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Displaying 15 of about 19 resultsAs the world celebrates World Humanitarian Day, UNISDR, the strategic arm of the United Nations working on disaster risk reduction, recognizes the valuable contribution of humanitarian workers who risk their lives everyday to help others, whilst emphasizing their crucial role in reducing disaster risk.
“On this day we recognize the importance of humani…
By Dizery Salim
GENEVA, 10 November 2011 – Eighteen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have agreed to tighten up on school safety while also integrating disaster risk reduction into the school curriculum, following high-level talks on education in Panama City.
Between 1970 and 2009, over 32,000 schools in South America were damaged or destro…
By David Singh
GENEVA, 26 October 2011 – The UN has issued a flash appeal for US$15.7 million to provide emergency assistance to El Salvador which has now been pounded by heavy rains and floods since 10 October.
Tropical Depression 12-E arrived in El Salvador two weeks ago bringing more rainfall than Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and registering the highest…
Disaster Risk Management for Health Fact Sheets:
This fact sheet about mass fatalities/dead bodies in disaster risk reduction for health is divided into four sections: i) Key points ii) Why is this important? iii) What are the health risks? iv) Risk management considerations.
Mass fatalities/dead bodies key points: the health risk to the general public…
Today marked National Disaster Reduction day in Japan, an annual event which commemorates the Great Kanto Earthquake which devastated Tokyo and surrounding areas in 1923. This year’s event, however, is particularly poignant, being the first since the 11 March Great East Japan Earthquake.
Activities were carried out all over the country, as in previous…
Increased investment in water management has been high on the agenda at the World Water Week taking place in Stockholm, Sweden this week. On the opening day of the one-week forum, speakers called for increased investments in disaster-resilient infrastructure and smarter water management to avoid drought, floods and other water-related disasters, particu…
GENEVA, 20 October 2011 - Earlier today, Thailand’s Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, said it was impossible to protect all of Bangkok from the worst floods in decades, describing the situation as a national crisis.
"We cannot block the water forever. The longer we block the water the higher it gets. We need areas where water can be drained so it ca…
Arusha, 12 July 2011 - The Africa Union Commission will hold a regional workshop for the East Africa region in collaboration with the East African Community (EAC) and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) Regional Office for Africa in Arusha, Tanzania tomorrow. The Workshop aims to accelerate action in the implementat…
By David Singh
NEW YORK, 22 September: At the opening of the General Debate of the 66th session of the UN General Assembly yesterday, incoming Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser identified disaster prevention as one of the key issues that will “help frame our work this session”.
Al-Nasser said a particular priority during the current sessio…
GENEVA, 1 December 2011 - Feng Min Kan, a Senior Advisor at the UN disaster risk reduction office (UNISDR) admits that not a lot of people immediately see the connection between disasters and AIDS. "It’s just one of those issues that are not very obvious and slips under the radar".
“Just as we know that people do not have to die from disasters, we als…
By Brigitte Leoni
Bangkok, 12 October - Bangkok which has so far been spared the heavy flooding affecting one third of Thailand is currently preparing for the worst case scenario.
Government officials are predicting that Thailand’s capital city may be flooded later this week while news reports show residents sandbagging their houses and stocking up on…
Geneva, 12 October - “Build bridges because every year children miss school in the rainy season when they have to cross gullies, rivers and water channels huge enough to drown them,” a child from Lesotho told the recently launched Children’s Charter on Disaster Risk Reduction.
Natural hazards are increasing and while more and more people suffer from th…
GENEVA, 7 October - UN Disaster Risk Reduction Chief, Margareta Wahlström, met today for the first time with Pakistan’s President, Asif Ali Zadari, to discuss how Pakistan responds to “the new normal” in dealing with floods which have inundated the country for two successive years.
President Zadari agreed to step up efforts to improve early warning in…
GENEVA, 5 October – The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, arrives on a three-day visit to Pakistan tomorrow (October 6) during which she will meet with President Asif Ali Zadari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, the National Disaster Management Authority, Meteorological Departmen…
GENEVA, 27 September 2011 – The head of the United Nation’s disaster risk reduction office, UNISDR, Margareta Wahlström, today strongly backed the NGO initiative “Never Again: A Charter to End Extreme Hunger.”
“The Horn of Africa crisis is a wake-up call for aid agencies, governments and donors alike. Given the collective experience of responding to dr…