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Displaying 15 of about 19 resultsAll of society - the public and the private sector – ends up facing the consequences of disasters. It follows that all of society, the private sector included, has a role to play in reducing disaster risk. Natural hazards need not result automatically in disasters. Simple measures can be taken beforehand to strengthen the resilience of communities, to s…
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.
On February 22nd, 2007, about 70 professionals from the private sector and the development community met at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. to explore the opportunities and challenges for developing Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs) for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). This dialogue was organised under the auspices of the World Bank’s new…
The torrential rains that caused flooding and huge mudslides, resulting in over a hundred deaths in Central America and southern Mexico prove again that we need to be better prepared against what is the most destructive type of natural hazard in the world.
Once again, Cuba reacted well to the last Hurricane Charley. How do you explain the fact that people respond so well to an evacuation alert?
Hurricanes are the worst disasters faced by the Cuban people. Hurricanes are part of our culture and people know the risk they face if they do not evacuate immediately. Our system works very well because there is…
This collection of papers was written by different experts following the impact of Hurricane Mitch in Central America in October 1998. From regional and community perspectives, the authors describe how communities were organized, how they dealt with stress during the crisis, and how they participated in the daily process of making decisions on reducing…
As Ivan stormed across the Caribbean, the United Nations stated that Cuba was a model in hurricane risk management in developing countries. “The Cuban way could easily be applied to other countries with similar economic conditions and even in countries with greater resources that do not manage to protect their population as well as Cuba does” explained…
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 inter…
“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…
In May 2004, rains killed 2,665 people in Haiti. This week they have caused another 2,000 deaths yet only 11 are reported dead in the Dominican Republic. The force of rains in Haiti were less strong than the ones that struck the Dominican Republic, but nevertheless the loss in lives and livelihoods were much higher in Haiti than in the rest of the Carib…
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…
This publication points out the vital nexus between women’s experiences of natural resource management, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, and how they can come together to make whole communities strong and sustainable. It also provides inspirational case studies of grassroots women’s leadership, and of ways to support and encourage…
The UNISDR secretariat launches this new publication featuring nine National Platform case studies in an effort to inspire and support the birth of new National Platforms, and also to strengthen existing ones. Governments increasingly recognize the need for comprehensive multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral national coordinating mechanisms - National Pl…
As the United States commemorates the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906, one of the worst earthquakes in U.S. history, the director of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction secretariat recalls the importance of education in disaster risk reduction policies.
The global event was a high level panel discussion featuring representatives of countries that have suffered major disasters, and have since focused closely on protecting critical infrastructure such as health facilities and schools. The website for the World Campaign for Disaster Reduction 2008-2009: Hospitals Safe from Disasters was also launched on t…