UNDRR News

Julio Kuroiwa, is a professor emeritus of the National University of Engineering, Lima, Peru. He has been a consulting engineer for 35 years, and is the author of 100 papers on natural and technological disasters. He has written four books on disaster prevention and risk reduction. In 1990, his contributions were recognized when he was awarded the United Nations Sasakawa Award for disaster reduction. We asked him a few questions while he was visiting Geneva to present a new English version of his book “Disaster reduction: Living in harmony with nature”.

Early on the morning of 26 December an earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter Scale struck South Asia off the north west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The quake was the largest in magnitude since 1964, triggering tidal waves that caused

One year after this tragedy, the reconstruction process is slow and most of city’s inhabitants are still living under tents and provisional shelters. The Iranian Government has since hosted a number of conferences bringing together earthquake experts and

“The talks that will take place next week in Buenos Aires on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, will be an important step forward,” says Sálvano Briceño, Director of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

In cooperation with the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence and UNDP Tajikistan, UNISDR will organize a first regional consultative meeting at the UN building-conference hall, 93, Anini Street, Dushanbe, Tajikistan on the 1-2 December 2005

Another tropical storm, even stronger than those which have recently claimed the lives of at least 400 people in the Philippines, is approaching the east coast of the island nation and could potentially result in more death and destruction. The

Summary of the work of UNISDR secretariat in its mandated areas for the period May-October 2004.

“The tragic series of natural hazards that has recently hit Japan reminds us that all countries, rich or poor, are subject to increasing threats from social vulnerability and natural hazards,” said Salvano Briceño, Director of ISDR, the UN secretariat in

Which of the following is a great wave caused by an earthquake under the sea? Tiramisu ? Tsunami ? Timbuktu? Answer: Tsunami. When there is an earthquake, why do some houses collapse while others don’t? Answer: Because they were poorly built with poor

An estimated 100 million dollars was needed to fight the swarms of locusts through west Africa in 2004. UNISDR spoke with Alhasanne Adama Diallo, Director of the regional center of the Hydrometeorological Institute of the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control, about the locust problem.