Dear all,
As you may be aware, some of us helped organise the first ever panel on religion and disaster risk reduction at the World Parliament of Religions in Melbourne, Australia in 2009 (see:http://www.odihpn.org/humanitarian-exchange-magazine/issue-48/acts-of-gods-the-role-of-religion-in-disaster-risk-reduction).
Would any of you be interested in taking this further and proposing a similar panel at the next World Parliament meeting in Brussels in 2014? Highlights of the 2009 Parliament are at http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/index.cfm?n=7. Advance info on the 2014 Parliament is at http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/news/index.php/category/2014-parliament/.
If you would, please get in touch. Also please let other know that this is afoot.
Whatever one might personally think of the (quite destructive) role of institutionalised religion (discrimination against women, homophobia, religious wars, inquisitions and fatwas, etc., etc.), the fact remains that (a) there are also progressive social forces at play in all the world's faith traditions, (b) faith communities play a significant role in disaster response and recovery (and could also in risk reduction) and (c) faith leaders are often influential in urging secular political leaders to 'do the right thing' (see, for example, various statements on climate change http://fore.research.yale.edu/climate-change/statements-from-world-religions/).
I think the potential role of faith communities in disaster risk reduction is so great that it is not enough at all to do something like this every 3-5 years. It would be good to have a permanent network that would catalyse regional and local events and dialogues among faith leaders and lay people as well as concrete projects on the ground. At a minimum shouldn't all the world's temples, churches, mosques and religion-funded schools be made seismically safe, stable against high winds and located where they will not be flooded, destroyed by storm surges or tsunami, and not buried by landslides?
Do consider entering into a dialogue with me and others on the best use of the great energy represented by faith communities in the reduction of disaster risk.
All the best,
BEN
Dr. Ben Wisner
Aon-Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre, University College London
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