UNDRR News

The 2nd Steering Committee Meeting of the UNISDR Making Cities Resilient Campaign came to a close yesterday in the city of Salford, Greater Manchester, UK, following two days of intense discussions on how urban priorities can be accommodated in the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction.

Greater Manchester today becomes the first UK city to join the UN’s Making Cities Resilient Campaign and has been recognized as a “Role Model for Total Resilience” because of its focus on implementing the Campaign’s entire ten-point checklist for building resilience to disasters.

Rice and sake from Fukushima are part of a charm offensive currently underway by the office of the Governor of Fukushima as Japan prepares to host the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in March, 2015.

Disaster risk reduction is at the center of a raft of commitments and actions in the outcome document officially adopted today at the conclusion of the four days of the International Conference on Small Island Developing States in Samoa. The outcome document is titled SAMOA – SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action – Pathway.

“I am not a leading expert but a leading victim in the issue of climate change. Sea level rise is already happening and what is happening in my island, it is not only a problem for all SIDS but for all of us as more than 75 per cent of the world population lives close to coastal areas,” said Anote Tong, President of Kiribati, when he opened the second Stakeholder Partnership dialogue on Climate Change and Disaster Management yesterday at the UN Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in Samoa.

The need for animals to be included in disaster risk management planning was highlighted yesterday at the International Conference on Small Island Developing States which heard an appeal for them to be included in the revised Hyogo Framework for Action, the international framework for disaster risk reduction.

The private sector is set to have a major impact on the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) which opened in Samoa on the 1st of September, with a strong focus on how to reduce the exposure of 52 million island dwellers to future disaster events amplified by climate change.

The Chilean town of Peňaflor is celebrating this week. A local NGO born out of the 2010 earthquake and tsunami has scooped the prestigious Risk Award at the 5th International Disaster and Risk Conference in Davos, Switzerland, which ends tomorrow.

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) in partnership with Help Age International, today launched a survey to solicit the views of older people on how they cope with disasters. A matching attitudes survey targeting governments and other agencies on the inclusion of older people in disaster management planning has also been placed online.

The clock is ticking for developers to meet the Global Disaster Resilience App Challenge that is set to benefit millions of urban dwellers around the world.