UNDRR welcomes India's launch of the global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure

NEW YORK, 24 September 2019 – The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mami Mizutori, welcomed the launch of the global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York.

The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is an international partnership that will support countries- developed and developing- to build climate and disaster resilient infrastructure. The Coalition’s secretariat, supported by UNDRR and based in Delhi, will facilitate knowledge exchange, provide technical support and support capacity building.

“Our urban environments are increasingly threatened by extreme weather events. More than two-thirds of economic loss is caused by damage to infrastructure. Seven million people have been displaced this year alone, through cyclones that have laid waste to towns and homes in the Bahamas, India and Mozambique. A lack of risk-informed resilient infrastructure results in lost lives, lost homes and lost livelihoods.

“The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure is a transformative initiative that will help cities, communities and governments of the world to build to last. We can prevent and mitigate earthquake, tsunami, flood and storm impact by ensuring that affordable housing, schools, health facilities and public utilities are built in line with robust standards required to survive any natural or man-made hazard likely to occur in a particular location,” SRSG Mizutori said.

The government of India, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and partners have together worked on the CDRI initiative in response to Prime Minister Modi’s call for action to reduce damage to critical infrastructure at the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2016.

“68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050; getting the built environment right is critical if we are to significantly reduce economic losses, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where such recurring losses undermine efforts to eradicate poverty and to achieve the sustainable development goals,” SRSG Mizutori concluded.