VZCZCXRO1397
RR RUEHJO
DE RUEHGV #0599/01 2011028
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201028Z JUL 09
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8880
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3085
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 1825
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 2014
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 3958
RUEHUP/AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST 1896
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 0055
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 5743
RUEHSJ/AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE 0380
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUCPDC/NOAA WASHINGTON DC
RUCFAAN/FEMA HQ WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDOI/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GENEVA 000599 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO IO FOR DISSELKOEN AND USAID FOR DCHA 
STATE PASS NOAA FOR JHAYES, WBOLHOFFER, DTHOMPSON 
ASTANA, BANGKOK, BRUSSELS, BUDAPEST, JOHANNESBURG-OFDA REP 
ROME, SAN JOSE, USUN NEW YORK FOR - OFDA REP 
US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY - FOR DR. DAVID APPLEGATE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: EAID UN SENV WMO ECOSOC
SUBJECT:  WMO Disaster Risk Reduction Programs - Executive Council 
Review 
 
¶1.  Summary. During the recent WMO Executive Council (EC) meeting in 
Geneva from June 3-12, members reviewed the progress of WMO Disaster 
Risk Reduction (DRR) and Service Delivery (SD) programs.  The EC 
Working Group for DRR and SD (WG DRR/SD) is chaired by the U.S. 
Permanent Representative, Dr. Jack Hayes (Assistant Administrator of 
Weather Services for NOAA).  The DRR program is gaining momentum 
both within the WMO and among Members.  Agreement was reached at the 
meeting that WMO Member countries, Technical Commissions and 
Regional Associations (RA) will work together towards developing 
end-to-end multi-hazard early warning systems within each region. 
In WMO Regional Association IV, which includes North America, 
Central America and the Caribbean, there is a WMO DRR pilot project 
to strengthen flood and flash flood warning and response systems in 
Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua.  NOAA and the USAID Office of 
Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) will host a visit by Dr. Maryam 
Golnarghi, Director of the WMO DRR Program, from July 7-9 in 
Washington where she will meet with federal agencies and donor 
organizations with the aim of increasing collaboration on DRR.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2.  The Disaster Risk Reduction program of the World Meteorological 
Organization (WMO) addresses Disaster preparedness, mitigation and 
response to potential hydro-meteorological hazards.  Hurricanes, 
tsunamis, severe weather, winter storms, floods and flash floods are 
high-impact weather that greatly affects the global community. 
According to a recent survey by WMO, sixty percent of the countries 
surveyed indicated there was no effective response capability by the 
government and when disasters occurred, the best they could 
accomplish was to provide relief and aid to victims after the event. 
 The principle WMO Disaster Risk Reduction program goal is to link 
National Hydrological and Meteorological Service (NMHS) forecasts 
and warnings to effective emergency response programs to minimize 
impact to the population at risk and to mitigate economic losses. 
The DRR program along with the Working Group on DRR and SD are 
focused on establishing end-to-end multi-hazard early warning 
systems for developed and developing countries.  End-to-end systems 
are complex.  For example establishing a true end-to-end system 
would involve collecting and sensing data, modeling and analysis, 
creation of warning messages and end-user products, dissemination of 
warnings and products through appropriate and pre-defined channels 
which include disaster management agencies for initiating evacuation 
actions to save lives.  If any of these components are weak and not 
functioning properly then warnings cannot reach the end-user such as 
the person in the floodplain or emergency responders, resulting in 
humanitarian losses. Different regions and countries experience 
different weaknesses in their end-to-end system operations. For 
example in the Caribbean and Central America region (WMO Regional 
Association IV), a weakness of the end-to-end system is the 
disconnect between NMHS's and disaster management agencies.  In 
South America (RA-III) communications is the principal weakness. 
 
Agenda Highlights 
----------------------- 
¶3.  The report of the WG DRR/SD was accepted by the EC.  The report 
outlined a two-year work plan to build end-to-end multi-hazard early 
warning systems, facilitate coordination with partners, build 
capacity, and to establish public education programs and pilot 
projects.  The program will develop a document titled "Role of 
NMHS's in Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems".  The document will 
define best practices based on selected country programs and lessons 
learned from pilot projects.  This publication will also be used as 
a text book in training workshops now being scheduled. 
 
¶4.  Dr. Hayes, WG DRR/SD Chair, reported to the EC that the WG had 
developed its work plan for the next two years and that the WG also 
would develop a strategic and operating plan for consideration by 
the next Congress.  One of the major goals of the WG is to transfer 
project responsibility and resource mobilization to the RAs and 
Members as well as to work more closely with development agencies 
because the WMO Secretariat has limited capacity to manage projects 
and the ultimate goal is to develop effective end-to-end 
multi-hazard warning systems in all countries. 
 
 
GENEVA 00000599  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶5.  The SD program needs organization & guidance. The WG DRR/SD 
requested the Secretariat to develop a framework for a Service 
Delivery Policy over the next two-years.  This framework will 
facilitate the cost-effective development of SD capacity.  Through 
this framework, NMHS's will receive guidance on interacting with 
various user communities to understand their requirement, then 
understand how to use this information to achieve effective service 
delivery results for a wide range of user needs. This program will 
also continue to build successful regional forecast demonstration 
projects over the next two-years that expand the number countries 
and hazards so as to realize a regional implementation of these 
demonstration projects. 
 
¶6.  The WMO pilot project in Central America is funded by the World 
Bank and many UN, regional, national and local partners are 
committed to this project.  A goal of this project is to demonstrate 
how an end-to-end multi-hazard early warning system can be 
implemented in a region with strong Member leadership, regional 
support and can integrate with other cross-cutting activities such 
as the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) also being 
implemented in RA IV.  The RAIV WIGOS demonstration project goal is 
to provide mosaic regional radar data to the countries in the 
region.  This new product will be extremely helpful in composing 
warnings by NMHS's and for use by end-users such as disaster 
management agencies in preparing to respond to potential high-impact 
and/or severe weather. 
 
GRIFFITHS