Review and make changes to existing school and university curricula. A much-needed contribution, and one that would lend sustainability to these initiatives, is the development and delivery of continuing education courses, certification programmes and supporting technical publications.

Universities, as well as professional associations of engineers, architects, nurses, medical doctors and others, have a wealth of knowledge and specialized expertise. Add to a global knowledge base or knowledge management system by systematically collecting and sharing this knowledge with established information centres, thus providing a how-to blueprint for countries with similar risks and resources.

Encourage research into the magnitude of the problem and

the cost effectiveness of introducing disaster risk reduction measures.