ECHO supports implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in Central Asia and South Caucasus

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 25 July 2016 – A new partnership between the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) will help prevent and reduce disaster risk in the Central Asia and South Caucasus (CASC) region.

The initiative will support the establishment of regional coordination mechanisms – comprising national and local governments, private sector, development partners and other stakeholders – to strengthen implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

The partnership will also boost UNISDR’s ‘Making Cities Resilient’ Global Campaign. It will help Ust-Kamenogorsk and Ridder (Kazakhstan) and Bishkek and Kara-Kol (Kyrgyzstan) perform risk assessment, draw up risk-informed city development plans, and establish local disaster risk reduction platforms. It will also support and share experience from 21 cities in Armenia, the region’s largest group of actives cities in the campaign.

UNISDR’s regional coordinator Ms. Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandu said the renewed partnership with ECHO was a significant boost to national and local efforts to increase disaster resilience in the region: “The establishment of a multi-stakeholder regional platform of and for the countries of Central Asia and South Caucasus fills a long standing gap.

“This mechanism will enhance capacities, coordination and the exchange of experiences for DRR and resilience building. It will connect the governments and partners with the Asia regional and global processes of Sendai Framework implementation and monitor.

“This regional collaboration will be accompanied by vital support on the ground to cities so that these important drivers of wealth creation do so in a way that is resilient and sustainable.”

The UNISDR-ECHO partnership will work with national disaster management authorities, national platforms and other relevant governmental and non-governmental agencies to adapt and apply global methodologies to the regional context.

Resource material in the working languages of the region will be produced, in partnership with the newly-established inter-governmental Centre for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction in Almaty, Kazakhstan.   

The initiative follows up on a previous UNISDR-ECHO partnership in which eight municipalities and local governments in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were supported to strengthen local capacities for disaster resilience. The partnership developed a Regional Road Map for disaster risk reduction and resilience building to implement the Sendai Framework locally.

The Central Asia and the South Caucasus region is home to 75 million people who live in a largely landlocked area that has a remarkably diverse geography. Almost all types of natural and technological hazards are present, including earthquakes, floods, landslides, debris flows, avalanches, droughts and extreme temperatures. Many of these hazards are of a cross-border nature.

The Sendai Framework is the world’s most ambitious global blueprint to date that seeks to save lives, protect livelihoods and the wellbeing of communities and nations by reducing disaster risk and losses. UNISDR’s ‘Making Cities Resilient – My City is Getting Ready’ campaign has more than 3,200 active municipalities around the world.

The initiative is under the auspices of ECHO’s Disaster Preparedness Programme (DIPECHO). The UNISDR-ECHO partnership is until October 2017.

The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) is one of the biggest donors for humanitarian aid worldwide. With its funding nearly 120 million victims of natural or man-made disasters are helped each year in about 70 countries. The aid is distributed through 200 partner organizations (Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, specialized UN agencies, and European NGOs) impartially to those who need it most. For further information please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.htm 

UNISDR was established in 1999 as a dedicated secretariat to facilitate the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR). It is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly resolution (56/195), to serve as the focal point in the United Nations system for the coordination of disaster reduction and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities of the United Nations system and regional organizations and activities in socio‐economic and humanitarian fields. For further information please visit: http://www.unisdr.org/who-we-are