PROCESS MANAGEMENT DISASTER RISK

International Laws

• BRAZIL:

[pic 1]

Law  N°  12, 340, of  December 1st,  2010 covers, among other issues, the National System of Civil Defence (SINDEC), the objectives of which are to plan, articulate and coordinate civil defence actions throughout the national territory. It stipulates that the system is to be composed of bodies and entities of the public administration of the Union, of states/provinces and the Federal District, and of municipalities, together with civil society organizations in charge of civil defence actions. However, such a system already existed before the enactment of this law, and hence Law 12,340/2010 only modified certain aspects of the system. It is understood that Law 12,340/2010 is to be replaced by new legislation, aiming to reinsert aspects existent in the early law which were either revoked or confused by this later law. However, there are currently numerous draft bills covering aspects related to civil defence, and therefore it is likely that more than one law, rather than a single bill, will take up the task to adjust the system.

Comment:

One of the key objects of criticism is that Law 12,340/2010 regards the “accession” of administrative entities to the SINDEC, which raises the question of whether, in the event of a disaster, municipalities or further administrative entities which have not formally acceded to the system would qualify for eventual support from it. Since the right to life is one of the fundamental provisions enshrined in the 1988 Constitution, it has been suggested that it would not be possible to deny support in such a case, even in relation to administrative entities that have not formally joined the system. However, the mere reference to such a formality in the law raises an issue, since its very meaning is disputed. Conversely, in relation to DRR and prevention efforts, during the research it has been widely suggested that joining the system is a pre-condition for administrative entities (notably municipalities) to receive support from the system (especially in the form of training for local staff).

• INDIA:

The Disaster Management Act, N° 53[pic 2]

CHAPTER I, Art. 2° “(d) "disaster" means a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or man-made causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area;”

Comment:

The terms are not often clearly defined and the scope sometimes quite limited. Some countries report that present legislation gives a very general definition of disaster and emergency which are sometimes not in line with the internationally acceptable language.

‘State of emergency’ and ‘disaster’ should be defined clearly. Emphasis should be placed on the impacts, causes and results of the particular activities which constitute disasters;

Categories of natural and man-made disasters should be maintained. Combined with the impacts, causes and results, holistic definitions can be developed; and Emphasis should be placed on threats of disasters and threats of emergencies in definitions. This emphasis will allow for effective pre-emptive action to be taken to address disasters and emergencies before they occur.

The legislation should also include definitions of other key terms including: hazard, disaster mitigation, specially vulnerable areas, etc

• ITALY

Prime Ministerial Decree (Dpcm) 27 February 2004, N° 13690[pic 3]

Articles 1-6

This act devolves upon the Department of Civil Protection the responsibility of the hydro-meteorological monitoring system. Following Directive's provisions, the system is now structured as follow: 21 (one for each region) Functional Centres responsible for collecting, processing and sharing all the hydro-meteorological data available which is interpreted on the basis of models and simulations of calamitous events; each region establishes its own hydro-meteorological risk plan, which fixes thresholds of normal, moderate and high risk and regulates the relationship with EWS;the Central Functional Centre, situated in Department's offices, coordinates all system's activities that cover the phases of prevision, of monitoring, of prevention and of response.

Every morning by 12:00 the Technical group of the Department  must send to the Head of Department the weather forecasts for the next 24, 48, 72 hours; after that the Department releases a “supervisión bulletin” containing a synthesis of them and, if there is some worrying data, it issues also a “national/regional notice” that raises the level of criticality. The Functional Centres involved have to process data, compare it with their regional hydro-meteorological risk plan and reléase a “criticality notice” where they show the expected future development of the situation. Every day by 16:00 the Department publishes the “national criticality notice on hydro-geological and hydraulic risks”, containing the “supervisión bulletin” and the eventual “national/regional notice” and “criticality notice”.

Comment:

The Functional Centres have to transmit their “criticality notice” also to the regional governments that, if necessary, forward them to local authorities involved in order to declare the state of emergency and to adopt their own emergency plans.

Italy’s former stand-alone EWS regulations, the Operational Guidelines for the Management of the National Warning System for Hydro-Meteorological Risk, have now been updated to include seismic, volcanic and other risks, and form the basis for a national EWS that combines daily technical input and the publication of risk assessment notices.

JAPAN

State Redress Act, N° 125 (Japan, 1947)

Article 1.1 of the State Redress Act provides that “[w]hen a public officer who exercises the public authority of the State or of a public entity has, in the course of his/her duties, unlawfully inflicted damage on another person intentionally or negligently, the State or public entity shall assume the responsibility to compensate therefor.” This applies to issues related to natural disasters.[pic 4]

If the affection of population is considered as an unlawfully inflicted damage as a result of intentional or negligent conducts of “a public officer who exercises the public authority of the State or of a public entity […], the State or public entity shall assume the responsibility to compensate therefor” (Art. 1.1, State Redress Act).

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