UNDRR News

Nearly 60 children and young people from across Latin America and the Caribbean made a strong and colourful claim on Tuesday for their voices to be heard in campaigns to reduce risks of natural disasters and other pressing environmental and social issues.

Ecuador has invested heavily in disaster risk reduction (DRR), both politically and financially, and with some good results, but there is much still do, the opening session of the 4th Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas heard on Tuesday.

Several hundred government and civil society representatives from over 30 countries will gather this week in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil to review progress in the Americas on reducing exposure to disaster risk.

The Head of UNISDR, Margareta Wahlström, arrived yesterday in Chile, where she was received by the President, Michelle Bachelet, prior to a regional consultation on disaster risk reduction with the eleven member countries of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).

The Mayor of the Argentinian city, Sante Fe, José Corral, returns to his home city tomorrow from the 7th World Urban Forum (WUF7) as a Champion of UNISDR’s Making Cities Resilient Campaign .

Latin America has taken a step towards mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into national development policy instruments and poverty reduction strategies. The Latin American Parliament has adopted a protocol on disaster risk management that obliges its 23 member states to incorporate guiding principles of building resilience into existing or emerging legislation. The adoption of the protocol comes ahead of the 2014 Americas Regional Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction, to be held in Ecuador, in May.

The Dominican Republic has adopted a new ‘National Plan for Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management’. The President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina, approved the plan that will define policy guidelines and basic principles for public and private institutions and civil society organizations. The plan focuses on the implementation of programmes that reduce disaster risk, ensure the safety of citizens and protect the country’s economic, social, environmental and cultural heritage.

Largely unreported disasters across the Americas over the past two decades account for the majority of economic losses and more than half of all disaster-related deaths, according to new findings from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. A 22-year analysis of 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean reveals that smaller, localized and more recurrent disasters that rarely, if ever, make the news cumulatively account for 90 per cent of the total number of people affected by disaster and are also responsible for 90 per cent of destruction or damage of homes. “This is irrevocable evidence on the cumulative impact of those disasters that are small, occur locally and are often ‘invisible’,” said Ricardo Mena the Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) for the Americas.

The UN office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) today recognized the dynamic and vibrant economic and technological centre of Campinas for its commitment to reduce its disaster risk.

A senior official from the Philippines town of San Francisco, which won the 2011 Sasakawa Award for Disaster Risk Reduction, has spent the last five days journeying across Central America to exchange information with local authorities on best practice to make urban settings safer from natural hazards.