UNDRR News

One of China's fastest growing cities, Guangzhou, announced yesterday at the World Urban Forum that it is joining UNISDR's Making Cities Resilient Campaign and also invited applications for the new Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation.

The Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), Dr. Joan Clos, and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and chief of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Margareta Wahlström, signed a Statement of Cooperation today, strengthening collaboration between the two agencies' efforts to promote disaster resilient cities.

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) today welcomed Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg, into the global "Making Cities Resilient" Campaign, a two-year old campaign to protect lives and reduce economic losses from disasters in urban settings.

Flash floods, bush fires, severe thunderstorms and even snowfalls have resulted in the Australian capital, Canberra, developing organization and coordination mechanisms for disaster risk reduction which have led to it being recognized today by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) as a Role Model for other cities to follow.

A new study of a major urban safety campaign launched by the UN two years ago has found that political leadership is more important than a city's wealth when it comes to protecting the lives and economic assets of cities and towns from disasters.

At the opening of the 6th World Urban Forum in Naples today, the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Dr. Joan Clos, said many countries were being overwhelmed by urbanization which he compared to a tsunami.

The Government of Tunisia announced that it will establish a National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), a multi-stakeholder national mechanism that will provide coordination and analysis of DRR at different levels in the country. There are now 82 National Platforms worldwide supporting implementation of the priorities outlined in the Hyogo Framework for Action.

The United Nations, European Commission and national authorities have launched a new project in the Western Balkans and Turkey that will reduce disaster risks and increase resilience to climate change.

Major roll-outs of UNISDR's Making Cities Resilient campaign in Austria and Iran were outlined yesterday at the 4th International Disaster and Risk Conference, in Davos, Switzerland, which has brought together experts from around the world.

The flood-prone coastal city of Beira in Mozambique was named today as the winner of the first RISK Award, a collaboration between UNISDR, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Munich Re Foundation and the Global Risk Forum, Davos. The €100,000 prize for project implementation is funded through the Munich Re Foundation.