The Necessity of Early Warning Articulated Systems (EWASs): Critical Issues Beyond Response

Abstract

Despite scientific and technological advances, current early warning systems (EWSs) cannot be seen as a promising answer for disaster prevention, given that they cannot be seen as an articulated system, but as a component of the capacity-building process needed to achieve disaster risk reduction (DRR) and management (DRM). According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, disaster risk reduction (DRR) describes the policy objective of anticipating future disaster risk, reducing existing exposure, vulnerability or hazard and strengthening resilience. Disaster risk management (DRM) describes the actions that aim to achieve this objective including prospective risk management, such as better planning, designed to avoid the construction of new risks; corrective risk management, designed to address pre-existing risks; and compensatory risk management, such as insurance that shares and spreads risks. This chapter proposes that EWS must be articulated. Early warning articulated systems (EWASs) can be defined as a coordinated structure integrated by the sound processes and sustained practices of ongoing partnerships between communities, scientists, authorities, decision makers, stake holders and every actor involved in the construction of risk. This is characterised by a responsible commitment to achieving and guaranteeing DRR and DRM in space and time. It should be based on disaster risk-integrated science within a legal and ethical framework on which multi-directional and permanent risk communication plays a central role in the construction of a culture of a risk conscious society. It is not exclusively intended to serve as a coordinated system of response, but most importantly is directed towards the comprehension of disaster risk by incorporating the understanding of root causes of disasters, risk perception and the different dimensions of vulnerability, resilience and adaptation. It also must be structured as a capacity-building progression that allows people to recognise the social construction of disaster risk and its potential consequences in order to consider likely disaster scenarios, risk management procedures, realistic measures and response strategies and actions, targeting preparedness, both individually and collectively, especially before critical times. Failure to integrate legally enforced frameworks and ethical codes into EWASs will increase the incoherence in government policies and practices.