IDNDR Objectives: French Technical Sociological Contributions

Abstract

During the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), the French IDNDR Committee developed specific actions in the French Overseas Territories in order to complete actions already carried out by the Ministry of Environment and the Home Office. First, a “white paper” was produced by the Committee working groups, setting an inventory of the state of natural hazards prevention and preparedness policies both in France and in the Overseas Territories. In 1992, faced with difficulties in handling serious flooding, the Ministry of Environment set up an Assessment Authority of the Natural Hazards Policy, involving most of the members of the French IDNDR Committee. This policy worked over a three-year period with an approach that was at once technical, sociological, economical, and legal. The recommendations proposed by the Assessment Authority were based on three principles: (1) adopting a patrimonial approach to safety; (2) viewing regional planning in terms of land uses and risk to the natural environment and harmonizing the various public policies applying to that region; and (3) organizing public debates so that concrete issues can be discussed with the most directly concerned people.