Jamaica

Jamaica will host the region’s highest forum for reviewing progress on reducing disaster losses in Latin America and the Caribbean in July 2020 as the year’s Atlantic Hurricane Season gets underway.

Japan hosted the 2nd World Tsunami Museum Conference which attracted 156 participants from 17 countries to help raise awareness of tsunami risk.

The 7th Americas regional platform for disaster risk reduction will be hosted by Jamaica in 2020, the first time a Caribbean country hosts the prestigious event.

For island nations on the frontline of climate change and a swathe of natural hazards, the issue of whether communities should give up the battle and leave is never far away.

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) has called on governments, businesses and communities in island nations to work together to curb the impact of hazards stoked by climate change.

The risk of dying in a hurricane or flood is lower today than it was 20 years ago, in most parts of the world. In Haiti, however, the toll of Hurricane Matthew has already reportedly passed 1,000. The issue of how to reach countries and communities left behind and struggling to reduce their disaster mortality rates was the focus of a meeting at United Nations Headquarters, held ahead of International Day for Disaster Reduction.

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) aim to reduce disaster losses in some of the world’s most hazard prone cities with the initial aid of a €6 million grant from the EU, over the next three years.

Ensuring that companies understand and act on the risks posed by natural and man-made hazards is a vital step towards reducing disaster impacts. Business education offers a tool to achieve this.

The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency is introducing a new awards scheme to recognise distinction in reducing disaster risk including the Jeremy Collymore Award for Research in Disaster Response and Disaster Risk Management.

The biggest challenge facing next year’s UN World Conference to agree a new global DRR framework, is how to integrate disaster risk reduction (DRR) into national development plans, Margareta Wahlström, Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), said on Wednesday.