2 October 2010

Resilient cities campaign reaches 100 cities with City of Nis

Source(s): United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Europe & Central Asia

UNISDR’s Making Cities Resilient campaign reaches 100 cities with City of Nis

Geneva – The City of Nis, Serbia, became the one-hundredth city to join the 2010-11 World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Making Cities Resilient – My City is Getting Ready!” at the city’s “Strategy for Safety Promotion” event on 30 September, a highly publicized event attended by over 40 Serbian cities.

Nis joined the campaign along with 17 others: Aleksandrovac; Arilje; Bojnik; Kanjiza; Kragujevac; Krusevac; Leskovac; Medveda; Novi Pazar; Pirot; Plandiste; Rekovac; Secanj; Senta; Titel; Tutin; and Vlasotince.

Nis and several other cities in Serbia had been working for four years to increase their capacities for disaster prevention and preparedness with the support of USAID, which UNISDR Deputy Director Helena Molin Valdés said “was instrumental” in improving disaster resilience and awareness.

“By joining the Making Cities Resilient campaign, Nis sets a very encouraging example to other cities in becoming resilience-certified in a systematic way,” added Ms. Molin Valdés.

More than100 cities from around the world have joined the campaign since May, when it was launched by UNISDR and partners at the ICLEI “Resilient Cities 2010” Congress, in Bonn, Germany. The event was co-hosted by the World Mayors Council on Climate Change.

By joining the campaign, cities commit to “Ten Essentials” that experts have determined will keep cities safer. Among others, the ten actions include assigning a budget for disaster risk reduction, preparing and sharing risk assessments, investing in risk-reducing infrastructure, and protecting ecosystems and natural buffers to defend against floods, storm surges and other natural hazards.

Under USAID’s program, more than 80 cities were trained and 45 were certified for having achieved ‘Enhanced Disaster Resilience’ in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior’s Sector for Emergency Management. The methodology for enhancing disaster resilience is based on Serbian law and the international standards defined by the UN’s Hyogo Framework for Action - a ten-year plan of action adopted in 2005 by 168 governments to protect lives and livelihoods against disasters.