PREPAREDNESS FOR ACTION

We have reached unprecedented heights in scientific-technical progress. We have flown into space and visited the remotest parts of our planet. We have turned the world almost upside down but continue to be small grains of sand in the face of natural cataclysms and disasters. We are negligibly small before the vagaries of nature and are unable to stop the pernicious processes which we ourselves have generated and which threaten our planet. What can we do? We can only reduce the aftermath and casualties by timely intervention and highly qualified medical aid, doing everything possible to save lives.

For this reason, there is an international strategy to reduce the danger of disasters - a global basis for activity founded by the UN, which ensures resistance of all communities to the impact of natural dangers and related technological and environmental disasters in order to reduce human, economic and social losses.

The four goals of this strategy aim to expand public awareness of the measures to reduce the threat from disasters, to ensure the preparedness of government agencies to deal with these issues, to assist in establishing interdisciplinary and intersectoral partnerships and to improve scientific knowledge of the causes of disasters and the aftermath of natural dangers. For this reason, on 21 December 2001, the UN General Assembly decided to mark an international day to reduce the threat of natural disasters on the second Wednesday of October every year, as one element of a global culture of reducing the impact of natural disasters, including prevention, the mitigation of consequences and ensuring preparedness.

Endurance

Last spring and summer made it clear that the world's ecosystems are closely linked, and Azerbaijan cannot ignore global climate change. Like many other countries, Azerbaijan is experiencing natural cataclysms - the country had not seen the like of this year's natural disasters for a long time. As a result of a rise in the levels of water in the Kura and Araz rivers, 40 districts experienced flooding; 20,000 homes were flooded, more than 300 homes collapsed and 2,000 are unsafe. Fifty thousand hectares of sown areas and pastures were deluged. The transport and energy infrastructures were submerged. Sabirabad District and the town of Sirvan were the worst affected areas. During the disaster, the Kura destroyed the second dam near the first one, following which the river poured about 25 million cubic metres of water onto villages.

This was a test of stamina not only for the Emergencies Ministry, but for all the agencies engaged in eliminating the consequences of the flood. President Ilham Aliyev personally took control of the work to restore the districts struck by the disaster. Speaking at a cabinet meeting, the president noted the well-coordinated work of all government agencies in this sphere - the rescue services, health centres, education departments and agencies overseeing the management of water and construction work. However, the most important element of this effort was that it avoided even greater human casualties. People were notified in good time and were resettled from regions that might have been flooded. At the same time, they were provided with temporary accommodation, food and medical aid. The president stressed at the time that Azerbaijan came through this dangerous situation with minimum losses and without aid from other countries, although this was offered many times.

Since the country sustained great economic damage, the government took additional measures to improve the situation in the affected districts. A plan was compiled to provide people with monetary compensation and new housing. All this work was undertaken by the state, although international practice is that such work is carried out by construction companies working with insured people and property. Work is currently under way to restore the housing in the area hit by the disaster. It should be completed before the onset of winter. The president said that the houses are being built only from high quality building materials, to ensure that they do not collapse again due to low quality construction. At the same time, the government is dealing with technical issues - the fortification of dams and infrastructure in the affected villages.

Preparation against threats

Is Azerbaijan ready for natural disasters and other threats of natural or manmade origin? We should specify right at the start that not a single country can prevent large-scale natural disasters on its own - when there is a difficult situation, states help each other, which is part of the strategy promoted by the UN. The Azerbaijani Emergencies Ministry is operating monitoring systems aimed at dealing with disasters of any nature. Schemes have been developed to reduce the damage to the country's population and economy. But perhaps the main part of this work is a system of warning the population about a possible natural disaster, which the Emergencies Ministry operates in close cooperation with the national hydrometeorology department of the Ecology Ministry.

It is no secret that our country belongs to a region of the planet most susceptible to natural disasters. The risk zone affected by fluctuations in the level of the Caspian Sea includes towns located along the 825-km coastline, while more than 400 villages suffer from floods and about 150 are in areas prone to landslides, avalanches and landslips. As far as facilities of vital importance and ensuring the population's normal activity are concerned, serious problems are caused by the fact that 800-900 square kilometres of the country's total territory of 86,600 square kilometres are prone to landslides, while more than half of the population lives in areas under constant seismic hazard. Petrochemical facilities, industrial enterprises and oil and gas pipelines are also sources of danger.

The press service of the Azerbaijani Emergencies Ministry points out that efficient and well-coordinated work by all departments of the ministry, and the level of organizational preparedness are very important in the prevention of, and response to, natural disasters. The Emergencies Ministry is constantly working to update and strengthen its material-technical base and to create new structures. On orders from the president, a state agency to regulate nuclear and radiological activity, an academy of the Emergencies Ministry and a state grain fund have all been established.

Rapid reaction

Apart from this, Azerbaijan has set up a crisis management system which includes a call centre with a single 112 number; any subscriber to mobile communications can phone this number from any part of Azerbaijan 24 hours a day, and there is an operations room which receives information about emergencies from the 112 centre, as well as from duty officers of the law-enforcement and other government agencies.

The operations room makes immediate decisions to deal with emergencies and oversees the forces and means sent to the disaster-hit area and disaster zone. It should be noted that the 112 centre has an electronic map of all parts of Azerbaijan - this is the latest achievement of modern technology. The 112 service has the ability to conduct video conferences with regional centres of the Emergencies Ministry and other departments. This video link with the site of an accident is provided by two special vehicles equipped with satellite communications. In order to ensure control of the situation and to monitor video imaging from the site of the accident, special cameras have been installed in various parts of Baku. In addition, a crisis management hall has been set up at the crisis management centre to ensure coordination between representatives of relevant ministries and departments to eliminate the consequences of emergencies. The Azerbaijani Emergencies Ministry cooperates closely with its counterparts in countries with great experience of managing emergencies. Close contacts have been established with similar services in the USA, Russia, Belarus, Korea, Ukraine, France, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Britain, Israel and other countries. Further, the Azerbaijani Emergencies Ministry is developing cooperation with the UN, NATO, OSCE, CIS, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, the Economic Cooperation Organization, the International Civil Defence Organization and other international and regional organizations.

It is known that the best way of minimizing the consequences of natural disasters is to have detailed information about dangerous natural phenomena. This gives time to take measures to prevent them or at least to minimize the damage they cause. Our country is receiving assistance in the establishment of such an early warning system from the German society for technical cooperation (GTZ), which has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Emergencies Ministry on the implementation of a number of projects aimed at creating an early warning system and preventing natural disasters, with the active participation of the local population. The optimal sites for the implementation of the pilot project to create an early warning system for natural disasters are the districts of Balakan, Saki and Qabala, which are located on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Ridge.

One of the most important elements of rapid reaction to the consequences of emergencies and natural disasters is clear and well-coordinated work by the health services. New health centres are being built across the country today. Over the past few years, 43 new hospitals and medical-diagnostic centres have been fitted with advanced equipment, 46 outpatient clinics, four rehabilitation centres for the disabled and 12 diagnostic and health centres have been opened in Azerbaijan. It is also planned to build 30 more medical institutions and five clinics by 2013.