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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