UNDRR News

The Third Session of the Global Platform will bring together disaster risk reduction, recovery and reconstruction experts. Over 2,000 policy makers and practitioners from both developing and developed countries will be invited to collect, assess and share information as well as set new directions for disaster risk reduction. The Third Session will be from 8-13 May 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Municipalities and local Governments of El Salvador are focusing on reducing disaster risk as part of the 2010-2011 World Disaster Reduction campaign - Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready Campaign.

Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard – who is poised to sign a historic emissions reduction agreement with over 70 other mayors days before the UN climate summit in Cancún – will be named champion of the Making Cities Resilient campaign by the UN’s top disaster risk reduction official, Margareta Wahlström, at a ceremony during the World Mayors Summit on Climate in Mexico City on 21 November.

Jordan is the first country in the Arab region to complete a standardized national disaster database. Egypt and Syria are in the finalization stage, and Morocco and Yemen are expected to be ready by end of December 2010. The establishment of national disaster databases with a specific standardized methodology and tools has attracted other countries such as Djibouti and Lebanon in developing nation disaster losses databases as well.

A new joint report from the World Bank and the United Nations says that annual global losses from natural disasters could triple to $185 billion by the end of this century, even without calculating the impact of climate change. Climate change could then

ADDIS ABABA -- Delegates of the the 11th Regional Coordination Mechanism for Africa (RCM-Africa) in Addis Ababa, November 14-15, 2010 closed the meeting on a high note confirming that they will strengthen their efforts to deliver as one for the AU and its NEPAD Programme. Key presentations focused on the need for the RCM, cluster and sub-clusters to be more result and impact oriented. Clusters were requested to develop programmes in consultation with the AUC and RECs based on their priorities and programmes. The participants also recommended to improve interaction among the AU Departments and inter-cluster relation especially on some cross-cutting issues.

National media organizations play an important role in promoting national disaster risk reduction policies and programmes. They need to know about disaster risk reduction and to establish contact with their national disaster risk reduction representatives who can provide them with accurate and timely information. To support this, UNISDR, Thomson Reuters Foundation, UNRIC and ECHO, are organizing a two-day media training in Brussels from 15 to 16 November 2010 with ten media organizations and national platform representatives from European countries.

High level officials from the UN, African Union Commission (AUC), NEPAD Coordinating and Planning Agency (NPCA), Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other international, regional and sub-regional organizations will meet in Addis Ababa on 14-15 November for the 11th session of the regional coordination mechanism (RCM- Africa). > View full story

A new joint report from the World Bank and the United Nations says that annual global losses from natural disasters could triple to $185 billion by the end of this century, even without calculating the impact of climate change. Climate change could then add $28-$68 billion more in damages each year from tropical cyclones alone. The report also says that the number of people exposed to storms and earthquakes in large cities could double to 1.5 billion by 2050.

UNISDR is launching a call for "good practices" and lessons learned by cities/local governments in support of the "Making Cities Resilient – My City is Getting Ready!" campaign. Selected examples will be published by the end of 2011, and others will be showcased during the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction on 8-13 May 2011.