UNDRR News

With fewer than 50 days to go before the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction top scientists have called on governments to put evidence-based disaster risk reduction at the heart of their strategies for sustainable development.

Municipalities from across Tunisia have stepped up their commitment to make themselves resilient in the face of disaster risk, spurred by Ain Draham, which two years ago was the first community in the North African country to join UNISDR’s Making Cities Resilient campaign.

Lashed by torrential rains, Malawi and neighbouring countries are in the grip of a major flood crisis, with scores of lives lost, and over 600,000 displaced in Malawi alone.

POTENZA, 26 January 2015 - The Italian Province of Potenza was recognized at the weekend as a role model for inclusive resilience by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction for its unique network of 100 cities which are all enrolled in the Making Cities Resilient Campaign.

Ten years ago today, just four weeks after the Indian Ocean Tsunami claimed over 227,000 lives, representatives of 168 member UN states meeting in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, adopted a global plan for managing disaster risk: the Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015): Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters.

The GEM Foundation today launched OpenQuake, a web-based platform which allows access to a wide variety of sources on earthquakes, enabling cutting-edge risk assessment and the sharing of information with a broad community. It is the fruit of an open source collaboration by over 300 experts across the world.

Of the many milestones on the “Road to Sendai,” the Kobe earthquake stands out. The learning from the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake remains relevant today as governments from around the world prepare to meet in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in March.

A firm resolve to build a more resilient future in honour of those who lost their lives in the Kobe earthquake 20 years ago was evident amid the sombre services of remembrance over the weekend.

The Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Margareta Wahlström, today congratulated the Japanese people and government for their steadfast remembrance of the 6,434 people who lost their lives on 17 January 1995, when the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake struck at 5.46 a.m. local time

African youth leaders are taking action to make their communities better informed and prepared to reduce their exposure to the effects of disasters.