Bangkok to host 6th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
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Bangkok/Geneva, 13 March 2014 – Some 3,000 experts including government ministers from 50 Asian
countries are to meet in Bangkok, to discuss the disaster-prone region’s final inputs into a new global
agreement on disaster risk reduction to replace the existing Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA).
They will be hosted by the Royal Thai government from June 22 to 26 and it will be the last Asian
Ministerial Conference to discuss disaster risk before governments meet at the 3rd World Conference on
Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, in March 2015, to adopt a new global agreement.
The new agreement will arrive ten years after the Asian Tsunami led to the unanimous adoption of the
HFA by UN member States. The HFA is the world’s first comprehensive agreement on how to reduce
exposure to disasters.
Margareta Wahlström, head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, said: “Asia has much to teach
the world about reducing disaster risk and the growing challenge of extreme weather events. This
important gathering will help to ensure that risk blind-spots which have emerged over the last ten years
are addressed in the new Post-2015 agreement on disaster risk reduction.
“Asia is the most affected region in the world when it comes to all natural hazards. It is also one of the
most advanced and experienced in the implementation of disaster risk reduction policies.”
The 6th Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction is a biennial event. Previous hosts were
Beijing, People’s Republic of China (2005); New Delhi, Republic of India, (2007); Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
(2008); Incheon, Republic of Korea (2010); and Yoyakarta, Republic of Indonesia (2012).