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Displaying 120 of about 204 resultsGeneva, 12 January 2012 – On the occasion of the two-year commemoration of the Haitian earthquake today, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative on Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, recognized the significant progress made over the last two years in dealing with the consequences of the disaster which took over 220,000 lives and lef…
Geneva, 4 January 2011 – Byblos, with its ancient port dating back 5,000 years, is dotted by Phoenician, Roman and medieval ruins along the waterfront that municipal authorities now fear are in danger from sea storms.
“Heavy waves hit the heart of the harbour directly, damaging it,” explained Lisa Abou Khaled, from the United Nations Development Progra…
Geneva, 5 January 2012 - UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, in a recent interview, highlighted the prevention of disasters and making the world safer among his “five generational priorities” for his second term which began on Sunday.
Mr. Ban also identified promoting sustainable development; helping countries and peoples in transition; and encouraging…
LIMA, 25 May 2012 - Peru launched a recruitment drive this week for UNISDR's Making Cities Resilient campaign and 14 municipalities signed up yesterday in Lima to deliver on the campaign's "Ten Essentials."
Peru was hit by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in January and has lost thousands of its citizens in three major earthquakes dating back to 1946. Milli…
24 May 2012 -- The "GIVING BACK TO JAPAN 2: Community Leaders Report" is now available for viewing! Mayors from five cities in Japan met on 16 May in Tokyo to discuss community rebuilding in the tsunami and earthquake-hit Tohoku region in Japan. Listen to their suggestions on how individuals and organizations can help their communities.
Vide…
GENEVA, 18 May 2012 - The threat of zombie attacks has been largely overlooked in the annals of disaster risk management but that may be about to change thanks to a week-long campaign on disaster preparedness which finishes today in Canada.
The Canadian province, British Columbia, kicked off Zombie Preparedness Week on Monday with a post-zombie attack…
TEGUCIGALPA, 11 May 2012 - Weak disaster preparedness and recovery planning in two of the world's most disaster-prone countries were discussed over four days this week by government officials, mayors, local government representatives and international risk management experts in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, as they seek to develop national disaster recovery pl…
GENEVA, 2 May 2012 - This Saturday, from drought-stricken Mongolia to Himalayan communities threatened by glacial melt, Climatedots.org will bring people together to hold rallies and remind everyone of the extreme weather events that are happening in their communities because of climate change.
A click on Climatedots.org takes any interested visitor to…
BANGKOK, 30 April 2012 - Top UN disaster risk reduction official, Margareta Wahlström arrives in Manila Philippines tomorrow for five-day visit during which she will meet with donors, the private sector, mayors and government officials to further push for more concrete disaster reduction actions to protect more communities and assets from future disast…
GENEVA, 24 April 2012 - Innovations in technology have made it easier in the last decade to reduce disaster risks and plan for the future. The internet combined with technologies, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), now makes it possible to better understand and communicate the social and physical complexities of disasters.
This was clearly e…
HO CHI MINH, 17 April 2012 - UNISDR Chief, Margareta Wahlström, today visited parts of Vietnam's Mekong Delta which were affected by storm surges last October and are most vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by climate change.
Margareta Wahlström, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, who is on the second day…
NEW YORK, 12 April 2012 - The cost of disasters were summed up last night in dollars lost, people displaced, lives lost as one would expect at a meeting hosted by Columbia University with the theme "From Sendai to Rio -- Cultivating a Disaster-Resilient Society for Sustainable Development."
However, what also shone through in this major debate on the t…
BANGKOK, 10 April 2012 - Threatened by increasing and lethal seasonal floods, the 500-year old Malaysian port city of Melaka is making considerable efforts to reduce the disaster risks that it currently faces from such climate related catastrophic events.
Located along the Straits of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping routes, the city of Mela…
NEW YORK, 23 March 2012 - The newly formed Group of Friends for Disaster Risk Reduction this week launched a powerful photo exhibition at the UN in New York to coincide with the opening of the so-called "informal-informal" negotiations leading up to the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development or Rio+20.
The Group of Friends is co-chaired by Austr…
GENEVA, 22 March 2012 - The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today urged people to think about how much water they will be responsible for using today on World Water Day.
Ms. Wahlström said: "We live in a world where clean, fresh drinking water is becoming increasingly scarce. It can take a…