UNDRR News

Research findings released today on International Day for Disaster Reduction forecast a continued rise in homelessness among people in the world’s most disaster prone countries unless significant progress is made in managing disaster risk.

Valentina comes from Nancy and Agathe from Strasbourg. They are completing their final year at university and are among 150 students who are attending a two-day UN Geneva Seminar series on disaster risk reduction that started today.

Following the devastation wrought on his Caribbean island home by Hurricane Maria, the Prime Minister of Dominica, Mr. Roosevelt Skerrit, is calling on the world not “to turn its back” on the problem of climate change and for greater investment in disaster risk reduction.

A new report by UN Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, on the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction warns annual average losses from disasters in less developed countries accounting for more than 20 per cent equivalent of social expenditure.

Visiting hurricane devastated islands in the Caribbean at the weekend, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated that “the link between climate change and the devastation we are witnessing is clear, and there is a collective responsibility of the international community to stop this suicidal development.”

Italy will further strengthen its reputation as a leader on protection of cultural heritage from disasters when it opens a new Heritage Resilience Centre on October 13, International Day for Disaster Reduction.

Earthquakes and tsunami may be rare events in Switzerland but they can happen. In 563, a mudslide triggered a tsunami in Lac Leman (Geneva's lake) creating waves which reached around 8 meters in Geneva and 13 meters in Lausanne.

The 2017 Joint Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Roundtable today committed “to amplify efforts” towards an all-of-society approach that builds disaster and climate resilience across this huge maritime region.

The Pacific region today challenged itself to make disaster risk reduction everybody’s business and convert one of the main calls for action of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction into an everyday reality.

A landmark meeting in the Pacific focused on integrated efforts to protect lives and livelihoods from the negative impact of disaster and climate risk will open tomorrow.