‘Spending on disaster risk reduction an investment’ |03 February 2015

“Disaster risk reduction is a no regret investment,” the principal secretary for Finance and Trade, Patrick Payet, told delegates at a national workshop on ‘Investing in disaster risk reduction’.

Organized by the Division of Risk and Disaster Management (DRDM), the aim of the workshop was to highlight the importance of investing in disaster risk reduction.

Other DRDM partners involved in the organisation of the workshop are the Ministry of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Land Use and Habitat, Seychelles Land Tansport Agency; the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Ceps (formerly Lungos), the planning authority; insurance companies; and the environment department.

The workshop also saw the involvement of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) which provided expertise and was represented by its head of programme Julio Serje.

Other foreign officials present were Christophe Legrand, team leader for Indian Ocean Commission islands and Philippe Boulle of the Indian Ocean Commission island projects, technical advisor on the islands project of Mauritius.

In his speech to officially launch the workshop yesterday at the STC conference hall, Mr Payet expressed the wish that the workshop was not only a national aspiration but also an international standard and recommendation.

Quoting from the declaration of 2011 he said: “There’s no such thing as natural disasters. Natural hazards, floods, earthquakes, landslides and storms become disasters as a result of human and societal vulnerability and exposure which can be addressed by decisive policies, action and active participation of local stakeholders.”

“Disaster risk reduction is everyone’s responsibility. It is a team effort. Today is an opportunity for everyone to rethink our organisation’s role in strengthening Seychelles’ resilience to disasters and how each of us is participating fully,” he said.

He referred to three components that have been worked before the realisation of this international workshop. He said when the process started back in 2013 they started with regional meetings deciding on key players, their roles and responsibilities. A defined road map for Component 1 from all agencies came together where information was collected from which has resulted in a database which is now online.

The process continued with Component 2, where local experts from IOC member states were trained in software and on how to calculate probability of risks.
Seychelles took the initiative and brought in international assistance like from the SADC so that other local expertise from different organisations can also benefit from that training.

Component 3 is the final component where data from the two previous ones have been collected and processed to produce a final detailed project that has been summarised and which was being presented yesterday.

Thanking all present for their involvement, Mr Payet said their input and presence indicates Seychelles is committed to setting up international standards for disaster risk reduction for national investment.

Mr Legrand said that the cyclonic year of 2014 shows that natural disasters are here to stay, and can even intensify. He urged all that they cannot work only in defence strategies but invest in the prevention and reduction of disaster risk.

As for Mr Serje he said the workshop is of extreme benefit to the country as it is now better understood how to invest, how to prioritise and how to understand that when you do risk reduction it is not a cost but an investment.

He said investment in risk reduction is with benefits that can be measured for generations to come.