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Displaying 120 of about 297 resultsGENEVA, 8 May 2017 – Early warning systems and making the link between predictable weather and climate events and their impacts are critical to save lives and property when disaster looms.
Experts from around the world are set to launch a drive to improve warnings for an interlocking range of hazards and step up what is known as impact-based forecastin…
MONTREAL, Canada, 7 March 2017 – The vast Americas region today started a high-level conference on a wide-ranging plan that will seek to reduce the risks posed by natural and human-induced hazards.
The three-day 5th Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas has drawn a thousand delegates from over 50 countries and territories to Mon…
CANCUN, Mexico, 1 March 2017 – Mexico’s historical Maya civilisation created not only a written language and a binary mathematical system, but also a hurricane warning system that still works today.
It is housed in the clifftop Templo Dios del Viento, or Temple of the God of the Wind, in Tulum, a Maya site that had its heyday in the years 1200 to 1450.…
GENEVA, 15 February 2017 – Three cutting-edge plans to harness the power of technology and curb the threats posed by hazards such as floods and epidemics have been shortlisted for an international award that will be presented at the 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.
After intense deliberations over the ten best entrants, the jury of the…
GENEVA, 7 February 2017 - The global state of disaster risk reduction will come under scrutiny as never before in May 2017, when 5,000 government and civil society representatives are expected in Cancun, Mexico, to assess progress on rolling back disaster risk and preventing the creation of new risk.
This will be the first opportunity to review impleme…
BALACLAVA, Mauritius, 23 November 2016 - Host country Mauritius is using this week’s Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction to profile the challenges facing small island developing states (SIDS) battling a rise in climate-related disasters which constitute an existential threat to many of them.
This is the first time that one of Africa’s…
GENEVA, 10 October 2016 - There were fears of very large loss of life when Fiji was hit in February this year by the first category 5 cyclone in its recorded history, and the strongest ever seen in the southern hemisphere.
Cyclone Winston brought wind speeds which would have lifted an airplane, averaging 220 kilometres per hour and gusts of 315 kilomet…
MELBOURNE, Australia, 10 May 2016 – Tsunami experts from across the Indian Ocean have gathered in Australia this week to work on ways to improve their ability to ward off a repeat of the tragedy that struck the region in 2004.
The five-day session, run by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and hosted by the Australian Bureau of Meteoro…
25 April 2016, GENEVA – The head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Robert Glasser, today marked the anniversary of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake which struck Nepal last year with a call for greater investment in resilient infrastructure if the death toll from future earthquakes is to be reduced.
Mr. Glasser said: “The Nepal Earthquake wa…
11 March 2016, TOKYO – The head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Mr. Robert Glasser, today attended the 5th anniversary memorial service for those who lost their lives in the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011.
Mr. Glasser said: “On this solemn occasion I would like to extend the sympathies of the UN Secreta…
GENEVA, 29 February 2016 – Women and girls need to be at the core of disaster risk reduction, given that they often bear the brunt of climate change and hazards such as storms and floods, a United Nations human rights body heard today.
In a special session on disasters and climate change, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Wo…
By Achim Steiner and Mami Mizutori
In May 2008, less than four years after the Indian Ocean tsunami resulted in the loss of 230,000 lives, the world witnessed another disaster which provided a tragic illustration of the price people and nations pay in the absence of effective early warning systems being in place.
Despite warnings to the governme…
BANGKOK, 10 January 2019 – Early warning and early action helped ensure that tropical storm Pabuk, which struck the southern region of Thailand last week from 3 to 5 January, passed with limited loss of life. The storm, however, caused high economic losses and considerable damage to critical infrastructure, including schools and hospitals.
Warning…
GENEVA, 29 November 2013 – This year’s International Day for Disaster Reduction published a survey that revealed how people living with disabilities are extremely vulnerable during times of disaster.Eighty percent would be unable to evacuate immediately without difficulty in the event of sudden disaster. Six percent said they would not be able to evacua…
GENEVA, October 14 - The State Government of Odisha in India is now bracing itself for the possibility of additional flooding as the remains of Cyclone Phailin move inland filling rivers and reservoirs to the brim.
A State Government MP, Baijayant Panda, told UNISDR today that the flood situation is unpredictable and that early estimates are that 500,0…