African Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction：减少灾害风险的非洲部长级会议.doc

AFRICAN UNION
UNION AFRICAINE
UNIÃO AFRICANA
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA P. O. Box 3243 Telephone 517 700 Cables: OAU, ADDIS ABABA
African Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
African mission Conference Centre
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 5 to 7 December 2005
CONTEXT:
One single disaster can set development advances back by decades. This reality was clearly manifested by the unprecedented impact of the tsunami disaster in Asia in December 2004 and the impact of the recent hurricane Katrina disaster in the United States. The 1997 and 2000 floods in east and southern Africa, the tropical storms and strong winds in Madagascar, and the droughts and famines in the sahel and the Horn of Africa as well as volcanic eruptions in Cameroon, are indicative of the numerous natural hazards that place Africa at risk. Their long-term impacts on the livelihoods of the people, and the destruction of the development gains of the affected countries, point to Africa’s limited resilience and vulnerability - issues that need the attention of the continents leadership to address.
To protect people’s lives and livelihoods as well as socio-economic gains, more and more governments realize that integration of disaster risk reduction is no long a choice, but a MUST. At the recent World Conference on Disaster Reduction, more than 168 countries, in addition to UN agencies and Civil Societies, came