The head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Robert Glasser, today marked the anniversary of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake which struck Nepal last year with a call for greater investment in resilient infrastructure if the death toll from future earthquakes is to be reduced.

World Tsunami Awareness Day will be commemorated this year for the first time, and every year thereafter, on 5 November. The Japanese Permanent Mission at the UN in New York marked the launch with an event which also marked the first anniversary of the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Weather forecasters are a critical part of efforts to rein in the impact of natural hazards such as floods and droughts, which are being stoked by climate change, the head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction said today.

The French government has unveiled a package of measures intended to raise public awareness of the threat posed by floods.

London is home to almost nine million people. It is a global centre for finance, insurance, education and culture. As the capital of the United Kingdom it is a critical centre for national government. These crucial roles mean that it must be resilient to disaster.

The international community today celebrated the first anniversary of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the world’s most comprehensive blueprint for curbing the impact of natural and man-made hazards, with 20 million people taking to social media to mark the occasion.

This week last year the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction was preparing to adopt the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction on March 18, 2014. The new head of UNISDR, Mr. Robert Glasser, has just paid his first visit to Sendai.

The head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Robert Glasser, today attended the fifth anniversary memorial service for those who lost their lives in the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011.