UNDRR News

The European Union's assembly of regional and local representatives , the Committee of the Regions, today cemented its collaboration with the United Nations as the globe marked International Day for Disaster Reduction.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) have agreed a five-year plan to support EU cities and regions to take more concerted action to reduce the impact of natural disasters. It specifically wants to increase the number of towns and cities with disaster risk-reduction strategies by 2020.

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Robert Glasser, today marked International Day for Disaster Reduction by recognising five outstanding examples of successful efforts to reduce disaster mortality.

Analysis of twenty years of data on 7,056 disaster events in which 1.35 million people died, shows that earthquakes and tsunamis are the biggest killers overall, followed closely by climate-related disasters, and 90% of disaster deaths occur in low and middle-income countries.

The El Niño weather phenomenon was first named by fishermen in Peru where records going back 500 years have detailed its destructive impact especially along the northern coast where it often hits hardest.

Nigeria has been Ebola-free since it narrowly avoided being sucked into the escalation of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever outbreak which devastated its neighbours, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone resulting in the loss of over 11,000 lives.

The risk of dying in a hurricane or flood is lower today than it was 20 years ago, in most parts of the world. In Haiti, however, the toll of Hurricane Matthew has already reportedly passed 1,000. The issue of how to reach countries and communities left behind and struggling to reduce their disaster mortality rates was the focus of a meeting at United Nations Headquarters, held ahead of International Day for Disaster Reduction.

Nominations for the 2017 Sasakawa Award are now being accepted and the judges want to recognize an individual, organization or initiative which has made a substantial contribution towards saving lives and reducing global disaster mortality. The deadline is 31 January 2017.

There were fears of very large loss of life when Fiji was hit in February this year by the first category 5 cyclone in its recorded history, and the strongest ever seen in the southern hemisphere.

The UNISDR Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilience Societies has called for risks posed by natural and man-made hazards to be put front and centre in investment choices, in order to curb disaster-related economic damage around the globe.