UNDRR News

The President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) today emphasized the importance of “a good start here in Sendai” as the world gears up for what he called “the year for sustainable development.”

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) today agreed to help pioneer a new ISO Standard in 45 cities already recognized for their commitment to keeping their citizens safe from a range of natural hazards including floods, storms and earthquakes.

Experts want gender to feature strongly in the final text of the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction, due to adopted at the looming Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.

The three finalists of the 2015 United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction have been short-listed because “they are shaping the future, not just reshaping the past”.

UNISDR Chief, Margareta Wahlstrom, today welcomed the publication by HelpAge International of the first “Disaster Risk and Age Index” in the build-up to the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, 14-18 March. The Index ranks 190 countries on the disaster risk faced by older people.

The Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Margareta Wahlström, today took part in the solemn remembrance ceremony in Tokyo for all those who died in the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami which occurred on March 11, 2011.

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, will personally welcome the former President of Finland, Ms. Tarja Halonen, as the third UN Global Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) when he shares breakfast on Sunday with DRR advocates from around the world in Sendai, Japan, at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction www.wcdrr.org

A week before world leaders and representatives of civil society gather in Sendai, Japan, for the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction said today that climate-related disasters now dominate disaster risk management.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today warned that “growing global inequality, increasing exposure to natural hazards, rapid urbanization and the overconsumption of energy and natural resources threaten to drive risk to dangerous and unpredictable levels with systemic global impacts.”

The judges of the 2015 United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction have today announced their final short-list of three.