(b) Co-ordinating UN assistance with assistance given by inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, in particular by the International Red Cross;
(c) Promoting the study, prevention, control and prediction of natural disasters;
(d) Assisting in providing advice to governments on pre-disaster planning in association with relevant voluntary organizations;
(e) Acquiring and disseminating information relevant to disaster relief;
(f) Preparing a biennial report for the Secretary-General, to be submitted to ECOSOC and to the Assembly.
In subsequent resolutions the UN General Assembly has further regulated international action in emergency situations and has reaffirmed the mandate and central position of UNDRO in the management of natural disasters and other disaster situations.
UNDRO's Communications and Information Systems are described below:
With regard to communications, UNDRO maintains a computerized directory of fax and telex numbers which allows timely delivery of information to emergency contacts worldwide.
UNDRO also maintains several databases. Some are only available internally such as the roster of experts in disaster management and the disaster-prone country profiles. Others, although maintained internally, are partly available through the United Nations International Emergency Network (UNIENET). In addition to the above, UNDRO makes use of databases produced with assistance from UNDRO by external collaborative institutions. This applies, in particular, to the disaster events and the emergency country factsheet databases produced by The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disaster (CRED), which is located in Brussels.
Established in 1987, UNIENET is an electronic network which places members of the world-wide disaster management community in direct contact with each other, and provides them instantaneously with both background and operational disaster-related information. UNDRO is responsible for the administration of the network. UNIENET operates as a joint venture with other organizations active in disaster management.
The Bulletin Boards and Databases on the network cover a wide range of topics such as:
