To improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity

1. To improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity EWCII – Second Int.l Conference on Early Warning 16-18 October 2003 Bonn, Germany

2. Key statistics and main role • 179 National Societies • 295,000 employees • 97million members and volunteers worldwide, of which 20 million are active. • 215 million people assisted annually • Role: Humanitarian values, Disaster response, Health and care in the community, Disaster preparedness including; early warning systems, training, response plans and co-ordination

3. Early Warning or Early Awareness The strength of the Red Cross and Red Crescent: grass-root organisations with a large network of National Societies based often in remote areas BUT • How to capture information from the grassroot level and ? • How to share it and match it with global information ? • Where is the system for global and local information to meet ? • How to prepare for the information, people, money, resources ? • Who is preparing for it, at which level at which moment and how ? • Who and how are decisions made to REACT APPROPRIATELY ? Various tools / systems and approaches have been and are in development but still our collective CHALLENGE

4. Communities and Early Warning Local knowledge and capacities Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers are among the main local networks in responding to early warning signs, adapting, finding local solutions through traditional behaviour, when coping mechanisms are exhausted, national and eventually the global level comes into play, however most disasters stay at “home” with local solutions. Integration / collaboration of sophisticated information systems in Early Warning matched with indigenous knowledge should be our common VISION, of humanitarians, policy makers, donors and other stakeholders. Sustainability Systems have little value unless they can be sustained by the communities themselves. Communities, communities, communities