UNDRR News

The global event of the 2009 International Day for Disaster Reduction was staged at the Royal Marsden Hospital, which was severely damaged by a fire in early 2008. The meeting gathered more than 120 participants from all stakeholder groups and was hosted by the UK Health Protection Agency in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). View full story Related links 2009 International Day for Disaster Reduction Programme of global event in London incl. slides of presentations Video recording of the London event Opening Remarks by Sir John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (delivered by Helena Molin Valdés, Deputy Director UNISDR)

The biannual campaign for ‘Hospitals safe from Disasters’ was widely promoted in Nairobi Kenya as part of the celebration of the 2009 International Day for Disaster Reduction. The event took place in the August 7th Memorial Park of Nairobi, the former site of the US Embassy that was bombed in 1998 which is also a public place to develop awareness. The event was organized by the Kenya Ministry of Special Programmes, Kenya Red Cross, St. John Ambulance, Medics 24 and hospitals in coordination with the Memorial Park administration, UNISDR, UNOCHA and WHO. Among the participants were civil society, universities, practitioners and public were present. View full story

School children from the Maldives will be visiting one of their native islands, Dhuvaafaru today for an awareness raising activity within the context of the International Disaster Risk Reduction Day. Dhuvaafaru was among the several islands severely affected by the 2008 tsunami. > View full story

The 2009 International Day for Disaster Reduction will be observed on 14 October and is dedicated to the theme ‘Hospitals safe from Disaster’. Hospital safety is essential – in the recent disasters in the Philippines, Vietnam and China, Samoa and

Bosnia-Herzegovina HFA Focal Point (Ministry of Security), in collaboration with UNDP Bosnia-Herzegovina (RC Office), UNISDR Europe and CADRI, organized the National Platforms on Advancing Disaster Risk Reduction at National Level workshop in Sarajevo

UNISDR Europe has the great pleasure to announce that the Republic of Poland and the Principauté de Monaco have lunched their National Platform (NP) for Disaster Risk Reduction. The Coordinator of the NP in Poland is the Institute of Meteorology and Water

As the death toll rises in the Philippines, after Typhoon Ondoy struck the country and left the main capital Manila in havoc, poor drainage systems and garbage disposal problems appear to have aggravated the impacts of the disaster. View full story

Disaster risk reduction was highlighted during the one-day Summit on many occasions. The outcome of the Summit, captured in the Chair’s Summary, emphasized clearly that adaptation must be given higher priority and in this context called for greater synergy with disaster risk reduction. View full story

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is convening a Summit on Climate Change – on 22 September 2009 – to focus Heads of State and Government on the need for urgent action, and to mobilize the highest level political will needed to reach a fair

WCC-3 focuses on how humankind can benefit from the advances in climate prediction and information services to manage climate-related risks as a way of developing resilience through adaptation. Disaster Risk Reduction is a key component of the agenda and UNISDR is directly involved in a variety of events, such as the Opening of the Conference and Plenary Session 4 on Climate Extremes, Warning Systems and Disaster Risk Reduction.