ABSTRACT

 

 

Two Weeks That Changed Sweden

 

by

 

Lars Hernroth

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Kristinebrg marine research station

450 34 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden

 

 

Sweden, a country far away from the regions that are commonly struck by the violent forces of nature, all of a sudden became paralyzed when two natural disasters hit Sweden and the Swedish society within two weeks in December 2004 and January 2005. The tsunami hit beaches where many thousands of Swedes spent their Christmas holiday. More than 500 of them died, children lost their parents and parents lost their children. Two weeks later, a severe storm hit southern Sweden in mid winter, causing material damage, power failures and communication problems of a scale and duration we had not experienced before. Sweden was in a state of chock. The two events dramatically opened the eyes of the Swedish society, illustrating our un-preparedness and vulnerability.

 

Now, almost two years later, we experience a new attitude at almost all levels of our society. At individual, local, regional and Government levels, measures are taken to prepare for, to prevent and to mitigate the consequences of future disasters. The Government has recently presented a bill for Parliament approval "Co-operation in crisis - for a safer society" where organizational and legal structures in situations of emergency have been revised and a national programme for security related research has been proposed. At the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm a "Disaster Resilience Centre" has been established with the aim of promoting, identifying and compiling scientific knowledge related to natural disasters and to facilitate the integration of this science into the development of our society. Both initiatives strongly emphasize the necessity of international co-operation.