UNDRR News

Disaster risk reduction needs to be a key component of development in order to secure sustainable results, UNISDR’s head Ms. Margareta Wahlström told a key meeting in Central America, one the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world.

Central American countries are driving forward to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, a global pact which focuses strongly on regional cooperation and the incorporation of integrated disaster risk management within existing national development priorities and policies.

Moves to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction have received a boost from international funding to help Caribbean governments achieve the goal of making communities more resilient in the face of natural hazards.

Latin American and Caribbean countries have etched the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction into a regional declaration that sets out their common position ahead of a key United Nations humanitarian summit next year.

The United Nations has unveiled a multimedia application that showcases the work done to help Santiago de Cuba to recover from the impact of Hurricane Sandy, which lashed the island’s second-largest province in October 2012.

The Canadian Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness of Canada has launched the first call for proposals within the CAD$ 200 million (approx. US$ 165 million) National Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP), as part of the Government’s commitment to build safer and more resilient communities.

With the addition of Aguas da Prata, Brazil, 2,000 cities worldwide are now enrolled in the Global Campaign “Making Cities Resilient: My City is getting Ready!" promoted by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). About 25% of the cities are located in the Americas, and approximately 11% (226) of all cities are situated in Brazil...

Next year’s World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Japan coincides with the lead-up to the 30th anniversary of the devastating 1985 Mexican earthquake, whose tragic consequences pushed the country into developing one of the world’s most effective disaster prevention and response systems.

Football fans from all over the world were joined in São Paulo this week by officials representing the hopes and aspirations of 37 million people who live in 59 municipalities which are now members of UNISDR’s Making Cities Resilient Campaign.

The Americas region gave further impetus to the global efforts to agree a new international framework on disaster risk reduction (DRR) by adopting on Thursday a series of recommendations to be included in the agreement due to be adopted at a world conference next year in Sendai, Japan.