IDRR in Nicaragua – Resilience is for life

IDDR14_emailsignatureIn the last few weeks apart from my tasks of supporting the GVC administration office I took part in weekly meetings with local and international organizations to prepare an event in Managua for the celebration of the International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR). On the 13th of October,  a Conference will take place in the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA), in Managua. Professionals on this field will explain the importance of elderly people on resilience to disasters and all the participants will have also the opportunity to learn more about this issue visiting the fair  held by all the organizations involved in this activity after the Conference.

The IDDR started in 1989 with the approval by the United Nations General Assembly. to promote a global culture of disaster reduction, including disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness. The aim is to celebrate how people and communities are reducing their risk to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of DRR. It’s also a day to encourage every citizen and government to take part in building more disaster resilient communities and nations.

This year with the slogan “Resilience is for Life” UNISDR and international community want to focus the attention on elderly people who have specific requirements to be understood and responded while a DRR action is running. We have to take into account that the world is ageing, approximately 700 million people (or 10 per cent of the world’s population) is already over the age of 60, and by 2030, there will be more people over 60 than under 10. While this represents a triumph of development, the combination of more extreme climate and disaster events coupled with the failure to adapt DRR responses to the ageing demographic trend has the potential to increase older people’s vulnerability to risks and disasters. At the same time promoting elderly people participation in DRR actions is crucial because of the skills and wisdoms gained with years of experience and knowledge, the specific requirements and strengths of older people are often not given appropriate consideration in DRR.

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by David Wiersma

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