FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON URGED THE WORLD ON MONDAY TO INVEST IN EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS TO PREVENT THE MASSIVE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION SEEN IN RECENT EARTHQUAKES, TSUNAMIS AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS, REUTERS REPORTED. 'HAZARDS ARE NOT DISASTERS BY DEFINITION. HAZARDS ONLY BECOME DISASTERS WHEN LIVES AND LIVELIHOODS ARE SWEPT AWAY,' CLINTON SAID IN A STATEMENT BEFORE THE START OF THE INTERNATIONAL EARLY WARNING CONFERENCE IN BONN ON MONDAY. 'MAKING COMMUNITIES SAFER -- BY BETTER MANAGING THE RISKS OF NATURAL HAZARDS -- MUST BECOME A GLOBAL PRIORITY.' THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE AFFECTED BY NATURAL DISASTERS HAS SOARED IN RECENT DECADES. LAST YEAR, A TOTAL OF 149 DISASTERS KILLED 97,000 PEOPLE, AFFECTED MORE THAN 133 MILLION AND CAUSED ECONOMIC LOSSES OF $230 BILLION. POPULATION GROWTH, URBANISATION, THE EXPANSION OF SETTLEMENTS IN HAZARD-PRONE AREAS, ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE HAD ALL CONTRIBUTED TO INCREASING VULNERABILITY, SAID CLINTON, WHO IS THE U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR TSUNAMI RECOVERY. MORE THAN 1,200 DELEGATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD, INCLUDING SCIENTISTS, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND AID AGENCIES, ARE ATTENDING THE THREE-DAY BONN CONFERENCE, WHICH WILL SHOWCASE SCORES OF EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS. THEY INCLUDE SYSTEMS FOR WARNING OF QUAKES IN IRAN, LOCUST PLAGUES IN WEST AFRICA, CYCLONES IN THE PHILIPPINES, AND LANDSLIDES IN BOLIVIA. CLINTON SAID THE PROJECTS CARRIED A PRICE TAG OF $200 MILLION -- A FRACTION OF THE $10 BILLION SPENT EACH YEAR ON HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE. 'EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS ARE THE KEY ... THEY DO SAVE LIVES AND LIVELIHOODS,' HE TOLD THE CONFERENCE. BUT HE SAID HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED TECHNOLOGY WAS MEANINGLESS IF THE SIGNAL DID NOT REACH THOSE AT RISK OR IF THEY HAD NOT ALREADY BEEN MADE AWARE OF WHAT TO DO WHEN A SIREN SOUNDED. THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION AT COMMUNITY LEVEL WAS SHOWN WHEN THE TSUNAMI CRASHED INTO THE INDONESIAN ISLAND OF SIMEULUE, CLINTON SAID. --MOR 14 54 LOCAL TIME 11 54 GMT
