International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies inside front cover Acknowledgements 2 Introduction 8 Focus on information in disasters Chapter 1 Data or dialogue?10 The role of information in disasters Box 1.1 People-to-people early warning saves lives in India 16 Box 1.2 Participatory assessments reveal risky assumptions 20 Box 1.3 Zimbabwean children claim right to reply 24 Box 1.4 Participatory action learning during Nepal floods 29 Figure 1.1 Turning data into knowledge and wisdom 14 Chapter 2 Run, tell your neighbour! Hurricane warning in the Caribbean 38 Box 2.1 Cuban met office meets the media 41 Box 2.2 Jamaica's community disaster response teams 44 Box 2.3 People-centred warning saves lives during Mitch 46 Box 2.4 Floods and landslides: the real killers53 Box 2.5 Near miss in New Orleans 56 Table 2.1The Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale 39 Table 2.2 Deaths from hurricanes during 2004 57 Map The four big hurricanes of 2004 40 Chapter 3 Locusts in West Africa: early warning, late response 60 Box 3.1 From Jekyll to Hyde: the lifestyle of a locust 65 Box 3.2 A day at locust campaign headquarters, Rabat, Morocco 66 Box 3.3 The sun suddenly disappeared behind a big cloud 72 Box 3.4 Recommendations 77 Figure 3.1 Sahel locusr: evolution of a crisis 63 Map Locust situation in the Sahel and Maghreb, 2004 61 Chapter 4 Information black hole in Aceh 80 Box 4.1 The scramble for accurate information 83 Box 4.2 Red Cross volunteers provide relief 85 Box 4.3 Three myths - among many 87 Box 4.4 HIC: staying on top of the picture as it changes 91 Box 4.5 The world's largest unregulated industry 93 Box 4.6 Consultation captures resilience of Aceh's survivors 97 Map Sumatra, Indonesia 82 Chapter 5 Sharing information for tsunami recovery in South Asia 102 Box 5.1 Used clothes clog up response 107 Box 5-2 Promoting dialogue through radio in Sri Lanka 113 Box 5.3 Information flows smoothly after rough ride in the Maldives 117 Box 5.4 Restoring family links by satphone and Internet 122 Map Indian Ocean earthquakes and tsunami, 26.12.2004 105 Chapter 6 Humanitarian media coverage in the digital age 126 Box 6.1 MSF's 'top ten' most under-reported crises, 2004 131 Box 6.2 Tricks of the trade: how to 'sell' forgotten emergencies 134 Box 6.3 Ethiopia 1984: 'biblical famine' or man-made disaster? 142 Box 6.4 Faith, hope, dignity 146 Chapter 7Radio in Afghanistan: challenging perceptions, changing behaviour 150 Box 7.1 Radionovelas promote hurricane preparedness in Central America 152 Box 7.2 Positive role modelling after Colombia quake 1 54 Box 7-3 Locally produced radio tackles AIDS in Madagascar 156 Box 7.4 Multimedia support for sustainable peace in Sierra Leone 159 Box 7.5 Red Cross radio captures attention in Nepal 160 Box 7.6 Disaster and public information: still an afterthought 162 Figure 7.1 What did Afghans learn and remember? 165 Chapter 8 Disaster data: building a foundation for disaster risk reduction 172 Box 8.1 International disaster databases 174 Box 8.2 GLIDL: the global identifier number 177 Box 8.3 Recommendations for future action 179 Annexes Annex 1 Disaster data 1 82 Figure 1ODA net disbursements (USmillionpOS prices): 1994-2003 189 Figure 2 ODA net disbursements in 2003 (USmillion, 2003 prices) 190 Figure 3ODA: evolution of DAC contributions (USmillion, 2003 prices) 191 Figure 4 ODA as a percentage of DAC donors' GNT, 2003 192 Figure 5Emergency /distress relief by DAC donors in 2003 (USmillion, 2003 prices) 193 Table 1 Total number of reported disasters, by continent and by year (1995 to 2004) 194 Table 2 Total number of people reported killed, by continent and by year (1 995 to 2004) 195 Table 3 Tocal number of people reported affected, by continent and by year (1995 to 2004) in thousands 196 Table 4 Total amount of disaster estimated damage, by continent and by year (1995 to 2004) in millions of US dollars (2004 prices) 197 Table 5 Total number of reported disasters, by type of phenomenon and by year (1995 co 2004) 198 Table 6 Total number of people reported killed, by rype of phenomenon and by year (1995 co 2004) 199 Table 7 Toral number of people reported affected, by rype of phenomenon and by year (1995 to 2004) in thousands 200 Table 8 Total amount of disaster estimated damage, by type of phenomenon and by year (1 995 to 2004) in millions of US dollars (2004 prices) 201 Table 9 Total number of reported disasters, by type of phenomenon and by continent (1995 to 2004) 202 Table 10Total number of people reported killed, by type of phenomenon and by continent (1995 to 2004) 203 Table 11Total number of people reported affected, by type of phenomenon and by conrinem (1995 to 2004) in thousands 204 Table 12 Total amount of estimated damage, by rype of phenomenon and by continent (1995 to 2004) in millions of US dollars (2004 prices) 205 Table 13 Total number of people reporrcd killed and affected by disasters by country (1985 10 1994; 1995 to 2004; and 2004) 206 Table 14 Refugees and asylum seekers by country/rcrritory of origin (1998 to 2004) 214 Table 15 Refugees and asylum seekers by host country/territory (1998 to 2004) 218 Table 16 Significant populations of internally displaced people (1998 to 2004) 222 Annex 2 A global and local network 224 National Red Cross and Red Ocscent Societies225 International Federation regional delegations 238 International Federation country delegations 239 Index 244