Each place and community is exposed in some measure to the effects of climate variability and climate change. However its impacts and the vulnerability of the population (in terms of the exposure, and adaptive capacity) vary significantly from place to place and from one community to the next. Most urban areas haven’t yet managed to tackle everyday development problems and disaster risk yet now they need to address them within a context of global problems, including climate change. Usually disaster risk and adaptation investments are not seen as priorities in the agendas of many cities. There are often more immediate and pressing issues to address and solutions tend to be developed in silos. Usually the institutional arrangements to manage cross – cutting issues such as adaptation to climate change are not appropriate; there is a lack of practical and accessible information integrated with lay knowledge to guide local action; as well as uncertainties and lack of understanding around potential impact of climate change in particular areas; these constraints adaptation planning and effective action implementation.

The film follows some of the activities undertaken during a three year project funded by the International Development Research Center of Canada (IDRC – CRDI) and implemented by the International Institute of Environment and Development, IIED – América Latina and Sociedad Amigos del Viento together with local governments, community organizations and neighbors from the four cities were the project was implemented. During these three years the project has generated information, devised different communication mechanisms, worked in improving participation mechanisms and dialogue between different stakeholders, developed local guidelines to address climate change adaptation issues, set up a micro credit system for housing adaptation and started forming a group of motivated local climate change “leaders”.

www.iied-al.org.ar/riberas

In 2012, the Red Cross raised an alarm that 91% of disasters worldwide are silent. Against this backdrop, bringing silent and invisible disasters to light is critical! In the winter of 2012-13, the nomads of Changthang, Eastern Ladakh, suffered huge losses when recurrent snowfall led to mass starvation of their livestock. The Changthang region encompasses two blocks of Leh district – Nyoma and Durbuk. Twenty villages across the region were affected. This had an unprecedented impact on livelihoods. For not only is the Changpa’s intricate pastoral life completely centred around their livestock; but they are also the largest producers of pashmina in the world. The disaster was compounded by its silence and the lack of substantive short and long-term assistance. Working with local organisations RDY and Live to Love, Saferworld Communications worked with local filmmaker Stanzin Gya to document it. As part of the SEEDS’ research project (funded by START and CDKN) already running in the region, a Changthang Emergency Response Group was also set up. This consortium of humanitarian and development organisations working in Leh helped spread the word and advocate on the issue. These efforts have helped word of Changthang’s plight reach a wider audience.

During a military exercise in August 2000, a state-of-the-art Russian nuclear submarine, the Kursk, sank in the Barents Sea, triggering global media attention and an international rescue effort.

In addition to Russia’s Northern Fleet, two other organizations got involved in the rescue operation: the UK Submarine Rescue Service and a Norwegian offshore-diving company. Between them, these parties seemingly had all that was needed to rescue the trapped sailors, yet the entire crew was lost. How did this happen?

The short film gives an intimate account of the lived experience of Commodore David Russell, who led the Royal Navy rescue mission at the scene. Our aim is to provide a plausible understanding of the roots of the failure, and also, to highlight lessons to current and future leaders.

The movie has an introduction and 3 parts. In the introduction is presented the cause of earthquakes and is raised the question if one day “would not be an ordinary day” and an earthquake would happen! Black Sea Earthquake Safety Net(work) - ESNET project is presented in short, its area, the Black Sea Coast of: Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. Several people, among them Dr. Stefan Florin Balan, the project manager are presenting the goals and benefits of the ESNET project.

“Monitoring and actions in the event of an earthquake”, the monitoring seismic networks of Romania, Moldova, Turkey and Bulgaria are described. Early Warning Systems of Romania and Turkey are presented with shake maps of Romania.

„Simulations of Earthquakes and Tsunamis”. In this part are presented :

• how to get loss estimation maps on a certain region affected by an earthquake,
• different maps of earthquake characteristics (intensity, peak ground acceleration, etc),
• shake maps of Romania, - vulnerability analysis of some regions,
• 31.03.1901 Shabla earthquake in Bulgaria, the most powerful earthquake in Black Sea,
• vulnerability analysis in real time of the Shabla earthquake of 3.12.2012,
• earthquake risk assessment of the Republic of Moldova.

Sometimes earthquakes can generate tsunamis and National Institute for Earth Physics is national point of contact for the European area.

„Intervention exercises in the event of an earthquake”. ESNET project is meant to reduce the impact of an earthquake by establishing a strong collaboration between institutions which monitor the seismic activity and emergency units.

Are presented:

• the link between NIEP and Emergency Situations Inspectorate-Dobrogea in Romania,
• the supplying of EWS equipment to them,
• aspects from their activity, training and earthquake simulations at Bogazici University, Turkey,
• the role of educational visits at NIEP of students of all ages.