Disaster relief: Building an emergency response community
PreventionWeb.net, the first interactive online community for world wide emergency relief that aims to reduce the impact of emergency situations on local communities.
Type ?emergency? into google and more than 178, 000, 000 definitions will pop up on your screen. Not surprising when you stop and think about the many different forms an emergency can take ? threatening our health, our lives, our property or the environment that surrounds us.
Today, the world wide web offers a unique opportunity to reduce the uncertainties that contribute to the creation of emergency situations and the worlds best prepared emergency response teams have not missed their chance to use this tool. Prevention Web (www.preventionweb.net) is the online result of the efforts of a partnership between governments, UN, international and non-governmental organizations, international financial institutions, academic and research institutes, networks and civil society to reduce the risk of emergency disasters. (To see a full list of partners click here) This partnership, known as the ISDR system, was created during the Hyogo Framework for Action is based around the idea that the more and the better the information that is available to everyone involved in an emergency, the lesser the impact of the emergency will be.
The website encourages everyone to participate. Not just governments, not just emergency specialists and not just civil society ? communities as a whole are called upon to contribute to the prevention of emergency situations. Partnerships between local groups, civil society and academic institutions are fostered (http://www.preventionweb.net/english/themes/community-drr/), events that deal with disaster prevention are advertised, online discussions on topics such as climate change and urban sprawl are encouraged.
The idea that one gets from visiting the site is that of a real online community and it is the best place to go to find updated information about global disasters and emergencies. Still not find what you are looking for there? Follow the many external links to find other reputable emergency alert institutions.
More info:
www.preventionweb.net
