Crisis Response and Post-Conflict Recovery
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Armenia
These communities embody some of the local-level challenges that Armenia faces in preparing for disasters and reducing their impact. One of the 60 most disaster-prone countries in the world, Armenia faces a heightened risk of such catastrophes as earthquakes, droughts and flooding. In 1988 a huge earthquake struck, killing 25,000 people, injuring 15,000, and leaving 517,000 homeless. Today, according to The World Bank, eight out of every 10 Armenians are at risk of experiencing a disaster. Until recently, many communities didn’t have working drainage systems, mudflow channels and soil dams. Neither was there a nationwide government-operated system to monitor incoming disasters before they strike, nor a national system to coordinate the response, such as many more developed countries have. UNDP assisted the Government of Armenia in establishing a national disaster risk reduction system. It helped the country make critical progress in developing local-level capacity to prepare for, and respond to, catastrophes. The goal has been to create a strong centre with resilient communities, to provide a critical safety net ensuring that progress can continue even when disaster strikes. Support for this effort has come from the World Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Swiss Development Cooperation, Germany’s Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the World Food Programme, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the International Committee of the Red Cross, UNICEF and OXFAM. UNDP provided international expertise in establishing a disaster risk reduction system, as well as assistance to communities in improving their preparedness.
Building a national system About 10 years ago, assisted by UNDP and other organizations, the authorities revised national legislation to establish a strong legal and regulatory framework for disaster risk reduction. Armenia committed to achieving the strategic goals of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2002-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters, an international strategy to which Armenia and 167 other countries are signatory. By 2011, the Ministry of Emergency Situations had implemented a plan to decentralize the disaster risk reduction system, appointing the Ministry’s regional representatives as regional focal points. It helped to improve the Ministry’s management capacities through the
A crisis management centre is capable of dealing with disaster when it hits. © UNDP Armenia