PRESS RELEASE
International Day for Disaster Reduction turns the tide on water-related
disasters
UN/ISDR
2003/02
8 October 2003 The
International Day for Disaster Reduction will be celebrated on Wednesday
8 October
at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, with
the official opening of the photographic exhibition ‘WATER:
Floods in Central Europe’. The exhibition – organised jointly with the Permanent Mission
of the Czech Republic to the United Nations – presents a
collection of images taken of the ‘millennium flood’ of
August 2002 as well as previous floods in the Czech Republic, Germany
and Slovakia. The event comprises one of numerous activities taking
place around the world in line with the 2003 World Disaster Reduction
Campaign theme: Living with risk – Turning the tide on disasters
towards sustainable development.
‘This theme reminds us, during the International Year of
Freshwater, that the task is not just to preserve water resources
to sustain life, but also to reduce the capacity of water to take
life away,’ said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his
message for the Day.
‘On the International
Day for Disaster Reduction, let us remind ourselves that we can
and must reduce the number and impact
of disasters by building sustainable communities that have the
long-term capacity to live with risk.’
Sálvano Briceño,
Director of the Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction, emphasised
the importance of reflecting and drawing on the experiences of
past disasters towards reducing risks and vulnerabilities associated
with water-related disasters.
‘By looking at weather patterns over the past few decades
it becomes clear that water-related hazards are on the rise. Often
this is due to human activities that increase communities’ vulnerability
to hazards, such as environmentally unsound practices, population
growth, urbanization, and short-term economic visions,’ he
said.
‘By sharing experiences and learning lessons from past disasters
such as last year’s floods, we can take action to reduce
their negative impacts and avoid disastrous consequences in the
future.’
The photographic exhibition is open from 1 to 17 October at the
Salle des Pas Perdus at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. It is
open to all visitors that take a guided tour through the UN European
headquarters.
For more information, please contact:
Nicole Rencoret, Awareness and Promotion
Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction (UN/ISDR)
Tel: +41 22 917 27 77
Email: rencoret@un.org
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