I think IDNDR did start some preparation and mitigation measures that were
not sparked by actual events.  Assisted by the UN OCHA/UNDP Office in Suva,
with funds from Australia, UK, Japan and other donors, a South-west Pacific
regional disaster risk management program has been running since the early
1990s through most of the South Pacific island countries.  Al most all
regional countries now have reasonably up-to-date disaster management plans
and programs that go beyond response to consider mitigation and
preparedness measures.  They have disaster management offices (mostly full
time though with limited resources) and the limited economies have led to
these government offices and local NGOs working together more closely than
ever before (and more closely than in many other countries!)

Most regional countries have reviewed their hazard risk potential and
started auditing the mitigation and preparedness options available to them.
 There  has not been a seriously damaging earthquake in the island
countries of the region for over 20 years but a building standards project
in five countries conducted in the 1980s  has been revisited and extended
in the last 10 years while earthquake monitoring and public awareness
programs have been initiated in a number of countries.  The problem with
the new building standards is that the legislation to bring them into law
has only been completed in a few countries where it has been given a
priority.  Shortage of skills and funds is a problem as is the lack of
donor initiatives to train and shadow building inspectors to monitor
implementation.  In struggling economies, priorities for funds are
competitive and disaster prevention/mitigation faces an uphill battle when
funds are needed for survival in the modern world.  Unless donors give
priority to such measures, the country rarely will.

Of course these building standards programs address the problem of
engineered buildings in urban areas.  Most of the people live in small
houses and rural areas.   Many traditional houses had significant hazard
resistant properties being tied together, thickly thatched and with few
openings to let wind in.  Consequently they were fairly cyclone and
earthquake resistant - some designs specifically so.  These days, the
people see western housing and try to emulate it, using such building
materials as are available but in scant quantities due to lack of money.
At the same time population and land use have increased so that traditional
materials are scarcer and a traditional house can actually cost more than a
less resistant 'modern' one with corrugated iron roof and louvred windows!
 Samoa is a typical example of this trend.  Some work has been done,
notably  in Solomon Islands and Samoa, to help people to learn how to build
more hazard resistant houses, but the process is slow and - again - cost
and other priorities tend to swamp the programs.   Community-level progarms
are popular but take time as inter-island transport is limited and staff
available to run the programs are few,

Fiji has not had a recorded serious earthquake (although Suva did
experience a small tsunami in the 1950s) but has started to explore the
potential in some detail.  Disaster management officials and NGOs, working
with the UN have run workshops and a major exercise and there is another
workshop on building collapse later this year.  This is a significant
change from the previous emphasis on floods and cyclones which are the most
regularly occurring hazards.  Other hazards are also being examined but
resources are limited.

Progress seems slow but after 16 years working in the region I can see
progress and an increased awareness of the need for prevention and
mitigation measures.