Press release

Almost three weeks following the deadly tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people and affected several million in the Indian Ocean region, the ISDR secretariat notes 10 preliminary lessons learned from the disaster.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
Leaders of Indonesia's Simeulue community received a prestigious U.N. award here for saving tens of thousands of lives during the Dec. 26 tsunami. Thanks to faith in their own knowledge of how the sea behaves and the reaction of buffaloes ahead of the
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
In the case of last night’s earthquake, tsunami alerts were given after 40 minutes of the quake by the Japan Meteorology Agency to 6 Indian Ocean countries including India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Tourists were evacuated from risk prone areas
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
Italy, with 20,000 people dead, has become the country that registered the most casualties related to the heat weave that affected Western Europe during the summer of 2003. With these new figures for Italy, the official number of casualties for the whole
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
This year’s International Day for Disaster Reduction falls on the third anniversary of the South Asian Earthquake. On this day three years ago, 73% of health facilities were destroyed in the affected area of Pakistan, making them unable to function when
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
“Flooding is already on the rise due to increasing population living in flood plains, and climate change will make floods more frequent and severe, with a particular impact on deltas. The recent floods in Bangladesh, Nepal and India are glimpses of a
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
When the Indian Ocean Tsunami hit in December 2004, over 250,000 people were killed throughout Asia, but only seven people died out of a population of approximately 83,000 on Simeulue Island, just 40km from the epicenter of the earthquake. Nearly the
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
94% of people killed by natural hazards between 1975-2000 were on low incomes or lower middle incomes; half of all disaster deaths for the last decade occur in low human development countries. Climate change is likely to exacerbate the current situation
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
After a Category 3 storm ripped through Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta region on Saturday, the United Nations secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction stressed the importance of having life-saving early warning systems and preparedness
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
Drought and unsustainable water management have been key contributing factors to the global food crisis. In turn, managing drought risk to prepare for the increasing drought impact of climate change, is a crucial part of addressing the food crisis long

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