Update

Even before we came up with high technology based early warning systems, or standard operating procedures for response, numerous local communities worldwide have prepared, operated, acted, and responded to natural disasters using indigenous methods passed on from one generation to the next.

The UNISDR Asia & Pacific is pleased to launch a call for contribution for its annual publication on disaster risk reduction “Disaster Reduction in Asia & Pacific – ISDR Informs: Issue 4, 2008” that will be issued in March 2009 to reflect the status of disaster risk reduction in 2008 in the Asia and Pacific region.

The first meeting of the IAP in 2009 will focus on preparations for the Second Session of the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction, which will be held in Geneva Switzerland in June 2009.

The World Disaster Reduction Campaign 2008-2009: 'Hospitals Safe from Disasters' is a global campaign. It was launched in Davos, Switzerland on 25 January, by the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) and the World Health Organization (WHO), with support from the World Bank.

2007 saw a marked increase in the number of floods compared with the average of the last seven years, and Asia was the continent hit hardest by disasters according to figures from the Belgian WHO collaborating Center for Research on epidemiology of Disasters (CRED).

A radical realignment of priorities in addressing the Hyogo Framework for Action are required if the growing population living in high risk conditions is to be adequately protected, the recently released UN/ISDR’s 2007 Global Review has concluded.

Recommendations on climate-related hazards, and sectoral and national level planning, are available in a summary of a recent UNFCCC technical workshop on disaster risk. The workshop looked at integrating climate risk assessment and management and disaster risk reduction into national policies and programmes.

WHO's theme for World Health Day 2009 is "Save lives. Make hospitals safe in emergencies", reinforcing the message of the World Disaster Reduction Campaign 'Hospitals safe from disasters', being led by UNISDR, WHO and the World Bank from 2008-2009.

The African Union Commission (AUC) and the secretariat of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) have the pleasure to announce the Second Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction Consultative Meeting scheduled from 5 to 7 May 2009 at the United Nations Complex in Nairobi, Kenya.

At the instigation of Senator Loren Legarda, UNISDR's regional disaster risk reduction champion for the Asia Pacific, the Philippines Senate have set up a Committee on Climate Change which will be tasked with climate and disaster risk management.