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Displaying 14 of about 14 resultsGENEVA, 25 June 2013 - The Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Margareta Wahlström, today predicted that the year 2013 will be a turning point in how governments around the world view the threat of floods in a new age of extreme weather events.
She said: "India, Nepal, Canada and many countries in Europe have experienced huge lo…
GENEVA, 25 January 2012 - Bequia is a delightful link in the chain of islands which make St. Vincent and the Grenadines such an attractive destination for sun worshipping tourists. With a population of 4,300 people and an area of just 18 km2, it is on the frontlines of the unfolding drama of climate change and Small Island Developing States. And, like m…
The Government of Jamaica, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) - Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean, and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) are pleased to announce that the VII Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean will be held next year in 2021.…
NEW YORK, 9 November 2012 - Development cannot be sustainable if it does not incorporate disaster risk reduction was a key message by Member States yesterday as the UN General Assembly's Second Committee (Economic and Financial Committee) began its two-day meeting on the issue of moving sustainable development forward.
In light of that key message, Mem…
PANAMA CITY, 12 October 2016 - The El Niño weather phenomenon was first named by fishermen in Peru where records going back 500 years have detailed its destructive impact especially along the northern coast where it often hits hardest.
When the most recent El Niño was first forecast it stirred fearful memories of the 9,300 people who lost their lives i…
GENEVA, 9 February 2012 - The dynamic new Vice-President of the National Assembly of Panama, Rony Araúz, is emerging as a leading advocate of disaster risk reduction in Central America following a career monitoring the passage of hazardous materials through the Panama Canal.
He spent ten years working for the Emergency and Contingency Management Divisi…
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, 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…
Canada, like most countries around the world, is facing growing disaster risks and losses because of climate change. In the last 50 years, its combined losses from extreme weather and related disasters have increased by more than a 1000%. Last year alone, its insurable losses from the impact of extreme weather were around CA$ 3.1 billion dollars. …
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…
RIO DE JANEIRO, 22 June 2012 - The largest UN summit ever organized closes today with an urgent worldwide call for accelerated implementation of the international blueprint for disaster risk reduction agreed by all UN member States seven years ago.
Against a backdrop of 1.3 million deaths, 4.4 billion people affected and $2 trillion in economic losses…
GENEVA, 2 February 2012 - Climate change was a key driver in 2005 when 168 UN member states agreed on an international blueprint for disaster risk reduction but there is no reference in the Hyogo Framework for Action* to the environmental threat posed to the world’s retreating glaciers by criminal gangs.
Police in Chile are now investigating a criminal…
DURBAN, 8 December 2011 - While good news remains in short supply from the main climate change talks here in Durban, there is a growing sense that local government is taking the lead on mitigation and adaptation without waiting for their central governments to direct their efforts.
The World Green Building Council has just awarded Mexico City the prest…
GENEVA, 14 August 2012 - Mexico is in the grips of one of the worst droughts in 70 years - a catastrophe which has devastated agricultural production for over one year now.
According to the National Water Commission the prolonged drought has affected 70 percent of the country and decimated agriculture in the states of Aguascalientes, Coahuila, Durango,…