UNDRR News

The Mayor of Mogadishu has got a result. After two tiring days traveling from his ruined city, Mohammed Ahmed Nur, was confident that something good would come out of the networking opportunity provided by the First Arab Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction organized by UNISDR and partners this week.

Mayors and local government representatives across the region now have ten days during which to comment on the Arab Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction in Cities which was agreed yesterday at the First Arab Regional Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction organized by UNISDR and partners

Representatives from across the Arab world today called for continuity and further strengthening of the existing global framework for disaster risk reduction, the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) as they concluded the First Arab Regional Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.

The host of this week's First Arab Regional Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, the busy Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba, has become the first city in the region to be recognized by UNISDR's Making Cities Resilient Campaign as a role model.

Petra is the first of the "seven wonders of the world" to join UNISDR's Making Cities Resilient Campaign, an event which was officially marked this week during a visit to Jordan by UNISDR Chief, Margareta Wahlström.

More than 250 Representatives from the Arab States region gather today in Jordan for three days to agree on a common Arab position on the region's input to the international framework for disaster risk reduction which will be agreed at the 2015 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. The 1st Arab Regional Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction is being held under the Patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan, President of the Royal Scientific Society.

UNISDR Chief Margareta Wahlström met yesterday with senior government ministers of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan who briefed her on the challenge to disaster risk management in the resource-starved country as it seeks to meet the needs of an estimated 440,000 Syrian refugees.

Regional cooperation on disaster risk reduction in Central Asia and the South Caucasus received a major boost this week as representatives from eight countries consulted with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) on a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction.

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) today stated that for the first time in history the world has experienced three consecutive years where annual economic losses have exceeded $100 billion due to an enormous increase in exposure of industrial assets and private property to extreme disaster events.

More than 100 delegates from over 20 countries met in Helsinki today to discuss how to make sure countries around the world can better prevent the fallout of conflicts, war and disasters from reversing the gains in development, economic growth and provision of services to their people in the future global development agenda.