A new initiative to help cities across the world, particularly African, manage risk caused by disasters has been launched. The initiative dubbed the Local Government Self-Assessment Tool is part of the campaign to help cities establish baselines, identify planning and investment gaps for risk reduction and climate change adaptation, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) said in a press release received by The New Times yesterday.

African cities have a poor record in disaster mitigation and management with fires, floods and terror attacks exposing the lack of unpreparedness.The 1998 simultaneous terror bomb attacks at the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, in which about 300 people were killed and 5,000 others left injured, showed the weaknesses of the two East African cities in dealing with disasters. Even the Ugandan capital, Kampala, did not fare any better in the wake of the twin terror bomb attacks during the finals of the World Cup in July 2010, in which about 80 people died and dozens were left injured."Cities and towns are on the frontline of disaster risk reduction and bore the brunt of insured economic losses from disasters last year of $380 billion,” said Helena Molin Valdés, the Director of the ‘Making Cities Resilient’ campaign, which aims to reduce urban risks from climate-related disasters. Ms. Valdés said the new tool would greatly enrich understanding of the challenges ahead as the world considers a new blueprint for disaster risk reduction once the existing plan, the Hyogo Framework for Action, expires in 2015. The Framework – a global blueprint for disaster risk reduction efforts – was adopted by governments in 2005 and aims to substantially reduce disaster losses by 2015. Some 133 countries have been reporting at the national level on their progress on disaster risk reduction priorities agreed on in the Hyogo Framework. The new local government tool would enable municipalities to submit data for national progress reports for the first time. The tool has been tested in over 20 cities around the world. UNISDR also announced that over 1,000 cities have now joined the ‘Making Cities Resilient’ campaign, which is creating a widening network of alliances for disaster risk reduction. There are currently 25 partners working with UNISDR to support the campaign, including the Local Governments for Sustainability, which has a membership of over 1,200 cities, towns, counties, and their associations worldwide.