International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction: are we chasing a dream?

The United Nations has designated the 1990´s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) to reduce loss of life, property damage, and social and economic disruption caused by natural disasters especially in developing countries. In many developing countries, disaster, environmental degradation and poverty form a closely knit vicious cycle. There are even suggestions that global risk due to natural disasters is increasing due to changing socioeconomic patterns around the world and massive increase in urbanization. International cooperation is needed to meet the challenge of these ever present and complex problems. Losses due to natural disasters may be mitigated by integrating new and existing knowledge, and by managing risk through various structural and nonstructural strategies. The author summarizes the difficulties being encountered in realizing the good cause of the IDNDR and asks all the engineers and scientists to stand up to make actions, however small they may be, to achieve the goals of IDNDR