UNDRR News

To celebrate its global alliance with TV broadcasters and the role they played in the past ten years to advance the disaster risk reduction agenda, the UN office for Disaster Risk Reduction is teaming up with the Asian Broadcasting Union (ABU) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and launching its first Disaster Risk Reduction Documentary Award.

Next year’s World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Japan coincides with the lead-up to the 30th anniversary of the devastating 1985 Mexican earthquake, whose tragic consequences pushed the country into developing one of the world’s most effective disaster prevention and response systems.

Armenia’s Minister of Emergency Situations has praised the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) for inspiring “significant progress” in his country’s efforts to reduce disaster risk.

Once more, preparedness has proven its mettle. Pre-emptive evacuation saved thousands of lives as Typhoon Glenda (international name: Rammasun) unleashed its fury in the Philippines, the strongest storm to visit the country since Typhoon Haiyan wrought havoc in the central, eastern and western Visayas regions last year.

The Finnish government has officially accepted the Peer Review report on its implementation of the global blueprint for disaster risk reduction, the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) which was adopted in 2005 and is due to be renewed next year at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, in Sendai, Japan.

Governor Joey Salceda of hard-hit Albay Province, today said economic losses from Typhoon Rammasun (local name Glenda) could push over 20,000 families into poverty but many lives have been saved through early warnings and evacuations.

GENEVA - July 15, 2014 - More than 600 government representatives and experts today concluded the First Session of the Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee for the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2015, with broadly converging views on how to address the threats posed by disasters and climate change...

GENEVA, 15 July 2014 – Local communities are already leading the way in adopting a holistic approach to development, the Preparatory Committee of the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction heard today...

Future progress to reduce disaster risk rests, in large part, on expanded and stronger public-private sector partnerships, the Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee of the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction heard today.

The lack of privacy for women in emergency shelters – managed by men - following the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami was cited today as an example of how gender issues can be overlooked in disaster risk management as civil society took centre stage at preparatory talks in Geneva on the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction scheduled for Sendai, Japan, in March 2015...