UNESCO Courier articles from October 1997

UNESCO Courier archives from October 1997

Month by month. (coping with natural and manmade disasters)
October 1, 1997... Where does fatality end and human willpower step in? Myths, religions and philosophies have long sought to pierce the mystery of this shadowy line of demarcation which runs like Ariadne's thread through the labyrinth of human experience. Perhaps...

Safety first! (need for a 'culture of prevention' in response to increasingly destructive natural disasters)
October 1, 1997... A call for a 'culture of prevention' to counteract increasingly destructive natural disasters Throughout history, the violent side of nature has manifested itself in destructive phenomena such as floods, volcanic eruptions, severe storms,...

A decade for international action. (interview with Frank Press, president emeritus of the US National Academy of Sciences)
October 1, 1997... * In 1984 you became the first person to call for an international decade to reduce loss of life and property from natural hazards. - Yes. One of the highest callings of scientists and engineers is to improve the lives of people everywhere....

Nature on the rampage.
October 1, 1997... Natural hazards originate from the air (storms, wildfires, droughts),the earth (earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions) or water (flooding). When communities cannot cope with them they turn into disasters. * Earthquakes Small...

Making cities safer.
October 1, 1997... The defences of overcrowded cities with fragile buildings and vulnerable infrastructures must be strengthened All over the world, economic expansion, use of new technologies and growing interdependence are boosting the risk of natural...

The do's and don'ts of risk reduction.
October 1, 1997... What individuals and societies can do to cut the toll of human and economic loss The most effective disaster mitigation measure that can be taken at community level is for people not to build in high-risk areas such as unstable slopes, river...

Sounding the alarm. (disaster warning systems)
October 1, 1997... From tolling bells to remote sensing by satellite, disaster warning systems have come a long way The tolling of bells was once the usual way to warn people of impending disasters like floods, fires or approaching armies. Warnings based on...

Women in the front line. (role of women in disaster preparedness and relief)
October 1, 1997... Women in developing countries should be key players in disaster preparedness and relief It too often goes unreported that women and children usually suffer more than men in natural disasters, especially in the countries of the South....

Insurance: halting an ominous trend. (insurance industry response to growing risk from natural disasters)
October 1, 1997... The insurance industry is adapting in response to growing risk from natural disasters Over the last ten years, major natural disasters have caused economic losses amounting to more than $400 billion and insured losses of some $100 billion....

Building a culture of prevention: the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction 1990-2000.
October 1, 1997... In 1989, 155 Member States of the United Nations co-sponsored a UN Resolution which declared the years 1990 to 2000 the "International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction" (IDNDR). The purpose of the decade is to marshal the political resolve,...

UNESCO and natural disaster reduction.
October 1, 1997... UNESCO's Unit for Disaster Reduction seeks to encourage the adoption of policies and action designed to anticipate potential risks and favouring a shift in emphasis away from post-disaster reaction and response toward pre-disaster planning,...

Water and civilization. (commentary)
October 1, 1997... Water and civilization are indissociable. The earliest civilizations arose in the great river valleys of the Euphrates, the Nile, the Indus and the Yangtze, where the transition could be made from subsistence farming to agricultural surplus....

New Caledonia: threats to biodiversity.
October 1, 1997... New Caledonia is a French Territoire d'outre mer (overseas territory forming part of the French Republic) in the southern part of Melanesia, half-way between Australia and New Zealand. Unlike its neighbours Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Fiji,...

Taxila: the cradle of Gandhara art. (Taxila, Pakistan)
October 1, 1997... Traces of several ancient civilizations of the north Indus basin have survived in present-day Pakistan at Taxila, a site that was included on the World Heritage List in 1980 The archaeological site of Taxila, which lies in a well-irrigated,...

Spreading the word. (religion)
October 1, 1997... Retracing the highways and byways taken by the world's great religious ideas (See the June 1997 issue, 'How ideas travel'). Just as a rumour spreads from street to street. so "good news" (which is the meaning of the word "gospel") can travel...

'Science with a conscience.' (interview with Colombian physicist and biochemist Manuel Elkin Patarroyo)
October 1, 1997... In 1986 Colombian physician and biochemist Manuel Patarroyo made a synthetic vaccine, SPf66, which has since shown considerable efficacy in the struggle against malaria, one of the world's most widespread diseases. In this interview with Flor...