Politika smanjenja rizika od katastrofa u Republici Srbiji
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION POLICY IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Author(s): Sandra Nedeljković, Mirjana Laban
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Governance, Public Administration, Security and defense
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: risk reduction; prevention; disasters; system; sustainable development
Summary/Abstract: Disaster risk reduction is coming into focus due to increasingly frequent extreme weather conditions, which greatly affect sustainable development in all parts of the world, but especially in developing countries. Globally, through the United Nations’ system, standards and regulations are being developed for the systematic and optimal implementation of prevention measures and activities, i.e. disaster risk reduction in all sectors. Stemming from the second half of the last century, the risk reduction policy is nowadays present in an increasing number of international documents and is continuously developed and improved through the systems for monitoring the application of international standards in national policies. Ensuring safety and resistance to disasters through risk reduction is the responsibility of the state with its different levels of government, as well as of each citizen and community as a whole. In May 2014, the Republic of Serbia was affected by the worst floods in 120 years, which caused 1.7 billion dollars in damages. This event prompted the state to change the policy focus from reactive to proactive, i.e. from disaster response model to strategic planning of significant preventive measures and preparedness, in order to reduce the negative effects of similar events. This paper analyzes the risk reduction policy in the Republic of Serbia, and its evolution from a declarative provision in the past decade to the adoption of the fundaments of a functional, operational system, especially at the local level as the community’s backbone.

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