Warner's Davos Diary Day 2

Notes to self:1) Consciously look for ways to limit cheese intake2) Ensure you have no cheese at least an hour before having a turn on the amazing earthquake simulator

Another day, another theme: today (Tuesday) was ‘Regions Day’. First up was a session titled “Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRiM) and Paradigm for Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction (PIDR)”, which I subtitled “TSFTPA – The Search For The Perfect Acronym”.

All but one of the contributors in a small, packed room were full professors, and it was interesting to see the inherent contradictions between their approaches. For example, Terry Cannon suggested that the impact of natural disasters is minimal compared to the other risks and hazards faced by the most vulnerable, accounting for just 2.3% of deaths in the 20th century. However Ortwin Renn stated that rapid-onset disasters are greatly underestimated, with their effect and impact much more far-reaching than supposed.

Another glaring difference in viewpoint, highlighted by two of the questions from the floor, was Terry Cannon’s focus on household risks and vulnerability, and on the “most vulnerable”, against the focus of most of the other presenters on urban dynamics or governance. I certainly approve of the Cannon focus on household vulnerability analysis within a local political context, and that “household vulnerability” includes the 5 components of household livelihood, baseline status, self-protection, social protection, governance, and cultural/social elements… all as espoused in more detail in his book “At Risk”.

But perhaps the key point is that discussions about an integrated approach should focus on integration of the academic models from the diaspora of Professors present, before introducing them to politicians, and especially to community leaders. Seems like advancement in the risk reduction academic world requires you to break new ground and carve out new theoretical territory, rather than referring to and building on previous work. Surely the best approach towards integration is reducing model complexity and abundance, and increasing relevance, usability and ubiquity.

Six of us had a quick lunch to discuss the ECB3 Ethiopia plan and made a lot of headway. It so helps being able to do this face-to-face. All present were full of praise for Million’s continued almost single-handed effort to push forward in Ethiopia.

The real value of these conventions/ conferences is the implicit networking and personal relationships developed. I’ve so far missed a couple of sessions due to talking with colleagues. Great talks with Anthony Spalton (IFRC), Salvano Briceno (head of ISDR), and several others yesterday. Today, spent much time with Nick Hall (Plan Int. UK), Terry Jeggle (ISDR), Olivia Harland (DFID) and bunch of others.

More soon, and as Prof. Shi’s final slide stated – “Thanks for your kindly attention!”.