UNDRR News

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is glad to announce that application for the Innovation Platform and the Ignite Stage of the seventh session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2022) is now open.

On 30 November 2021, the city of Nur-Sultan in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the European Union (EU) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Kazakhstan, conducted an assessment of the resilience of the public health sector of the city to disasters. This assessment is one in the series of assessments of overall resilience to disasters, aiming at developing recommendations for the local strategy on disaster risk reduction.

Israel is joining the MCR2030 initiative following increased collaboration with UNDRR on preparedness, reducing risk, and building resilience. As a supporting entity, Israel has demonstrated a commitment to strengthen efforts on local resilience to help cities in the country be better prepared and join a vast network of cities worldwide, where the Israeli experience and knowledge can be shared.

On 23 November 2021, Incheon Metropolitan City became the first city in the Asia-Pacific region to be recognized as a Resilience Hub under the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) initiative.

The Caribbean region is not only one of the most beautiful in the world, it is also one of the most disaster-prone. Three out of the ten countries most affected by extreme weather events in the last 20 years are in the Caribbean. Recent hurricanes from 2017 and 2019 - Irma, Maria, and Dorian - devastated national infrastructure across ten Caribbean islands. As a cluster of small island developing states (SIDS), the overwhelming majority of the region’s disasters are water or climate-related. And we know that the weather-related challenges facing SIDS are not expected to recede anytime soon.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is glad to announce that the registration for the seventh session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2022) is now open.

For the urban coastal city of Hong Kong, typhoons are a regular occurrence from May to October. Consequently, Hong Kong’s infrastructure is designed to cope with the strong winds, floods, and storm surges they bring. Recently, however, the territory experienced two powerful storms in consecutive years. In 2017, Super Typhoon Hato struck the region, and in the following year, the city witnessed Super Typhoon Mangkhut, the strongest typhoon since 1983. But Hong Kong suffered lower economic losses from both storms when compared with the neighboring Guangdong region and the city of Macau, thanks partly to its well-coordinated response and resilient infrastructure.

In 2022, 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance around the world. Mami Mizutori, SRSG and Head of UNDRR, calls on countries to increase investment in disaster preparedness and prevention to save lives.

On 25 November 2021, a four-day Training Academy on disaster risk reduction and early warning systems took place. Experts responsible for disaster risk management and meteorological/hydrological services from IGAD, IGAD Member States, Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), as well as Malawi, Mozambique and the Republic of Tanzania participated.

On 23 November 2021, an exit workshop was held on the Government of Italy funded project on “Disaster Risk Reduction Capacity Building in Ethiopia”. Experts gathered to share main outcomes, exchange experience, and discuss the way forward.