Press release

UN Disaster Risk Reduction Chief, Margareta Wahlström, met today for the first time with Pakistan’s President, Asif Ali Zadari, to discuss how Pakistan responds to “the new normal” in dealing with floods which have inundated the country for two successive years.

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, arrives on a three-day visit to Pakistan tomorrow (October 6) during which she will meet with President Asif Ali Zadari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, the National Disaster Management Authority, Meteorological Department officials and aid donors, to discuss future risk reduction measures as the country tries to cope with floods which have displaced an estimated 5.4 million people.

The UN Disaster Risk Reduction Office, UNISDR, today announced that 841 cities and municipalities around the world, representing hundreds of millions of urban dwellers, are now active participants in the World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Making Cities Resilient” which was launched over a year ago.

The head of the United Nation’s disaster risk reduction office, UNISDR, Margareta Wahlström, today strongly backed the NGO initiative “Never Again: A Charter to End Extreme Hunger.”

The report "Natural Hazards, and Unnatural Disasters: the Economics of Effective Prevention", prepared by the World Bank in partnership with the United Nations and funded by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, concludes that natural hazards often turn into disasters as a result of poor policies and practices, and examines ways to make prevention cost-effective.

The Minister of State for Environment, Hon. Flavia Munaaba, launched a special joint session on disaster risk reduction during the Twenty-Ninth Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum (GHACOF29). The aim of the special session is to move towards a “paradigm” shift when addressing climate change and risks for sustainable development in the Region.

Vice-Mayor Al Arquillano from San Francisco, a small town in the Cebu municipality, has been showing off. He has been demonstrating the ingenious ‘Purok system’ which won worldwide attention and the 2011 United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster Risk Reduction. Four mayors from the Sri Lankan cities of Balangoda, Mannar, Tangalle and Puttalam recently participated in a three-day practical study visit to learn from the town’s experience.

The rallying call of the UNISDR led ‘Making cities resilient campaign’ to city authorities to build resilient, sustainable urban communities to reduce disaster risks, has just added the East African cities of Bujumbura in Burundi, as well Arusha and Moshi in the Republic of Tanzania to its ever expanding list...

The Africa Union Commission will hold a regional workshop for the East Africa region to accelerate action in the implementation of the Africa Regional Strategy on disaster risk reduction and its Programme of Action to reduce the vulnerabilities of EAC Member States to natural hazards.

Colombo, Sri Lanka, 5 July 2011 – Local governments released a joint action plan today to tackle hazard risk in Sri Lanka. The plan identifies key priority activities that follow the 'Ten Essentials' of the World Disaster Reduction Campaign 'Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready!' in nine provinces in the country.