Global health. The current scenario and future perspectives

287 19. Public Health and Civil Protection in the face of risks of global potential Alberto Maturana Palacios Introduction When dealing with such a challenging and interesting topic as global emergencies and disasters, the last century was undeniably the most catastrophic humanity has ever known. A century that witnessed world wars, nuclear emergencies, a fierce population increase, the first signs of climate change and the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) (Bostrom, 2016) could only leave us with an enormous set of challenges for the 21 st century. Unfortunately, the first twenty years of this century have not been particularly generous in providing signals or indications that allow us to be optimistic. On the contrary, doubts about the future of humankind loom. As renowned historian Eric Hobsbawm stated at the end of his “The Age Of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century”: “What I have written so far cannot tell us whether humanity is capable of solving its problems at this millennium’s end or how it can do so” (p. 493) (Hobsbawm, 2014). This previous judgment is quite discouraging indeed. However, it does not prevent us from recognizing and valuing some commendable efforts that have been made to establish international instances that allow countries around the globe to face certain emergencies in a coordinated and effective manner, emergencies that concern all inhabitants as members of one single global community. One such early effort can be traced back to European cities coming together to assist Lisbon after its devastating earthquake in 1755 (Revet, 2011:541). Similar initiatives took place following Caracas’ earthquake in 1812 (Revet, 2011). However, these types of aid originated from occasional good judgment and sense of community exhibited by some countries. It was not until the twentieth century when catastrophes led these responses to crystallize within supranational multilateral institutions. Events such as the Messina earthquake (1908), World War I (1914-1918), World War II (1939- 1945), the Cold War and the constant threat of “mutually assured destruction” (MAD) due to atomic bombs, floods and cyclones in East Pakistan (1970), the First Gulf War (1990-1991) (Revet, 2011), among many other natural, war-related and social disasters, accelerated the creation of international networks for risk management, humanitarian aid, NGOs and citizen organizations that “clearly saw what many rulers wanted to deny”, as stated by Raúl Sohr (Sohr, 2001:48).