UNDRR News

The latest news from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the lead UN agency for the coordination of disaster risk reduction (DRR).

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean

Tichico Joel Cobian Mena, President of the Association of Blind and People Living with Disabilities (ANCI) in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
Update
Americas DRR Platform focus on inclusion

After becoming blind through ocular disease, retired geologist Tichico Joel Cobian Mena puts his knowledge to good use by working to include vulnerable people in community plans for disaster risk reduction.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean
Update
Americas works to improve disaster statistics

Representatives of eight national institutes of statistics in the Americas meet in the sidelines of the Regional Platform in Cartagena, Colombia, to discuss ways to better collect data and statistics to monitor progress on reducing disaster losses as outlined in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean
A flooded street in Honda, Colombia after heavy rains caused the Magdelena river to overflow its banks (Flickr: Policía Nacional de los colombianos)
Update
Rivers and Resilience in Latin America

Rivers run through many cities in Latin America that have joined UNISDR’s Making Cities Resilient Campaign, and management of these rivers brought three of those cities together last month to carry out a reality check.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean
Mexico's Cinemex Group is one of the largest movie theatre operators in the world (Photo: De Francogael)
Update
Making cinemas resilient: Cinemex shows the way

Mexico's Cinemex, one of the world’s largest movie theatre groups, has scaled up a resilience campaign with its country's national disaster prevention authorities.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean
Tsunami survivor and campaigner, Petra Nemcova, speaking to the Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference
Update
Tsunami survivor's plea for early warning

A two day Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference is underway in Cancun, Mexico, and its recommendations will feed into the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction which opens tomorrow.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean
A residential area of Mexico City, Distrito Federal (Photo: VV Nincic)
Update
Mexico: Lessons from 1985 earthquake

Five years after the devastating 1985 quake which killed more than 10,000 people, Mexico equipped itself with one of the world’s most effective early warning systems for earthquakes.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean
A hotel building in Cozumel, Mexico, during Hurricane Gilbert (Photo: Scott Baldwin)
Update
Disaster resilience: top issue for tourist trade

In a nation where tourism represents close to one-tenth of the economy, the issue of Mexico’s hotel trade’s resilience to natural hazards is top of the list...

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean
Mudslides in Mocoa, Colombia (Photo: Cruz Roja Colombiana)
Update
500 Colombian towns face landslide risk

As the reported death toll from Saturday’s mudslide disaster rose to 273, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Robert Glasser, extended his condolences to the people of Colombia and the affected communities of Mocoa on the loss of life caused by the heavy rains and mudslides exacerbated by deforestation...

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean
The General Hospital in Mexico City was among the health facilities that collapsed during the 1985 earthquake (Photo: USGS)
Update
Mexico earthquake triggered safe hospital drive

Mexico City’s devastating, 8.1-magnitude earthquake of 1985 was a stark illustration of the disaster risks faced by the health sector, but it also triggered what became a global effort to protect hospitals from hazards.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean
Heads of delegations gather to mark the conclusion of three days of talks that saw the endorsment of a landmark regional disaster risk reduction plan for the Americas (Photo: Public Safety Canada)
Update
Americas region adopts landmark disaster risk plan

The Americas region today took a landmark step on the road to resilience by adopting an action plan to tackle the huge array of natural and human-induced hazards that its dozens of countries and territories face.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean

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