UNDRR News

Disaster-related economic losses are increasing across all regions, critically threatening the economies of low-income countries and even outstripping wealth creation across many of the world’s richer nations, says a United Nations report titled Revealing Risk, Redefining Development to be launched today by the United Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Third Session of the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction.

The Global Platform will be opened today by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who will also launch a report entitled 2011 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction – Revealing risks, redefining development. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro will chair the forum in Geneva.

The final touches are being added to the Third Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland from 8-13 May. The Global Platform will be opened officially by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on May 10.

Four cities and two organizations have been shortlisted for the Sasakawa Award for Disaster Risk Reduction, worth $50,000, with winners to be announced 10 days from now at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, on 12 May.

Cairo. – The Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, the world’s foremost gathering of disaster risk reduction stakeholders, will convene from 8 to 13 May in Geneva. The Arab region will be represented by over 100 participants from 21 countries. A governmental delegation from Egypt will attend this event as well as the Information and Decision Support Center (ISDC), the Arab Academy for Science Technology and Maritime Transport and the Regional Center for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The Third Session of the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction Global Platform, to be held from 10 to 13 May in Geneva, is being organized to discuss and decide on immediate actions that will reduce the economic cost of damage from disasters. UNISDR and the Swiss government invite all media based in Geneva to attend a press conference where they will be briefed on the Global Platforms's expected outcomes.

As part of the 124th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, a meeting was organized on the importance of disaster risk reduction and building sustainable development. Held from 15 to 20 of April in Panama City, the panel was moderated by Maureen Ballestero Vargas, former Vice-President of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica.

The cities of Blumenau, Jaragua do Sul, Rio do Sul, Itajaí, Tubarão and Florianopolis from the southern state of Santa Catarina, Brazil joined the Making Cities Resilient world disaster reduction campaign. Santa Catarina is in an area constantly hit by hydrometeorological phenomena that impact negatively on its population, the participation of these cities in the campaign is very relevant and demonstrates the political commitment of its authorities towards disaster risk reduction.

Four cities - Addis Ababa, Kampala, Narok and Yaoundé - joined the Making Cities Resilience campaign after their mayors took part in a debate on city resilience on Tuesday, 29 March, moderated by top Kenyan journalist Yvonne Okwara. Panellists pointed to poor planning, corruption, and “negative attitudes” as elements that could erode city resilience.

The inaugural meeting of the reconstituted African Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction (AWGDRR) ended on Thursday, 31 March, with delegates agreeing to accelerate the implementation of the extended programme of action for the implementation of the Africa Regional Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (2006-2015), in line with the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA).The meeting took place after the Executive Council of the African Union had endorsed the Report of the Second African Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in April 2010, where it also endorsed the extended programme of action.