Press release

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) today welcomed Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg, into the global "Making Cities Resilient" Campaign, a two-year old campaign to protect lives and reduce economic losses from disasters in urban settings.

Flash floods, bush fires, severe thunderstorms and even snowfalls have resulted in the Australian capital, Canberra, developing organization and coordination mechanisms for disaster risk reduction which have led to it being recognized today by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) as a Role Model for other cities to follow.

A new study of a major urban safety campaign launched by the UN two years ago has found that political leadership is more important than a city's wealth when it comes to protecting the lives and economic assets of cities and towns from disasters.

The United Nations, European Commission and national authorities have launched a new project in the Western Balkans and Turkey that will reduce disaster risks and increase resilience to climate change.

The flood-prone coastal city of Beira in Mozambique was named today as the winner of the first RISK Award, a collaboration between UNISDR, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Munich Re Foundation and the Global Risk Forum, Davos. The €100,000 prize for project implementation is funded through the Munich Re Foundation.

The Indonesian government today announced details of the Fifth Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction which it will host in October as the region counts the cost of record-breaking disaster losses over the last year. Indonesia made disaster risk reduction a national priority following the 2004 Asian tsunami.

The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today welcomed the US City of San Francisco as both a role model and the first major US city to join the Making Cities Resilient Campaign which seeks to saves lives and reduce economic losses in member cities.

The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today urged UN member States to face up to the realities of the economic and human impact of disasters since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro twenty years ago.

The Danish capital, Copenhagen, is the latest city to join the United Nation's Making Cities Resilient Campaign: “My city is getting ready!” which has enlisted over 1,100 member towns and cities since its launch in 2010.

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, and Luxembourg’s Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Marie-Josée Jacobs, today signed a four-year Cooperation Agreement.