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Cities Campaign gets major new partner UNISDR's "Making Cities Resilient" campaign received a significant boost today with the announcement that the Ibero-American Union of Municipalities (Unión Iberoamericana de Municipalistas (UIM) is now an official campaign partner.	1 Jun 2012	News briefs
Campaign city Arborg adopts Jericho City as resilience 'twin' Earthquake and flood-prone Arborg, Iceland, a member of the 'Making Cities Resilient' campaign, is boosting the preparedness of its new twin -- the Palestinian city of Jericho -- starting with a four-week crash course on disaster management that begins today.	30 May 2012	News briefs
Webinars on Resilient Cities starts 29 May The International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and the UN office for disaster risk reduction are hosting a series of four webinars on building disaster resilient cities. The topics are: enabling risk reduction through urban planning; how to encourage multi-stakeholder engagement as a key factor in in the planning, design, construction and operation or maintenance of resilient cities; people’s needs and expectations in post-disaster reconstruction (in Spanish); and how local governments have used UNISDR's Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient and the Local Government Self-Assessment Tool to close gaps and define priorities and institutional commitments to reduce disaster risk at local level.	29 May 2012	News briefs
IIED to review Cities' Campaign David Dodman, Senior Researcher at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), says the Institute will publish a report on UNISDR's "Making Cities Resilient" campaign by year's end (see video).	29 May 2012	News briefs
Asia-Pacific media must join 'final push' for MDGs Early next week in Bangkok, Asian and Pacific media and 10 UN agencies will participate in a special pre-session of a media summit organized by the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (APIBD), to review regional progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).	25 May 2012	News briefs
Peru launches cities campaign 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."	25 May 2012	News briefs
City leaders discuss Tohoku's future after tsunami GIVING BACK TO JAPAN 2: Community Leaders Report is now available for viewing! Mayors from five cities in Japan 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, on the TPF2 website at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22746125.	24 May 2012	News briefs
Copenhagen joins UNISDR campaign after '1,000-year' flood The Danish capital, Copenhagen, is the latest city to join the United Nation's Making Cities Resilient Campaign: “My city is getting ready!” which has enlisted over 1,100 member towns and cities since its launch in 2010.	24 May 2012	Press release
Arab States set to increase disaster loss databases A regional meeting of experts held in Cairo could result in a doubling of the number of Arab countries that systematically report on disaster losses. UNISDR brought together over 40 participants from 15 Arab countries to discuss and exchange experiences on establishing national disaster loss databases.	23 May 2012	News briefs
Italy quake highlights need to educate the public, says expert Following a 6.0-magnitude earthquake that rocked north-east Italy on Sunday morning, around 3,000 residents of San Felipe and surrounding areas are living “like refugees” advised not to re-enter their homes by the Italian civil protection service because of ongoing aftershocks.	21 May 2012	News briefs
It’s Zombie Preparedness Week in British Columbia 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.	18 May 2012	News briefs
Cities connect climate change with rise in disasters Over the last five years economic losses due to disasters reached over $800 billion worldwide and a new report, published this week, found that 81% of surveyed cities experienced an increase in natural hazards over the same period.	16 May 2012	News briefs
Cities to help create Post-HFA framework The Mayor of Bonn, Jürgen Nimptsch, who helped launch the "Making Cities Resilient" campaign two years ago is now urging mayors around the world to get involved in the UNISDR-led consultations taking place on a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction.	15 May 2012	News briefs
Cities push for resilience as global disaster losses hit $500 billion Addressing city leaders at the 2012 Resilient Cities Congress, the UN's top disaster risk reduction official Margareta Wahlström today launched a new phase of the Making Cities Resilient campaign which now includes 1,020 cities around the globe.	14 May 2012	Press release
Cities 'going it alone' on climate change adaptation A new survey by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, shows that 68% of cities are pursuing adaption planning for climate change but "only 7 per cent of cities surveyed believe that their national governments fully understand the realities of adaptation planning at the local level."	14 May 2012	News briefs
'Central America cannot continue to rebuild disaster risk' 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 plans for Honduras and neighboring El Salvador.	11 May 2012	News briefs
IPCC climate change report gets European launch The UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for disaster risk reduction, Margareta Wahlström, has urged governments to commit resources to building national disaster loss data bases so they can better target spending on infrastructure to avoid recurring losses and damages.	11 May 2012	News briefs
Mindanao mayors seek action on risk reduction Mayors from across the disaster-affected island of Mindanao are to petition the President of the Philippines, Benigno C. Aquino Jr., to allow the use of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund for prevention and mitigation activities at local level as part of a nine-point plan of action agreed at the weekend.	7 May 2012	Press release
Business continuity planning vital for disaster-prone Manila UNISDR joined forces with a leading university yesterday to urge Manila’s business community to reduce its disaster risk and to develop business continuity plans which take account of the capital city’s extreme exposure to earthquakes and typhoons. Disasters cost the country a record $615 million last year.	4 May 2012	News briefs
UNISDR backs European cities climate adaptation project UNISDR today backed a newly launched project from the European Commission, Adaptation Strategies for European Cities, designed to provide capacity building and support for European cities in developing and implementing an adaptation strategy for climate change.	3 May 2012	News briefs
Connect the dots for climate change this Saturday 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.	2 May 2012	News briefs
Expert talks about new flood risk guide "Cities and Flooding: A Guide to Integrated Urban Flood Risk Management for the 21st Century" has just been published by the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.	1 May 2012	News briefs
UNISDR chief arrives in Philippines for five-day visit 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 disasters.	30 Apr 2012	News briefs
Floods becoming more dangerous, more costly, says World Bank A new guide launched at the WMO HQ this week warns that urban flooding is "becoming more dangerous and more costly to manage because of the sheer size of the population exposed within urban settlements."	27 Apr 2012	News briefs
Cambodia learning lessons from floods, says UNISDR Chief Nineteen year old Ien Sophorn heads a children's council in Cambodia that works with the Srei Nam Provincial Committee of Disaster Management to raise awareness on climate change adaptation.	26 Apr 2012	News briefs
Americans report feeling impact of climate change 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.	25 Apr 2012	News briefs
Using GIS for disaster risk reduction 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.	24 Apr 2012	News briefs
UNISDR chief visits flood-prone Cambodian province At the start of a week-long trip to Cambodia, the UN's senior official for disaster risk reduction, Margareta Wahlström, met yesterday with a 64-year-old grandmother who saved the lives of her five grandchildren during last year's heavy monsoon rains.	23 Apr 2012	News briefs
UNISDR welcomes Viet Nam’s new climate change strategy As she wrapped up a five-day visit to Viet Nam, Margareta Wahlström, the top UN disaster risk reduction Official, commended the Government on the ambitious Community-based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) Programme and the comprehensive new National Climate Change Strategy.	20 Apr 2012	News briefs
Writeshops successfully mentor young researchers Yuwan Malakar has good reason to be focused and driven these days. The 30-year old environmental management major from Nepal has just had his first paper on climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) published in one of the highly respected online journals of the Policy Studies Organization.	19 Apr 2012	News briefs