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INTERNATIONAL

































          The International



           Civil Defence Organization:




           New information technologies for better disaster risk prevention

           The economic cost of natural catastrophes and man-made  ment distance-learning courses online after setting up a
           disasters worldwide has soared in recent years. At the  pilot project recently. Like the United Nations, the ICDO
           same time adoption of new technologies is today playing  has six official languages, and offers training courses in all
           a vital role in mitigation and prevention of disasters.   of them. The distance-leaning courses are combined with
                                                               practical ones, organized by Member States' civil defence
           Coping with disasters - whether natural or attributable to  organizations.
           human activity - is one of science and technology's great-
           est challenges. Progress in science and technology has  The ICDO goal is also to ameliorate the level of profes-
           made it possible in recent years to introduce significant  sional training. The organization is now seeking the help of
           changes in the integrated approach to disasters. Reduc-  specialized institutions in civil defence -- in Jordan, Saudi
           tion of disasters is possible if science and technologies are  Arabia, Russia, Belorussia, Kyrgyzstan and Tunisia --to
           properly applied. While we cannot prevent an earthquake  prepare new course content for civil defence specialists.
           or a hurricane from occurring, we can apply the scientific
           knowledge and technical know-how to reduce their con-  Effective response to a disaster includes timely infor-
           sequences.                                          mation and early warning of potential hazards. That is
                                                               why the ICDO has recently established programmes to
           The International Civil Defence Organization (ICDO)  develop and deploy information and communication
           has always striven to accelerate the implementation of  technologies (ICTs), geographic information systems and
           new information technologies to better combat and pre-  satellite data. In June 2015 an International Monitoring
           vent the disasters. It is trying to develop new mechanisms  and Coordination Centre (IMCC) opened at the ICDO
           using information technology that permit us to better  headquarters in Geneva. This is the first step towards cre-
           prepare professional workers in the civil defence field.   ating a management information system to become the
                                                               basis for establishing an international network of centres
           The ICDO is creating a global network of civil defence  under the ICDO to combat disasters.
           academies to exchange information and fully utilize exist-
           ing knowledge to better combat disasters. Thanks to this  The IMCC is a tool to enable updated risk assessment and
           scientific network the ICDO will be also able to imple-  mapping in ICDO Member States. Its goal is to help better


           INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMAT -  DIVA  	                                                                 33
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