Dear all,
I believe that the example of the expert forecasting or warning an event
enough time before its arrival in order to take proper management measures
could be extended. Unfortunately this is not a rare situation in the
developing countries and it is not necessarily restricted by the available
funds. Sometimes, the mentality of the local governments play a crucial role
in the preparedness phase. Common, internationally accepted standards of
actions could be of great importance in changing this.
All the best,
Sorin Cheval
Institute of Geograhy, Romanian Academy
>The most disturbing thing is that Wafula's warnings some months before the
>eruption fell on deaf ears. The point here is to try to understand what
>has
>happened to municipal governance and administration since the RCD rebels
>took
>control of Goma. Was there someone he could have reported his findings to?
>Was there a way that these warnings could have been evaluated and a plan
>for
>possible evacuation put in place?
>The RCD seem to be functioning rather like a city government in some ways
>(collecting water and electricity payments, taxes, forbidding
>reconstruction
>on the lava, identifying possible places that are less exposed to danger
>where
>Goma can be rebuilt, liaising with the U.N. and other foreign agencies).
>On
>the other hand, I don't yet know what kind of municipal administration they
>operated before the eruption.
>
>Regards, BEN WISNER
>
>P Boylan wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 28 Jan 2002, Ben Wisner wrote:
> >
> > +++++ [CLIP] +++++
> >
> > > Of all these questions, the one that I think emerges with most clarity
> > > concerns risk communication. Given that Nyiragongo volcano was very
>well
> > > known before the current eruption, why was there no system in place
>for
> > > communicating clearly, in a credible way, with the 500,000 people that
> > > lived so near to it?
> > >
> > ==============================
> >
> > Re this comment: there have been some press reports that a well
>qualified
> > Congolese vulcanologist has been on the spot for years monitoring
> > Nyiragongo, that he did start warning the authorities days before the
> > start of the eruption, but was completely ignored.
> >
> > The authorities were reported to be relying - even now - on advice from
> > from "proper" (= foreign!) experts thousands of miles away in Europe.
> >
> > Is there any truth in this, or has the press made it up?
> >
> > Patrick Boylan
> > (City University, London)
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