W

hen President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took office in October 2004, little did he know that in just over two months he would face one of the worst disasters in his country’s history. As a nation, Indonesia suffered greatly as a result of the Asian tsunami which struck with such terrible force on that fateful day, Dec. 26, 2004.

Through that terrible tragedy we learned one major lesson: Disaster risk reduction must be at the heart of true sustainable development. It is essential to the creation of resilient societies and poverty reduction because it seeks to eliminate recurring disaster losses and to motivate strategic investment in public infrastructure.

The Asian tsunami galvanized worldwide efforts at reform. Here in Indonesia, it resulted in Disaster Risk Reduction becoming one of your nine national development priorities. The country’s Disaster Management Law recognizes this shift in emphasis and adopts a systematic approach to disaster management focused on pre-disaster planning, emergency response and post-disaster recovery at the local level.

In Indonesia, all 33 provinces now have their own disaster management agencies and nearly 65 percent of the districts and cities have followed suit. The country is now tackling the needs of remote village communities under the “Desa Tangguh Bencana” or “Disaster Resilient Villages” program.

Across the region, Indonesia is helping to build greater financial resilience to disasters and is the lead country for disaster risk financing and insurance under the ASEAN work program on disaster management and emergency response. Hopefully, the outcome of that work will be a risk financing “road map” for the ten member countries of ASEAN possibly including national disaster funds to ensure rapid response to disasters, and the promotion of private catastrophe risk insurance solutions.

The Asian tsunami also contributed to the development of the internationally accepted norms and priorities outlined in the “Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters” which has been adopted by most UN member States.

So it was only fitting that Indonesia became the first country to act on the priorities of the Hyogo Framework for Action at country level and convert it into a meaningful national plan. Over 100 countries have since followed this example.

Indonesia continues to lead the world by example. It has become a leading exponent of UNISDR’s worldwide campaign for safer schools and hospitals and is currently assessing 3,156 schools and 105 hospitals.

Another area where Indonesia leads by example, is the allocation of funds to disaster risk reduction. The government recently increased by tenfold the national budget for disaster risk reduction from US$2.14 million in 2010 to $21.4 million in 2011.

All of the above goes to prove just why UNISDR feels honored that President Yudhoyono has agreed to be the world’s first global disaster risk reduction champion.

The memory of the Asian tsunami should serve as a constant reminder to us that the world needs to act now and commit to disaster risk reduction on an unprecedented scale.

There have been over 100 major disaster events reported so far this year across the globe causing some 25,000 deaths, over $250 billion worth of economic damages and disrupting the lives of millions.

We are now seven billion people on this planet. Influenced by human activity, the climate is changing and it is clear from the science that a wide variety of natural weather and climate extremes will occur in the coming years.

Average conditions in the future may correspond with what we find extreme today. We need to get ready. We need to reduce our risk.

The writer is UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction.