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Displaying 11 of about 11 resultsNEW YORK, 27 March 2013 - The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today welcomed the city of Hoboken, New Jersey, into UNISDR's Making Cities Resilient Campaign in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Hoboken brings to four the number of US cities who have joined UNISDR's global campaign which has…
GENEVA, 23 May 2013 - City mayors today urged national and international leaders to trust and invest more at the local level to transform rapidly expanding urban areas into safe and resilient 21st century cities.
The 50-plus mayors from around the world who attended this week's 4th Global Platform were united in their message: the future of this planet…
Tsunamis are only devastating if people and their livelihoods get in the way, as suggested by the largest tsunami ever recorded which only killed five people.
Tsunamis are natural events and disasters are not natural. These series of powerful waves are only devastating if people and their livelihoods get in the way. To measure the impact of a tsunami y…
GENEVA, 21 May 2013 - Leading figures from the private sector said today they were ready to "come in from the cold" and play a stronger leading role to reduce disaster risk.
CEO of Titan America, Aris Papadopoulos, praised 'pioneer' business leaders who were championing the cause of resilience, on the opening day of the 4th Global Platform for Disaster…
NEW YORK/GENEVA, 31 October 2012 - Margareta Wahlström, the UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, today said that the economic losses inflicted on the US and Caribbean island states by Hurricane Sandy underlined the growing threat posed by extreme natural hazards to the world economy.
Ms. Wahlström who also heads the UN Office for Disa…
GENEVA, 29 June - The two largest and most destructive forest fires in Colorado’s history yesterday prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to issue a disaster declaration for the state.
The President’s declaration makes federal funds available for emergency protective measures for areas affected by the High Park fire in northern Colorado and the Waldo Ca…
By Dizery Salim
GENEVA, 2 November 2011 – Turkey’s 23 October quake revealed that only 9 per cent of building owners were insured despite it being mandatory in the country’s municipal areas.
Turkey’s main earthquake insurance authority says the low figure comes from having too few people with insurance in the affected region, citing lack of awareness,…
NEW YORK, 29 September - As the international community gears up for the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in June next year, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is calling for any future framework for sustainable development to include a “clear prescription for incorporation of disaster and climate risk management.”
The UN General A…
Lydia Callis became an unlikely star of Superstorm Sandy as the sign-language interpreter during New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s televised press conferences on the storm.
Time magazine reported in October 2012: “During Bloomberg’s televised press conferences on the storm — delivered in his standard business-like fashion — Callis translated his…
GENEVA, 25 April 2012 - A new study finds that 51 percent of Americans believe that extreme weather will cause a natural disaster in their own community in the next year.
Although 55 percent of Americans have thought about preparing for a disaster, only 36 percent have a disaster emergency plan that all members of their family know about while 37 perce…
GENEVA, 8 June 2012 - The magnitude 4.0 earthquake recorded off the coast of Antigua on 11 May is "a warning that the Caribbean should prepare for a much more severe earthquake to come," says a leading expert.
Seismologist Joan Latchman of the Seismic Research Unit in Trinidad and Tobago said: "Caribbean islands lie in an area of relatively high earthq…