UNDRR News

Mexico City’s devastating, 8.1-magnitude earthquake of 1985 was a stark illustration of the disaster risks faced by the health sector, but it also triggered what became a global effort to protect hospitals from hazards.

The Americas region today took a landmark step on the road to resilience by adopting an action plan to tackle the huge array of natural and human-induced hazards that its dozens of countries and territories face.

Baillie the Border Collie stands motionless, eyeballing her handler, then springs into action when he gives the command: “Find it!” The four-year-old is part of the Canada Task Force 2 Disaster Response Team, among the thousand delegates at the 5 th Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas.

Canadian businesses have joined a UN-backed drive to bolster resilience to natural and human-induced hazards, sending a strong signal during the Americas region’s top disaster risk reduction conference.

Empowering women to tackle the threats that natural and human-induced hazards pose to their communities is a critical means to reduce the risk of disasters, delegates at a conference on the Americas said today.

The concerns and capacities of indigenous peoples need to be taken into account at all times when it comes to curbing disaster risk, leading members of communities from across the Americas said today at a high-level conference.

The vast Americas region today started a high-level conference on a wide-ranging plan that will seek to reduce the risks posed by natural and human-induced hazards.

Governments from across the Americas are gathering this week in Canada for a high-level conference where they aim to make their vast region more resilient by adopting a plan to curb the risks posed by natural and human-induced hazards.

The 5th Regional Platform for the Americas opens in Montreal next Tuesday. Hurricane Matthew affected several countries in the Region but none worse than Haiti. The three year recovery effort comes with a price tag of US$2.72 billion following losses estimated at US$2.8 billion.

Mexico’s historical Maya civilisation created not only a written language and a binary mathematical system, but also a hurricane warning system that still works today.