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Displaying 15 of about 56 resultsPORT VICTORIA, Seychelles, 6 September 2016 - Even though there are parliamentary elections in the country this week, the Seychelles, like 23 other countries around the Indian Ocean, is mobilizing broadcast and print media to take an active part in one of the largest tsunami drills ever undertaken.
The Indian Ocean Wave simulation called IOWave16…
GENEVA, 9 August, 2016 - Mexico which hosts the 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction is battling the impact of tropical storms from both the Atlantic and the Pacific.
The Civil Protection Authorities have warned of the possibility of further landslides as the country braces itself for the passage of Tropical Storm…
ISTANBUL, Turkey, 24 May 2016 – A major global network launches today at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul to facilitate business engagement in crisis situations through pre-positioning supplies, meeting humanitarian needs and providing resources, knowledge and expertise to disaster prevention.
Businesses can now play a central role in pre…
ISTANBUL, Turkey, 23 May 2016 - On the first day of the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), the head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Robert Glasser, warned that risk reduction efforts would struggle to have impact if greenhouse gas emissions are not radically scaled down.
Speaking to the media, Mr. Glasser said: “I am 100% sure that all…
KAMPALA, 17 May 2016 – Authorities in Uganda’s capital city are prioritising infrastructure development, climate-smart capital investment procedures and emissions reduction in order to strengthen the city’s resilience to natural and man-made hazards.
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and development partners have allocated significant funding to re…
GENEVA, 28 April 2016 - One of the world’s most ambitious low-cost housing reconstruction programmes ever to be undertaken in a seismic zone is due to get underway this week following first anniversary of the 25 April Nepal earthquake.
Nepal’s new Reconstruction Authority and its partners are embarking on a programme to provide over 500,000 low-c…
NEW YORK, 31 March, 2016 - An earthquake off the coast of south-west Japan on 5 November, 1854, triggered a large tsunami that left 15,000 homes either damaged or completely destroyed.
A local farmer, Hamaguchi Goryo, noticed the receding waters and immediately recognised this tell-tale sign of tsunami risk. He set fire to his entire year’s harvest of…
NEW DELHI, 05 November 2016 – Three films of human resilience in an era of increasing disaster risk and a changing climate have scooped the main prizes at a prestigious awards ceremony.
The documentaries – from Vietnam, Indonesia and India – were honoured for their insightful journalism and compelling tales of local innovation at the closing of the Asi…
NEW YORK, 11 October 2016 - The risk of dying in a hurricane or flood is lower today than it was 20 years ago, in most parts of the world. In Haiti, however, the toll of Hurricane Matthew has already passed 1,000, according to media reports.
The issue of how to reach countries and communities left behind and struggling to reduce their disaster mortalit…
PANAMA CITY, 22 December 2016 – A network of hundreds of cities across South America has pledged to step up regional efforts to reduce disaster risk and boost sustainable development.
The 21st edition of the Mercocities Summit, held in Santa Fe, Argentina, put the focus squarely on the links between climate change, poverty and damaging development.
“W…
BALACLAVA, Mauritius, 23 November 2016 - Host country Mauritius is using this week’s Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction to profile the challenges facing small island developing states (SIDS) battling a rise in climate-related disasters which constitute an existential threat to many of them.
This is the first time that one of Africa’s…
ULAANBAATAR, 14 October 2016 – Curbing deaths from disasters requires local authorities and other community partners to raise their capacity to manage risks and thereby ensure safe and sustainable development for their citizens. In Mongolia, the government has committed not only to national action but also to fostering cities’ capacity.
“As about 80 pe…
GENEVA, 10 October 2016 - There were fears of very large loss of life when Fiji was hit in February this year by the first category 5 cyclone in its recorded history, and the strongest ever seen in the southern hemisphere.
Cyclone Winston brought wind speeds which would have lifted an airplane, averaging 220 kilometres per hour and gusts of 315 kilomet…
WASHINGTON, D.C., 7 October 2016 – The UNISDR Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilience Societies has called for risks posed by natural and man-made hazards to be put front and centre in investment choices, in order to curb disaster-related economic damage around the globe.
With climate change stoking a rise in the frequency and intensity of weat…
GENEVA, 27 September 2016 - It didn’t have a fancy name. It was Tropical Cyclone 03 A and it killed more than 10,000 people, many of them desperately poor salt pan workers in the Kutch district of Gujarat, India.
Hundreds died at their place of work, ignorant of the coming storm’s strength until it bore down on their encampment with a fury that turned…