UNDRR News

Urban planning is a key element in disaster risk preparedness and community resilience in Africa, say experts.

Experts want gender to feature strongly in the final text of the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction, due to adopted at the looming Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.

Lashed by torrential rains, Malawi and neighbouring countries are in the grip of a major flood crisis, with scores of lives lost, and over 600,000 displaced in Malawi alone.

African youth leaders are taking action to make their communities better informed and prepared to reduce their exposure to the effects of disasters.

The President of the Cape Verde National Civil Protection Service, Arlindo Lima, has warned that the situation on the island of Fogo is likely to get worse in the coming days as volcanic activity continues and lava pours out of the Chã das Caldeiras crater where it has already destroyed two villages.

RUSTENBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, 14 October 2014 – Senior government figures and several mayors from across South Africa have marked International Day for Disaster Reduction by signing a unique national pledge to implement minimum standards to both engage older persons in disaster risk reduction and to meet their needs.

Africa today became the first world region to make a comprehensive set of recommendations for a new UN global agreement on reducing disaster risk, recognizing that most disasters in Africa are water-related and that efforts are needed to prevent conflict as part of overall efforts to build resilience to disasters.

A disaster-resilient future for Africa will have to take account of the fact that it is the region of the world that will suffer the most from climate change and which struggles the most when it comes to capacity to manage present and future disaster risk, the 5th Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction heard yesterday.

From school to university education, from early warning to data collection, and from national development plans to community-based participation, Ethiopia has made solid gains in implementing the Hyogo Framework for Action, the global agreement on disaster risk reduction adopted in 2005.

The African Union (AU) will integrate disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in its new Africa Climate Change Strategy, AU Commissioner Rhoda Peace told the opening session of the 5th Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) yesterday attended by a record 800 participants including representatives from 48 AU countries.