by Clever Mafuta
The decade between 1990 and 2000 has been proclaimed the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). This campaign, essentially to encourage governments and the private sector to reduce the impact of natural disasters, increases public awareness on the need to prevent disasters.
The theme for the IDNDR day on October 11 this year was Women and Children – key to prevention. The day came a month after the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, and also coincided with the 50th anniversary of the United. Nations (month of October).
This timely and appropriate theme is in line with the Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action
(1994) that calls for a greater emphasis on public awareness of issues facing vulnerable communities. Women and children, being most vulnerable, need not only be protected from
Disasters, but should be instrumental in managing them.
According to international humanitarian law, women and children must always live together.
About 400 000 children have been orphaned or separated from their parents as a result of war.
Unaccompanied children, as they are officially called, represent about 10 percent of war victims.
Women, children, the sick, handicapped and elderly are classified as the most vulnerable to disasters. Women and children form the bulk of this category.
It is estimated that more than 80 percent of the world’s refugee population is made up of women and children. The squalid conditions associated with refugee camps further expose them to other disasters such as disease outbreaks.
Civil conflicts to which women and children are most vulnerable, places them at risk of sexual violence, and food and water shortages. Women can be maimed in mine-infested areas in search of firewood and water.
Not only are women and children vulnerable to civil conflicts, but to other disasters as well.
Current developments indicate that 13 million women will be infected by the mv virus by the year 2000, and scores of millions of children will be orphaned by the scourge. In times of droughts it is women who go about looking for food and water.
The Geneva conventions of 1949 together with their Additional Protocols of 1977 have special measures to protect women during armed conflicts. In addition to these international laws several countries have legislation to protect and improve the status of women.
To consolidate these laws the United Nations proclaimed the period 1975 to 1985 the decade for women.
If all these developments protect and improve the status of women, then why are women remaining at the centre of focus? According to the recent Red Cross, Red Crescent magazine quoting Marie-Therese Dutli, “What is needed are not new laws, but respect for existing ones”.
A snap survey carried out in Harare, Zimbabwe showed that many people are not aware of the IDNDR day. Those interviewed had mixed feelings about the significance of the day. Except for the incessant droughts Zimbabwe has not had a big and dramatic natural disaster for a long time, hence the lack of appreciation of the value of the day by some.
However, according to an official in the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban
Development’s Civil Defence department, which is Zimbabwe’s IDNDR focal point, the day is quite important and was marked in all provinces last year. Similar celebrations, however, cannot be done this year due to financial constraints.
The official went on to describe the IDNDR theme as appropriate and fitting to Zimbabwe since the majority of those suffering the effects of droughts, which is the single biggest natural disaster in the country, are women and children.
Despite their rarity, disasters inflict heavy damage on communities. As such it is worthwhile to always keep disasters in mind and if possible employ measures to guard against them,” were Esther Magwidi’s words in support of the day.
Vulnerability to disasters is very much linked to poverty. Programmes designed to lessen poverty are therefore one way by which vulnerability to disasters can be reduced. By virtue of their little education linked to little potential for income diversification, women are more vulnerable to disasters.
Women constitute about 80 per cent of the rural population, where their main economic activity is agriculture. As such droughts have a devastating effect on the rural communities. Training in other income generating activities will not only serve to diversify their income base, but will ensure that life goes on even after a drought disaster.
Women and children understand their problems better in times of disasters. For efficient disaster management, consultation of the vulnerable will not only bring an understanding of their plight, but will ensure that appropriate disaster management measures acceptable to them are employed. (SARDC)
