UNDRR News

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) challenges are becoming greater every year. It is well known and understood by all disciplines in disaster prevention that previously unidentified threats are emerging, changes in technology are rendering formerly state-of-the-art systems obsolete or less effective, and migration patterns are causing population shifts to increasingly hazard-prone areas. However, despite the goal posts moving constantly, consistent progress is being made in efforts to reduce damage and losses inflicted by disasters on people, their communities and livelihoods. This is one of the findings of the European Regional HFA Implementation Report, launched today during the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction (EFDRR) at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva, Switzerland.

City mayors and municipal councilors from around the world today called on governments to ensure greater participation of local authorities in decision-making on mainstreaming disaster risk reduction in national policy and regulatory frameworks.

Dawn Zimmer, Mayor of Hoboken, NJ (USA), is one of more than 50 Mayors from around the world who will attend the Fourth Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2013, taking place in Geneva, 19-23 May. The “Meet the Mayors” interview series aims to showcase the actions local governments participating in UNISDR's Making Cities Resilient Campaign are taking to reduce disaster risk and strengthen the resilience of their communities.

The United Nations today issued a stark warning to the world's business community that economic losses linked to disasters are "out of control" and will continue to escalate unless disaster risk management becomes a core part of business investment strategies.

The UK has become the first country to undergo a peer review to assess its progress in implementing the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), the world's first comprehensive agreement on disaster risk reduction, adopted in 2005 following the Indian Ocean tsunami.

UNISDR Chief, Margareta Wahlström, today welcomed yesterday's inauguration by the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, of the country's National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction which brings to 86, the number of such platforms around the world. These National Platforms provide important support to the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action, the global agreement on reducing disaster losses.

The celebrated medical journal The Lancet is publishing a major review of the world's first comprehensive agreement on how to reduce disaster risk, the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), under the headline "Mitigating disasters -- a promising start."

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.

The Philippines and Sweden have two projects each short-listed for the UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster Risk Reduction which will be presented in Geneva on May 22 during the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.

UNISDR Chief, Margareta Wahlström, today welcomed the European Union's newly announced strategy on adaptation to climate change and stated: "The adoption of this new strategy is a major incentive for European states to step up their efforts for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.