The BRICS set of guidelines for disaster management early warning data integration is aimed at strengthening multi-hazard advance alerting systems through improved risk assessment, forecasting, and warning dissemination to ensure that timely and actionable warnings reach all people at risk.
The BRICS leaders agreed on a set of Guidelines for Disaster Management Early Warning Data Integration as they held the 18th summit of the bloc, just two and a half weeks after the August 26 flash flood that triggered a catastrophe along Nepal’s border with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.
The leaders also agreed to create a group to advance the BRICS Integrated Early Warning System for the prevention and response to mass infectious diseases, aimed at ensuring that members could be alerted to the emergence of medical crises such as those caused by Ebola and Covid-19.
“Within the BRICS group, we have placed special emphasis on strengthening resilience. It is equally important to identify challenges in time, be prepared for them, and take prompt action,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hosted the summit, said on Sunday. “With this approach, we have agreed on a BRICS Integrated Early Warning System for the prevention of and response to infectious diseases. Early Warning Data Integration Guidelines have been prepared for disaster management.”
The BRICS set of guidelines for disaster management early warning data integration is aimed at strengthening multi-hazard advance alerting systems through improved risk assessment, forecasting, and warning dissemination to ensure that timely and actionable warnings reach all people at risk.
The August 26 flash flood near the Nepal-China border unleashed a devastating torrent of water, mud and debris, leaving a trail of destruction and killing hundreds. The disaster has also prompted questions in Nepal over whether China had shared information about the danger in time.
China, however, joined the other BRICS nations in agreeing to the guidelines on disaster management early warning data integration.
The guidelines call for inclusive, accessible and people-centred multi-hazard early warning systems covering risk assessment, monitoring, forecasting, warning dissemination, preparedness and early action. They stress hazard, exposure, vulnerability and coping-capacity data to be integrated to support impact-based warnings and risk-informed decisions, with particular attention to vulnerable communities and effective last-mile communication through multiple channels.
They also underlined the need for improved quality, interoperability, accessibility and usability of disaster-risk and early-warning information, along with secure and timely data exchange. The guidelines encourage the use of earth observation, remote sensing, impact-based forecasting and artificial intelligence to support timely warnings and anticipatory action, while stressing that data sharing and the use of emerging technologies must comply with national laws and security requirements.