Photos by Blake Harris

Disaster management is going to occupy more and more of government's time and resources in the decades ahead -- that was the clear underlying message running through four days of presentations at the 15th World Conference on Disaster Management held this week, July 10-13, in Toronto, Canada.

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan
Terrorism is only one of the challenges which government at all levels must prepare for, something emphasized by many of the speakers, including Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan and American Red Cross President and CEO, Marsha Evans.

"Last year's hurricanes called for the largest natural disaster response in the long 125 year history of the American Red Cross," Evans noted. "And regrettably this year's hurricane season has gotten off to a difficult start. By July 5th, Arlene, Bret and Cindy had all reached tropical storm status. And Dennis came ashore as barely a Category 3 after having caused a large swath of damage in the Caribbean. It is the earliest for so many named storms in recorded history. At the same time, our wildfire season in the Western United States has gotten off to an unfortunately strong start as well."

American Red Cross President and CEO, Marsha Evans
According to many of the attending scientists and disaster management experts, climate change is actually producing a dramatic increase in annual number of extreme weather events such a hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and droughts, all of which are destroying more and more property each year. Statistical graphs show a steady increase over the last half century, from about 800 serious events a year to now well over 4,500 annually. And if this trend continues, something that most environmental scientists across the globe are now convinced is likely due to global warming, that number will multiply many times in the coming decades.

Based on much of what was said repeatedly in presentations, as well in discussions with a few of the 1,500 attendees from 52 countries, the effects of climate change that we are already experiencing ranked at least as high as terrorism as the "new normal" that disaster managers now had to prepare for and respond to in earnest.

In addition, scientists now believe far more deaths are likely to occur in the next few years as a result of a pandemic -- something that is now considered almost a certainty because of the mutation of viruses and the appearance of drug-resistant strains of bacteria such as plague. "When an influenza pandemic occurs [as a result of virus mutation], we won't have a vaccine at least until the second wave hits," Dr. Sheela Basrur, the expert who lead the response to SARS outbreak in Canada, told reporters at a press conference. Preparation and public information therefore is critical.

A Vital Role for IT
Disaster management is not simply about emergency response and recovery. A big part of the goal is mitigating disasters, lessening the impact through preparation. And this is now being extended to prevention as well, something that will be added to International Association of Emergency Managers standards next year.

Part of effective mitigation must include long-range plans for replacing or building new infrastructure so that it is more disaster resistant. And IT planning should be approached in a similar fashion because of the increasing reliance upon IT in the government and private sectors.

There is no doubt that information technology now plays an ever-increasing role in most aspects of disaster management and the IT component was significantly increased at this year's conference.

For example, information sharing is