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Displaying 135 of about 277 results28 February 2008. After the harshest winter in three decades, many countries in Central Asia are now threatened by heavy flooding due to a sudden rise in temperatures and melting snow. Each year, flood waters cause much destruction and force thousands of people to evacuate to safer areas; this spring is
expected to be especially severe.
2007 saw a marked increase in the number of floods compared with the average of the last seven years, and Asia was the continent hit hardest by disasters according to figures released today by the Belgian WHO collaborating Center for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters. The yearly figures were released today in a press conference co-organized by the s…
After the devastation caused by the tropical storm Noel in the Caribbean states and the current floods in Tabasco, Mexico, the UN secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction is urging governments and the international community to better protect people against “predictable” disasters, and do more to reduce risk and vulnerability to…
“Heavy rainfalls in Pakistan, India and the Northern England and heat waves in Greece, Italy and Romania are indications of what might happen more frequently and more severely across the globe as a consequence of the global warming”, said Sálvano Briceño, director of the UN International strategy for Disaster Reduction secretariat. Recent reports from t…
Some of the world’s greatest cities risk becoming disaster hotspots, delegates from 120 nations warned today in Geneva at the close of the world’s first Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction. Experts among more than 1,000 delegates warned that one single catastrophic disaster could wipe out decades of development investment, as well as claim thousa…
“What we are witnessing now in the Caribbean is an example of an effective working early warning system” says Salvano Briceño, Director of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. “The timely warning messages provided by the US National Hurricane Center have been immediately channelled to media that are alerting populations and to civil protec…
Hurricane Katrina caused more than $125 billion in economic losses in the United Sates, four times more than Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which had been the most expensive natural disaster in American history. Of these economic losses, only one third was covered by insurance. The poor are the most affected by disasters and also the less protected.
On the occasion of the International Day for Disaster Reduction, Mr. Kim Hak Su, Executive Secretary of UN/ESCAP, will present The Sasakawa Award on behalf of the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction to Mr. Chimeddorj Batchulluun of the National Emergency Management Agency of Mongolia.
“The strong tropical cyclone in Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as the devastating floods in Romania, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Austria and Germany are yet another reminder that natural hazards are a global threat. We need to pay more attention to social vulnerability to hazards,” says Salvano Briceño, director of the Secretariat for the International S…
Bombay and the surrounding region of Maharashtra have been hit by unprecedented flash floods that have already caused the death of hundreds of people. Half of the victims perished in Mumbai. Many people drowned or were electrocuted, but a lot of them died in landslides that hit the shantytowns in the Mumbai suburbs. In northern Mumbai, a whole shantytow…
“Mexico is a good example of hurricane preparedness. Mexican authorities immediately identified populations at risk and reacted accordingly. They are able to organise large-scale evacuation. They relocated tourists and local inhabitants, evacuated workers from the offshore oil platforms and closed the airports very quickly,” says Salvano Briceño, direct…
Experts from Indian Ocean countries affected by the 26 December tsunami and other countries will gather in Paris this week to plan a coordinated tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean. Organised by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) from 3 to 8 March, the meeting follows discussions held during the World Conference on D…
Almost two years after the first meeting of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and just months before its second session, a meeting will be held in Panama City, Panama that looks to bridge the gap between the Global Platform and the National Platforms in the region of the Americas, with the purpose of establishing a formal multi-stakeholder…
Local-level implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action remains a major challenge to achieve, which requires the active participation and involvement of local government actors at different levels of responsibility. It is at the local level that development planning is expected to first take place, and where disaster risk reduction must be first in…
Background
The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) is a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder platform to enable societies to increase their resilience to natural, technological and environmental disasters and to reduce associated environmental, human and economic and social losses. A range of United Nations organizations and intern…