UNDRR News

The future of Fukushima Prefecture dramatically changed on 11 March 2011. A 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Japan’s eastern seaboard unleashed a powerful tsunami that triggered a devastating nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant.

Disasters present a whole host of risks for children, from threats to their health, psychosocial well-being, protection and nutrition, to disruption of education, all with potentially long-lasting consequences. However, students of all ages can participate effectively in school and community safety measures and work with teachers and other adults to minimize risk before, during and after disasters.

A high level panel has called for innovative approaches to increase financing so that cities become resilient to natural and man-made hazards and other shocks.

Curbing deaths from disasters requires local authorities and other community partners to raise their capacity to manage risks and thereby ensure safe and sustainable development for their citizens. In Mongolia, the government has committed not only to national action but also to fostering cities’ capacity.

The European Union's assembly of regional and local representatives , the Committee of the Regions, today cemented its collaboration with the United Nations as the globe marked International Day for Disaster Reduction.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) have agreed a five-year plan to support EU cities and regions to take more concerted action to reduce the impact of natural disasters. It specifically wants to increase the number of towns and cities with disaster risk-reduction strategies by 2020.

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Robert Glasser, today marked International Day for Disaster Reduction by recognising five outstanding examples of successful efforts to reduce disaster mortality.

Analysis of twenty years of data on 7,056 disaster events in which 1.35 million people died, shows that earthquakes and tsunamis are the biggest killers overall, followed closely by climate-related disasters, and 90% of disaster deaths occur in low and middle-income countries.

The El Niño weather phenomenon was first named by fishermen in Peru where records going back 500 years have detailed its destructive impact especially along the northern coast where it often hits hardest.

Nigeria has been Ebola-free since it narrowly avoided being sucked into the escalation of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever outbreak which devastated its neighbours, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone resulting in the loss of over 11,000 lives.