Legacy of local knowledge can reduce disasters

Such knowledge is a precious national resource that can facilitate the processes of disaster prevention, preparedness and response in cost-effective, participatory and sustainable ways.

China ranks among the top 10 countries suffering from frequent, intense and unpredictable disasters, both in terms of the total number of fatalities and the economic cost.

With a long and rich experience of disasters, China has a wealth of traditional knowledge for disaster reduction which continues to contribute to environmental conservation and natural disaster management in the region. For example, in Yunnan province ethnic communities make their houses of timber and bamboo. Such houses are known to be quite stable in the face of earthquakes. Even if such houses break, they do not usually result in the loss of lives. This could be one reason why earthquakes tend to cause greater damage in modern settlements with heavier house construction than in the traditional settlements of the Dai people.

The United Nations Development Programme promotes sustainable human development to help build resilient nations and to empower people to build better lives. As the UN's development network, the UNDP has drawn on worldwide experiences for over three decades to assist China in disaster risk management, building community resilience, and information and knowledge sharing.

This year's International Day for Disaster Reduction should open eyes to how communities, united by the common threat of disasters, deploy the knowledge and insight that has been born of tradition and experience. In order to fulfill this objective, we all need to understand, acknowledge and respect indigenous knowledge as a valuable source of information and as a key contributor to reducing risk in many parts of the world. Our general efforts need to incorporate this to formulate a comprehensive and holistic approach to disaster management in China and elsewhere in the world.

The author is country director of UNDP China.