Skip to main content
Home

Knowledge

  • Global Assessment Report (GAR)
  • PreventionWeb

Special Events

  • Global Platform
  • International Day for Disaster Reduction
  • World Tsunami Awareness Day

Tools

  • Sendai Framework Monitor
  • Voluntary Commitments

UNDRR

  • UNDRR Africa
  • UNDRR Americas
  • UNDRR Arab States
  • UNDRR Asia-Pacific
  • UNDRR Europe
  • Home
  • About UNDRR
    About us
    As the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDRR convenes partners and coordinates activities to create safer, more resilient communities.
    Learn more

    We Mega Menu - About us

    • Our work
    • Our impact
    • Where we work
    • Funding
    • History
    • Work with us

    We Mega Menu - About us 2

    • Where we work
      • Africa
      • Americas & Caribbean
      • Arab States
      • Asia & Pacific
      • Europe
    • Liaison and sub-regional offices
      • Bonn Liaison Office
      • Kobe Liaison Office
      • New York Liaison Office
      • Office for North East Asia and Global Education and Training Institute
      • Suva Sub-regional Office
  • Implementing the Sendai Framework
    The Sendai Framework
    is the global roadmap for reducing human and economic loss as a direct result of disasters.
    Learn more

    We Mega menu - Sendai Framework 1

    • What is the Sendai Framework?
    • Voluntary Commitments
    • The Sendai Framework in action
    • Training
    • The Sendai Framework and the SDGs
    • Global Platform for DRR
    • Regional platforms

    We Mega menu - Sendai Framework 2

    • Partners & stakeholders
      • Private sector
      • Making Cities Resilient
      • Science, technology and academia
      • Stakeholder Engagement Mechanism
      • Parliamentarians
      • Children and youth
      • Media
      • UN system
  • News & events
    News & events
    UNDRR organizes the Global, Regional and National Platforms on Disaster Risk Reduction and facilitates training workshops around the world.
    Learn more

    We Mega Menu - News & Events

    • Latest news
    • Media centre
    • Event calendar
    • DRR platforms
    • International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction
    • World Tsunami Awareness Day

    We Mega Menu - News & Events 2

    • Global Platform for DRR
    • Regional Platforms
      • Africa
      • Americas & Caribbean
      • Arab States
      • Asia & Pacific
      • Europe
  • Building Risk Knowledge
    Knowledge
    We provide tools such as the DRR Community site PreventionWeb, publications on good practices, and the Global Assessment Report (GAR)
    Learn more

    We Mega menu - Knowledge 1

    • Understanding risk
    • DRR community
      • PreventionWeb
      • International Recovery Platform

    We Mega menu - Knowledge 2

    • Global Assessment Report
    • DESINVENTAR
    • UNDRR publications
    • UN resolutions & reports
    • Terminology
  1. Home
  2. Publication
  3. UNDRR Americas & Caribbean COVID 19 Brief: Science and Technology for DRR in the Context of COVID 19

UNDRR Americas & Caribbean COVID-19 Brief: Science and Technology for DRR in the Context of COVID-19

Documents and publications
UNDRR Documents
Source
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean
portada
Publication Year
2020
Number of pages
5

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) and the International Health Regulations (WHO, 2005) include biological hazards, such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus, among the major sources of risks for the 21st century.  While COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by this most recent coronavirus, was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a public health emergency of international concern and then a pandemic, its underlying factors, vulnerabilities, exposure conditions and impacts go well beyond the health sector. The pandemic puts in evidence different structural challenges resulting from historical processes. It is, in fact, an example of systemic risk; that is, when a hazard leads not only to negative effects in parts of the system but also threatens the entire system. With its cascading and devastating effects, the impact of COVID-19 reflects the inter-connectedness of risk, highlighting the urgent need for a concerted global effort to accelerate risk reduction efforts.

The current COVID-19 pandemic requires the global governance system, in particular the United Nations, to work in a coordinated manner in order to provide a more efficient support to countries. The UN Secretary-General has called upon the international community to focus on three key areas for action:  1) Tackling the health emergency; 2) Addressing the social impact and economic response and recovery; and 3) Building back better.

This crisis highlights how critical an effective Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is. In this regard, it calls for an important reflection on the necessary contributions of the scientific community and the technological developments to enhance comprehensive risk management. The recommendations of this paper are a basis for the constitution of a work plan of the Science and Technology Advisory Group for the Americas (STAG) and are suggested to be integrated into the global and multisectoral actions considerations triggered by the response to COVID-19.

In this vein, understanding the pandemic and its impacts as a systemic “disaster” helps us to consider the different elements and dimensions that led to and are affected by it. The knowledge and experience of several decades of inter- and trans-disciplinary natural and social studies indicate that an analysis of causal factors of the disaster and other aspects of disaster risk management (DRM) should be guided by issues of sustainability and equality.

Share this
Go back
Related information
Attachments
La Ciencia y la Tecnología en RRD en el contexto del COVID-19
Science and Technology for DRR in the Context of COVID-19
Keywords
Hazards
Epidemic & Pandemic
Themes
Capacity Development
Disaster Risk Management
Information Management
Science and Technology
Country & Region
Americas
Panama

Stay in touch

Sign up for updates

Quicklinks

  • Careers
  • Donors
  • Global Assessment Report
  • Media

UNDRR Tools

  • Making Cities Resilient
  • PreventionWeb
  • Sendai Framework Monitor
  • Voluntary Commitments

Contact us

Sendai Framework

© UNDRR 2020 -2021

Footer

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Sustainable Development Goals Logo