-----Original Message-----
From: Terry Cannon
Sent: Oct 16, 2014 12:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: 2014 World Disasters Report: Culture and Risk
This message is for the addressee only and may contain privileged or confidential information. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the original. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDS. Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RE Tel: +44 (0)1273 606261; Fax: +44 (0)1273 621202 IDS, a charitable company limited by guarantee: Registered Charity No. 306371; Registered in England 877338; VAT No. GB 350 899914 To post a message to this group, please write to: [log in to unmask] To UNSUBSCRIBE or to SUBSCRIBE from this list please go to: http://groups.preventionweb.net/scripts/wa-PREVENTIONWEB.exe?A0=GDNET-L To change to weekly digest please click on Subscriber's corner (Log In first), then go to my settings and click the box -mail style (for digest) This Listserv welcomes anyone interested in Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction To register with other thematic mailing lists on Disaster Risk Reduction go to http://groups.preventionweb.net/World Disasters Report 2014 on the topic Culture and Risk
This report has been launched today and is free to download at: http://www.ifrc.org/en/publications-and-reports/world-disasters-report/world-disasters-report-2014/
Do see the introductory animation near the bottom of that page. There are also summaries in French, Arabic and Spanish, as well as English.
The report argues for the importance of understanding two types of culture: people’s cultures and beliefs that may hamper (and sometimes support) disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, and also organizational culture: beliefs and behaviours of organizations that are barriers to effective DRR. It shows how clashes between these two cultures can produce problems and ineffective preparedness and response. It illustrates these problems with chapters on shelter and construction, and on health and HIV/AIDS. Many of the lessons are relevant for the current Ebola disaster in West Africa. The report also challenges the way that organizations use the notion of ‘community’ as a framing for DRR and community-based adaptation (CBA), despite the internal conflict, exploitation and exploitation that characterises so-called communities, and the lack of evidence that collaborative activities always work. It also argues that one of the fundamental clashes of culture between organizations and people is the failure of organizations to acknowledge the reasons (especially livelihoods) that lead people to live in hazard-prone and dangerous places.
The report is being launched in the UK on Monday 20 October at ODI (registration required: http://www.odi.org/events/4024-launch-world-disasters-report-2014-focus-culture-risk
The meeting will be broadcast on the web (with the opportunity to ask questions), and can be viewed on the internet afterwards.
It will be introduced by the lead editor/author Terry Cannon. The other editors are Lisa Schipper (co- lead editor), Greg Bankoff and Fred Krüger. The four have been working on the topic for around five years, and have hosted two conferences in Germany in 2011 and 2013, from which an academic book will be published in 2015: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415745604/
For questions contact Terry Cannon (Institute of Development Studies, UK) [log in to unmask] or Lisa Schipper [log in to unmask] or Greg E Bankoff [log in to unmask] or Krüger, Fred [log in to unmask]
Dr. Ben Wisner Aon-Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre, University College London, UK & Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania & Environmental Studies Program, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, USA "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."