UNDRR News

Rwanda has mainstreamed disaster risk reduction (DRR) across all sectors and put in place strong regulations and contingency plans to address all natural and man-made hazards affecting the country.

Malawi today became the latest country in Africa to complete training on establishing a national disaster loss data base, considered an essential prerequisite for being able to report on progress on reducing disaster losses and improving disaster risk management.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has engaged CIMA Research Foundation to generate risk profiles on flood and drought in 16 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The countries that will be involved in the risk assessment are: Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Gambia, Gabon, Cameroon, Ghana, Sao Tome and Principe, and Kenya.

The African Union has announced plans to increase the number of member States with national disaster loss data bases and to put a training programme in place in preparation for the roll-out next year of the Sendai Monitor, the UNISDR-backed mechanism for measuring progress in reducing disaster losses.

Struck three months ago by a cyclone that affected 500,000 of its 24 million people, the climate-vulnerable Indian Ocean nation of Madagascar sees early warning and disaster preparedness as fundamental to its future resilience.

Members of parliament from the six-nation East African Community have vowed to step up a drive to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in their region.

The island nation of Cabo Verde and landlocked Swaziland have joined 26 other countries in Africa that are implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, a 15-year global agreement which seeks to save lives, reduce disaster losses and improve management of disaster risk by enhancing risk knowledge.

Rising disasters in Africa’s cities and their links with poverty and rapid, unplanned urbanisation are ever more apparent from tragedies such as the recent rubbish dump landslide in Addis Ababa, which killed at least 113 people.

Already grappling with an extended dry spell, countries in Greater Horn of Africa are bracing for an even deeper drought, with the approach of the traditional March to May rainy season offering little cause for comfort.

Collective action by regional organisations is a key means to help countries reduce their risk of disasters, and the Economic Community of Central African States is stepping up its efforts to rein in the impact of hazards amid rising pressure from climate change.