Search
Results for " "
Displaying 15 of about 113 resultsOver the past two years, a record number of people have been killed in disasters across the world. As we approach the anniversary of the 26 December tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the evidence is clear that education can dramatically reduce this human toll. A young English survivor of the Indian Ocean disaster brought this message to the United Nations in…
Professor Kawata, a prominent professor in the field of disaster risk reduction at Kyoto University, was awarded for his promotion of research and knowledge about past disasters. In particular he has highlighted the bitter lessons learned from the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake (the Kobe Earthquake), which killed more than 6400 people and is considered…
Almost three weeks following the deadly tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people and affected several million in the Indian Ocean region, the ISDR secretariat notes 10 preliminary lessons learned from the disaster.
Italy, with 20,000 people dead, has become the country that registered the most casualties related to the heat weave that affected Western Europe during the summer of 2003. With these new figures for Italy, the official number of casualties for the whole of Western Europe was raised to 46730.
On 29 September, the ISDR System submitted a proposal to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat in response to the Bali Action Plan’s call for enhanced action on adaptation through consideration of disaster risk reduction strategies, risk management and risk transfer mechanisms. The proposal was developed in consu…
Disaster impacts and losses continue to rise globally, and weather related disasters are affecting millions more people around the world. The cyclone in Myanmar, floods in India and the current hurricane season in the Caribbean are just recent examples of weather extremes predicted to worsen with climate change.
To help Member States find solutions to…
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) was included in the Bali Action Plan as a tool for climate change adaptation. The Bali Action Plan was adopted by UN member states on 15 December at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference. It called for enhanced action on adaptation, including DRR strategies to lessen the impact of disasters on de…
13 November 2007. The UN/ISDR secretariat is launching PreventionWeb.net, a new website for increasing knowledge sharing on disaster risk reduction (DRR) issues, for both the general public - including media and teachers - and DRR specialists, on 15 November.
After the fires in southern California (USA) the ISDR secretariat - the UN agency dealing with disaster reduction - is highlighting the importance of urban planning and building regulations to reduce our vulnerability to all disasters. Wildfires are significant hazards that affect millions of people every year and cause huge losses. The last fires in Gr…
“The world must act urgently to cut the risk from extreme weather events linked with climate change”, Salvano Briceño, Director of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction secretariat, said this morning on the publication of the fourth IPCC assessment report on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.
Last week in Nairobi, government representatives and experts agreed on a five-year programme to establish how best to adapt to climate changes. A key element will be to explore the use of disaster reduction methods to cope with extreme conditions like floods and drought. The ISDR will be partnering with the Climate Convention secretariat in this initiat…
The World Bank is teaming up with the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and has launched a Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery to reduce the impact of disasters caused by natural hazards on populations and their livelihoods.
As Hurricane Ernesto is approaching the US Gulf coast, it is important to recall how preparedness is the key to saving people. The arrival of Hurricane Ernesto coincides with the one year-anniversary of Hurricane Katrina that killed more than a thousand people in New Orleans partly because of a lack of preparedness and emergency transport measures.
Children are among the most vulnerable population group during disasters, particularly while they are attending school. They often die as a result of a lack of risk awareness and poor quality of the physical infrastructure. In Pakistan, for instance, more than 17,000 school children died while attending class during the October 2005 earthquake.
A year ago, in Kobe Hyogo Japan, 168 governments signed the Hyogo Framework, a plan of action to reduce the impact of natural hazards on populations over the next decade. Since its adoption, 40 countries have revised their policies to put disaster risk reduction at the top of their political and development agendas.