UNDRR News

Internationally renowned scientists and engineers will converge on the University of Miami campus March 22-23 for a workshop dedicated to rebuilding the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in ways that make it less vulnerable to damage from future earthquakes and other hazards. View full story ->

The government of the United Republic of Tanzania hosted the 2010 Africa Environment Day celebrations in Arusha. The day, themed ‘Africa Resilience to Climate Change: Protecting Biodiversity and Enhancing Traditional Knowledge’, was commemorated on 3 and 4 March 2010.

Know more – Invest wisely – Build more safely! Cities and local governments need to get ready and become resilient to disasters. For the next two years and beyond, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) will campaign together with its partners for this to happen. Get involved, reduce risk, get your city ready! > Find out more about the 'Making Cities Resilient' Campaign

UNISDR's Regional Office for Arab States, supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the

The African Centre for Disaster Studies, supported by UNISDR, held a short course on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation from 15 to 19 February at the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus in South Africa.

ECOWAS and UNISDR regional office for Africa, with the support of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), organized a three-day training workshop on mitigating disaster risk to improve the resilience of West African states against disasters. The training enabled government officials and disaster risk reduction practitioners to understand the role of hazard assessment, risk analysis and vulnerability mapping in reducing the impact of natural hazards as well as how ISDR partners can support their efforts at national and sub-regional levels in West Africa.

As relief continues to be the main priority for thousands of Haitians who have been affected by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Port-au-Prince, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and its partners are working together to ensure that disaster risk reduction principles are fully integrated into the different phases of the Haitian reconstruction process. View full story ->

UNISDR is pleased to share its Management Response to the second external evaluation of the secretariat. The Management Response sets out the process and main activities to implement recommendations arising from the evaluation carried out by Dalberg Global Development Advisers. Initiated by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and major UNISDR donors, the evaluation’s purpose was to assess the secretariat’s performance over the last four years and to provide guidance for UNISDR's future direction. The independent report presents 42 recommendations based on 25 findings, which are summarized in five key messages included in the executive summary. > View executive summary > View full report > View management response

Heavy rains and flash floods in the Sinai (Egypt) have left at least seven people dead. The flood has damaged houses, roads, electricity lines, several harbours and the airport of Sharm-El-Sheikh. It has been the worst flash flood since 1994. A positive

In the past decade, nearly 60 per cent of the people killed by disasters died because of earthquakes, the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) revealed today in a joint press conference with the United Nations International Strategy for