Preparedness: saves time, money and lives

This document addresses preparedness as an important investment against natural and man-made disasters. Through good practices, it urges the humanitarian community, governments and regional bodies to use preparedness thinking to be aware of risks, to reduce them and to plan ahead to combat them in order to respond more effectively and reduce the threat of hunger, disease, poverty and conflicts.

It uses examples from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bolivia, Colombia, Cook Islands, Ghana, Haiti, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Panama, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The document, written and edited by WFP, has been published by the IASC Sub-Working group on Preparedness for the 3rd Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction, Geneva, 8th-13th may 2011.