Message from the Commissioner

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Disasters are becoming an issue of growing concern worldwide. According to recent data (EM-DAT) disasters take about 100,000 lives; uproot at least 25 million people; and affect more than 200 million people each year. These days, over 50% of displacement results from climate change induced disasters such as flooding and drought. Climate is changing and exacerbating the adverse impacts of these disasters; over the past decades 90% of disasters were fundamentally tied to climate change. Taking only the year 2015, it has been one of the worst years in disaster that mankind has witnessed in history, to mention some of them; a heat wave killed 2, 500 and 1,229 people in India and Pakistan, respectively. In the same year flooding in Malawi claimed 276 lives and nearly a quarter million people were found affected in the whole country. Flooding in Chile killed 178 people and Tropical Cyclone Komen has taken 493 lives. Though different measures are underway in every corner of the world, our current status signifies the need to multiply our efforts in dealing with risks, if we are meant to save lives and livelihoods.

As one of the vulnerable countries, Ethiopia, based on the country's deep-rooted history of disasters and the past disaster management experience, the government has ratified the National Policy on Disaster Prevention and Management (NPDPM) in 1993. The sector led the shift in thinking from relief and response to development that provides an opportunity for the integration of disaster risk management and sustainable development initiatives in higher education and research institutions.