US embassy cable - 05MADRID742

UNCLAS MADRID 000742 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO WHITE HOUSE/OSTP, AID/OFDA, AND ESTH 
COLLECTIVE; USDOC FOR NOAA; 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, SENV, SP, Other 
SUBJECT: SPANISH PARTICIPANT CRITICAL OF KOBE WORLD 
CONFERENCE ON DISASTER REDUCTION (WCDR) 
 
REF: A. STATE 22957 
     B. MADRID 149 
 
1.  ESTHOFF met with Interior Ministry, Directorate General 
for Civil Protection and Emergencies, International Affairs 
Director Juan Pedro Lahore Lacoste-Pedelaborde February 18 to 
ascertain Spain's thoughts regarding the January 18-22 Kobe 
WCDR and whether Spain planned an extra-EU contribution to 
international efforts to install a tsunami early warning 
system in the Indian Ocean.  Lahore, who represented the 
Interior Ministry at Kobe, said he left the conference with 
"mixed feelings."  While welcoming the greater interest in 
these issues engendered by the December 26 tsunami tragedy, 
Lahore also said the tsunami had "hijacked" the Kobe 
conference and led to a "PR-focused" declaration, which 
concentrated too much on disaster relief and not enough on 
the more critical disaster prevention part of the disaster 
reduction equation.  He pointed to the commitment to reduce 
disaster deaths by one half as one example of the empty 
sloganeering that he believed plagued the conference. 
 
2.  Lahore thought the experts who drafted many of the WCDR 
outcome documents had a poor understanding of the realities 
faced by the government representatives, like himself, who 
actually control disaster reduction resources.  He called for 
a more "holistic" approach to disaster reduction which better 
integrates both disaster prevention and disaster reaction. 
Lahore clearly did not believe that a high-tech earthquake 
detection system in the Indian Ocean was the best use of 
limited global disaster reduction funds.  The focus on such a 
system, in Lahore's view, symbolized the hijacking of the 
conference.  He said the money would be better spent 
literally teaching peasants in the Indian Ocean basin to run 
up hill at first reports of incoming tsunamis.  He said early 
warning systems were of limited utility unless they were 
complemented, as in Japan, by serious evacuation route 
planning.  Saying he was no friend of Castro, he pointed to 
Cuba as one country who has made serious disaster reduction 
efforts on very limited budgets. 
 
3.  After he got all that off his chest, Lahore indicated 
that Spain planned no extra-EU contribution to international 
efforts to install a tsunami early warning system in the 
Indian Ocean.  That said, Madrid, via the EU, would provide 
financial and technical support to German-led efforts to 
assume a leadership role in such efforts.  Lahore also said 
the EU plans to develop its own tsunami early warning system 
and that elements of this system could be applied to efforts 
to create a related system in the Indian Ocean basin.  The 
EU, he added, would likely invite North African nations to 
participate in the development of this EU system, as a major 
seismic zone slices through the Mediterranean basin. 
 
4.  COMMENT:  Lahore is a true believer in a holistic 
approach to disaster reduction (i.e., don't forget prevention 
while pursuing the more media friendly relief).  He is 
probably unaccustomed to having his work in the world's 
spotlight (as it was in January) and his belly-aching about 
Kobe's focus on the Asian tsunami crisis should probably be 
interpreted as a man frustrated by the fact his life's work 
was not portrayed in a nuanced or balanced fashion.  Spain 
cares about this set of issues, but it does so for reasons 
that lie closer to home.  Lahore mentioned the tsunamis that 
devastated Lisbon in the 18th century and Sicily in the 19th 
century, as well as the fact that the Balearic Islands were 
hit by a two meter tall wave after a 1990s earthquake in 
Algeria.  Spain will continue to engage in tsunami detection 
efforts, but mostly within the EU context. 
MANZANARES